<p>klf1120 -- I live about an hour northeast of Knoxville. I love UT Knoxville (all of my family with college diplomas went there) and might end up going, if the upper-tier schools reject me!</p>
<p>You're right, Knoxville is a great area. It's such a small city with lots of amenities, and the campus itself makes you feel like you're in the total center of urbania. And the strip + Paper Mill Road = sweet.</p>
<p>And of course, there's Cherokee NC (and Harrah's!), the Great Smokey Mountains, the Appalachian Trail, Dollywood, Chattanooga Aquarium...east TN is really great. I'm glad to hear UT recruited somebody from Florida! 8-O</p>
<p>Oh yeah I kinda love Chicago too. I haven't visited or anything, but I love its reputation - you never stop working and are surrounded by workaholics (and coffee!). I used to like Swarthmore for the same reason, but it's too small and in a suburb. :</p>
<p>anyhow, i like urban, personally, and its becoming more and more apparent to me that a name in itself is absolutely worthless, unless youre going for a job right out of undergrad. </p>
<p>im interested in getting an education....and im willing to work my ass off to do it. that's all.</p>
<p>Columbia is my dream school because I spend a whole lot of time there. I love their core curriculum, my partner is a student there so I'm very familiar with the work.</p>
<p>I hesitate to use the term 'dream school.' I used to be very devoted to one or two select colleges at the beginning of my applications. During the waiting process, I have become worn down by anxiety so that any college that would accept me now would be deemed suitable; the differences in the beginning are of little importance. (I suppose I'm desensitizing and preparing for rejections.) Anyway:
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So, just out of curiosity, how many of you actually have any clue as to what the colleges are like?
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Well, I know the colleges I applied to are some of the best and have outstanding reputations, especially due to their research output. I know they have great sports teams and have great all-around departments. Do I know specific professors or obscure traditions? No. Have I read lab reports from specific departments? Not quite. I've only done enough research to understand that the places I have applied to are superb. I would get a great education at any of my six. I've learned enough to find out the pros and cons and have formed a general picture of each school; there are no defining points that would sway me from one place to the other. The difference is minute and my interests are not incredibly specialized.
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Are they your dream schools because you have concrete knowledge about the campus and love it?
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I have never been to the campuses of the schools. I've a rough idea of the type of architecture and have only been able to see pictures. I know about their neighborhoods and the locations.
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Is it your dream school because everyone talks about it and carries with it a fair amount of prestige?
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Prestige is a plus though it wasn't a determining factor in my college choices. Some of my safeties are schools that most CCers have not heard of.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say dream school but I really like Cornell. I visited it and the campus was great. I liked it more and more as I learned more about it. It's like...falling in love with a girl...except it's a college. I know a lot about it but mostly general stuff, not too knowledgeable beyond that.</p>
<p>USC was my dream school for a long, long time. Nice weather, great campus, everything you need. However, my visit to UCLA in June of 2005 gave me a sudden urge to do research about college. Now that I have done that, I'm considering more schools, especially on the east coast. I guess if I had to label one college as my dream college, it'd be Harvard <strong>ducks tomatoes from fellow CC'ers</strong></p>
<p>You know, I've been meaning to ask this question as well, I made a similiar post a few minutes ago in another thread and just came across this one. Neat coincidence :)</p>
<p>As an Int'l the only real source of info about colleges for me, other than what I've been able to find out from my friends (Rice, Purdue & U of Texas), is each college's internet site. Now seeing as most sites are self-inflatory, any suggestions as to how I go about researching colleges? ( I mean HYPMS + a few more speak for themselves in terms of prestige and general knowledge throughout the world about them, but other than that?)</p>
<p>My daughter had a dream school (and is fortunately attending it). Prestige and ranking had nothing to do with it -- it is the only school in the Western Hemisphere with a major precisely in what she wants to study, she took courses there for two summers and liked it, she talked to the professors in her prospective department and liked them, she studied the course catalogs for this school and the handful of other places with some similar coursework, she went to a sports camp at the school and so knew what the coach was like in her sport, she liked the lack of distribution requirements of the school, she liked the climate better than at her second choice school, and she checked out what was reported on the internet and in books about life at the school and the alternatives she was considering and thought it was the best fit for her personality.</p>
<p>In short, I don't know what research she might have done that she didn't do.</p>
<p>sure... i happen to like the university of rochester. i've visited, i've learned their curriculum requirements, as well as their course sequence for chemistry majors by heart, and i've talked to people that have gone there. i've done some serious research into this, and rochester is the only place of all my colleges that i haven't heard anything i don't like</p>
<p>I've known since I was about 10 (seriously) that I wanted to attend Duke. As an in-stater, I knew about the great academics and beautiful campus, as well as its strengths in biology (specifically marine biology, which I was interested in back then). During high school, Duke remained my first choice, although U Chicago was tied with it. Early last semester, I questioned my decision to come here despite the fact that I've loved it for almost 10 years. That feeling quickly went away- almost every day I find out something new that makes me feel incredibly glad and lucky to have picked the perfect school (for me). :)</p>
<p>UNC Chapel Hill is the "dream school" for most NC'ers.</p>