<p>With rolling admission, we had expected to hear back quickly from Drew, as my daughter sent in her materials at the end of Spetember. Finally, by checking the application status page online, we discovered this morning that she had been accepted to the Honors College, with the Baldwin Honors Scholarship. Admissions says nothing is sent by mail -- seems odd, as her other choices notified either by email and snail mail, or just snail mail. Anyway, of the 8 colleges to which she applied, this one is near the bottom (primarliy because it is 20 minutes from our house and she has been volunteering at the Shakespeare Theatre on campus for the past 3 years -- too familiar). Her top choice is Fordham. Anyone care to offer some persuasion as to why she should choose Drew? Financially, it would be a better choice for us than Fordham, where she also got some money, but not as much. Her sister went thereabout a decade a go, but it seems the school has become much less selective. It was the perfect choice for that daughter, as she wanted to be very close to home.</p>
<p>Hi, I just recently graduated from Drew and would love to offer some persuasion!</p>
<p>Around four years ago, I was facing the same choice as your daughter. I had been accepted into Kings College London, which was my dream school, and the BA program they were offering me was perfect. I had originally applied to Drew as a plan B, but as I considered it more and more, I eventually decided that Drew was the place for me.</p>
<p>It was a tough decision, but I think in the end Drew turned out to be the better option. Drew ranks in the top 100 colleges in the United States and is located on a beautiful campus. The university exploits its position near New York City to host some really fantastic programs, the UN Semester for example, which has been running for 50 years and is second to none. But I think that it is the faculty which is the best thing about Drew. Thanks to the universitys size, I got to work one-on-one with a former Princeton professor, and scholars from Harvard, Cambridge, and the LSE. I was an average student, and this simply would not have been possible at a larger university. Getting to know them personally really helped me out in terms of getting great letters of recommendation as well as helping me to conduct intensive research projects.</p>
<p>Drews focus on doing internships and job experience has also been really helpful. Its a really tough economy, and I was in the lucky position of having several job offers only a few weeks after graduating. I continue to watch friends from other, more well-known universities struggle to find jobs and Im really grateful that Drew heavily emphasized gaining real-world experience.</p>
<p>To be perfectly frank, one of the reasons that I eventually chose Drew was the generous financial offer they made me. Having graduated debt-free, I am SO glad that I decided to go to Drew rather than start out life with an enormous financial burden. Whatever your daughters financial situation is, I would highly recommend that she take into very careful consideration the higher cost of Fordham. Undergraduate debt and rising university costs are becoming huge problems, and in hindsight taking the more affordable option was the best decision I ever made when it came to choosing a university. Increasingly, it seems, Bachelors degrees are becoming the new high school diploma, and in the case of me and everyone I know, employers are infinitely more interested in your experience and skills rather than what particular university you attended. A friend from Drew, who was never advertised on the website, and who just landed her dream job in Connecticut over the heads of a host of Yale graduates can certainly attest to this.</p>
<p>Obviously, your daughter should go wherever she feels is best for her. As a recent Drew grad and now happily-employed person, I would urge her not to write it off but to carefully weigh the pros and cons. I totally understand that it might be less exciting to go to school 20 minutes away from home, but given the fact that Drew is a good school and that she has been offered more money there, I would recommend that she give it a shot.</p>
<p>Can you give us some insight as to the social life on campus. We’re not from New Jersey and worry about the campus clearing out on the weekends.</p>
<p>Sure. </p>
<p>While Drew does have a number of students who commute to campus, social life on campus is always active and the vast majority of people stay on campus during the weekends. The university really strives to provide activities, and I was never without something to do or people with whom to spend time during the weekends.</p>
<p>Madison, the town where Drew is located, is quiet and bucolic. Other than a few restaurants, the town really doesn’t have much of a night-life. This works in Drew’s favor as it means that the campus ends up being a hub of activity. For those over 21, neighboring Morristown has loads of great pubs and of course Drew is in the commuter belt for New York City. </p>
<p>In my experience, Drew weekends offered something for everyone. And it is certainly not the case that the campus empties out on the weekend.</p>
<p>My son enjoyed his time (graduated 2010) and felt prepared for grad school. Has always done well and the close interaction with professors helped with recs and learning. </p>
<p>The ranking when he applied was in the 50’s…the drop came when the president at the time, refused to do the rankings paperwork, didn’t believe in it and did interviews about it…I dont’ think it now reflects the college as a whole.</p>
<p>I have a much older daughter, in addition to the one who was just accepted into Drew’s Honors Program, who graduated from Drew in 2002. The school was more highly regarded then, I believe not just because the new President stopped giving ranking information, but because they also stopped requiring SAT scores, and added Business and Education majors when it was previously a purely liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the info, DrewGrad112 – it would likely be her 2nd or third choice out of 8 schools at this point. I think there is a lot to recommend it, particularly for her temperament.</p>
<p>Yes, that also. I know someone who did the education major and it was okay but not run as well as it should have been, wasn’t their strength.
I don’t think the SAT optional was a huge thing but who they picked could have been better. You might give a handful of students a chance that were so-so but not as many as they did later. The first year my son said the students he met that said they didn’t submit were very bright.When he left, he said some were struggling early on.
I hope they have someone now that will take their strengths and enhance them. When he went into his grad program, except for stats, he felt much more prepared than some students and secure and I think working with professors one on one, getting good feedback etc. helped.
When he couldn’t get into a class, the professor just met with him for an Independent project. He could have went to UConn cheaper than Drew although they gave him a generous scholarship but he wouldn’t have gotten the attention he did there. He also got into Fordham but liked the neighborhood better at Drew but did use the train to go to NYC.
Fordham is very nice, but aid was much lower there for us.</p>
<p>Debruns, thanks for the information! My daughter is quite bright (2120 SAT, National Merit Commended Student) and pretty high schiever (3.77 Unweighted GPAS; 4.14 Weighted, lots of honors and AP classes), some leadership on Lit Mag and Photo Club. However, extremely shy and sensitive (while very attractive – not always the best combo), and diagnosed almost a year ago with Bipolar. Her dream has always been NYC (Fordham’s Lincoln Center Campus is where she intends to go) and as we inch closer and closer to next Fall, I have serious misgivings about her going right from home into the city. Her aid at Drew is much better than Fordham, but I was planning to make it work if she really wanted to go there. The thing is: if she choses one school over the other, and then wants to transfer, the aid packages will not still be there, right?</p>
<p>I don’t think so, but you could ask…they usually say no, these are freshman packages or the pat “We would have to evaluate your income, etc. again”. A lot of schools don’t have generous transfer packages but your daughter is very bright and would still be a great addition although not part of their “freshman stats”.
My son was also shy and quiet, not a drinker either and has ADD, although didn’t medicate at the time. He said if he went to a larger school, he probably would have had too, but the smaller classes and office hours readily available helped. He also liked Clark (being a Psych major) although grittier environment but even with his great stats, were skimpy with aid. You never really know.
Has she spent the day in NYC to get a feel of the school? She might still love it but sometimes what they think they will like is different later.
She will probably do well at either, the money, you just have to crunch the numbers, the cost of NYC and what she wants to possibly major in and how either school might help.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response, Debruns. The packages my daughter received, both from Drew and from Fordham, were based on merit only though I did file the FAFSA back in December through a free service that Fordham connected us with when she was accepted there before Thanksgiving, and they distribute the documentation to all the schools on her list. Somewhow, though we haven’t received our 2012 W2s, we’ve been told our filing for FAFSA is complete. Hubby’s income is over $260,000 and I work part time as an adjunct at a NJ state school, so I’m almost certain we won’t get any need-based aid, though Lord knows we certainly don’t feel rich living in the NY Metro area, and we are not equipped to pay full freight. I have a much older daughter I already helped put through school, plus a 12 year old that will go to college when I am in my 60s. Anyway, I think whether they take another look at finances or not, transferees likely wouldn’t be offered the same package as they were as incoming freshmen. So I’m nervous to pass up either deal!!</p>
<p>You’re right, that sometimes they think they want something – NYC has been her dream since before high school. The reality is something else. She has spent time in teh city only with parents – we’ve also visited Fordham three times. She is terrible with directions – that could be solved in a city with numbered streets – though I still manage to get lost there! Just hoping for an epiphany! Your words about your son’s experience at Drew are very helpful.</p>
<p>My daughter did an internship at Columbia during the summer and is horrible with directions. She said she counted streets etc. but later told her sister she followed others more than did things on her own, she still felt lost at times. She had this idea of being independent, but on her own, I heard “Do you know how much “fill in the blank” was??” I guess when we took her and we paid, it was not as much. : ) She does come by the directon gene on her mother’s side so I can’t say much.
Was she able to stay a day at Fordham with a student? It’s not a full proof thing, you can have a bad visit, but seeing how things flow, helps.
I had my son spend a day at 2 schools (not sleepover) and he felt it helped but it’s not always easy to do.
I wish you much luck, it will never be perfect, but it will be right for her when she goes.</p>
<p>She has not stayed the day at Fordham with another student – I will have to look into that. Drew agreed to do it, sometime in March. I notice very few colleges do the overnight thing anymore, other than with recruited athletes (I think Fordham does for the full-tuition scholars who live far away). I guess there may be liability issues, but years ago, I think it wasn’t such a big deal.</p>
<p>I guess I am waiting for a light bulb to go over her head one way or another. She stands firm for Fordham – but I haven’t ascertained yet whether she just hasn’t processed what it means to live in NYC. She has claimed to want this for so long – maybe is afraid to lose face by admitting it’s too much. I wouldn’t have these doubts if she weren’t so shy and didn’t also have Bipolar. But if she really wants that in the end, I’m for it. Probably much less nerve wracking for me if she just gravitated to Drew. It’s living away, but not another world. You’re right – it’s one thing to go to the city with parents guiding and paying – quite another on their own. We shall see! And thanks! :)</p>
<p>Lots of good info on this thread. Thanks everyone. My daughter is “in” with a nice merit package. We live on the west coast and are a family of modest means, so the merit $$ definitely makes the school look more attractive. Also, it’s important for her stay at one school for 4 years, because of our critical need for merit aid. </p>
<p>Now the tables have turned, from selling herself to the admissions commitees, to the schools selling their programs to her. How can she really tell if Drew is the correct fit? She’ll be visiting in a few weeks. The prospect of making such a GIANT choice is overwhelming. Tell us what your really think…</p>
<p>For current students, grads (and parents):</p>
<p>What shocked you most about Drew? If you could change one thing about the school, what would you change and why? What does the admissions department not want you to know? In your opinion what is the top reason for attending Drew? What is the best way to really get to know the school during a one day visit?</p>
<p>The reputation, the stats, and some of the “reviews”, care to comment? How much assistance does Drew provide in finding internships. Does not having a car put you at a disadvantage? What are the most popular “fun activities”? How engaging are classes, professors? (D, is NOT a “scan-tron” focused learner–preforms much better in a “project driven” enviroment.) </p>
<p>What worries me is that she’ll hate it, get bored, not make friends, loose motivation and be so FAR away from home and her support system…All advice and opinions are truly appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>When my son applied, some reviews were great, some not, but he felt it was what he wanted not them that mattered, and being logical, wanted to spend a day and see things for himself. Sometimes you read disgruntled things in reviews and glowing remarks in others, because the in-between don’t bother.
His only complaint was lack of clubs at times and he felt there could have been more school sponsored trips to NYC, etc. since they were close. In a small school, a club might exist for a few years but then go dormant until another takes it over. That’s something else to look into depending on interest, although Drew used to say, if you want to start a club, have interested people, they would help sponsor it. It’s a small town, a safe town, but not a bustling city like NYC although you can take a train there which is very near campus. They had a bus to grocery store then, I don’t know now. A lot depends on how much action your daughter wants and what type.
The 10-1 ratio for teachers was great and his classes were always under 25, even Intro to Psych. I had to interrupt a tour guide at Wheaton (MA) when she said, our school has a great professor/student ratio, which they do, but no one has Intro to Psych under 70…ours is 100. I said, Drew did, they had more classes. She hadn’t heard of that anywhere, but they did deliver in that regard. His average class size was from 12 to 25 max over the 4 years.
Getting a job can be harder on a small campus but having work study helps. When son lost his work study junior year, a professor heard him say he was having trouble getting work and offered him a lab job, helping her clean up and organize…wasn’t much but something. That led to helping with a project, so you never know.
The freshman dorms weren’t very large at all although they had “alcohol free” at the time which he took and it was much quieter than many. It also had the lowest fees for repairs at the end of the year. : )
If your daughter visits for the day, pick a student or subject area she would like if possible and be open-minded. I think she’ll know if it just isn’t for her. Depending on the time of year, the campus is gorgeous.
My only beef with financial aid was it seemed when our salaries rose a bit, the aid decreased. (grant not scholarship)I knew another couple who had a 5000 increase in salary, more than ours and her daughter’s grant aid didn’t change at another school…just something to ask them about. What would cause a change to our package either way? I found them to be always available though and usually they responded quickly. </p>
<p>Drew definitely isn’t for everyone, but worth checking out. Its a small campus, have your daughter walk around, even on her own, listen to things, eat in the cafeteria, look at the coming events, things like that. Talk to professors in subjects she is interested in, don’t be afraid to explore…it’s a lot of money to attend college even with great aid and you owe it to yourself to ask questions and feel confident.</p>
<p>Thanks Deburns! Great info and insights. The small classes and personal support piece is a big PLUS.
Having grown up on the sunny SoCal beach, I don’t think she’d feel comfortable taking the train to NYC alone (at least at first). Frequency of school sponsored trips (NYC, et al.) is good question for her visit.<br>
Anybody else wish donate $0.02?</p>
<p>I got into Baldwin Honors
$21,500
I’m international
1930 SAT
3.7 GPA
660 Biology 670 History
108 TOEFL</p>
<p>I wish Drew had need based awards… the rest $38,000 is just an ivy price for non ivy education</p>