<p>We would get a ticket/fine if we tried that around here!</p>
<p>I definitely agree with Reed. I adored it... after the first mailing I knew I wanted to be there. St. Johns was really awesome too, mainly because I first looked and was like "omg never" and then by the end of it, I was planning to apply. Another excellent set was Carleton. I adored the little comic/drawing things I got last year!</p>
<p>With twins in the house we received doubles from so many schools, but then they each received a number of their "own" viewbooks. Naturally most looked the same and the content was so similar.</p>
<p>D #1 absolutely fell in love with St. John's College (Annapolis) as it was so unique. We attended presentations and even pursued it up until application time. That's when she realized she really had a major she wanted to pursue and St. John's didn't offer it. She is at the U of Illinois as of last week.</p>
<p>D #2 was clueless and discouraged after seeing that the viewbooks were really just advertising. She wanted to go someplace that didn't brag about parties and fun. Then one day the West Point brochure arrived and, for her, nothing else could compare. I dragged her off to visit other campuses, but she would not apply to any of them. She attended every possible admissions event held by WP as well as their summer program. She started there this summer and loves it. I suspect without the brochure she would never have pursued the idea.</p>
<p>We also enjoyed the postcards from the U of C. At the very least, they were a different approach and they were amusing.</p>
<p>Cangel - viewbook incineration party - I love that idea! My homeschooled son has said all he wants for "graduation" is a handshake and for me to say, "You're done," but I bet a viewbook incineration party would tickle his fancy. </p>
<p>Best viewbook - Rose-Hulman. It's the only viewbook so far which made me laugh out loud several times. Also, other than St. John's, it is the only one which truly showed the uniqueness of the school's educational system. The other viewbooks, as my son puts it, all say they are unique in the very same way.</p>
<p>Swat viewbook was great - made my son look at Swat for that reason. He thought it was a major, major reach and went on the same line of reasoning because GC said so. I convinced him that the only thing he/we had to lose was the $60+ on application and other materials. He is a sophomore there now..</p>
<p>A viewbook incineration party... I wish I had thought of that a few months ago. After my PSAT, I kept all my college mail in a box in the attic just to see how much I would end up with. After graduation, I weighed the box.. it was a little over 100 pounds of mail! I ended up recycling it all, but a bonfire would have been fun ;)</p>
<p>Grinnell had some nice materials in terms of getting to know the 'personality' of the school. </p>
<p>We dropped off the whole lot at the high school counseling office to be recycled and given out to interested juniors. I kept 2-3 for my son to look through in a few years...</p>
<p>I liked my York information that i recieved better than all of the other colleges - it was the one booklet that had something different to it. It was bright yellow, and there was holes cut throughout the book, with different pictures showing through the holes. I remember there being four holes in a vertical line down the cover. all of the pages were bright and vibrant, and it was just very professionally done.</p>
<p>most of the ones i recieved just went straight into the trash can because they didn't catch my attention at all.</p>
<p>Cal Tech had a fantastic viewbook, which was just a little better than MIT's. Yale's was up there as well, followed, perhaps, by Harvard. In terms of information given, Harvard's was pretty good. </p>
<p>Princeton's did not represent the type of school it is. It did not give enough statistics as I would have hoped and did not show enough pictures of the campus as I would have liked (perhaps this is a good thing). While one may be thinking that Princeton didn't want to show an artificial scene of kids reading on lush courtyards, it didn't even show the genuine character of the students. Cal Tech and Northwestern gave some fantastic student profiles (Northwestern had a day in the life of a few students) which Princeton should have shown as well.</p>
<p>The University of Pennsylvania had a decent viewbook, perhaps more concentrated on history than on current academics. Columbia had a good viewbook, and showed many of the current and recent developments at the school. Dartmouth's viewbook was disappointing in actual knowledge conveyed.</p>
<p>WAIT WAIT WAIT.....before you start incinerating viewbooks think of the kids on the other side of town who are not receiving tons of viewbooks in the mail!!!! Kids ..bring the view books to school, convince a teacher to set up a casual college research table in his/her room, (its not as intimidating as the library or counseling office) dump all your viewbooks into a big laundry basket,like my teacher did, or a big box and make this casual cooperative library available to your fellow students at lunch, breaks, recess, before school, after school or whatever. Share the Love. DONT INCINERATE ANYTHING.</p>
<p>i thought the correspondence my daughter received from st. john's college in annapolis was, by far, the most interesting and intriguing that she received. she did eventually visit the school but decided not to apply.</p>