<p>I don’t think Poughkeepsie is that bad and there are some nice shops and restaurants immediately adjacent to campus. Vassar strikes me as the artsier place. Getting into NYC is super simple. Getting to Boston is an easy drive, but a pain in the neck with public transport.</p>
<p>Would your son like to visit a new part of the country? Does he like warm (and even hot) weather?</p>
<p>I would not make “close to friends” a priority of any kind. Unless kids are going to the same school as a lot of hs friends, they are going to make new friends. And it’s easy these days to keep up with people on facebook, etc.</p>
<p>And for both of these schools, getting to the nearest big city is not terribly easy. I think he should choose with the assumption that he will pretty much be on campus, at least for the first year. Much better to be at a school where you could be happy with a social life that doesn’t include “extras.” Any trips to the city are a bonus. </p>
<p>I would go by best academic fit and the campus where he feels he will be happiest socially. As far as getting back and forth to home, that probably depends on how often you plan on either you or he making the trip. If it’s only twice a year, it probably doesn’t matter that you’re tacking on an extra cross-country flight. If it would be 6-8 times a year or more, that might be more of a consideration. (And I say that as someone who has done Europe - east coast and Europe - Denver flights while living overseas).</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the replies. To those who asked, we live in the middle east. Also, he is undecided, but hopes to get into either law school or med school (yes, I know two completely different sides of the spectrum).</p>
<p>From reading post 3 it is obvious the OP didn’t understand my post 2.
I understood the reasons to attend are the student’s reasons.
I understand the student has the right to choose.
When I said it was the “student’s decision” I meant to expect the student do the research on his own to be able to make his own choice, without parental input. My advice wasn’t- let him choose- but rather it meant- make him do the research and make him choose.</p>
<p>You get a lot of L.A. smog that settles over Claremont, CA.</p>
<p>I live in Europe and the one condition I put on my two Ds for college was east coast, where I have sisters and a support system (although one D was about to apply to a Cali school for it’s program, I was relieved when the ED east coast school came through). Logistics and ease of traveling home is a factor, although if you don’t have other connections that may come in handy on the east coast, not so much.</p>
<p>Has he visited these schools? A visit can really help differentiate: the “vibe” of a school can be a deciding factor. If a visit is not possible, then other posters have given rough characterization of each, but seeing them, hanging out in the dining hall, going to the bookstore etc. can’t be replaced.</p>
<p>In our family, the course listings and curriculum requirements were key in deciding. I hope he has read all the academic information online on the website. Which appeals to him the most academically, in terms of interest?</p>
<p>Wildwood11 - that is the main issue with CMC, he is basically going there with no contacts at all, and his father is worried about that. We have family in chicago, so vassar might be more accessible. </p>
<p>compmom - he likes CMC because he is considering either double majoring in econ-political science, and possibly going into the PPE program if possible (philosophy, politics and economics), or he wished to major in biochemistry for premed, whereby he can take his classes at pomona. IT’s very confusing for him because he wants to either go to med-school or law-school. now in vassar, according to their website, two of their most popular majors are economics and biology, and they have a good program which incorporates economics, political science, history and english. So in terms of academics, although CMC is more appealing, he doesn’t mind either. </p>
<p>Basically, at the moment he prefers CMC, but he really dislikes the fact that it is so far from anyone he knows, and so do we - he is not anti-social, but the simple fact that their is somebody near for emergencies is comforting (even though chicago is not so close to vassar), but we also have some family in coneccitut</p>
<p>I went to Vassar, but I would recommend Claremont-Mckenna. It is a great school. The west coast is a great place to attend school (I did my graduate work at UCLA). I would not say that Vassar has a better rep than CMC.</p>
<p>Well… for us, having contacts near D1’s school has turned out to be overrated 
I have a high school friend who works in the same small town she is in, and some relatives (cousin/elderly aunt) about 30 minutes away. This is all about 2,000 miles from where I live. Although she has their phone numbers, and they know she is at the college, none of them ever have any contact with each other (except when I come to visit her, then we usually drive down to visit the cousin/aunt). Even when she has a break from school where she is not coming home, she has gone home with roommates or other college friends who live nearby. I personally would not pick a college based on that factor. And “family in Chicago” is hardly anywhere near Vassar! It should not be a consideration.</p>
<p>Reading more of your posts, it sound to me like the kid has a preference (CMC), and it is not the same as the parents’ preference (Vassar). Let him go to CMC if that is the case.</p>
<p>Not sure you answered the question, has he visited both campuses?</p>
<p>Also… the Vassar folks will probably pounce on me, but Vassar does not have a great reputation in biology (D2 wants to be a bio major, and we took it off her list for this reason). But I’m sorry, I can’t remember where/what gave us this impression. I will look around and see what I can track down.</p>
<p>intparent = Sadly, we haven’t visited both universities. That’s why it is increasingly difficult to make the choice. Actually, his father wants him to go to loyola university chicago, because he has a partial scolarship, and because he feels living in a city like chicago, is more beneficial for growth as a person, that going to what is supposedly a better university, but that’s a whole other story. If it were up to him, at the moment he would like to go to claremont mckenna, and from what i’ve read, it seems that it is a better fit for him, but we’ll see, hopefully he’ll be happy wherever he goes!</p>
<p>Here is where I got that impression about Vassar (post #21 on this thread)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1035344-lacs-strong-biology-departments.html?highlight=vassar[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1035344-lacs-strong-biology-departments.html?highlight=vassar</a></p>
<p>This whole thread might make some useful reading, although it is aimed more at a kid who wants to do biology research than go to med school. There are a lot of links to interesting statistics. You will see that CMC has a very good acceptance rate to top law schools.</p>
<p>If you want him to be happy, I would let him follow his preference in this case (while you “hope he will be happy wherever he goes”, the odds are certainly better of that if he goes where he prefers). These are all pretty decent choices.</p>
<p>“or he wished to major in biochemistry for premed, whereby he can take his classes at pomona”</p>
<p>Actually, he would not, and pretty much CANNOT take classes in these at Pomona. There is a joint CMC/Scripps/Pitzer science center where he would take classes, created because Pomona was overwhelmed, and unhappy about filling up their science classes with non-Pomona students. (That’s what the Pomona admissions people told us, and reconfirmed by the Scripps ones.)</p>
<p>I vote for CMC! The relatives in Chicago will not be much more help to him at Vassar. The friends on the East Coast has little relevance either, except for vacation times, perhaps. Student life revolves around the campus. If your son is thinking more about seeing his friends in other places, it will be difficult for him to get connected to Vassar.</p>
<p>It’s not going to be that easy for him to get home either way, and certainly not often. I’ll bet that at CMC, he’ll make friends and get invited places for breaks. </p>
<p>Both great schools, but very different choices. It seems to me that if he doesn’t like the Vassar community, he’ll feel more stuck, but if he doesn’t like CMC, he’ll have more options within the consortium. </p>
<p>I would check out the percentages of international students on each campus (although for CMC, I’d look at the overall percentage for the consortium, too).</p>
<p>Is there any possible way for him to take a trip to visit the campuses? This is a decision (albeit a very happy and lucky decision he’ll have to make) that will stay with him forever. They are very different places, and I think if he visited both, got a tour and talked with some students, it would all become clear. Kids get very strong feelings just walking through the campus and talking to people. I know it’s a pain, but you could do it in a week from the Middle East.</p>
<p>CMC is in the insland empire, not really a place of beauty. And a long ways to UCLA or USC where some kids go to on the weekend to see friends, it’s pretty isolated for a college student at CMC. Although I’d say CMC’s have a better educational reputation than Vassar, at least out here in California</p>
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<p>??? I disagree with this wholeheartedly! Claremont is in a gorgeous setting! Most days you have a wonderful view of the snow-capped mountains where the consortium is nestled beneath, and the weather is so much better than it is at Vassar, so the kids are outside all year around. I would characterize the surroundings of the consortium as green and “sparkling” the various times I visited while my son was a student at Pomona. The little town of Claremont and the colleges within it are truly lovely. The smog mentioned in a previous post is not an issue either, as it is only a problem in the summer months when most of the kids are not there anyway.
Transportation is also not a problem at Claremont, as the village is accessible by foot- which has most everything a student needs, and the train station which takes you into Los Angeles is also within walking distance. You will not feel isolated at Claremont. Having a larger student body really helps, (taking the five colleges together), and they really are “together”—the kids often go to each other’s parties and most kids do take some classes across campuses at some point during their four years.
I also think that CMC’s rep is every bit as good as Vassar’s, if not better. I completely get why your son wants CMC. I think he has done his homework.</p>
<p>I want to re-iterate Fendrock’s point: the student bodies and the “vibe” at the two schools are completely different, to the point that it’s odd for a student to apply to both. CMC is businessy, pre-professional, competitive, “if it doesn’t matter for my career I don’t want to learn it.” Vassar is arty and retains some of the sensibilities of its all-female past. CMC for its part retains some of the sensibilities of its all-male past.</p>
<p>“if it doesn’t matter for my career I don’t want to learn it.”</p>
<p>While I agree with the over-generalization to some extent in the differences between the two colleges, I think this is an unfair and untrue statement. CMC students, now that acceptances rates are through the roof, are a very well-rounded bunch of kids. They may have a practical bent, but that doesn’t mean that they lack intellectual curiosity or have no interests outside of their professional goals. </p>
<p>Have you not read any of xiggi’s posts from this board? I’d say he’s a pretty interesting and passionate guy, with interests all over the map.</p>
<p>If I were to ask Vassar and CMC students themselves, I suspect those very happy at Vassar would NOT be particularly happy at CMC, and vice versa, for reasons already cited. (But many students might be happy at either, though they’d get rather different educations.)</p>