<p>Can anyone tell me what sort of cityscape these schools have?</p>
<p>Finances are running very tight right now and these are two we haven't visited (yet). Kiddo has decided he likes schools that have their own campus, but doesn't really care for those that are less defined within cities. For instance, he loved Va Tech, Furman, Alabama and Wash U in St Louis (in the city, but its own defined campus), but didn't like Pitt as much as it was "too urban."</p>
<p>Which types are Case Western and U of R? I'm seriously considering scrapping them from our visit list to save money for applications, but one of his friends just told us he "loved Case," so I'm unsure if we should scrape together the time and money to visit the two of them.</p>
<p>He's planning on pre-med with either a neuroscience or microbio major. He's more interested in the lab than sports or partying. His stats are fine to be competitive to get in (ACT 34). If I thought he might like either of them, I'd definitely see if we could find the money and time, but if I thought he were likely to dismiss them I'd be more inclined to skip them since he has other decent choices he likes and has seen.</p>
<p>We’ve visited both (and my older son goes to U of Rochester). Rochester has a definite and defined campus. It’s got grassy quads surrounded by red brick academic buildings. It’s got a running/walking path along the Genesee River, a beautiful domed library, lots of trees. There’s a large park right next to it. It’s just a few minutes from downtown Rochester and from mall areas. It doesn’t have any little local streets with bookstores, coffee shop, and restaurants though - you pretty much need a car or to take the free shuttle to get anywhere off campus.</p>
<p>I visited Case with my middle son (graduates 2012). The campus was more city feeling - city streets went right through campus, there was a friendly and beloved traffic cop at one intersection of fairly busy streets. The campus is very long and narrow with a north and south end that are very distinct. I don’t remember now - maybe one end was dorms and the other end academic buildings, or maybe one end was science engineering and the other end not? I can’t really remember. </p>
<p>If your son really wants a quintessential college campus, I’d have to say Rochester meets that description much more.</p>
<p>My nephew majored in biomedical engineering (I could be wrong on the specific major) at U of R . Liked it so well that he stayed there a total of 7 years & got a PHd in chemical engineering. Spent most of his graduate career in the lab doing alternative fuel source research. Another great perk about the college is that you can take a class at the Eastman School of music, if musically inclined. My nephew also took a couple classes in their business school while in grad school there.</p>
<p>We visited both last spring, and my assessment agrees with PinotNoir’s. I didn’t care for the Case campus but loved the Rochester campus; DD’s view was exactly the opposite, although she liked everything else about Rochester and they’re both still high on her list (although significant reaches).</p>
<p>We visited both, and this was our take: We liked both, but they definitely have a different feeling. Rochester is just as the other posters said - great campus, friendly, great facilities, but the city just outside the campus is not great, so “kiddo” would be stuck on campus. However, they do have bus tours to other parts of the city to go to events and sites. </p>
<p>We liked Case Western, and we were pleasantly surprised by Cleveland since it’s not the best city to be stuck in. There’s been a lot of renovating going on, and the school is currently embarking on some major projects (too bad one isn’t renovating the old dorms). It didn’t feel to us like there was no campus, however. I thought there was a clear campus, and the buildings were really nice. They have some new dorms/apts. too that were pretty nice. The center of the city was not really near the school - you’d have to drive to get there. </p>
<p>I’d also like to say that although we liked Uroch, it didn’t seem as academically challenging as Case. That was our interpretation - don’t know if it’s actually true. You do get t-shirts if you visit Uroch though!</p>
<p>I have a D at UR. The campus is exactly as others have described–quite pretty, compact and well defined.</p>
<p>UR’s neuroscience program is quite challenging and well-ranked. (D2 is a pre med neuro major; her BF is microbio major. Be happy to answer questions about either program.) </p>
<p>The advantage that UR holds for pre meds is that the university’s med school & hospital is literally across the street from the main campus. A second university-owned hospital [Highland] is about 4-5 blocks away --an easy walk-- on both a campus shuttle and a city bus route. This makes it extremely easy for students to find opportunities to do the medical volunteering expected for med school applicants. </p>
<p>I will admit that Rochester itself isn’t much of a town, but the university (along with Eastman) is a major cultural driving force in the community. There is always plenty of stuff going on on-campus to keep students occupied.</p>
<p>The western edge of the Case Campus is up against the Cleveland Museum of Art campus, with its beautiful lagoon. The northern edge hits Little Italy. The campus has an odd shape, with dorms on far ends. My nephew’s sophomore dorm was nice, near the south end of campus. It was quite a distance from his junior year dorm, which was awesome, part of their new dorm/suite complex. There are some nice green spaces. I really like Case. Neither of my kids would look at it - too close to home. They have a lot of friends who go there, though. Everyone we know who attends Case likes it quite a bit. (Rochester is very nice, too!)</p>
<p>My d just graduated from UofR. We’re from MA. When we visited, I overheard some other parents say, as they looked up the quad to the library, “Now, this is what Harvard is supposed to look like!”</p>
<p>Beautiful campus, and she wasn’t “stuck” on campus by any means. There are shuttles around, lots of activities off campus, and many students have cars.</p>
<p>Thanks all. They both sound intriguing and worth an application. If nothing else we could visit if he got accepted and the finances look do-able (also a consideration). If the economy improves just a tad we might be able to visit in Oct or Nov. We’ll have to look at his class schedule to make sure he doesn’t miss anything too important. If we only have time for one it’ll be U of R based on descriptions, but my ideal trip would combine the two allowing a day for travel between them.</p>
<p>Don’t be concerned if you can’t visit before applications. We didn’t visit Rochester until April vacation, after she had been accepted. (She did interview during one of their college tours.) She fell in love immediately and never looked back. She loved her 4 years there!</p>
<p>"I will admit that Rochester itself isn’t much of a town,'</p>
<p>… I beg to differ. The area has much to offer such as :quaility minor league sports teams in hockey, baseball, soccer, & lacrosse. Museums, festivals, malls, river gorge & falls, lilacs galore. Weather is the only negative but Rochester is consistently ranked high in quaility of living.</p>
<p>I hope OP and posters won’t mind this small hijack, but I feel like there are some knowledable URoch parents on here. Has anyone found published data that provides more than this [University</a> of Rochester : Financial Aid](<a href=“http://enrollment.rochester.edu/financial/undergrads/scholarships.shtm]University”>http://enrollment.rochester.edu/financial/undergrads/scholarships.shtm) as far as merit money is concerned? The school publishes “Fact Books” which contain some but definitely not all of what would be found in a typical Common Data Set so I have no idea how many kids get merit awards and what the average award might be.</p>
<p>My first son went to UofR and loved it… BUT the expense took most of my retirement savings (no lectures, please…). I in general do not recommend going broke for ANY school.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my second son went to the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University and got almost all of his tuition in a scholarship (he had a 33 ACT) that is given based on GPA and ACT/SAT scores. HTC does have a neuroscience program:</p>
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<p>We found the HTC program to be extremely high quality (if very competitive to get into). They only have an average of 2 students per major, and many of the courses in the major are one-on-one with professors (thus the “tutorial” part of HTC).</p>
<p>Merit scholarships: [The</a> Gateway Award Program: Ohio University Admissions](<a href=“http://www.ohio.edu/admissions/gateway/]The”>http://www.ohio.edu/admissions/gateway/) (With an ACT of 34, you get the in-state tuition amount as a scholarship PLUS another $6000 - per year for four years - to offset the out-of-state supplement. And that’s whether you are an HTC student or not.</p>
<p>The Case campus is large, having originally been two colleges (Case Institute of Technology, Western Reserve Univ) now merged. So there are large city streets to cross, but in nice University Circle area, with museums, hospitals, symphony hall etc. But there is definitely a campus-y feel within the campus parts. </p>
<p>DS found it more sprawling/large than ideal, but that would be true of many other campuses too. There are shuttle buses available, especially helpful in the bad weather. </p>
<p>Case stayed on our list a long time due to their generous merit aid offers for high stats. At the time I think the top award is $27,500/year (with tuition about $35K…now closer to $40K). Also, we thought it had an interesting mix of students in techie majors but also interested in music. I made many posts in the Case threads in Feb 2010 timeframe.</p>
<p>We did not visit Rochester. but I’ve heard good things about it. I think they have half tuition scholarships for NMF.</p>
<p>We did visit U of R but not Case, but in April, I sure wished we had done so.</p>
<p>DS, with high but not stratospheric stats, was offered 22,5K merit by Case, 15K by U or R. and also accepted at 2 need only based schools with no money granted. As we live out west, he only did 1 trip back east for 2nd visits to make the decision, and DS wanted to focus on places he’d liked, which did not include Case as he’d never visited. It fell off the list. I still think about that 90K we left on the table occasionally. I think if he’d visited earlier, and felt comfortable with it, it could have been a real consideration.</p>
<p>So, yes, while you can visit in April, things can get hectic then and the student tends to focus in on schools that they are already familiar with and not necessarily want to bring more variables into the mix at that time. If the potential for the merit money is important to you, I say go now. Also, Case historically has had a significantly higher acceptance rate any other school in its range so acceptance is more likely.</p>
<p>We live in a Rocky Mtn state so D2 knew that visiting eastern/midwest schools she hadn’t been accepted to was out of the question. (Too expensive!) She was OK with it. In fact, she was totally OK with seeing a campus for the very first time on the first day of freshman orientation. (Though that ended up not happening because UR paid for her scholarship interview trip to campus.)</p>
<p>I guess it depends on the student and how open-minded/flexible/adaptable/easy going they are.</p>
<p>NMF at UR are guaranteed at least $17,000/year from the school plus whatever NM awards to finalists.</p>