<p>Momsdream- The earthquake comment made me laugh. We have always lived in earthquake country so we don't think (wrongly) that they are something to fear. When my son was in grade school he had a ton of fears. One was natural disasters, any thing from earthquakes to hurricanes etc. One day he announced that he wanted to move to Detroit since he felt there were no natural disasters to fear there. He had no clue as to where Detroit was and he pronounced it with a long e. I think he was about 7 or 8 at the time.
My D and husband also toured GW and GT. They both loved GW even though they were not expecting to. D will most probably apply. They also felt like the info session was one of the best that they had attended. They also visited the Mt Vernon campus and liked it.<br>
A good friend is a senior at Georgetown. He is definitely on the preppy conservative side. He tends to dress quite nicely, sweaters and nice coats. Not the jeans, shorts and sweatshirts that I tend to think of as the standard uniform of the college student. The friends he has made tend to also be preppy and seriously into their studies but also serious about one day making serious money. He has loved his time there and it sad that it will soon be over.<br>
Momsdream- has your son visited Emory. It was on D's initial list but she has taken it off. I have heard from several people that you need to visit before you decide as people feel strongly one way or the other about it.</p>
<p>Funny about the earthquake comment. My first reaction as a lifelong Californian to all the bricks in Boston and Cambridge was "how unsafe!" It took a day or two to relax even though I knew that there would be no earthquakes there. You will not find much brick in California. Very lovely back east though.</p>
<p>As for our visit to Chicago... it was the last of the five schools we visited which gave us a nice perspective by which to judge it. I had a good feeling after researching the school that it might be right for S, but was prepared to be disappointed after seeing four incredible colleges, three of which looked like fits for our son. The campus is as gorgeous as Georgetown's, with ivy covered walls and lots of gothic stone architecture, many huge trees with leaves turning colors. No traffic running through its center, more like GT in that respect.</p>
<p>We arrived on a Friday about mid-morning, and yes Mstee it was Parents' Weekend... we saw them everywhere and spoke to a very nice family from Austin in the airport while waiting in line for the rental car. We parked in a parking garage that serves the new Children's hospital and walked toward the student union building to get an early lunch. As soon as I stepped into the building and looked around at the students sitting at tables with books, coursework, laptops... either alone or in pairs or trios, discussing, arguing, etc... my heart started pounding. It's hard to describe, but the kids looked like my son. They were wearing casual nerdy type clothes that he favors, and the snippets of conversation I overheard were intellectual in nature. It was as if the bagel shop and adjacent dining area were alive with ideas. You could feel it. And yet, the building was old-style, lots of wood and sunlight coming through tall windows. It was casual and comfortable, not a stressed out or clinical or overly commercial atmosphere. We ate our bagels practically in silence, just soaking in the character of the place. We then walked around for a bit to kill time before his interview. The kids we saw looked content and nerdy. Appearances are not the big thing, it seemed.</p>
<p>We got to the admissions office and were greeted by the nicest receptionist of any school I've ever visited. It was bedlam, with kids and parents, but she handled everything with a big smile and made S feel right at home. The admissions reception room is in the big library building and is downright cozy. We left S waiting on the couch and headed to, where else, the bookstore. This bookstore was also run by Barnes & Noble but it was less corporate looking than our local B&N or than Yale's. </p>
<p>We went back to the admissions office after an hour and were surprised that S wasn't done. After another 10 or so minutes he walked out with his interviewer, an assistant admin rep. He was practically glowing. She introduced herself to us and we chatted a bit. S was to wait in the waiting area because he was spending the night with a student host in the dorms, but I pulled him out to the hall to get the scoop on the interview (knowing I wouldn't be able to stand it if I had to wait till the next day to ask him). He said it went perfectly. He felt very happy and confident that he had been able to get himself across to her and talk in depth about what was important to him. We left him with his sleeping bag and headed off to our hotel room downtown, feeling quite hopeful. </p>
<p>The next day, we took the tour in the pouring rain. It was a tough tour due to weather (it was thundering) and due to the fact that 90 percent of the visitors were 9th and 10 graders from a Wisconsin outreach program. Most of the kids were very uninterested, not even looking at the student tour guide when she spoke. She later confided to me that it was the hardest tour she had ever done. We then followed up with the info. session, which had been bumped from its usual meeting room to a small upstairs classroom. The kids sat around a huge wooden table and the parents and siblings sat wherever they could. It was pretty crowded. The admissions rep gave the absolute best presentation I've seen yet. He went off over the course of an hour on a funny, poetic, intelligent, heartfelt, wry and at times passionate rant about U of Chicago, the types of kids they are looking for and the types who would fit in best there. My eyes actually teared up while watching my son listen to him because I could see S being truly content here (even while getting his behind kicked academically.) I have always said I wanted to find a CTY like college for S and listening to the admissions rep made me think that I had found one.</p>
<p>A couple comments stood out: "In looking at applications, we try to imagine not who you are when you walk through the door, but who you will be four years from now." Also, while addressing the "fun" issue, he said, "It's not unreasonable that out of 3 million students graduating high school this year that 1,100 of them really get excited about ideas and read books and want to share those books with their friends. That they love to learn and think that's fun." </p>
<p>We left that day relieved that Harvard had met its match in our S's eyes. I know that Chicago wouldn't be the right place for our D, or for me or H for that matter (if we could go back in time). But it seems a good fit for S. I'm so glad we visited. And so glad it's not a super reach for S. He actually has a good chance of being admitted, I think/hope.</p>
<p>Momof2inCa...I have really enjoyed reading your "college visit trip reports". Besides the first hand accounts and information.....I feel happy hearing how your son has found schools that have his name written all over them. Here's to a positive outcome. He surely has explored and seems to know what he likes. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Carolyn,
Thank you! We have come a long way from last year at this time when I first found CC. Best wishes to your 2nd D, too.</p>
<p>Momsdream...that's funny about the earthquakes but probably a lot of people feel that way. As someone who has lived and studied at Harvard and Stanford, I feel that Stanford on the surface is less intense, but I am not sure that there is a real difference. I think that geography and climate, and the percentage of students from each coast at the two schools, have a far greater impact on the nature of the two schools than one might think.</p>
<p>Momof2inca--what a great post. I liked your description of the kids being "content and nerdy." I think that describes my S there, and the kids he was hanging out with when I was there this past weekend. I was trying to put my finger on what was different about him, because something definitely did seem different, and I think it is that he looked so content and relaxed when I was there (he actually seemed better looking than I remembered, LOL). I think that he has found a place where he really fits in, maybe for the first time in his life.</p>
<p>And, boy, yeah, the bricks. We drove back and forth from the Midway airport several times, and I just couldn't get used to all those bricks. Had the same thoughts as you guys--these are not earthquake safe buildings!</p>
<p>That was a great write up on UChicago. We haven't yet, so I appreciate you sharing your vision. That's too bad about the thunderstorm and the Wisconsin kids ruining the tour. </p>
<p>Mom60, we haven't visited Emory yet. We're going to hold off until after the ED decisions come out in Dec. If ED doesn't work out, we'll surely visit. Son has attended a local info session and done a significant amount of research. </p>
<p>Re: eathquakers and other natural disasters: not only is son resfusing to consider Stanford because of the earthquakers, he also won't consider Miami because of hurricanes. Mom60, funny that you son wanted to move to D-E-troit to avoid disasters. My son wanted to move to Vermont because he saw a show that ranked the safest cities in which to live. For years he vowed that he would move to Vermont when he was older. It's interesting. Although they've grown up, they still carry some of those concerns with them as young adults....and make life-altering decisions because of them.</p>
<p>Momof2in Ca--I agree-great write up. Thanks! Chicago's one of my son's EA apps, too, and we won't get to visit. We just have a pretty awful video to watch. But one of the short essays he submitted with his app talks about how he thinks Chicago would be a lot like his experience of CTY--as contrasted with his high school where intellectual curiosity and excitment are cause for ridicule--and that's why he wants to go there! So it is wonderful to see you say that. I'll share your post with him. Now I hope more than ever that he has a positive response from them!</p>
<p>Momof2inca, what a wonderful post about Chicago, I want to get my daughter up out of bed and read it, it sounds so much like her! She really, really doesn't want to be in a city, and wouldn't even seriously consider Chicago, but I thnk if she got there, she would never want to leave anyway! YOur descriptions are top-notch.</p>
<p>Momsdream, I wondered when someone would bring up hurricanes! I guess a blizzard in Vermont wouldn't slow him down?</p>
<p>I think people not from SoCal often get frightened of earthquakes way out of proportion to the actual danger. We do get a occasional shaker that cracks some windows and maybe causes some brick chimneys to fall down, but anything beyond that is pretty rare.</p>
<p>The natural disasters to really worry about here are wind-driven wildfires. Last October here in San Diego we had disasterous fires that destroyed about 3000 homes and other buildings and killed 17 people. We've NEVER had an earthquake that destroyed 30 homes, much less 3000.</p>
<p>momof2inca -- I can't help but wonder why no visit to Columbia?</p>
<p>Momof2inCA: I'm terribly amused by your idea that there are no earthquakes in Boston. In the 1700s there were multiple earthquakes in Boston, and in fact the 1755 earthquake caused chimneys (yes, brick chimneys) to fall down. Because Boston building codes don't address potential earthquake damage, Bostonians may suffer more injuries than Californians for the same amount of quake. (<a href="http://geology.about.com/library/bl/blboston1755eq.htm%5B/url%5D">http://geology.about.com/library/bl/blboston1755eq.htm</a>)</p>
<p>Geologists will tell you that the largest earthquakes ever in the lower 48 occurred in Missouri (New Madrid) in 1811 and 1812. <a href="http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/prepare/factsheets/NewMadrid/%5B/url%5D">http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/prepare/factsheets/NewMadrid/</a></p>
<p>Oh, and during my time on the east coast (which added up to 37 years), I nearly drowned in Hurricane Diane (PA) (my mother forgot about me when it started raining during my sister's wedding, and left me in my bassinet), had four trees fall around our house (MA) during Hurricane Gloria (none hit, none missed by more than 5 feet!), had a friend's house nearly destroyed by Hurricane Bob (also MA). Oh, and a tornado hit the next town and destroyed several houses (MA).</p>
<p>Detroit has a few deaths every year from snow, and they are also in the tornado zone. (See map at the end of this article: <a href="http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/users/brooks/public_html/concannon/%5B/url%5D">http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/users/brooks/public_html/concannon/</a> )</p>
<p>I felt an earthquake in Boston in 1982 (I think--I know which apartment, so I know about when). After we moved to CA (briefly) I kept thinking I'd experience an earthquake there, but never felt one until we moved to WA--when we were promptly hit by a 5.0 right after we moved into our house--with pictures still leaning on the walls! Since then we've also rolled through another 5 and a 6.8 (Nisqually earthquake) centered 10 miles from my daughter's school.</p>
<p>And should I mention the volcanoes up here in the PNW? I remember reading about Pompeii when I was a kid and thinking those people were crazy.... and now I live in a volcano zone. For a while, we also had a condo in Hawaii, so I lived in <em>two</em> <em>different</em> volcano zones.</p>
<p>Well we are getting better at gauging volcanic activity and I haven't even had anything damaged by earthquakes and I have lived here all my life, but let me tell you I drive really fast on the aurora viaduct ( not scared enough to avoid it though, best public view of the waterfront in the city)</p>
<p>Coureur, you and I just both live in denial...maybe you have never had a major earthquake, but we lived through 1989 Loma Prieta and perhaps you have forgotten the people crushed under the collapse of the highways? On the other hand, it is interesting that all the USGS geologists who live here and are predicting a major earthquake in our area and that it is overdue, do not seem to be moving. </p>
<p>Our homes tend to be pretty earthquake safe--single story, wood structures that just get cracks most of the time--but the problem is that one could be crossing a bridge at the moment the Big One hit. </p>
<p>I don't plan my life around natural disasters but I do understand those who do.</p>
<p>Patient:</p>
<p>I know someone who was in the Stanford library when the Big One hit. He was practicing yoga (don't ask why he was doing it in the library) and never even realized that the earthquake had hit the library!</p>
<p>Mstee -- It was at Chicago that I finally understood the true meaning of "fit." There are all sorts of kids in the world and all sorts of colleges that might be right for them. Some kids might need a general fit, others, like my son and probably yours, need something much more specific or precise. I think that when they find the right school, they become more of who they truly are instead of more of who they might be if only... It relaxes them. Yes, the kids at Chicago looked content (and brilliant and maybe a little dorky and passionate and interested/ing). The feeling I got seeing my son in that environment was the same one I had the first time I picked him up from CTY camp as a seventh grader and saw how relaxed he looked even while surrounded by peers: profound relief that he does, in fact, have a place in this world and that he will not be alone because there are others like him. Parents of children who make their way rather easily through school (and you can count me in as one because S's younger sister is an easy-going, social butterfly who makes her own happiness wherever she goes), probably can only imagine what that sensation is like. That's why I had to wipe my eyes while watching S at the info session, sitting at the long wooden table listening to the UofC (philosophy-major-turned-architect-grad-student) admissions rep say: "A great education is worth tripping over. If you come to Chicago, you will trip and it will be worth it."</p>
<p>CTYmomteacher -- (your screen name could be mine; I'm a teacher, too) -- what years did your S go to CTY and where? Wonder if they crossed paths at all? S went four years, first two to Loyola, one to Skidmore and one to Johns Hopkins. </p>
<p>Cangel -- the nice thing we noticed about U of Chicago is that it is quiet. It's in Chicago but surrounded by Hyde Park and residential neighborhoods. It's quieter than Harvard, which seemed to have fire and police sirens blaring through campus every half hour, lots of honking and traffic. On Chicago's campus, surrounded by the incredible architecture and towering trees, it's downright tranquil (at least it was on the Friday/Saturday we visited).</p>
<p>kiddielit -- Why not Columbia, you asked. We researched urban universities with excellent political science programs that were medium to small size. I think Columbia sounded a little too big to S, and its name didn't appear on the poly-sci lists that my H researched. </p>
<p>dmd77 -- Oh, yikes. I'm so glad I didn't ask about this before our trip. I remember being in the parking garage at our hotel in Cambridge and saying to H "This place would collapse like a pancake in an earthquake." Then we laughed, because it was so ridiculous to think about an earthquake in Boston. Thanks for the enlightenment. (But I'm still going back to Boston first chance I get... that place is incredible, two days is not enough!)</p>
<p>Momsdream -- I so happy for your son that he found a school he loves enough to apply ED to. I'm betting that he gets in. From your posts months ago, he sounds like such a fantastic kid.</p>
<p>I was interested in seeing how a couple of you have kids who were turned off by Georgetown. My son was also. He went through the informational session. It was high on his list before visiting, but afterwards he refused to even apply. I wonder what it is that turns some kids off so much. I wanted him to apply to a bunch of other schools, but he said he refused to go anywhere that was more than 6 hours drive away. Mapquest ruled out my two favorites (rats). He did get into several schools that my H and I preferred. But he ended up decided to go to GW. As a sophomore he absolutely loves it. He loves the energy of the town and the other students, and thinks the professors are great. Oh, well. As long as he's happy. I'm actually beginning to like it too. He and the other students feel it is ranked lower than some other schools by USNWR because of the high percentage of GW profs who are part-time. But the students don't seem to care about that. Frankly, as a parent, I'm pretty happy that the kids seem to spend more time fighting about politics and philosophy, than they spend in drinking. Or is that just for appearances . . . .</p>
<p>Momof2inca:</p>
<p>Wow! You make Chicago sound so attractive for nerdy kids! I've heard great things about it, though never visited; S will apply before having a chance to visit because it has such great academics, especially in his fields. BTW, S also went to Skidmore, summer of 2002</p>
<p>I had to laugh, though, about your description of Harvard's noise. The Yard is right across the firehouse, and yes, there are fire trucks and ambulances coming out all the time. I remember many summer concerts at Sanders Theatre when a fire truck came blaring out. In spring, though, the main threat to concentration is the open windows while the lawn is being prepared for Commencement.</p>
<p>Mom2--I'm actually a CTY mom and a CTY teacher--hence the name. I've been teaching for them for sixteen years now. </p>
<p>My son was at St. Mary's City in 2001 and 2002 and at Lancaster in 2003. He's done distance ed, too, In fact, that's the only way he got to do math this year, as his high school doesn't get past Calc AB. Has yours done any writing courses?</p>
<p>Marite:</p>
<p>Yes, I'm a believer in Chicago now that I've been there. I really hope S gets in. His stats look good and seem to make UofC a match school for him, but they aren't a stats kind of place (don't even use SATIIs), preferring to put more emphasis on the intangibles that come across through essays and recs, in addition to the transcript. He's working on his third essay today (I'm thrilled with his first two short ones; only made a suggestion on one word, which was not the case for some of the common app and National Merit essays that he wrote earlier, which I thought were good but maybe didn't tell enough about him as a person) We'll get everything out on Monday, which is the EA deadline (for postmarks). Our trip to visit colleges ideally would have come at the beginning of October to give him more time to work on an EA school, but his week off was the 3rd week. From what you said about your S, I'm confident he would feel at home at Chicago, but I don't know much about their math department, which I know is his area of interest.</p>
<p>ctymom --
S did an EPGY distance math course through Stanford in 3rd or 4th grade, but until his sophomore year in high school he absolutely hated to write (we were convinced he was a math/computer kid). Then something changed and he embraced the humanities and writing, dropped math after Calculus in 10th grade and decided to become a science fiction writer, as I recall. Now, it's all about politics... who knows what it will be in a couple years. How fortunate for you to teach at CTY.</p>