<p>My daughter is doing some final tweaking of her list, and is considering adding Clark University in Worcester, Mass. as a possibility. On paper, it looks like a solid fit for her --- strong history program, excellent psychology program, enough art to keep her satisfied, eclectric student body, good study abroad.</p>
<p>So, any feedback? This is one school that I have never really considered in depth, so any information or opinions would be appreciated. Also, how bad is the town of Worcester? We know it's a "Gritty former mill town" but that's not an issue as so are many of the towns the other schools she's looking at are. But I am interested in impressions about crime/safety, availability of shops/restaurants, and distance from Boston and Boston airport.</p>
<p>Not going to add much info. but a friends son goes there. He is quite happy at Clark. I believe he is majoring in psychology (which I believe they have a strong program) & he is also interested in film and is able to take classes in that area too. More than that I can't add. He is from Long Island. I do not think it is an overly NY/LI school, but I am sure they get a lot of kids from the northeast area.</p>
<p>Marny, yes, it does look like it's heavy on kids from the Northeast, which might actually give my daughter a little bit of boost in admissions.
She also noted the availabilty of film classes and likes a new program in gerontology they have. They even have a history professor whose specialty is Armenian genocide history, a particular interest of my daughter's. It seems kind of ironic that we never looked closely at Clark before now.</p>
<p>Carloyn, It is a great school. It does not have my what my son is interested in for undergraduate work. He wants business. This is a school that you cannot judge by its cover. I did not find it aesthetically pleasing. I don't think that you would walk to restaurants, but I have read that if you explore (taxi, car) you will find some excellent restaurants for little money. I have heard that they are very good w aid. The students that I spoke with seemed very into their majors and exciting (I did visit). I know
Debruns stated that she or her S visited, and her S is interested, so maybe she will chime in. This school is great for gov, psych, and geograpy/map making (I think). They have smaller class sizes. The neighborhood is not great, but I was not afraid to walk to and from my car at all. Neighborhood is clearly a weak point. I think I would rather be there than somewhere very rural though. Students are really excited about what they are doing, and the enthusiasm shows. The ones we met seemed very happy.</p>
<p>Clark is a wonderful institution. Kids I have known who go/went there have a great experience. However, Worcester is not a particularly pretty city. You have to look underneath to find its charm. There are some great restaurants, (try the Sole Proprietor for seafood if you visit)a wonderful art museum, fine medical facilities, the Foothills theater with local productions. It's an hour from Boston (there's a train). There are other good schools in the City. But - do visit Worcester if you find Clark high on your list after acceptances are in.</p>
<p>Also, an added bonus is that if you do well there ( I think top 15%-not sure it was some time since I was on their website, but it is there), year 5 is free!</p>
<p>Chiming in...: )
My son did like it a lot, the neighborhood when he walked around with his dad was okay, nothing spectacular, but they have some nice places to eat and stores nearby. Living near New Haven, he wasn't as put off by the city as some might be. He also found the students he talked to and the staff the nicest that he encountered on his tours. They will personalize any visit and he is planning in the next month or two, to visit and take a class or two, eat lunch there and get a feel of the surroundings.
I think Clark is a wonderful school, but not for everyone. Some of the students are a little more eclectic than most, but they vary from preppy to more funky. I've talked to a few graduates that went on to great jobs and said they felt very prepared for the "real world" even when they didn't go into something they majored in. One was a manager, one was a professor, one was a lawyer and one was a clinical psychologist. I also emailed a history major that had commented on Clark on Amazon.com's review of Loren Popes' book. She was happy and said that you make your experience what you want. (like most colleges) She said some students complain, skip class, skim by, a good amount are doing research, excited and take advantage of all they can. You choose what you want.
They are also generous in aid and most of the students got generous offers (although some didn't realize how generous)
I'm glad he visited, the collegiate choice video of Clark was AWFUL. He said if he just saw that, he wouldn't of gone. Ask for a view book, look at their site and ask for more info if you need it. It might not be a fit, but definitely worth a look.</p>
<p>Carolyn -- My cousin's son is at Clark and, I think, enjoys it. He's from the Boston area and wanted to stay local. Let me know if there are any specific questions you'd like me to ask him about his experience.</p>
<p>(Speaking of Armenians, a well-known journalist, Ben Bagdikian, graduated from Clark a generation ago.)</p>
<p>Worcester is pretty bad. We "toured" it when we looked at Holy Cross, and I used to work for a Boston store (Jordan Marsh) that had a branch there, so I used to go there now and then. It was a manufacturing town, so of course it now has this distinct defunct air about it, and frankly, feels pretty scarey in places.</p>
<p>Now, I think the town is downright depressing -- BUT -- every college kid I know that goes to school there either at WPI or Holy Cross thinks it is just fine! So apparently they've found those interesting little niches that make college kids happy.</p>
<p>we looked at clark last year for my daughter - she liked it a lot.</p>
<p>they pride themselves on diversity - i have to say, sitting in the cafeteria, we did get a sense that the student population was much for varied and interesting than that we saw at other schools of similar size where we did the "sit in the cafeteria" test.</p>
<p>someone already mentioned their fifth year free program - i think you need only about a 3.25 and then you can stay for a fifth year free. and we asked our tour guide and she told us that quite a large number of students qualified for it and of those quite a number took advantage -- it can be an inexpensive way to get a masters.</p>
<p>worcester - not the biggest selling point to the place. but i have to give the school credit -- instead of isolating themselves from the community they pride themselves on tryng to partner with the community to make things better.</p>
<p>boston is about a 45 minute drive i think -- i think it took about 30-45 minutes to get to clark from the hotel we were staying at for the boston schools we looked at, which was actually a little outside of boston.</p>
<p>My D and I also visited Clark (although it was during the summer). She was interested in Boston "area" schools. We were staying in Boston near Copley Square and drove out to Clark on a Monday morning. It took us a solid hour to get there and that included probably ~40 minutes of pure highway driving - not close to Boston. We did the admissions office thing and toured the campus. It's small and compact and we had visited other small LAC's but this one felt hemmed in (I attribute it to the lack of a football stadium and other athletic facilities that give that kind of spread out feel to a campus). I didn't think the immediate surrounding area was too bad. My D is a psych major so Clark had a major pull because it is considered as having one of the best undergrad psych programs anywhere. My D also loved the diversity of the student population and felt she would fit in very well academically. We left the campus and tour and interview feeling like this might be a possibility.</p>
<p>We had time left before our plane home so we decided to explore Worcester a little and headed downtown to the brand new "mall" - I think it was an outlet mall. As we drove away from Clark to downtown, I began to feel very uncomfortable but didn't say anything to my D. We went to the mall and to say I got creeped out would be an understatement. My D and I split up and agreed to meet later. I have to tell you as I walked through that mall, I got really unnerved about her being in there by herself (and she was 18 at the time and had done plenty of things all by herself) and I pretty much panicked and backtracked to find her without waiting to meet her because I was too worried about her being by herself. It was not a pleasant feeling. </p>
<p>As we drove away we talked about our uneasiness and that was, frankly, enough to turn us off to Clark, although she did feel a sense of disappointment because she did feel it was probably the best place for her academically. At the end of our college visits, my D decided that her ideal school would be one that had Clark's academics with Boston College's campus in Wittenberg's location.</p>
<p>Hi Carolyn-I have not posted for a while, but figured I would pass along our impressions of Clark/Worcester during our visit last spring. Bear in mind that our visit was colored by the fact that we had driven 5 1/2 hours from home in the pouring rain.
1. The Admissions Office seemed a little overwhelmed. They were quite busy because it was Spring Break for high school students. However, the Admissions rep. at our info. session seemed clueless about the fact that there was a "new" SAT, which concerned me.
2. Lots of posters regarding an upcoming seminar on how to prevent sexually transmitted disease. You could either applaud the efforts to be proactive in this area or be turned off (as S was).
3. Science facilities seemed very nice-other buidings seemed a bit dated.
4. Students were friendly and "crunchy granola" in appearance.
5. Worcester is a depressing city. There are some interesting ethnic restaurants within walking distance of campus, which intigued S. However, most of the city seemed like a ghost town, and our tour guide mentioned issues with car break-ins. The Hampton Inn where we stayed was so bad that I got extra Hilton Honors points after I complained to Hilton! Keep in mind that D goes to school in a major city (St. Joe's in Philly) and that I went to school in another lovely former industrial city (Schenectady, NY), so it takes a lot for me to be put off.
I am sure Clark is a fine school-they seem to have some terrific programs-it just was not Son's cup of tea.
By the way, I chuclked when I saw one of your earlier posts about D putting off the writing of the college essay-I keep asking son about the Common App essay and keep hearing "I'm working on it." He has applied to all the state schools on his list and did those essays (which were much shorter-1200 character max), so I guess I should be thankful.</p>
<p>Bxian,
Funny! I was just thinking about you yesterday and wondering why you haven't been around. Good to "see" you. </p>
<p>Everyone, thanks so much for the comments on Clark. We read back through the live journal for Clark, and, yes, there are some definite concerns about safety (one freshman was talking about a recent shooting near campus for instance). However, my daughter likes enough about Clark to take a chance and add it to her list - she sent in her SAT scores yesterday and will apply. If she gets in, we'll visit and take it from there. </p>
<p>(Although, as an aside, I am feeling like I will go insane if I have to do another round of college visits in the spring. :) )</p>
<p>Carolyn, hopefully there will be wonderful offers to consider that will invigorate you for another round in the Spring!</p>
<p>My son is also interested in Clark. Others have already commented on the diversity, academic strengths, and the neighborhood, so I'll add a bit from our perspective. </p>
<p>Worcester has some nice park-like areas, esp. around WPI and Assumption, and the Worcester Centrum hosts many concerts and other events. While Clark is in the more gritty part of town, one positive thing is that there are good opportunities for community involvement and internships via the active partnership the college has with the city. You can read about the University Park Partnership on Clark's website. </p>
<p>Clark belongs to the Worcester Consortium with several area colleges, and you can take courses and attend events at any of the other colleges. Not sure how well this works, nor how much interaction there is between the schools. It is not a college town like Amherst.</p>
<p>Clark has an interesting core called Perspectives in Learning, where a student takes one course in each of six areas. The course listing had many unique and intriguing courses which would appeal to a student with a broad range of interests.</p>
<p>In our opinion, Clark is a hidden gem that would be much sought after if located in a more desirable city.</p>