<p>Consolation: We had the same info sessions Adcom at Tufts. He was hysterical. And yes, had some really solid advice about essays and the application process in general. He is a gem for the school in my opinion. Then again, we visited Dartmouth that same weekend and son fell in love despite their being some hair exhibit - which was pretty much the grossest thing I’d ever seen.</p>
<p>LOL, I wish we’d gotten that guy at Tufts! The Global Citizen thing - was that Tufts? Some school had this slide show playing in a different room from the info session. Was that Tufts or Brandeis? It’s all sliding into each other.</p>
<p>H took S on the west coast college tour 24 hours after getting all S’s wisdom teeth pulled. (yeah, yeah… lack of communication between the responsible parties. In my defense the teeth had been scheduled to go for 6 months.) In the final analysis Berkeley and UCSB were eliminated. Berkeley for the student vibe and Santa Barbara for the lack of business education and temptation of epic surf that is evilly timed with finals. But I must note he wasn’t in love with his final choice, USC, until he did further research/interviews with the business school.</p>
<p>We had the same guy at Tufts!! If only they were all that good and that memorable - he really did a terrific job!</p>
<p>Our D crossed off CalTech after visiting for their open house. She was unhappy with the male to female ratio and the fact that when she asked about their athletics program someone actually just stammered. I think he started to talk about intramural paint ball. She mumbled “lame” under her breath. It was too nerdy for her and she felt uncomfortable on campus. She wouldn’t even buy a tee-shirt, which she had done at every other school she visited. As we drove away, she said that she wouldn’t go there even if they paid her!</p>
<p>On the flip side, she LOVED, LOVED MIT.</p>
<p>I would have thought D would have been happy with the male:female at Caltech! I guess it’s the old ‘odds are good, but the goods are odd’ conundrum. </p>
<p>DS absolutely loved Caltech. First and only school that has piqued his interest so far. Hoping he’ll fall in love with some of his match/safeties this week during our upcoming grand tour.</p>
<p>ihs67: I would have thought so too especially since she went to an all girl high school. I think the ratio was so lopsided that she felt conspicuous. She also is a bit sporty which also felt out of place. Ran five miles five days a week all through high school and on track team since the fifth grade. Oh, well… my H and I were impressed by the school and all it has to offer. If CalTech is your S’s first choice, I wish him the best of luck!!! Our D ended up in a really great place for a nerdy, sporty, artistic girl. She is having the time of her life while working her butt off.</p>
<p>It seems funny in a way, but for schools that are so similar, Cal Tech and MIT are very different. My own inclinations lean toward MIT as if it were a thought experiment for myself or for my D.</p>
<p>S2 loved Caltech when we visited several years ago for S1, unfortunately he’s not a math and science guy, so it’s not on the list. The only student to get into Caltech from son’s class was female - she seems to be happy there. Pasadena is a lovely place to run. Amusingly Carl Lewis once did some sort of photo op at the Caltech track. It was so incongruous!</p>
<p>The best Caltech incongruity of all is watching Elle Woods walking through the campus at the beginning of “Legally Blonde”.</p>
<p>S1 sat in on a philosophy class at Caltech when he visited. Came out and said the class was too mathy for him. (He’s a math major.) Felt the instructor was making it mathy only to keep people awake, and not always successfully, at that. S did learn he likes his humanities pure and unadulterated, so it was not a fruitless visit by any means.</p>
<p>D crossed off Sarah Lawrence. The info session was not conducted by admissions personnel but by a senior student who appeared to have just rolled out of bed and arrived 20 minutes late for a very short session. The student appeared bored and was unenthusiastic.</p>
<p>This thread reminded me of how I posted analogies to the blind men and the elephant tale on the UW-Madison thread. What you perceive depends on what you happen to encounter- tail/rope, side/wall… Some campuses are diverse and large enough there are significant minorities in which to find your niche. I also dislike uniform red brick buildings whereas others are horrified by the character I see in many styles… I’m also hearing about a lot of east coast colleges familiar to many of you I never knew existed (just as you couldn’t list the colleges in any given midwest state). Keep the impressions coming.</p>
<p>Caltech - please visit the dorms before you make a decision. My d hated Caltech because of the dorms and would not ever ever apply there. The students are permitted to paint whatever they want on the walls, including in the common areas, and she found their artwork to be very offensive. They also allow pets in the dorms - cats I think. She loves cats, but doesn’t want them in her dorm.</p>
<p>
This reminds me of my reaction to the Mt. Vernon campus at GWU. Maybe my expectations were set too high by the descriptions I’ve read of this campus as “bucolic” and so forth, but I was expecting a lush, leafy, pretty kind of place, and instead found what looked like an upscale but somewhat cramped garden apartment complex, all brick and lawn and surrounded by a depressingly character-free residential neighborhood. I can’t imagine being such an urbanophobe that you would prefer this vanilla little chunk of suburban nowhere to the vibrant and elegant neighborhood of Foggy Bottom. But obviously many people are, and do.</p>
<p>My daughter originally thought she wanted to go to school in a small college town in the South. Here’s how it went:</p>
<p>Didn’t like:
Duke: Too preppy, quiet and manicured. Tour guide was too nerdy.
UVA: Too focused on Thomas Jefferson and the past.
Georgetown: Too pretentious and Catholic.
Syracuse: Too hard to get to. She was done before the small jet landed.</p>
<p>Liked:
American: Felt friendlier and more welcoming than Georgetown.
UNC: Loved the campus and thought the students seemed friendly and down to earth.
UMD: Spent a week for a summer course and loved the big, exciting campus. </p>
<p>Ended up at:
Penn: She agreed to visit to humour her father. She didn’t think she wanted an urban campus, but loved the hustle and bustle of the campus in the city. I asked if she minded the surrounding noise (honking horns and sirens) and she answered “what noise?”.</p>
<p>“Had no interest in Cornell initially, but liked the size and students she saw in the dining hall. She felt they looked like kids from her high school, she felt she could fit in easily.”</p>
<p>^ ^ My kids also thought that the kids looked like the kids from their high school. That was the problem!</p>
<p>Swarthmore: Their tour guide couldn’t get the room open where he was to speak. Someone suggested he call the admissions office. He said he did not have a cell phone. A parent handed him one. He did not know how to use it.
That was it for both of my kids. (Has been a high priority visit for one … we left during the tour.)</p>
<p>Rochester - Kids all seemed nerdy.</p>
<p>Wesleyan - Had a small road that really bothered one of my kids. Said roads did not belong on a campus. Also, admissions officer was pompous.</p>
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<p>I completely agree. The Mt. Vernon campus is truly awful - certainly not an inspiring traditional campus. GW needs to stick with Foggy Bottom. If I get shunted to the Mount Vernon campus as a freshman (if I attend GW), I will either transfer out or fight for a room change! How terrible.</p>
<p>I wish I could figure out how to quote here! </p>
<p>“UVA: Too focused on Thomas Jefferson and the past.”</p>
<p>Kids are so funny - that’s exactly what moved it to the top of my d’s list! Same with William and Mary.</p>
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<p>To quote, copy a phrase into your reply. Then insert the word quote in square brackets like this before the phrase, and /quote in square brackets after the phrase.</p>