<p>Endicott said…“Despised UVA for some reason, though it is also beautiful. Insisted that every class was gigantic.”
I find this interesting. 85% of UVA classes have under 50 students. Your freshman econ may have 250, but so will every university with 13,500 students. We found their class sizes to be relatively small, office hours & TAs really available. Having said this, there is no accounting for how an impression gets into a students head. Once it’s there it’s almost impossible to reverse. They have moved on, usually for good reason… it just didn’t ‘feel’ right.</p>
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<p>Your daughter would be right on the money with that one, MOWC. The music school facilities were housed in an old building that was deteriorating and probably not physically good for many of the instruments (such as pianos). There is a new music school facility being built, to be named after the recently-stepped-down president (Bienen) and it’s long overdue.</p>
<p>I’ll only mention D’s opinion of the schools that admitted her:</p>
<p>Penn State (main campus): THUMBS DOWN. GIGANTIC football stadium and campus bus system (the place is way too big) kids in dorms yelling “We are Penn State!” turned her off. The overdose of school spirit and the smell of football had a negative effect on her.</p>
<p>Dickinson: THUMBS UP until we came to the campus dining hall. Felt like a high school cafeteria or a prison dining hall. Everybody in one big sterile room. Too bad. The dorms were great. Upper class, on campus housing options were to die for.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg: THUMBS UP. Compact (fewer than 100 acres) but interesting campus with a very impressive athletic/health club type facility and a theater arts facility, all very impressive for such a small LAC. </p>
<p>Cornell U.: THUMBS DOWN. Beautiful campus, really good food, but if it’s so big you need a bus system, it’s too big. And no one was smiling.</p>
<p>Oberlin: THUMBS UP. The perfect campus. Perfect number of students (2,800). Big enough to be interesting (440 acres) and make a bike a useful tool, but not so big to require a bus system. Town integrated into the campus instead of the other way round. About seven dining places on campus—a monster-sized selection compared to other LACs, including a multicultural dining hall (where she goes every Sunday night), and a Friday night Shabbat meal at the Jewish Center.</p>
<p>Lehigh: THUMBS DOWN. The hills were killer. The surrounding high-crime neighborhood didn’t help, nor the center-right political vibe on campus.</p>
<p>She went with her heart and picked Oberlin over the Ivy. The total absence of a Greek system was a huge plus. She’s a freshman and thrilled with her choice.</p>
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<p>What a misleading statistic, though. Fifty students is a big class, but there’s a worse problem. The relevant number is not how many classes have under 50 students, but what percentage of the class slots are in classes with 50 or more students.</p>
<p>Here’s an illustration. Suppose there are 85 classes with ten students in them, and 15 classes with 250 students. Then 85 percent of the classes have less than 50 students. However, 850 students are in small classes, and 3750 students are in big classes. Those small classes don’t do any good if most students can’t get in them.</p>
<p>S was also very turned off by too much hype about any school. He did end up at a school that regales many with its alumni network, but it hasn’t been much of a factor for him…yet. It did tip in D’s favor for an internship last summer. :)</p>
<p>It is so funny how different my son’s opinion has been from mine on schools. </p>
<p>UVA - Son absolutely loved. I thought was way too big and depending on what dorm you ended up in and what classes you chose it could be a very, very long walk. Was his # 2 choice after Conn College and he got denied anyway. </p>
<p>Washington & Lee - I loved the feel, son hated the surrounding area. Did not apply.</p>
<p>Tufts - both son and I left after about 20 minutes. Going into senior year this was his # 1 choice, and after the tour he chose to not even apply.</p>
<p>Connecticut College - we both loved and it is now his # 1 choice. He has now visisted twice, and is visiting a 3rd time in April and it is a perfect fit for him. Problem is, he is waitlisted. Working hard to try and get off of the waitlist, it is perfect for him.</p>
<p>Georgetown - I didn’t like, thought it felt crowded. He really liked it. </p>
<p>UPenn - I loved, he had no interest. Didn’t think he could get into an Ivy so didn’t even give it a chance.</p>
<p>Swarthmore - We both liked. But admissions counselor during visit told him that the kids generally work very hard and have very little free time so there is no need to have activities to do outside of campus and that really turned us both off. I doubt it was completely true, and maybe they thought telling us that would entice him, but it did the opposite. He didn’t end up applying because of the visit.</p>
<p>We also visited St. Michaels, Merrimack, Trinity, Colgate and Florida State and really didn’t care for any of these colleges and didn’t end up applying to any of them. To be honest I think he was so set on attending Conn College that he again didn’t give any of these a chance.</p>
<p>His safety school was Florida and he got accepted. Don’t really like the campus, way too big and spread out and doesn’t have the typical campus feel. Also, in one of the books we have it is ranked # 1 in the lease amount of time students spend studying. Don’t like that state. He is accepted and will attend if we can’t figure Conn College out.</p>
<p>Keep at it. Conn College needs boys. Can your GC make a call? Do you have anything else to send?</p>
<p>I pretty much forced my son to apply to Case Western Reserve. Since we’re from Cleveland, it wasn’t high on his list.</p>
<p>I’m very familiar with the campus and like the urban location and artsy vibe, but I had not been in the dorms for over 35 years when my best friend lived there.</p>
<p>As soon as we went through the dorms my son said, “No way.” They do have some new dorms for upperclassmen that are very nice (and VERY expensive), but the freshman dorms looked just like I remembered them from ages ago. They are terribly small, dark, and institutional looking. Even I agreed that I couldn’t see him living there.</p>
<p>Also, as someone noted earlier, the campus is divided by Euclid Avenue, a very busy main road. Plus, you have all the traffic from the University Hospitals campus to contend with. Parking is a nightmare.</p>
<p>The other problem was that the rec center was on the opposite side of campus and with the windy, cold winters we have, it would have been a real pain to get to classes and the rec.</p>
<p>D crossed Occidental off her list after visiting. It looked perfect on paper, but something about it in person just didn’t feel right to her. We even visited twice, one year apart. She didn’t like it the first time but I convinced her to go back this year. Neither of us felt it was a good fit for her this time.</p>
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<p>Next weekend by any chance? I know that’s the next admitted students days. And there’s another later on. Try a “If accepted, I will attend.” letter. </p>
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<p>Crossed ASU off my list with finality after eating the food at Manzy over the summer. Awful, awful, awful. I never wanted to stay in-state to begin with, but the idea of having to give up and eat froyo every day didn’t appeal to me.</p>
<p>I looked at a lot of California schools and am currently a senior. Im going to be really honest but i dont mean to offend anyone if that is their school!</p>
<p>Stanford: Dream school since i was 5, didnt apply tho based on my grades (im a mid tier UC grades type of girl). LOVED LOVED LOVED the campus, gorgeous! but students seemed stressed</p>
<p>Sonoma State: Was going to be my safety but I HATED IT! I went on a weekend to see how the campus would be since i wouldnt be coming home every weekend and i saw three students TOTAL. Its not even in sonoma and it smelled. Crossed off my list that day. didnt apply.</p>
<p>UCSC: GAGGG. HATED THIS SCHOOL. We spent 2 hours looking for the bookstore, the campus is a confusing mess. The buildings are too spread out, needed a bus system. I also didnt like the vibe of the town, Santa Cruz. too many homeless people in my opinion. didnt apply.</p>
<p>Berkeley: too many homeless people. too many grad students. i kept asking to leave. didnt apply.</p>
<p>UCSB: fell in love with the town, campus, weather, school. LOVED this campus, im praying to get off the waitlist. The school has a great vibe, large campus but not too spread out.</p>
<p>UCSD: loved the campus! it was beautiful and in a great neighborhood. i felt very safe on campus. close to the ocean and the weather is amazing. students looked happy and satisfied, good food. Applied and rejected :/</p>
<p>UCI: biggest suprise of them all. LOVED the school. housing was amazing, food was amazing, vibe was amazing. its in a great location (five minutes to the airport, ten to the beach, fifteen to disneyland) and i felt very safe on campus. great weather and the students seemed to love it. there was a wide selection of food and places to eat. building were new and the campus was clean. most likely submitting my SIR here, but hoping for SB waitlist.</p>
<p>UCD: applied and accepted. nice campus, did smell like a zoo. the housing was really nice (segundo the best). the ARC was cool but overall i just didnt get a connection to the campus but the students i talked to RAVED about how AMAZING the school was. they seem really happy.</p>
<p>Santa Clara: pretty, removed because it was too small</p>
<p>SLO: nice campus town, good vibes, didnt have my program i wanted</p>
<p>San Jose State: didnt like it very much, campus was just there. nothing special, not the best area. i didnt feel safe.</p>
<p>SF State: bad area. didnt want to be in an SF after being there for a half hour</p>
<p>What is UCD?</p>
<p>^ UC Davis</p>
<p>D2 crossed Bard off her list about 10 minutes into the info session. It looked like <em>such</em> a good fit for her on paper, but the admissions staffer really put her on the spot about not knowing anything about Bard’s graduation requirements–D2 felt shamed and couldn’t get out of their fast enough.</p>
<p>D-before admission apps. Swarthmore, Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, Colgate, University of Denver, Colorado College, Macalester.</p>
<p>After accepted student days, Wellesley, Scripps, Occidental</p>
<p>New Paltz- she did not want many of the NY state Schools, but even though the town had a great vegetarian bistro, the college was a turn off due to the dorm arrangement, coed floors, and kids walking around with beer. too much of a party scene.</p>
<p>With our son, we visited VMI, Siena, Syracuse, Geneseo, SUNY Brockport and Bucknell. </p>
<p>Siena, Geneseo and Brockport had pleasant campuses, but did not appeal to son; he said “just not the right vibe” for him. </p>
<p>Bucknell: He felt so-so about; none of us was happy about the fact that Greek life was such a big deal there (about 50% of the student population.)</p>
<p>Syracuse: We all really, really liked Syracuse - a lot. Why? Great campus, great energy, emphasis on social responsibility, students and faculty who spoke to our group were very impressive.</p>
<p>VMI: Son’s #1 choice, clearly because it is a senior military college, and that’s what he wants to do. We were all very impressed with the academic program, 11:1 faculty:student ratio, faculty, campus, liked the proximity to Washington & Lee, and the town of Lexington. Since we come from a rural community, the small size of the student body (while almost 4 times the size of son’s high school) seemed more of a fit. We’re going back for an overnight visit next weekend before signing on the dotted line!</p>
<p>I crossed off completely Dartmouth - hated it so much. Greek life was far too big, and the students seemed apathetic.</p>
<p>Interestingly, my son loved all the UCs, except Santa Barbara and San Diego.</p>
<p>He also crossed off his list Oregon State and Southern Oregon State for the same reason: too much military presence on campus. Fell in love with U of Oregon, however.</p>
<p>A few years old but here are colleges that were visited:</p>
<p>University of North Texas: Nothing really stood out. A commuter school that no one that went there was really proud of. It was just boring and you really didnt feel wanted. Usually lower quality schools try to sweet talk you so that you go there but UNT has all of North Dallas going there so they really don’t care to impress anyone with any special scholarships and things on campus. </p>
<p>Stephen F Austin State: Really liked the small campus and new dorms (but the old freshman dorms were terrible). I liked all the trees and the upgrades they were doing. Overall the biggest problem was the student body. Lots kids that probably could not get into anywhere else and lots of people that go there so party 24/7 freshman year and than drop out. Terrible freshman retention. Def. a waste of a nice campus. </p>
<p>Texas A&M University: I knew this wasnt the place to go since the best part of the entire trip was the new dining hall and the cool tray return they had going on. LOL. It was an o.k. campus but not nice looking at all. Very boring (similar to the student body). The spirit of the place was cool but overall I would hate to spend 4 years with they type of students that end up going there. Very conservative.</p>
<p>University of Texas-Austin: Way too many people. Terrible on-campus housing. Pretty much everyone lives off campus. Austin is not really a “college town” since the university is in the city. If you like city life, I guess this would be a good place to go. Austin has a nice nightlife but lots of the stuff is 21 and up. Great live music scene. Overall, nothing special…but I could see it as a great place to go for grad school (not so much for undergrad)</p>
<p>Texas Tech University: Loved the Spanish architecture and the student body. Lots of pride and you could tell everyone was pretty happy to be going there. Great Honors School program and great for students looking for the “college experience.” Lots of social students from all over the Texas (on neighboring states), great gameday experience, and lots of opportunities for students to take advantage off. Ended going to Tech.</p>