<p>RootBeerWriter, not sure what you mean. Harvard is a solid 40-45 min walk from MIT, the two are in very distinct areas of Cambridge.</p>
<p>@Aniger âŠIâm not sure what you mean haha. I definitely could walk by a Harvard building and ten seconds later walk by an MIT building.</p>
<p>^^^^ I think you got confused somehow. That is not the case.</p>
<p>Eh, who knows, maybe I did (and it sounds like I actually probably did). Oops! In any case, Harvard isnât in my future, for undergrad, anyways. :)</p>
<p>Re the comment about having exams the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Nothing wrong with that- much better than the week AFTER. UW-Madison specifically reminds students/parents (significant number of east coast students) that the Wednesday before the holiday is a regular school day and teaching staff is not expected to make exceptions. It happens to fall during a common exam time- the 12th week for classes having 4-8-12 or 6-12 week exams. There is already limited time to teach so much, no room for wasted days (as in, nothing we cover on Wednesday is worth sticking around for). The semester needs to start in September (some silly state law enacted a few years ago) and ends awfully close to Christmas. They do have a policy for students to accommodate their religious holidays.</p>
<p>âBoston College-I just didnât like the campus-it was desertedâ</p>
<p>What time of day and what month were you there? The dorms at BC arenât mixed in with the academic buildings, so the area where the academic buildings are is not going to have many people except M-F, 9-5. As for the people being unfriendly, thatâs kind of how it works in the Northeast.</p>
<p>âI thought [Princeton] was snooty and pretentious.â</p>
<p>Isnât that the whole reason for going to Princeton? I think itâs even in their charter that they must be snooty and pretentious.</p>
<p>@Schmaltz-We went during the summer, so that definitely explains it and probably wasnât fair at all to say it, but I just didnât like the campus. As someone from the South, Iâve found that most schools Iâve visited in the North have had lovely tour guides and wonderful people.</p>
<p>missypie: I live in the middle of New Jersey and Sperryâs have taken off here tooâŠno idea whyâŠ</p>
<p>"most schools Iâve visited in the North have had lovely tour guides and wonderful people. "</p>
<p>I think âNorthâ typically includes the Northeast and Midwest. Wouldnât surprise me if the Midwesterners you met tended to be nice. Would surprise me if you found Northeasterners were friendly.</p>
<p>âI definitely could walk by a Harvard building and ten seconds later walk by an MIT building.â</p>
<p>Here is a map showing the campuses of Harvard and MITâŠthey are quite a ways from each other.</p>
<p><a href=âGoogle Mapsâ>Google Maps;
<p>@Schmaltz-haha ok, ok, I made a mistake! My apologies! White flag is raised!</p>
<p>Has anyone crossed off a school due to the being in a rough part of a town? We have a couple schools that fall into that category. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins, Drexel, and Penn are all in areas that make people think about safety. My daughter did not apply to Hopkins because of its neighborhood.</p>
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<p>Thanks MD Mom⊠I just never really thought about it until I started visiting and asking around. I guess at the end of thee day we just have to trust our gut!</p>
<p>^What about USC? Havenât visited yet, but people say itâs in a super bad part of town.</p>
<p>Anybody?</p>
<p>Like with many of the colleges in bad neighborhoods, at USC thereâs a bit of a buffer zone between the college campus and the combat zone that surrounds it. Sort of the modern version of a moat.</p>
<p>"My DS always thought Texas was the place (UT) - couldnât get out of their fast enough. Too much, âIf you are out of state - youâll be lucky to get in. Lucky to get a major.â etc. Found it totally off-putting. "</p>
<p>Matermia, what would you expect from UT - they have the same attitude towards Texas students too!! lolol!!! (there is a reason - that ten percent rule has UT forced to take in way more freshmen than it wants to, but it canât get completely out from under it. Our decision is not right for everyone, but for my D, I would NEVER put her in UT as a freshman. It would be a horrible fit for her. Grad school, were she accepted, at UT, would be different though.)</p>
<p>~ as for Sperryâs in Texas - yup. D has some which she cherishes as this family is not real big on spendy expensive brand names, but she swears they will last her a long time. Whatevâs, I let her indulge in one or two things like that a year.</p>
<p>Oh but we do have plenty of lakes though with lots of boats on them. Though I donât think thatâs why anyone is wearing them.</p>
<p>Hijack over.</p>
<p>USC is such a fabulous, wonderful school! I think you should ask your question about the USC neighborhood on the USC forum because it has been asked before with a longer thread response. There are schools in better neighborhoods (UCLA in Westwood, for example) and schools in worse areas (Penn, etc.). USC neighborhood is not a reason to dismiss this great school.</p>