My d didn’t like Yale either. This was a big sUrprise as she had been enthusiastic about the visit. We were traveling to Maine for the summer so we had our dog. Virtually everyone glared at our very well behaved therapy dog. At Vassar we felt like we wanted to plant ourselves on the gorgeous campus. It is a 1000 acre arboretum. D loved it. Except you aren’t allowed to climb the trees. At Dickinson they even have a dorm where they train service dogs - that went over big with D. Campus was lovely despite construction. Loved the red adirondack chairs everywhere. Loved Brown campus too. Intimate courtyards in the middle of the city. Very nice feel for a city campus. Brandeis was depressing 60’s-70’s architecture. I realize it was summer, but there was zero vitality on the campus. D canceled her tour. Bowdoin had an all around good vibe. Town is quintessential college town on Maine coast. Very nice people. Friendly, impressive admissions staff.
Son wouldn’t even look at Yale years ago when H and he made an east coast trip- it could have on the way with the rental car going from Boston to Princeton. He also refused to see the Harvard campus when in town to see MIT. Did not go to school on the east coast.
@wisteria100 , re. “Penn State and UMD are ‘bigger names’ than Fairfield because they are big sports and big party schools. Not necessarily known for ‘big’ academics. I get that prestige matters to kids, but it is all relative. I think a lot of kids may assume that the smarter kid would pick Fairfield over the other two.”’
Isn’t part of the appeal of UMD and Penn State for smart kids the fact that they’re major research universities? And @barrons thanks for the info from the WSJ list.
I just looked at Naviance for the numbers for accepted students from my son’s school, and for UMd, average GPA is 92.2, average SAT is 1320. For Fairfield, GPA is 90.7 and SAT is 1309. So it looks like the kids accepted at UMD are a bit smarter than the ones accepted at Fairfield. Penn State numbers are a bit lower, 89.9 and 1298, but it’s not clear whether all the accepted students are going to the University Pk campus or whether some are headed to satellites like Altoona,
Just anecdotally, though, at my son’s school, Fairfield is not highly regarded. In fact I know 2 kids who are attending and they’re great people but better known for their sports or artistic talent, not honor roll type kids.
^^^I just want to comment that having a higher gpa and/or test scores doesn’t necessarily mean a kid is smarter. Sometimes you see higher stats due to better prep, tutoring, hard work, focus etc. You really need IQ tests in order to see who’s smarter. Just my opinion.
@citymama9 IQ tests are definitely not perfect gauges of intelligence either.
^^^ schools aren’t looking for the XXX most intelligent people in the group of applicants. Smarter is better, but its just part of the overall evaluation.
Naviance has some good data, but all of it needs to be taken as indicative, not fact.
@happy1 You’re right. I thought of that as I was writing it, but I wrote it anyway, lol
Never heard of Fairfield- but not from that region. Public flagships typically have top HS students from their state as well as the others- not everyone wants or can afford a private U.
My D21 crossed off University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, the moment she heard our tour guide announce how students don’t have time for fun stuff because of studying and then added that there was no football team. She realized that she wanted a full college experience that balanced academics with major athletics and a vibrant social scene. This helped me reduce her college list greatly.
My son crossed UMD off the list. The school was lovely looking when we drove through the campus, but the surrounding area turned him off immediately. It probably didn’t help that as we were pulling up to the school a man was hanging out of the passenger side of a car screaming and yelling at us while giving us the middle finger. Plus, we drove all the way there to find out our visit was cancelled due to snow (we live near Buffalo, N.Y. - we know snow). Everything went wrong with that visit and there was no saving it.
Clarkson also came off the list because he found it to be too rural.
Crepes…really? One, I wouldn’t declare UMD’s students superior to Fairfield’s based on the modest differences in scores you mention and Two, no reasonable person should base their judgment on schools relative quality on one high school’s naviance results. Anecdotally, Penn State and UMD aren’t having banner years given the recent tragedies at both of those schools.
re: post #2049, is UColorado - CS really that academic? It’s not the impression I have. I would think the ability for fun on campus is limited more by the fact that only a small percentage of students live on campus vs. it being do to academic rigor.
Harvey Mudd was deleted from the apply list after a visit. Sheer number of beer/alcohol bottles was just too much
^^ Wow, really. I’ve never been on campus, but the people I know who went there seem like they’d rather be hacking away on a computer than partying.
^^ Must have been unfortunate timing, but first impressions…
Belongs on the dumbest reasons list.
Maybe. HMU started off has his #1 then fell off his list entirely (with a thud). I guess the good news was that he was accepted at the university that moved up to the #1 position. And he is very, very, happy there.
When I read these anecdotes, I have to ask, “really?!” I mean, did the tour guide really say "student’s don’t have time for fun"as quoted, or was there an interpretation of something else? It is mind blowing on multiple levels.
For many HMC students, those activities are not mutually exclusive.
Yep, the tour guide really blurted that out. It was unfortunate. We went to another college in Colorado and my husband struck up a conversation with the barista at the campus cafe about how he liked the school, etc. And the barista said it’s great until finals when you have to walk around stressed out bawling nursing students. Uhm, big alarm bells as our daughter was interested in studying nursing! Seriously, can’t make this stuff up. So my advice is to talk with random folks you happen to see on campus visits. You can learn some insightful info.