Sorry, that was said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, although those bubble teas are terrible drinks.
In any case, I’m loving reading about everyone’s thoughts on all the various colleges across the country. Most of which we’ll never visit, but please carry on. And thank you for posting. 
Here I was thinking my kid would be living off campus in an ok neighborhood because chai is available (according to the big sign in the window - I’m not fond of the stuff.) I’m clearly old and waaaay behind the times. Now when I drop her off I’ll have to check for bubble tea.
LOL, @OHMomof2 … The Economist has their Big Mac Index… maybe the Fiske Guide needs some sort of Boba Quotient.
Fiske could hire my D18 to assist with the Boba Quotient. She has fully researched the quality and accessibility of boba establishments near every college she’s visited so far.
Boba Quotient definitely worth adding to the metrics for college rankings. I only mention Boba because this is what students want these days, though many still like Starbucks.
Thanks @Corinthian for the map of the village. Wow, now if that’s not “college town” worthy, I’m not sure what is.
You people are SO behind the times. Boba is so yesterday, even old school. The latest and greatest here in the Bay Area is Icicles. Thai rolled ice cream.
Alaska watches the discussion of cold in Wyoming and upstate New York and chuckles softly.
(For context, google “UAF 50 below” and click images…)
And to make this post fully on-topic, the University of Alaska Fairbanks may be our instate flagship, but it was off the list for our children based simply on the fact that you have to go outside occasionally.
@SedgwickSt, we have twin DD’s that just started at Hamilton. Both looked at those three plus many similar schools and found that Hamilton was the best fit for both an amazing academic environment and a very caring community - what you felt on the tour is real as they spend a lot of time picking smart, down to earth and caring students. Our DD’s are both in doubles in different Freshman dorms - we didn’t hear anything about lots of quad arrangements, but it’s possible. PM if you would like more insight as it’s a great choice.
I used to work in Claremont near the schools and felt pretty ‘meh’ about the town then.
I bet you’re ‘meh’ about Disneyland too.
Claremont got a lot of development in recent years so that may be influencing views. If you visited a decade or two ago, it was quite boring. The village significantly expanded in 2008, and there has been a lot of development of more college friendly restaurants in the last few years. I was there from 2012-2016 and found Claremont to be great. But I also appreciated that I could just hop into a train and get to Downtown LA in under an hour.
As far as I know, the first-year “quads” at Hamilton consist of the two-room suites reserved for the 64 students who choose the REAL program.
Yes, the quads we saw at Hamilton had two rooms- one room with beds, and a large common room with desks, sofa, etc. They looked nice to me. Three room triples are common at Williams as well, also with spacious common rooms.
The Freshman dorms we saw on the tour of Williams were ranked almost dead last of 19 tours my son did. He still talks about it as the low bar. It’s possible they have great housing options too but it’s not what they showed on either tour we did a year apart.
At Bowdoin, every single student is guaranteed housing with separate “common rooms” (i.e. living rooms) from Freshman year on. Even doubles have 2 rooms, one for the beds and dressers and one for the desks, couch, chair, coffee table, etc. By sophomore year you’re basically getting converted apartment buildings with kitchen and bathrooms, even for doubles or triples, and all the triples have 2 bedrooms.
My D just started at Hamilton as well and she (and everyone in her dorm) are in quite decent sized doubles, and there is also a lounge/kitchenette space on each floor. When we toured, we did see the “quads” mentioned and I believe @apple23 is correct that that is housing specific to the REAL program.
Hamilton shows the ‘quad’ a lot on tours.?The one we saw, and others have commented on too, was inhabited by 4 really messy guys, so when the tour group entered, it was hard to find an empty spot on the floor to stand. Kudos for Hamilton for being authentic though. I kept thinking that if 4 neat girls lived there, it could be a really nice space. D did a camp at Williams and stayed in a dorm with a roommate. It barely fit the stuff they brought for a week! Did have a common room shared with neighbors though. As for Bowdoin, the dorm showed really nicely, but was told freshman get mixed in halls with upper classman. Halls were narrow and rooms not directly across from each other, meaning there is not a lot of hanging out in the hallways which is a great way for freshmen to meet others and build community. Not many rooms on each hall either, so it’s possible you could be on a hall where there could perhaps be only 3 rooms of freshman your sex (some halls are coed), so if you don’t connect with those 6 people… Aesthetically, the Bowdoin dorm looked great, for practical purposes, I’ll take an older more traditional laid out dorm for a better frosh experience.
@wisteria100 For the vast majority of Bowdoin Freshman, they stay in specific “Freshman dorms” that are all Freshman except the one “proctor” per floor. There is a newer building that most of the Freshman housing that has some extra capacity for non-Freshman but this is the exception. And because that building is newer and mostly doubles, it’s not considered a burden to get it; just the opposite. They have a ton of ways they socialize the Freshman in the same dorms. Most of the multi-day Freshman-orientation is done with your floor of Freshman and proctor. And every Freshman dorm is affiliated with one of the social houses (former frats) that organize activities. I personally found the lack of too many rooms per floor to be one of the benefits, not a drawback. I went to a huge school with very large dorm floors. Never knew the vast majority of the people on my floor, let alone dorm. With smaller groups, you get to know the people on the floor and dorm better and have a reasonable ratio of people competing for the common resources like bathrooms, shower rooms, laundry, etc. Most of the Freshman doors have 60-80 each, which seems like a good size.
We toured Williams twice so far, the most recent time just two years ago. Both times the dorms they showed us for Freshman had no common area per room – they had standard 1 room setups with some kind of hard floor surface (not carpet and not wood).
I’d think common areas per room would not encourage kids to go meet others. My kids spent much of the first year studying, eating and otherwise hanging out in the dorm lounges, there was one per floor and a big one on the first level for parties.
@citivas Thanks for the clarification on Bowdoin. Perhaps I heard the tour guide wrong.
I think for any school, judging housing by the 1 dorm you see on a tour can be a mistake. If you see a freshman dorm, it may be the bottom of the barrel, if you see an upperclassmen dorm, it may not be representative of what you will actually get. Best to dig deep on that topic, once you have actual choices to make
Has anyone been to any southern schools that have gone up or down on their list? Schools between Virginia and NC, preferrably? Thanks.