oof amigos I got waitlisted at Rice, Vanderbilt and Cornell… My top three then are Tulane, Case Western Reserve, and Miami University. Any of you guys have any wisdom for me?
@ProllyBrokeSoon Being waitlisted is better than be rejected. They clearly thought you had what it takes to not completely sever ties. The schools that you got waitlisted from are really hard to get into. Don’t give up hope. Good luck with your top 3.
@ProllyBrokeSoon - congrats on having some great options - but of course the answer is “It depends”… so it would probably be best to start a thread of your own and just link to it here. Then we can ask all the “What’s important to you?” questions without derailing this thread.
@CValle - the Haverford pre-read issue has been a hot topic for years. There was a thread a few years ago that was closed because someone wronged by a coach (men’s lacrosse I think) created multiple accounts to refute arguments from multiple perspectives and bash the coach / AD.
I think that Haverford admissions takes fit much more seriously than athletics, and the experiences and expectations of the coach were met with consensus of a different opinion.
When we started college search we tried to find a blend of safety/match/reach and small/medium. D found she liked more urban environments (or at least a college town feel)
Crossed off list - U of Richmond, Brandeis, CMU, UConn, UMass, Georgetown, Syracuse, Yale, Davidson, George Mason, American, Dartmouth
Moved up - U Rochester, Northeastern, NYU, Fordham, GW, UNC Chapel Hill, UDelaware, Skidmore, UVM
Favorite - Pitt, perfect blend for my D of academics/friendly student body/school spirit and hands down the best communication and most helpful staff. Once my daughter saw Pitt and was accepted in mid-October she decided not to to apply to many others, she was accepted to some great schools but never wavered on Pitt. The application process was so nice - rolling admission so if it is on your list you can apply early and have answer before deciding on other apps.
Crossed off-Pitzer and Claremont McKenna.
Moved up-UCLA. Was very impressed by the number of classes offered and the dining facilities
I have two more schools to report on. D and my husband didn’t really know as much about these schools as I do since I’m the one who does crazy research on every school we have seen.
First we saw Franklin and Marshall. It was a perfectly nice school with lots of good things going for it, but we all (especially D) thought it was too small and quiet for her. Everyone felt like it reminded them of Dickinson, another lovely school, but not the right fit for her. Lancaster has some great historical architecture and cute streets, but also some not so nice streets. At the school everyone we encountered was very nice and down to earth. It didn’t have the preppy, rich vibe I was expecting. I loved the admissions office that reminded me of a bed and breakfast with a cozy fireplace. I also loved the school’s dining hall which was very colorful, modern and cheerful. The campus was pleasant, but not as pretty as other’s we have seen. If your kids want a small, LAC with all that entails then you may want to see it. D said she would not apply.
Then we went to Gettysburg, which I thought D would like based on everything I have read. Happily, I was right. It’s bigger than F and M and there were more students walking around and it seemed livelier. The campus layout also was very pleasing. It just felt good. Again, people seemed down to earth and less preppy than I had expected. Greek life seems big, academics seem very good, lots of sporty looking people and lots of happy looking faces. BTW, D did not like the town of Gettysburg. She said it was “creepy”, but my husband and I thought it was cute.
What we learned on this trip was that D really doesn’t want a very small school. It’s kind of sad since I had found some smallish schools that I thought we would visit. I have to rethink everything now. Gettysburg at around 2600 is the lowest she’ll go. However, she would ideally like a school with with 3000-6000 or so. What I’m finding is that there are fewer safeties in that size range. Anyway, it looks like Gettysburg is on the list along with Bucknell, Elon, Univ of Richmond and surprisingly Wake Forest which she didn’t care for last year. Now she’s asking to see it again. Thinking we might now have to tour Lehigh (we walked around once but didn’t tour and she didn’t like the hills, but now she wants to see it again), Villanova, SMU, U of Rochester and maybe Syracuse. I heard there’s a lot of crime at Syracuse now so it worries me.
Cal Poly SLO moved down the list and into the basement of all lists for a multitude of reasons, some fair and some terribly subjective and ymmv. 1) drove through campus night before to make sure we knew where parking lot was and got pulled over by a very ambitious young officer for a “rolling stop” - did not clarify but in NJ this was a pretty damn full stop if you ask me. Was I speeding? No - was I a crazy student? No. I was one of those great OOS full pay types so yeah - I’ll take the warning and smile but you screwed
up Cal Poly - ALOT. 2) Assigned parking is literally across field from cows. Cows. Given my need to tear child away from LA slick schools like USC and UCLA - having a cow was a nail in the coffin. 3) Info session for engineering was a 2 hr walking tour by two engineers who knew nothing about other engineering majors besides civil and bioe. We heard alot about concrete. We have no interest in concrete. It simply was the very worst tour I have ever been on - and dd is my 4th kid so I’ve been on alot tours. Everywhere we were touring was the back alleys of buildings - saw alot of dumpsters. Finally shown a room to talk anout CS (our interest) where they discussed the spectrum of majors from EE to CE to CS to Software engineering - and tour guide couldn’t describe differences at all - it was like they had no training whatsoever so the info was useless and/or made up. It simply looked like a community college with old bldgs industrial style and lots of concrete. In a mad dash to lead us to the general tour, tour guides sped off and lost most of the group. It was halfhazard and walking back to the cows, we knew it was off the list.
Has anyone visited American University? Did it go up on your list or was it crossed off? Do you think my D would like it based on the schools I mentioned up above that she favors? (2 posts up) Thank you.
@citymama9 my D15 visited American and it was probably her least favorite of the many, many schools we visited. The campus is a bit split, felt run down to her, and (though it shouldn’t matter) had literally the worst info session of all schools she visited mostly due to the cheesy film they showed. I know, but it is what it is. To be fair, D15 was much more interested in small LACs than your daughter seems to be so perhaps American would be more appealing to her.
I don’t remember if you posted this elsewhere but has she looked at Loyola University outside of Baltimore? Neither of my girls- D15 or D18- had any interest in visiting it because their interests were taking them elsewhere but I hear great things about that school. It seems like it could be in your D’s wheelhouse for a likely admit type option.
I have to “third” the mention of Carnegie Mellon. Our visit there drove home the point of the differences between a larger research university and the smaller, more “welcoming” feel of LACs. We really didn’t have much help at admissions, our tour guide didn’t show up, no voucher for parking or food in the cafeteria and very little “welcoming” feeling at all at CMU. It probably didn’t help that it was over 90 degrees during our tour, either!
@lr4550 Thank you and great suggestion. I will look into it for sure. We’re kind of limited since D insists on Greek life. I heard Loyola has amazing dorms, fwiw.
@citymama9 My D1 liked some of the schools on your list (Villanova, Richmond, Bucknell), but did not like American at all. Did not like the look and layout of the campus, felt there were too many kids living off campus which was detrimental to the community feel she was looking for. Couldn’t really get a grasp on its identity/strengths.
@wisteria100 Thank you! Very helpful.
Moved down after a visit:
-Colorado College
Beautiful campus but the issue was the block schedule.
Georgetown moved up and moved down all in the same visit. So much to like about that school, but much not to like too. Perspective is a funny thing. First time we looked at it w/D1 we had come from GW, so walking onto the G’town campus was ‘wow - now here’s a nice campus’. This time we were coming on the heels of a New England LAC trip, so on entering the G’town campus, it was more like “where’s the rest of the campus”? Walking through the gates is the money shot - the big lawn, the gothic architecture - it’s really like a postcard, but then… The rest of the place is all walkways and buildings jammed on top of one another. Not a lot of space for all those students. I kept thinking where would a kid go to hang out with a frisbee or an ice coffee - there is no green spaces. Some of those old gothic buildings were wonderful inside and out, some of the other stuff, like the library -pretty darn ugly. The 3 freshman dorms were so on top of one another, I swear you can stick your head out of your dorm window and be in someone’s room in the next dorm!
Info session did a a good job of presenting the college, the different schools, the Jesuit mission, fun facts about G’town and the application process. Really got a good feel for what the school is about, though the presentation was done in a big auditorium by an admissions person rapidly speaking from a podium with no time or inclination to take questions, sort of like she was doing her best Sarah Sanders impression. A big group of tour guides then came for the tour. A bit of diversity, but as they introduced themselves they all seemed to be the same type - big outgoing personas, high achievers in high school, not a shrinking violet in the crop, kind of like the Reese Witherspoon chick in the movie Election.
Tour was very good. Nice mix of scripted and personal stories, though our guide was into putting on a show. But grateful for her projection as there were so many planes flying overhead, at times it made it hard to hear. Though at times that did drown out the slightly annoying alum on the tour! The whole thing kind of gave me a headache. It seemed like a place you would always have to be ‘on’ and a bit stressful.
But at the same time it gave off a friendly vibe. And no doubt the access to lectures and speakers on campus, the quality of professors attracted to a city like DC, the SFS which seems like an incredible part of the college, the commitment to community service and the internship opportunities all were major plusses. The 2 clubs talked about, Credit union and the Corp, seemed fantastic, but also harder to get into then Georgetown itself! And of course the neighborhood is fabulous, but between the internships kids do during the school year and the all the neighborhood has to offer, I got the feeling, that a lot of the G’town experience, including meals, takes place off campus. Which can be great, but if you are looking for a true community feel, may not be so great. I left thinking it’s the perfect place for grad school. Still on the list, but a lot to mull over.
^The constant planes overhead drove me nuts too! I’m glad I am not the only one. The deal breaker for my student was the tour guide mentioning that you had to be in the library by 6:00 a.m. to get a good spot. It just felt like a big pressure cooker where everyone competes to be the busiest/most stressed out.
@wisteria100 We toured GW and Georgetown back to back a month or so ago, and your description pretty much nails our opinion as well. My DS19 preferred GW, thinking Georgetown was not pretty enough to overcome the extra distance from Washington DC “proper” and certainly not a pretty campus on the level of other traditional campuses we have visited. He spontaneously brought up Georgetown as a grad school option after attending GW undergrad!
@amandakayak That was totally our tour of Cal Poly (without the traffic stop). I have done it three times (two for engineering). You nailed it with the back alleys, dumpsters and concrete! Our last was a couple years ago but it was that exact tour by two guys that really didn’t understand engineering except for the class they were apparently currently taking. When we asked about CS, the total info/discussion we got was, “It’s that building over there.” That was it. And it was a sad looking building at that. Like CS was an afterthought and not important to the school or the engineering department there. I hear ya! I wanted to like it one of these times because of the price but just couldn’t. But my Ds did love the cows and stopped to chat with them on the way out.
Moved down:
UC Berkeley - too dirty, Bay Area traffic, surrounding area is grimy…a reach school for her (and everyone else) anyway.
University of Virginia - seemed kind of run down, but bricks and columns etc…She won’t go back east anyway…or get into UVA (don’t tell her I said that).
University of Washington - Nice campus, but just too big. We (mom and dad) liked it. She was like, “Out.”
Neutral:
University of Nevada - Reno: D didn’t like the layout of the campus and the construction - it seems they are kind of limited in how they are growing, but overall, likes the campus Her tour guide was pretty monosyllabic; she didn’t help, which kind of sucks because UNR is a good deal and just close enough to be close, but far away enough to be far.
U of Oregon: I actually anticipated my daughter would love this one, but she was indifferent. But its Oregon, and she loves it up there. And Ducks.
Willamette University - smack dab in the middle of Salem. Pretty campus with a cool stream. Small.
Vanderbilt - she liked all the sorority houses, but that was it. Indifferent. A reach school.
William and Mary - very colonial and Virginian. I loved it. D was meh.
Moved up:
Lewis and Clark - beautiful campus. “It was gorgeous, but Papa (grandpa) lives around the corner, so no.”
Oregon State - She loved it. This is her first choice. Corvallis is a college town. Spread out and looks very traditional. Attainable.
Duke - she was younger when we looked at Duke and in her Harry Potter stage. Whatever. A total reach anyway. “I would love to go there, but I know I’ll never get in.”
Boise State - clean, safe, and close to downtown. Her second choice.
Sacramento State - Hometown school - she was actually surprised at how nice this campus is. Lots of trees. Her last choice. “If I didn’t live here and know a bunch of people there, I wouldn’t mind going there.”
UNC-Asheville - she liked this one. Trees. A great town. I secretly want her to consider this school…but again, the east coast? If we lived back east, I bet this would be high on the list…or SUNY-Oneonta, which is like an mini-Oregon State.
I teach high school, and we always work a college tour or two into our vacations/family visits, so she’s seen a lot a schools. We will tour UCD and UCSC this summer and maybe Sonoma State and Humboldt, but I don’t think it will matter; she wants out of California, and considering what is going on with admissions, I couldn’t be happier; I know kids who have worked doggedly for years only to be shut-out of UCs…it’s brutal. She is also touring Southern Oregon University in Ashland, and Whitman in Walla Walla, Washington which I am quietly optimistic about. However, my bet is on an Oregon school, then Boise State. My kid likes rain and trees or high desert and big sky…UC Santa Cruz might keep her in state…but then again, she wants to avoid people from high school…she’s not a fan of high school.
If I could get her down to Flagstaff to see NAU I would, but we’ve seen plenty.