@Rivet2000 - Yes, the “High Performance and Education Dinners” have only recently become open to all undergraduates, but this is only after 7:15pm. My understanding is that they are available to athletes anytime and that before the availability of these “High Performance and Education Dinners,” there was a dining program called “Training Table” for athletes.
Also, in response to new NCAA rulings a while ago, because of their “new food programs… we can provide unlimited meals to all varsity student-athletes.” Moreover, with the opening of a new “Farm Stand” and access to those special dinners at other hours, athletes have access to more and better food options. It’s nice that some of these options are also sometimes available to non-athletes as well.
What’s even nicer – and also a new development – is that now Arillaga Dining Hall is open over spring break (which was not the case prior to this year). This, of course, benefits low income students that remain on campus and need to eat.
Not sure how accommodating the dining halls end up being for people with extreme health issues – I know a sophomore that ended up having to more into a Mirreless apartment to accommodate her special dietary needs. (Compare that to the dining hall at Pitzer where one student I know about has a dedicated pantry at the dining hall and they use separate pots and pans when preparing her food.)
At the end of the day, suffice it to say that one doesn’t go to Stanford for the food.
Interesting. S has severe food allergy and Ricker hall has met his needs. Also, he can order food in advance, can order box meals for off campus activities, has key access to special snack pantries at locations across campus. He feels very comfortable there.
DS and I ate at Bowdoin last Friday evening and the food was phenomenal!! Not only was it top restaurant quality, there were also a lot of healthy choices, not so healthy but delicious desserts, plus a whole separate Passover menu. If only he hadn’t been waitlisted
Clearly tour guides have set routes and certain points they are supposed to make. But you can tell when a tour guide is fully reciting and script versus adding a lot of their own material. UVM is famous for it. With S17, eight families started the tour. We peeled off after 45 minutes of utter nonsense including 15 minutes of her talking about sewing a costume for a play. S19’s tour covered the exact same stops but the points made were vastly different.
At Syracuse our tour guide was telling something about one of the buildings and another tour guide (group was standing by ours) said “I didn’t know that…dude that’s cool”. Unscripted and totally endearing.
@Totoros Yes, the food is great at Bowdoin and the dining hall itself is also very nice. So many dining halls seem chaotic and uncomfortable, it’s hard to imagine eating 3 meals a day for 4 years there, even if the food is good, but at Bowdoin the ambiance was good too!
This one I think would get a big ‘no’ from the NCAA. The NCAA watches what boosters provide to athletes and usually try to keep outside things to those which are open to all students. No discounts on cars, clothing (although lots of swag given to the entire team), vacations, transportation. It was taking a plane ride to talk to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that got Bo Jackson suspended from finishing his baseball career in college. He never forgave the team or his athletic department for making the mistake. If the stuff comes through the team, they can take it. My daughter has tons of work out clothes, fleece jackets, gets a cleat allowance, warm ups, shooting shirts. She doesn’t get to keep the uniform, and the coach has never provided socks or mouth guards. She will not get a gold ring.
The books are picked out for the students if their scholarships cover books (basketball, football for sure).They have to use the money for books in the bookstore, not ipads and ear buds and all the other fun stuff the bookstore sells.
It was only 3 years ago that the NCAA let meals be unlimited, and that non-scholarship athletes could participate at practices. If bagels were plain, they were a snack. If they had cream cheese, it was a meal. The football team could supply 3 meals and 2 snacks per practice day, but not to non-scholarship athletes. Those guys were starving.
The one smart thing the NCAA did was get rid of all control over food. If one school wants to serve surf and turf every day, that’s up to that school and its budget.
Most of the Power 5 conferences give a stipend to their athletes, and it is a lot more than $100
Moved Down: Colorado College. Was his top choice after an overnight in fall. After 2 day (amazing) accepted student event, S said “something is just not right.” Most kids there are into social action, rock climbing and other outdoor adventures. He’s more of a hang with friends, play bb, wants “real frats” (much to my dismay). Also, he learned a lot of kids who are premeds have to take a “gap year” to finish prereqs due to block plan lottery system. (Beware premeds). (Still my favorite and it’s closest
Amherst - Up. This school really surprised me. Thought it would be snooty, elitist, waspy and it was none of those things. Instead it felt inclusive, diverse and vibrant. The campus while certainly very nice and well laid out was not as pristine as I was expecting. Had a lived in feel. But perhaps they spend so much money on financial aid, that grounds and building upkeep are not the priority. New science building that is almost finished looks beyond fabulous, dorm we saw was very nice, food was good, athletic facilities disappointing. Saw lots of interaction between staff/professors and students on walkways and in buildings/cafeteria which gave off a very nice community feel. Lots of hustle bustle on campus. Tour guide very articulate yet genuine and interacted with some other students along the way so got to hear from a variety of students. Info session - hands down the best I’ve seen. A very understated admissions person, spoke without any visual aids, about the history, the academics, community and inclusive nature of the school without boasting, bragging, comparing, using theatrics or jokes, yet the message he delivered was one of complete excellence. He should really give lessons. Good location, cute college town. Consortium makes it feel bigger than it is.
Williams - also Up. But it was a little funny, because when we first got there, we were like no, don’t like this. But as the day went on and as subsequent days passed and we had the chance to reflect on the school, if I had to pick only one word to describe it, it would be Spectacular. Just seemed like they do a really great job at everything. The entry system gives off a close community feel, the tutorials and student/teacher ratio give you a sense that students really get to know and develop bonds with professors in and out of the classroom. The Jan term sounds really fun. Had been there a few years ago, so seeing the addition they put on the library was a Wow. Campus was pretty, though not the prettiest lac I’ve seen, but everything was extremely well appointed and had a shiny and new feeling. While Amherst is like your rich, old uncle who re-soles his shoes every year, Williams is like the rich, old uncle who buys a new pair of Gucci loafers every year! Info session admission person was a little forced but she was joined by a very relatable student who had lots of great experiences to share, Tour guide was fantastic, full of energy and able to deftly handle inappropriate questions from parents with aplomb. She did talk about sports a lot, despite not being a varsity athlete, and definitely got the feeling that sports is a point of pride there – they like to win! And they seemed to have a lot of athletic facilities. One negative we encountered, was quite a few hand made signs on campus alluding to friction between students of color and white students. Tour guide did not address that. But all in all a very, very impressive (spectacular) place. But you have to buy into the location, which is remote and the town quite small, so definitely not for everyone.
@wisteria100 You’re killing me. Just when I’m looking for reasons to take both of those schools off of the list, you write glowing reviews!..and it’s so hard to get into these two schools for an unhooked boy from the Midwest!
As far as the quality of the dining hall food, please keep in mind whether the student is likely to be eating it for one year or 4. A student can put up with mediocre food for one year. However, if the students are expected to live in on-campus residence halls without kitchens and are forced to buy dining hall plans in their upper class years, that makes a very big difference.
I have to agree with a few others about Cal Poly food. Ugh. We ate at two different spots and both were meals I’d rather not repeat. The Mexican food had NO flavor.
@homerdog Willliams is a "jock school. My niece, a nice midwestern girl,and I junior at Williams,
signed up for a hike, up in Vermont her
first year, and it was a four day, marathon, backpacking adventure, that left her exhausted and knowing she was not a jock. She says “Williams weather beats the midwest for grey, cold, and totally miserable”. She does not like the English department at Williams, and she actually tried to transfer out of Willliams, but decided to stick it out once she found the history department. She is on a study abroad,in a larger European city, and so happy to be out of Williamstown. Its hard use air fight to get there, , gotta fly to Albany NY and Albany is a tiny place with few flights and many of them will be cancelled in the winter. A car might help there, to occasionally drive the four hours to Boston?? truly isolated and boring, unless one wants to ski and hike. My niece takes a bus to visit Boston, so thats possible. Its so tiny and while the connections are really good to Wall Street, my niece is not suited for that type of NYC career, she may head to a nonprofit. Its not a good fit for a city oriented/ intellectual student, so much, but she is involved in mock trials, and thinking about law school. Its an odd place, Williamstown, for a non boarding school, non jock city dweller like my niece. Its truly disappointing to her, as they do such a good job on the tours, selling itself.
S17 was flown by Kenyon to tour after they admitted him. He visited on a warm spring day yet found the campus atmosphere very sad, kids walking around solo, not even looking up from the ground. There was no life, just a subdued atmosphere.
-Yale: Information session included an entertaining admissions video that showcased the creative side of the college (can be found on youtube), and the admissions counsellor had useful insight to application and college selection process. Campus was gorgeous and seemed connected within itself while still separate from the surrounding city.
-Wellesley: This was a notable visit! Parking was close to the visiting office. Waiting area was cozy with couches, refreshments, and information booklets. Information session was a small group in a conference room, and students sat at a conference table with Wellesley students while parents sat at the sides of the room to emphasize importance of students. The students were even each asked to introduce themselves. During tour, students were again encouraged to walk in the front of the group with parents in the back (students came first in terms of importance). Overall facilities and feel on campus was great. Dorms were considerably large. Will return to visit classes, eat in dining halls with a student, and attend an interview with an admissions counsellor.
-UMass Amherst (unofficial tour): Honors dorms were incredibly nice as they are relatively new. Though campus is hilly, the exercise was great to burn off the stellar dining hall food (ranked highly, healthy options, multicultural options, vegetarian/vegan options, everything under the sun). Has a unique library that provides a good view of campus from upper floors.
Moved Down/Off
-Penn: Information session was incredibly generic. Didn’t like the city vibe- smelled bad, felt too exposed to outsiders, there were hot dog vendors on the streets next to educational buildings. Tour was good and college seemed like a good place, but wasn’t the right fit.
-Brown: Visiting Brown right after Wellesley felt like a huge letdown. Information session was crowded and unorganized by presenters. After being in a place like Wellesley, Brown felt impersonal and uninteresting. Left before the campus tour due to disorganization and off-putting guides.
-Northeastern: Concepts of the school were great, including co-op and adaptable scheduling. Big-city feel was too intense- campus felt crowded and as though it was part of the city. Dorms were lower quality and smaller than other universities visited. College seemed like a good place, but just wasn’t the right fit.
No Movement
-Harvard: Information session had unique and helpful tips for applications and presenter was friendly toward students. Tour was slightly off-putting because of visible partying due to recent Harvard-Yale game, but overall campus vibe was friendly and tour was informational. Overall, however, we didn’t get to see much of anything relevant on campus.
Great thread:-) Stanford moved off the list completely after a visit. DD and friend didn’t like the feel of the students on campus! (Comment: everyone looks like they put on an actual outfit to go to class.) They said the students felt like future CEOs and senators. (As a parent I’m thinking, okay, what’s the problem? lol)
Moved way up – USC. This wasn’t even really on my daughter’s radar but I wanted her to see CA schools since we live here and she was really impressed with the tour and description of all the programs.
Isn’t it amazing the difference a good/bad tour guide can make?
Was really put off by our visit to Villanova. To start, admissions office was located in a totally inadequate space. We were marched 5 minutes across campus to nursing auditorium for the information session, waited a long time for it to start while subsequent waves of visitors were walked over to the nursing building. Then the presentation was given by an admissions officer who was clearly beyond her depth; she rushed through her presentation getting a lot of facts just plain wrong, spoke much too quickly, raced through her presentation, you couldn’t even make out her name. Luckily a very nice and competent tour guide provided some correct answers, but we weren’t shown a dorm or even the campus the freshmen live at. All the other schools we visited went out of their way to create a positive first impression while it seemed Villanova went out of its way to create a poor one.
A giant chunk of DD20’s school class went for a tour today.
Initial impression: “This is too close to home, so I would never seriously consider it.”
Final impression: “Even though it’s too close to home, I think I’d actually be pretty happy if I ended up here.”
Pros: friendly students, extremely welcoming professors who obviously knew their students as individuals, Greek life described as low-key, the dead-silent quiet room in the library, “I felt like everyone really wanted me to go there.”
Cons: still too close to home, humanities seemed to be treated as an afterthought by the students, lovely new suite-style dorms felt cramped.