Colgate was a surprise move up for us. I had visited in high school and just didn’t like the vibe and how spread out campus felt. But by the end of the tour, despite having to tackle hills in 90 degree heat, I was kind of digging it. I was surprised that S19, who has a strong interest in architecture, really liked it. I was a little bored with almost all the buildings being of the same style and material. It seems like the school provides a lot of support to students, academically, career-wise, and socially. For example, I’ve always been impressed by the library, but to hear that there is a librarian for each academic department kind of blew me away. The chipwich was icing on the cake! (And S19 said the regular cookies they let us snag from the dining hall were good too)
Recently drove through the Southwest and had time to look at a few colleges.
Oklahoma State: Wow…incredibly beautiful and well-maintained campus. Great cluster of bars and restaurants adjacent to campus. Definite cowboy/wild west vibe.
U of Oklahoma: Wow…incredibly beautiful and well-maintained campus. Great cluster of bars and restaurants adjacent to campus. Not as much of a cowboy vibe.
Southern Methodist U: Wow…incredibly beautiful and well-maintained campus–a green oasis in a busy commercial area. Reeked of big money and pampered students. Didn’t see much in the way of student hangouts adjacent to campus.
When people in most parts of the country think about going to college, they probably seldom have the Southwest as a main area of focus. But these 3 campuses blew me away, and I wish I had seen them decades ago.
@twoinanddone I know what you mean. Georgetown and Fordham play the same game! And Notre Dame complicates matters by adding “du Lac” after Notre Dame on their diplomas!
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/profile/AbsDad
My daughter is an incoming freshman at Middlebury. She had some nice choices - Northwestern, Georgetown, USC with merit money and more. In the end, this school spoke to her like no other.
@DeniseS those are some great choices your daughter had…and looks like she had a well rounded list in that she had many different types of schools that she applied to. I think it’s important for students to apply to different types of schools so when May 1 comes along they have different options…i.e., size, urban vs. rural, different locations, differences in school spirit/student body, etc.
What was it about Middlebury that she liked so much? I know it’s a great school and very difficult to get in.
Just got back from NY.
Ithaca College - tour started off great. Beautiful campus, lovely town. Tour guide was friendly, funny and tried to answer everybody’s questions. Most buildings are very modern. Visitor center had coffee/tea/water and comfy chairs. During the tour, as we were approaching the dorms, somebody shouted at our tour group - something about touring the campus as lame. We kind of ignored it. But then, as we were walking away from the dorms, another one shouted a profanity about newbies, then laughter from a group. I could see DS was upset and so am I and other people from the group. Tour guide didn’t address it, just waited for the shouting to stop and then kept on talking. Not applying.
Binghamton University - Beautiful campus. Friendly students. Walkable. Some buildings are new and modern - visitor center, Business. Some are old, concrete - library, tech. Fantastic tour guide. Big emphasis on sports activities and outdoor activities. Greek life -17%. Surprisingly, my DS who’s not into sports/outdoors like it.
@msmaria that is so interesting and actually upsetting about Ithaca. Just a thought, that might be feedback the admissions office would be interested in hearing. That’s really bad PR for a school and they may want to address that issue somehow through its student communications. I know a few students at Ithaca and they are great kids that would never do such a thing. How horrible that students would want to reflect so badly on their own school.
As for Binghamton, I have recently also heard great things. A friend just toured a loved it. Her son will definitely be applying. My sister went there in the 80s and stayed right through her masters degree, I think she was there for 7 years. I think it’s a great school for a great price.
Northwest Missouri State moved up for my daughter. She had been set against it because it is less than 2 hours away and therefore pretty normal for students in our area to go there. It’s not different or exotic. We had also had a lackluster visit in July 2016 for her sister. However, directional publics are where our price range will allow and they have her not-so-common major, so I scheduled a visit- this time during school time and with faculty appointments. We had two tour guides to ourselves. She liked the dorms, the campus, the food, the school colors, and had great visits with professors. Books and a laptop are included in the low COA. It would be easy for us to travel to her theatre performances and for her to come home whenever. I would be very happy if she decided to go there.
@bjscheel that’s great! Is your D a theater kid? D12’s friend went there for theater (makeup I think) and loved it.
@drewsmom17 Yeah but she doesn’t want to try to make a living at it or do a BFA. She will probably be a theatre minor, but they do have a BA there that is only 2 classes more than the minor, so might try to double major partly to make her eligible for the theatre scholarships. We know a couple of kids that went there for theatre and I think it’s a really great department.
Down: Hobart/William Smith: excellent presentation on graduate job opportunities by a senior staff member, but during the student luncheon, a young admissions staffer directed all her attention to two (male) high school athletes sitting at our table. Even though my daughter was sitting right next to her, the admissions staffer did not address her once during the course of the entire lunch. Overall, we got a very snooty, elitist vibe from Hobart.
Moved Up: College of the Holy Cross: Going into Accepted Students Day, HC was not my D’s first choice, but she found the job placement to be super-strong, and the students there to be so genuine, friendly, and kind, that it became one of the top two schools that she was considering after acceptance. She ultimately decided on another college due to better course offerings in her expected major, but she still wonders “what if” she had attended Holy Cross.
Seattle University was crossed off of the list. Too urban, too small, didn’t feel like a campus but more like a few blocks of buildings.
WPI. Town ugly, 3 classes every 7 weeks leaving no down time; any international opportunities would be only 7 weeks long. Kids and classes seemed very dull.
@msmaria My son and I toured Ithaca during the summer and it came right off his list. He felt it had a quirky, artsy vibe. He is more of an athlete type if I had to type him. I am not sure we got a fair feel for it because it was the summer.
My older son has a friend who is a jr at Binghamton and is very happy there. Coincidentally, his brother is starting freshman year at Ithaca. I will try to get some intel on it.
Moved up- RPI. after reading how bad the town of Troy was I didn’t have high hopes. But we were pleasantly surprised. The historic area looked very charming with lots of restaurants. Yes, there was a run down area near the school but it wasn’t all bad. As for the actual school, it was a beautiful campus, had a great tour guide and my daughter loved what she saw.
Going to WPI this week- a little nervous after the previous comment, but have a family friend there who,absolutely loves it. Will report back.
Just came back from U of Richmond and U of Virginia. Loved them both for different reasons.
Richmond seems like the type of school at which students hit the ground running socially. Seems very inclusive and also seems like all of the freshmen live near each other in a really nice little section of campus. The small size I think helps students acclimate pretty quickly. I get the sense that the professors are top notch and care a lot about students and that it is a collaborative environment. Career center seems very strong especially for business students and UR has very strong pre-med (my son is interested in business). The campus is one of the prettiest I have ever seen…it was my second time there and I liked it the first time, but loved it the second. Nothing bad to say about UR. I actually think it’s perfect for my son in so many ways…but he thinks he wants bigger. We will see how his thinking evolves, he’s only a junior.
UVA was also great. I’m not sure why I was surprised about how old it is (duh! Thomas Jefferson founded it!), but I loved the history and the older buildings, etc. Tour guide was impressive. Very bright and down to earth, nursing major. However, I have some concerns about UVA so I might go find a UVA thread, but in the meantime I have heard UVA isn’t for everyone and some kids have a hard time adjusting. I didn’t get this vibe at all but I hear things like “cutthroat” and “competitive”. The crowd seemed more diverse than I was expecting which was a bonus. I got a very intellectual vibe from the student community. I was impressed that the tour guide started off denouncing that happened in Charlottesville last year and made it clear the university was appalled by what happened and in no way would ever tolerate anything like that on campus. I was impressed she got right to the point because it was on my mind (and we are white, for the record). We left and my son thought this was his number one choice now…but then I read some things on line I didn’t like, as described above. But based on the visit, thumbs up for UVA. It was a good trip!
@travelfamily. I could have written your post about RPI verbatim. Please post back about your thoughts on WPI
@collegemomjam
My daughter is a freshman at University of Richmond and her experience definitely aligns with your observations about the school. Within a week she had a pretty large “squad” as well as a smaller group of study buddies who hang out a lot in the library. Her classes are 15-25 people and she says that the professors are “good” which means a lot coming from her.
At the moment they are preparing for Florence-she has never been in any kind of hurricane-and she agreed that that 3 pack of mini lanterns we picked up at Costco could come in handy!
@dragonmom3 thanks for that! So happy your daughter found a great place at a great school. I think I heard Richmond may not get hit too badly after all…I hope she stays safe! I’m glad to hear my vibe was accurate!
@dragonmom3 if you haven’t already, download the nbc12 weather app with alerts. They do a great job. RVA will get some rain but we should be out of the woods unless Florence changes her mind, again. My son was in Columbia, where I thought he would be safer based on early projections. He is now home in Richmond because Columbia is projected to get tropical storm level winds and flash flooding. It’s been a stressful week for everyone. Prayers for all in Florence’s path.