Dropped S21 off at St Lawrence (a true gem for those who care more about the outdoors than civilization and appreciate a very welcoming and friendly vibe). Drove through Hamilton (walked around for 30 minutes) and Colgate with D23 on the way home. We really liked the spaciousness of Hamilton, and noted that most of the academic buildings seemed either small or medium sized, nothing really large. Not sure how important that was to D23, but it was different. Both schools were really pretty, and located on top of big hills, which we did not expect. Luckily we are fans of hills:). Both had beautiful stone old buildings - Hamilton also had the requisite Brutalist concrete building from the 70’s (is there some kind of law that colleges all have to have one? And why is it almost always the library?). It was sort of rainy and we had a long drive ahead so we didn’t explore the towns, but Clinton really looked nice driving through.
Hamilton went up the list, Colgate probably down. Academically Hamilton is more her vibe, so that was fortunate. Going to see some of the Pennsylvania schools next week, will report back.
Berkey Creamery at PSU is incredible, even when it was housed in a much smaller building years ago. Always worth the wait! The only other one I’ve been to is Michigan State’s and it doesn’t compare.
What’s turning me off to Bucknell is the purported excessive party culture. For a school w/such high academic standards, (Lehigh, too) how do these kids manage it? Also not a fan of any school touting “Greek Life or No Life”… My kid’s chances for admission are good, but he’d probably feel like a fish out of water, he’s neither preppy nor super social.
We visited Cornell twice a few years ago when my S was touring colleges. We got very different impressions on the two visits. The first visit was during the summer and we had impression not too dissimilar to yours. However, when we visited again in the fall when the students were back, we had a completely different impression. We did both the engineering and the A&S tours (and attended some classes) and the tours were informative and well-run, even though they were crowded. My S didn’t end up applying but it wasn’t because of those visits.
On the other hand, if we had visited in winter, I’m certain we would have had another very different impression of the place…
We attended a football weekend at University of Washington a few years ago and it was awesome. Really beautiful campus and more school spirit than we had imagined.
Somewhere else here on CC there’s information about the lack of a real dining hall for students at George Washington U. Students have a card system they use at local restaurants and some grab & go options on the campus (?), but as a result there’s nearly 40% food insecurity. My kid already needs to be reminded to eat! I just don’t think freshmen/sophomores should have to worry about finding their next meal, especially if I’m paying full fare tuition.
Note that there are dining halls at “ the Vern” and they will have one in the new Thurston. A lot of their housing has kitchens and students can buy groceries with their meal cards.
I agree this isn’t a good solution for everyone, but my daughter was very excited about having restaurants and grocery stores to use instead of a dining hall. I do realize this requires budgeting and self-control on the part of the student, but that is probably a life lesson worth learning.
My niece is trying to make the same “Friends-esque” NYC life fantasy work (she is on her 2nd NYC college after not getting what she wanted from the 1st). The excitement dies down quickly when you realize how much city life costs. The good news is she has “selfied” her way across Manhattan
We visited Washington & Lee. Both Kiddo and I had the sense that the old musty hotel in town was haunted. Walking around campus, there were some vibes we got in certain places. We asked the tour guide and was told “Oh, yes, some people feel ghosts in town. Others believe the ghost of Lee’s horse, Traveller,runs around campus - that is why his stable doors are left open.”……walking back to the car we saw a bronze plaque on the door of an old stable (now a car port) and the doors were left open for Traveller.
We visited Cornell in July. I had many of your thoughts except for it being cold and impersonal.
We stayed in Scranton, PA the night before our visit and drove into Ithaca the morning of. This was due to timing reasons, but in the process we avoided Ithaca prices, which I’d imagine are always artificially high. When we turned off the highway to drive the last 30 miles through fields and fields of corn, we commented that we now knew the reason it was called Corn-ell. . Isolated it is!
I’d always heard how remote it was, but as a parent I really liked its cocoon feel once I was on the campus. I felt like it was a place I could feel safe leaving my kid, who has seemingly been looking at every urban campus possible.
It is large. We drove out to where the music dorms are (over a one-lane bridge), and I told my music kid that if they went there, they’d better find a dorm closer to the main campus. So, distant housing is a concern.
We saw a lot of people walking around the botanical gardens and the area by the bookstore with the view of the river and valley. A student was sitting on a bench working on his laptop soaking in the sun while enjoying the view. It seemed to us like it would be a pretty wonderful place to spend four years.
Hamilton actually has about a dozen buildings designed in brutalism. They represent a legacy from Hamilton’s association with an innovative, somewhat experimental, college created under its auspices. The merger of these two schools forms the current Hamilton. The photo shows a typical residence hall from that side of campus. With respect to quality of life, note the large windows.
Visited George Washington not expecting to like it because it is in a city, but actually really liked it. DC is a great city and GW still felt like there was a defined campus. After visiting a few other colleges with typical meal plan options, the lack of traditional dining became a negative - transition to college will be a big step and the added meal prep (our tour guide was honest and said she ran out of money and needed to ask her parents for more) to stay within budget dropped it down the list.
There have been a couple of schools that moved down on the list or off the list due to housing - or lack of housing. If a college only guarantees housing for 2 years, it can get really expensive in some urban areas. Then there are other costs to living off campus (eg transportation, car). I think it depends on location regarding what is cheaper. Some colleges may state that they offer it all four years, but may not guarantee it the 3rd or 4th year because it involves an application and/or lottery. I believe some schools offer less guaranteed housing if you come in as a transfer.
We crossed UT Austin off the list after visting. Concerned about safety on and off campus. Also the dorms were the worst we’ve seen. At first I said don’t let that be a deal breaker you can always live off campus but thought twice about that because of safety concerns after spending the weekend in a nearby hotel off campus and exploring the area. I wouldn’t want my daugther to live there in the freshman dorm or off campus.
UTD moved up on our list after visiting. We were impressed with the campus, freshman dorms, high rate of undergraduate research opportunities, and ATEC building and program.
. Isolated it is!