Colleges your child crossed off the list after visiting, schools that moved up on the list. Why?

Parents Forum
5550

Yeah, if you don’t like bikes, Davis is a bad choice. The town and campus was literally designed around bikes being the main mode of transportation.

If you are bike agnostic, though, and willing to try it, Davis is a great town. I am not a bike person, but got one when I lived there. And actually used it! I may not’ve loved the bike part, but Davis can be a wonderful college town despite the bikes. It is also a very walk-able campus and town (if you live close to campus). It also has decent public transit, or at least it used to back in the day. Ultimately, though, part of the magic of Davis is that it makes biking so much more tolerable than you think it could be.

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5551

Nice to hear a good report on Guilford. It was on our list early on but dropped off. I think it didn’t have our D22’s major. Beautiful sweet little historic campus.

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5552

We just visited Agnes Scott College in Decatur (Atlanta). It is a truly gorgeous campus. D22 is definitely planning to apply and said the visit made her more interested in it. It didn’t knock off her #1, Warren Wilson, but it moved up into a tie for second.

She liked the supportive rather than competitive vibe and liked some aspects of their Summit curriculum including everybody gets to study abroad in their first year at no added costs.

They are doing a lot of work around inclusivity and affordability and have a class ring and special ceremony that is included at no extra cost too. They seem to want to lift everyone up equally. It is an inclusive women’s college (only exclude males who were born male, all flavors of trans and non-binary folk are welcome to attend). There is no majority race. It is about 62% people of color and less than 40% white.

The vibe was studious but not stressful, sisterly, fun.

It is walking distance to downtown Decatur which is full of funky shops and eateries. All that Atlanta has to offer is easily accessible with a Marta stop nearby or a shuttle from campus or a drive in a car (first years are allowed to have cars).

The library reading room looked like something out of Harry Potter with a working fire place that had a fire in it which was nice since it was a chilly day.

Here are a few photos.

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5553

Virginia Tech has a bowling alley in its Student Union and has since we went there a few moons ago. We were just looking at it reminiscing last week.

I always thought it would be common for larger schools. Is it not?

5554

I think I may have actually replied to this thread 4 years ago but here is an update now that my younger son is applying to college.

My older son (now a senior about to graduate at UVM) crossed three colleges off of his list after visiting:

Skidmore - he wondered where all the “dudes” were. Granted it was very early on a Saturday morning, but we didn’t see too many guys like him around. Our tour guide was a kind of Brooklyn hipster guy and all the girls on our tour seemed like Art History majors. Not really his vibe.

Ithaca College - we went to an open house where they were really trying to sell the specialty schools - the business school, the music school, etc. and consequently were underselling the liberal arts, which I believe is what they are actually more known for. As a potential history major (at the time) he felt that there was nothing there for him. He also thought the buildings looked really ugly and wasn’t even interested in touring the dorms.

Roger Williams. My husband actually took him to the open house there so I have no idea what it was like or why he didn’t apply. He just said he didn’t see himself there.

He loved UVM and Burlington and it has been the perfect fit for him.

My younger son is an undecided liberal arts major. He wants to go to a school in a city or a large town, ideally with a football team and a lot of school spirit. He crossed one school off of his list after visiting:

University of Buffalo (SUNY). It was really huge, ugly and literally in the middle of nowhere. He wants to go to a school in a city or large town and was under the mistaken impression that the school was actually IN the city of Buffalo, which it is not. Our tour guide and everyone on our tour was a STEM major so my son felt out of place.

Moved up on his list:

Binghamton (SUNY) - we added this to our Upstate/Central New York tour at the last minute (a few of my older son’s friends hated it and transferred out and the city of Binghamton is supposed to be not so nice, so my son was initially not interested). Although the buildings were typical SUNY modernish brick, it was actually a really pretty campus set in the hills and there was a very lively vibe. Kids seemed happy there. Although it is not right in the city, there seemed to be a very active scene on campus and it has a football team and a lot of school spirit, which my son is looking for.

Syracuse. I had suggested this school to my son and he had no idea what to expect. The city of Syracuse was actually pretty cool and there was a very vibrant block right off campus with lots of restaurants and shops. There is a football team, lots of school spirit and the buildings are beautiful. Everyone was really nice and welcoming too. After the tour he said “this school is everything I am looking for!”

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5555

She will probably want to take UCSB off the list as well.

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5556

When we visited UCSB, I commented that I hadn’t seen so many bikes parked in one place (outside a dorm) since I was in China!

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5557

Binghamton doesn’t have a football team lmao

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5558

I have a current sophomore who transferred to UVM this year after starting out at UMass Amherst. He is thriving. Is your youngest at all interested in UVM, or is he looking for a larger city than Burlington?

Edited to add —UVM is definitely not a big football school so maybe not a great choice. Any interest in UMD College Park or Rutgers?

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5559

Ha - you’re right. I was thinking of Buffalo which he crossed off. Well, they seemed to have a lot of school spirit nonetheless. Maybe it was basketball I was thinking of. I know they are good at some sport.

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5560

My younger son is looking at UVM, but it is not his first choice - he would like to go somewhere different than his brother. He is not dead set on football. He has also applied to BU and Northeastern which do not have it. He just wants a school with a lot of school spirit. UVM has a very good basketball team, so I guess it fits the bill.

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5561

PS we are trying to stay away from the OOS state schools because I found the financial aid to be lacking. But he is applying to both UVM and Michigan, so we shall see. His grades and test scores are a bit higher than his brother so I am hoping he will get into a private college with a good endowment and qualify for better financial aid.

5562

Makes sense. Although you might be surprised. My ds got a healthy merit scholarship at UMass Amherst, and UVM matched it. I think some public’s are known to give very little to oos applicants, and others are more generous.

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5563

Good luck with MI. They are not known to throw around $$ to OOS students.

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5564

My son got a generous Merit Scholarship at UVM and also at UMass Amherst and U Delaware. Of the three, UVM gave him the best financial aid and also the highest merit scholarship, but they still didn’t meet need. Private colleges meet 100% need which none of these schools do. We were about $10K short every year. Because of this I am encouraging my younger son to apply to more private schools (in addition to SUNY which is our NY State system.

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5565

Wesleyan visit - stayed the same and is Still on the list. D loved the open curriculum, the clever housing system, the progressive vibe that seemed to be lived and not just for show (everyone introduced themselves with their pronouns, lots of focus on social issues, etc) and the kids who seems very bright and intellectually curious and interesting without being over intense or overly single academically minded — everyone seems in a lot of interesting activities and time for fun. The negatives are that the presentation was completely non-STEM focused (with bizarre comments like - ‘woo hoo you never have to take math again!” And similar even from AO. She did the tour with a guide who was a math/earth sciences double major who alleviated her concern that it wasn’t a place for stem kids to some extent but not fully. The other negative is the location - truly in the middle of nowhere and the town is not at all interesting other for a very small and pretty standard strip of studenty coffee shops and similar. Overall she will apply and thinks she could be happy there both academically and socially.

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5566

SOME private colleges meet full need. Not all do…in fact, most actually don’t meet full need for all accepted students.

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5567

@relaxmom: Thank you for sharing your thoughts & impressions about Wesleyan University. I would like to experience a school at which “everyone introduced themselves with their pronouns” (but, just once).

5568

To clarify, I am encouraging him to apply to private colleges that meet full need only. The exception is Syracuse, which meets about 95%, but because his stats are high for that school, I am hoping he would get a merit scholarship.

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5569

I had pretty much discouraged him from Michigan for that exact reason, but he seemed kind of sad about it, so I said he could apply and we would see if he got in what they offered. I figure it will probably not happen, but I didn’t want to tell him he couldn’t apply.

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