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

Parents Forum
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We just returned from Atlanta/Athens touring with my twin D/S. It was Thanksgiving week so campuses were starting to empty out a bit, but it’s the only week we could get out from CA.

University of Georgia: (DOWN) The campus was beautiful, much moreso than we anticipated. The town was also appealing for a college student-- edgy and lots to do. We couldn’t get in to do a tour or info session so we booked an Honors College info session (both kids would be candidates I believe.) It was very disappointing. The speaker was an administrative person who graduated a year ago from the Honors College. She was so low energy and unexciting. I still believe the Honors College and general academics a UGA can be excellent BUT…at the campus center we really started to understand we were in the South. The prominent display of the finalists for the Miss University Beauty contest was shocking. A beauty contest at an institution of learning is gross anyway, but all the women were identical white women with fake debutant smiles. My CA kids were horrified at this and the complete lack of racial diversity on campus.

Georgia Tech (UP): We did a tour and an info session. Tech campus was prettier than we expected though in parts feels like the GooglePlex. It was huge and the fact that the Business School is separate in Tech Square was not super appealing, though we took the Tech shuttle several times and it was very convenient. The programs are clearly well resourced and situated perfectly for a pre-professionally minded student. I was afraid we would find a super stressed out student body and administration that only cares about numbers, but this was absolutely not the case. It’s a little hard to find the combination of top academics and sports-fanaticism and Tech has it. My S will definitely apply.

Emory (UP): We couldn’t get in to any official tours so thanks for CC we found a senior to show us around. The beauty of campus was better than expected. It is very homogenous with all the white marble buildings. The size was nice-- students can walk to class. The programs are well-aligned to both my kids interests and my S was very impressed by the corporate sponsorship of the business school classrooms. Campus was pretty empty but from the students we observed we felt it was a good place for smart kids who wanted work-life balance. Student body seemed reasonably diverse, socially well-adjusted, just kinda normal (in a good way). Only downside was the possible lack of school spirit and social life. My S also really wants a school with D1 sports but D doesn’t care at all. D will apply, S might too depending on how his list shapes up.

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University of Arizona - way up - Visited with our D earlier this week. We are OOS, she is admitted with max merit was not sure what to expect. Loved our visit with the W. A. Franke Honors College. Super impressive, new facilities and the people were all authentic and friendly. More importantly, the whole vibe was very down to earth which is important to our D. She could see herself fitting in well at UofA. She loved the campus as a whole and college town vibe of University Street. Serious contender, recommend checking it out.

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@Techno13 They filmed “The Internship” on GaTech campus, so it does look very google-esque, agreed…

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My son’s school, which has about 110 students in each class, sends at least one student to McGill every year. My understanding is that some of them have studied French and others have not. Those that have come back have raved about their experiences. My son was interested, but has a health issue that took McGill off the list.

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5634

Emory is on my D’s maybe list. How would you compare it
to Pomona/5Cs, Oxy, if possible?
Thanks!

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I’ve visited those multiple times with my older D (now a first year at Smith College). My husband and younger D said Emory reminded them of a large Oxy. I don’t really see it, except that the students are similar-- smart, interesting, socially normal and friendly, seeking academic success but also social balance. Emory is about the size of the 5 Cs combined (much larger if you count grad students), but all on one very cohesive campus. Very different experience from the Cs. Very notable quality of Emory is its rather huge endowment. And it shows on campus. Oxy isn’t close, even per capita. Pomona is in the ballpark. But Emory doesn’t feel like a LAC at all. Teaching hospital, business school, definitely pre-professional vibe. All excellent schools. My D got a nice merit scholarship from Oxy. She didn’t look at Emory and the Cs, she toured Pitzer and Scripps but discarded both from her list and didn’t apply.

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Actually Emory’s endowment is roughly $551,524 per student (14,391 students) while Pomona’s is a whopping $1,402,111 per student (1,610 students), nearly 3x the amount. My older daughter is studying at Pomona now and they are extremely generous about offering it up for scholarships, academic research programs, study abroad, internships, etc. Pomona has the largest endowment of any LAC and is 6th in the nation after HYP, Stanford, and MIT.

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Rice University is moving up on the list!

Visited yesterday and today, general student-led campus tour, The Shepherd School of Music admissions officer-led tour and individual information session + audited chamber group rehearsal and walked a lot on and around the campus.

D23 is so impressed with the music school and its collaborative atmosphere. Her favorite part was seeing the rehearsal - chamber group was very diverse - mix of undergraduate and graduate students, one of the professors was present, but it was mostly student-led and so very professional and positive. Huge focus on orchestral and chamber experiences at this school. New Opera building, classrooms and even most of the practice rooms have windows! Great access to both faculty members, opportunity to look up to grad students.

Beautiful campus, those trees… Both days were around 75F, sunny, and all the kids we met were are smart, eloquent, happy, motivated academically. Residential colleges have a lot of appeal for my child looking for smaller communities inside the school. No Greek life at Rice is a huge plus in her eyes.

D will have to decide how to apply, with what major to lead, since you cannot enter as a double major and cannot add Music as a major without being admitted to the School of Music. She is very interested in Sociology, but also wants to continue studying music with focus on orchestral and chamber performance.

Our tour guide was amazing - very open about his own experiences there and about changing his own major a couple of times.

Really glad we could see it in person.

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5638

I agree with this. I work at Emory and it’s a wonderful school, but has almost nothing in common with the 5 college exchange campuses other than they all have very bright hardworking students. Emory’s vibe is very pre-professional. There are very few hippies or hipsters. Few hacky sacks and hula hoops. I’d rather go to Smith.

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5639

Yes but this is not the case at the rest of the Cs.

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5640

Way way up was Drake University in Iowa! I was
skeptical–hey why not find an ocean or mountain or at least a really big lake if going OOS? Also not fond of the crazy behavior and statements of their governor which gets press here and gave my daughter an unfavorable attitude toward the state. My kid loved the community vibe from campus–students, staff, admissions very friendly and welcoming. Staff everywhere we went from hotel to restaurants to stores were friendly. Loved the business school and the presentation from them. Great opportunities for internships. We stayed in downtown Des Moines. Found a couple of really good restaurants and there seemed to be a very “happening” nightlife. We talked to families from KC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbia MO, small towns in Iowa and MN. Yes, big draw from the Midwest but really good location to draw from different states and cities. I guess I forgot how close Des Moines is to Chicago. Des Moines felt clean and relatively safe. I was more comfortable walking there than in downtown Minneapolis at night. But big enough to not be “small town.” Thriving business community. Division 1 basketball at Drake! Having that on campus at a smaller school is awesome. Just so many positives. My only negative really as a parent was the two places we pulled off on our drive had the gates that pull closed when I35 gets closed for blizzards which does happen - just a little foreshadowing of worried mom
moments to come when my birdie leaves the nest. Checked on bus service from our area and there are two companies with reasonable rates, haha so maybe I’ll send her in a bus or plane and not let her drive back and forth in the winter if weather forecast is even remotely questionable. Overall, Drake made a fantastic impression! Moved up on the list for sure from skeptical to one of the top contenders.

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5641

For my D’20 & D’22 - We toured a bunch of schools on a Marathon East Coast swing in 2019 before Covid. We had official tours at all the schools:

BU - NEUTRAL - the girls didn’t love how you could either live near the gym or near classes, but not both. That said, it was actually more of a campus than they expected, and our tour was great. They liked the access to Boston and Newbury Street, etc.

Northeastern - DOWN - while the co-op was interesting to both girls, they didn’t click with the tour guide and didn’t love the layout and feel of the campus, the architecture, etc.

Boston College - UP for D’20 - she loved everything about it even though the day was dreary. A plus that it had a beautiful campus easily accessible to Boston.

Lehigh - UP for D’22 - my younger daughter loved the campus, the hills, the fantastic admissions presentation and all of the traditions. My D’20 was neutral and didn’t love all the hills, especially given the winter weather.

Lafayette - NEUTRAL - D’20 loved the campus and the facilities (nice, big dorm rooms) but felt it might be too small in terms of student body size; D’22 didn’t feel it.

Bucknell - WAY DOWN - both girls had heard great things about Bucknell, but once at the campus experiencing the location they realized it was way too isolated and they didn’t even want to stay for the entire tour.

GW - DOWN - while they knew it was urban, they had never visited DC so didn’t know what to expect. Even though it is close to the National Mall, it was still too urban for them, and they didn’t like the idea of 2 different campuses.

WAKE FOREST - DOWN - D’20 interviewed and we all toured. The interviewer was sort of a dud, but the tour guide was great. The campus is beautiful and the facilities seemed really nice. For a while my D’20 felt like Wake might be “the school” because they had the major she was looking for, as well as D1 ACC sports which was a plus. In the end, however, neither left with the feeling that they could see themselves there.

EMORY - Main Campus UP, Oxford - WAY WAY DOWN - Both girls loved the main Emory campus and facilities, but absolutely did not like the isolated Oxford campus. It is not that far from Atlanta, but FEELS far, and is very small. The girls commented that it seemed more like a high school than a college setting. Noted: no football team to help contribute to school spirit.

Tulane - WAY UP - both girls loved the campus, and the city, the vibe of the student body and the academic balance appealed to both.

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5642

Here is how Emory’s endowment/student compares to the 5Cs as of 2019:

$1,402,111 Pomona
$635,551 CMC
$551,524 Emory
$356,426 HMC
$340,165 Scripps
$134,327 Pitzer

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5643

Thank you for your thoughts on all of these schools. They are all on my S23 list and it’s great to hear others’ perspectives.

5644

Full disclosure: my D’20 ended up applying ED to Tulane, is now a Sophomore and is very, very happy with her decision. Her brother is an architecture student there (5 year program graduating in 2023). Initially she wanted to go to her “own” school, hence the trips to all of those other universities. In the end she realized Tulane was big enough for both of them and it had everything she was looking for. :wink: My youngest daughter is a committed track athlete going to a great D3 - none of the schools mentioned above after all those tours.

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5645

@mtmind Could you tell us how you found this information? I’d like to check on some of the schools that my S22 is applying to. If he’s lucky enough to have a choice between colleges, this seems like additional useful information when making his final decision. Thank you!

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5646

https://www.reachhighscholars.org/college_endowments.html

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We absolutely looked at endowment. It can definitely affect students in a lot of ways. Two Covid-specific ways it affected our Bowdoin student:

  1. Bowdoin froze tuition for the 2020-2021 school year. A large endowment allowed them to do this.

  2. When Covid struck, Bowdoin kids were away on spring break. They were offered the chance to come back to get their things but, for those who could not, faculty and staff went into students’ rooms and FaceTimed with the students to have them choose what needed to be sent home. They filled giant boxes with whatever was needed and sent it home no charge then packed everything else up and kept it safe until fall. That had to be pricey and a school with a lot of money could offer that.

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5648

@Evie800 you can also just google “name of school 2021 endowment”. Many colleges had huge increases in their endowments this year.

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Many less well endowed colleges did the same thing.

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