And back to topic, please.
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D23 intending to study theatre…
Up:
Vassar - D23 and I loved the campus and proximity to NYU.
Sarah Lawrence - wasn’t even in contention, but seems like a great school with cute town within walking distance and 30 min train to city.
Drew - also easy to train to city. Campus better than I thought it would be based on Niche rating. Madison is a cute town.
Down: (off list)
Bard - amazing performing arts center, but too isolated. For some reason my D hated that there was a cemetery front and center. lol
Skidmore - loved Saratoga Springs, did not like the campus. Also really hard to get to.
Wesleyan - didn’t like the vibe. Everything around it is run down and felt depressed. The entirety of the arts buildings look like a penitentiary.
Oberlin - one word: Ohio. Campus is lovely. Programs seem amazing. Just couldn’t see it.
Kenyon - again, Ohio. Literally in the middle of nowhere. Beautiful campus. Prestigious. Just didn’t matter. There’s no way she’s ending up in Ohio. (sorry, Ohio).
Still planing to visit:
Northwestern
NYU - have walked around and she’s doing the Tisch summer program
Barnard - have walked around, but haven’t done official tour.
UCLA
Occidental
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It’s fine. Ohio will definitely be ok without her.
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sizzle
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It’s kind of funny, but my daughter would have said the same thing about Ohio, even yesterday. But we visited Kenyon today (she was recently admitted) and she thought it was pretty magical.
The campus is stunning, and today’s moody weather suited it perfectly. It’s very clear and intentional about what it offers: a close knit community, a focus on a life of the mind, professors who will show up to your theater performances, ask you to housesit, give you life advice, and friends who will see you every day at the same dining hall. We loved that classrooms were in converted houses, the block-long town of Gambier is basically an extension of campus and everyone seemed happy, buzzing and busy.
On Kenyon: there were a couple of schools I really wanted her to keep on her list because I loved something about them for her. Kenyon was one of those schools and it was easy enough for her to agree to apply since it doesn’t require a supplemental essay. Flash forward a few months, and it’s a real option and she likes it way more than she thought she would.
I guess what I’m learning through this is that a kid’s preferences can and will change dramatically from beginning to end. It’s helpful to keep a couple of dramatically different options in the mix because you just never know what the future holds.
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Went to some New York schools this past week. Self-guided tours of NYU and The New School/Eugene Lang as well as guided tours of Vassar, Skidmore, Sarah Lawrence. Impressions:
NYU: Moved up the list. Partly because I fell in love with New York City and felt like I could learn a lot just from being there, but I also liked the feel of the “campus” a lot more than I expected to. Couldn’t enter buildings but what I saw through the windows was appealing. I’m interested in Gallatin specifically and the idea of having access to classes all over the campus across various schools is really appealing.
The New School/Lang: Taken off the list. Wasn’t impressed with the campus – with the exception of the university hub building, everything seemed small and run down and spread out, and it seems like there’s a big divide between the students and the bureaucratic administration. Bummed about this one because I really love the identity of the institution, or at least the way it presents itself.
Vassar: Stayed about the same. Liked the campus a lot, tour guide was endearing and well-practiced, the education style fits what I’m looking for. Poughkeepsie didn’t seem like a place I would want to hang out for fun but relatively close proximity to NYC balances that out somewhat.
Skidmore: Took it off the list. Campus was nice, pretty buildings spaced out nicely, but it felt a bit corporate and packaged – like I was on the set of a movie that took place on a college campus. Education seems to be high-quality but more traditional than I’d like. I hated Saratoga Springs, which was the last straw for this one since it’s 3 hours (read: too far for a day trip) to NYC/Boston/Montreal.
Sarah Lawrence: Moved up a bit. Gorgeous campus, cool nontraditional education system, very nice housing options (including actual houses!). Bronxville wasn’t thrilling but had some nice hangout spots and easy access to NYC.
Honorable mention for Columbia, which doesn’t have what I’m looking for academically but has a beautiful campus.
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This is nice to hear about Kenyon…. We are tentatively scheduling an Ohio tour (Denison, Kenyon and Oberlin — S22 recently admitted to all with similar merit). Will drop a note here when we get back
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In our family, I was the one with the anti-Ohio bias - really more of an anti-Midwest bias, as I grew up on the East Coast, lived for a few years in LA and had never spent time anywhere in-between. My son, on the other hand, spent all of his school years in international schools in Tokyo, so he entered the college application process with no preconceptions about location. We visited schools all over the country - Southern California, Texas, North Carolina, Maine and Colorado - Denison was a late addition to the list, but as soon as he set foot on the campus, on a cold rainy day in March, that was it for him. He’s a junior now, and sometimes when he calls me in the morning on his way to class, I can hear the birds singing and he’ll mention there’s a deer crossing his path up ahead. It’s all pretty exotic for a kid from the big city and he’s getting a great education, academically and socially. I myself am looking forward to visiting Granville (the perfect college town) next month after our unanticipated two-year Covid hiatus, and I’m pretty embarrassed now that I almost kept Ohio off the list because of some stupid preconceptions. I always feel bad when I read about kids knocking schools off their lists because they are in the South, or in Texas, or in Ohio.
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I went to schools on the east and west coast and eventually graduated from HS in Japan. I also have the same reaction to the midwest, but I’m taking my D22 to Denison next week, and I’m super excited for her to see it. She’s also visiting other schools up and down the east coast, but I’m kind of rooting for Denison.
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My daughter is a first year at Kenyon. She agreed to putting it in her list because I kept saying that there was just something about it that I thought was right for her even though she wondered “why anyone would want to go to school in Ohio.” After our first visit (during COVID), everything she thought about where she wanted to go to school got turned upside down. It has been everything she imagined and more! Of course, its small size and rural location means it’s definitely not for everyone, but for the students choosing to be a part of the college’s “deliberate community,” it truly is a special place.
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My daughter, an east coast kid, had a phenomenal academic and cultural experience at Kenyon. She consciously sought a college outside of her home region because she valued the opportunity to immerse herself in an environment different from that to which she was accustomed, and was drawn by the prospect of Ohio. It was the BEST decision she could have made. It saddens me when students are not open to the possibilities that exist beyond their east or west coast environments. Schools such as Kenyon, Oberlin and Denison are filled with kids from both coasts who are willing to expand their horizons.
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Time to get back on topic.
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I took D23 on her first visits two weeks ago. We are in NJ and went to Philadelphia on a Friday to see St. Joseph’s University and Drexel. She wants to be in a city. I would like her to be somewhere with more of a community. SJU was my pick, Drexel was hers.
St. Joe’s was beautiful, lovely campus, in suburban Philadelphia off City Line Avenue. Too suburban and homogenous for D23. Also (and this could go in the ridiculous reasons why your child won’t consider a school thread) there were too many pictures of the Pope. (At a Catholic college-I know!) We are nominally Catholic but not religious - I thought maybe it would be ok but the Pope visited in 2015 and there are pictures of the visit everywhere and it came up a few times during the tour. Every time D23 would look at me sideways. So, St Joe’s out-but really, it’s a lovely school that I don’t see mentioned here often, D23’s a B student and I know they would be very supportive and I recommend checking it out.
Then we went to Drexel, which went way up on the list. I had heard bad things about the neighborhood but we both thought it looked great. Very vibrant, full of kids out and about. The buildings they showed us were really nice. We were able to see a dorm. Tour guide was a very cute international student from Vietnam. She perked us all over the campus. D23 liked the coop system. Seemingly effortless diversity. We were part of a big group for the auditorium presentation -about 60 - and I would say it was about half people of color. We are white but D23 really liked that. I can see D23 being very happy there, if she gets in and if we can afford it!
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My D20 toured all of those schools as well, outside of BSU. I think that your summaries are bang-on. MSU felt like it was just a touch too sprawling. They’re very proud of the overall growth of the university, and their food court was super-impressive. It seems more STEM-oriented than U of Montana which is probably a reason why it’s gained in popularity vs. UM but we liked the vibe of Montana vs. MSU. Daughter loved UI. So much so that we were poised to have her go but at the 11th hour felt like w/the onset of COVID it might be best to start at her local CC. Gave her the option to go to Idaho as a sophomore but ultimately decided that she wanted to now transfer to a UC as a Jr (we’re CA-based) and now she’s transferring to UCD in the Fall.
We loved UIdaho though. Thought it was far more personalized and more friendly than WSU which felt too hilly/big/overwhelming. My only concern was how Greek Life was perhaps TOO all-consuming, especially as my D is on the spectrum and probably would struggle in that environment. To note, for any kids on the spectrum, UIdaho has an amazing program called Ravens Scholar Program to help them fully adjust into the social structure of college life. Best of all, there’s no additional cost (unlike the SALT Program at U Arizona which is well-known). They also offer the WUE for all western state OOS students.
Let us know how it concludes!
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Totally agree. It’s really so helpful to be there and just do a gut check. There is no doubt Kenyon is special (as is Oberlin), just not the right place for my D. We had three guides and they all came from a rural setting, so it wasn’t a big adjustment that way. When I asked how kids from larger cities adjust, our guide told me he has a group of friends from LA that formed a support group to talk about things they miss. He also told us that Columbus is larger than San Fran and that he swears people tell him it’s better than Manhattan (he’s never been to Manhattan). Personally, Kenyon was at the top of the list for us before our visit just based on research.
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Just to be clear, we’re completely open to it. Hence our all the way across the country visit.
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St Joes’s is actually more Urban than Suburban. If you go out to Lancaster you are close to Ardmore but it backs up to Fairmont park and you can easily ride a bike into the city. If you can talk her into applying go to their accepted student day, she might get a different vibe then
I’ve been through many ‘admissions’ journeys, for myself and my kids. Oftentimes the best decisions, in the end, are made on instinct. For post-graduate programs, I toured a bunch of places on the east coast that were ok/suitable. My sibling lived in DC and asked me to visit since I was out there and maybe hit a few schools on a whim. I visited a school that was never on my radar and I remember having a a crazy feeling - ‘I belong here’. I spend some of my best years at that school
Similarly my DS toured the east coast: Bowdoin, Colby, Bates, Brown, Wesleyan, Vassar, Bard. Vassar stood out as ‘his place’. I still ask him to explain, what exactly it is about Vassar for him….and he’s like, ‘Why do you keep asking me the same question? I can’t explain it; it just is.”
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