I always considered the town of Princeton to be one of the most charming. Funny how people view things so differently. Love this thread. Keep em coming!
Sadly for us we had an opposite view of Princeton, too self-conscious and quaint (and boring) like the whole town was designed by Laura Ashley.
@CroissantMiser , when a thread is 49 pages long, there will be digression. Very often the digression ends up imparting tons of useful info, and yes, sometimes it gets off track and people, (much as I am doing right now), go totally off topic. But usually it’s worth bearing with, because it finds its way back on course.
Anyway, laughing about the alleged Dark Side of Hamilton. I really liked that school, and I didn’t get the Dark Side thing at all. Where was it dark? D however did not like Hamilton, esepcially when we were shown into a fairly (dark) revolting guy’s quad dorm room, replete with guy/sweaty sock/faintly beer-y odor. Gotta say, that put me off too.
IMO, when a thread is 49 pages long and the same schools have been mentioned over and over, maybe it’s accomplished its goal and run its course.
@Lindagaf
Omg! We saw that room at Hamilton too. Complete with lots of clothes strewn on the floor, so there were limited places to walk. I guess after seeing a lot of ‘show’ rooms at other colleges, I appreciated the authenticity. And I thought if girls were living there, it could be a really nice room!
If I remember correctly from my son’s recruiting visit there, the “dark side” was the former women’s college across the road, and the “light side”/“dark side” thing came from the fact that the women’s college suffered frequent power outages back in the day.
Toured Sarah Lawrence and unfortunately it zoomed to the bottom of our list. Tour was three hours long (THREE HOURS for a small campus). The tour seemed to exemplify lack of boundaries and structure, which might be welcome by some people who need that space. SL was adorable physically, but everything about it said: precious. The tour guide was superb but said some pretty amazing things which I think showed how young he was. He said that there’s a Met Van every Saturday and suggested that students go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art at least “once or twice.”
Once or twice. For the entire Met. For your entire stay at SL. With a free van to take you there and back. And this is an arty school. This comment made me feel that 30 minutes was a long, long way from NYC. Having attended Vassar, much further north, I went to the Met more than twice during my undergrad career. I went more than that for classes I took, much less for recreation.
The dorm room we saw was a show room, but it abutted a filthy hallway. Filthy. Not just worn out, but dirt. It was so bad that I thought that maybe it was under construction, but I saw no signs of construction.
Also the two students who answered questions afterwards couldn’t adequately tell us why it was better to attend SL over other LACs. They kept saying: Here I could do premed and theater. Or here I could do my music and take a class on ghosts. And each example they gave made me thing: well, doesn’t that happen at other LACs?
Bottom line, SL seems to be a great place for people who are focused like a laser beam on what they want to do. SL’s alumni like Rahm Emmanuel, Vera Wang, and Barbara Walters are good examples of people who have that kind of focus and drive. There’s plenty of space for driven people to dictate their education. For anyone who is unsure, it cold be a bog of indecision and preciousness.
@moooop Wait, so the Township of Princeton is “ridiculously small” and that’s why it was eliminated but Colgate’s surrounding area was fine? Trying to follow that. I would say a majority of the 20 colleges we toured were in or next to towns much smaller than Princeton. And putting aside the immediate commercial areas next to the Princeton campus, including Nassau Street and Hamilton Square, it’s in a pretty well-developed area unlike a lot of those other truly rural schools. I get everyone has a different opinion about what is nice versus pretentious, etc., but calling it ridiculously small only makes sense if you’re only considering truly urban schools.
@moooop “Princeton & NDame…adjacent town ridiculously small.” Really? This is comparing apples and oranges. South Bend, IN is undeniably a dump, but Princeton is a really nice college town. It has very nice shops and restaurants and the surrounding area is very scenic and very historic. Plus, Princeton kids are really busy, so have little free time anyway. Also, if your precious child is bored with the Princeton on campus activities or the town of Princeton, NYC is an easy 45 minute train ride away!
I don’t think we need to insult each other’s kids because they had an opinion about a college town that you don’t agree with.
Moved Up:
USC - DS and family were all pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the campus was. Given the size of the school, I expected it to be large and sprawling and I really liked how contained the university was. Didn’t love the limited on-campus housing, but the new construction made alter that to some extent. Also liked that it seemed easy to take classes in any of the colleges. Didn’t love the adjacent neighborhood, but son really liked that it had easy access to public transportation. Also pleasantly surprised by the relatively small average class sizes.
Rice - DS has always had a bias against Texas, but he loved Rice. Loved the residential colleges, loved how friendly all the students seemed, loved the beautiful campus. Again, as with USC, he loved the fact that the school was right on the train line. Only downside is that weather may be too hot, at least at certain times of year, and Houston seems prone to flooding. Of course, also very hard to get it into!
Stayed the Same:
Duke - DS really liked the school and setting. Didn’t think it was as beautiful as Rice and didn’t love the separate East and Central campuses. We had a very enthusiastic tour guide and stayed for the weekend so got to attend a football game and see the town. DS not as sure that Duke students were as much of a fit for him as Rice students, but still high on list.
Tulane - DS loved New Orleans and really liked Tulane. Thought some of the facilities were a bit run-down, but the campus was quite pretty and it has strong programs in his areas of interest. They have a great video to watch as part of the info session which did a really nice job showing the school culture. DS and I both also liked how integrated the school is with the city and the focus on public service.
Likely Off the List:
Occidental - I thought the campus was pretty in a summer camp kind of way and we had a wonderful tour guide. Son thought it was just too small. It felt like summer camp to him and not college. He also thought some of the buildings were run down and that’s a turn off for him.
Pomona - Probably my favorite tour guide of all the schools we’ve visited. The info sessions at both Pomona and Claremont McKenna did a good job of highlighting the differences between the schools. I can see Pomona as possibly a great fit for DD when it is time for her to apply to colleges, but son found it a little too earnest and all of the Claremont colleges a bit too disconnected from Los Angeles and hard to get to from our home.
Claremont McKenna - I think it would be a good fit for my son academically. I love the idea of the consortium and think that all of the speakers coming in to the school is an amazing opportunity. Son was very impressed with the college, but concerned that it also felt perhaps a bit too small, and as with Pomona a bit too remote.
@pittsburghscribe - Is Claremont that much more difficult to reach than Rice? Claremont is only a short drive from the Ontario airport. I thought I remembered Rice being a lot further from the nearest airport.
Both have light rail into the city but I agree that Claremont doesn’t feel connected to LA in the way that Rice and Tulane are to Houston and NO.
That was one reason Rice moved up for my son too.
Syracuse. We toured the weekend of the Duke Syracuse game! It was 5 degrees. We only went in one building. The building we checked in at. The tour was terrible. Note to Syracuse no tours on big basketball weekends!
Related to @Ducky312 point. I asked in another thread about visiting during a football weekend and got different answers. Has anyone had an experience, good or bad, visiting during a big sport event?
I’ve been checking in on this thread now and then for months. It’s amazing, though understandable, how greatly weather can affect a visit and, ultimately, the overall experience and appraisal of a visit and a school.
If I were a guide I’d be tempted to remind tour customers (on crummy days) that the weather/environment is usually nicer. “Imagine if it were sunny and warmer; it usually is. This place is totally awesome when the weather is decent.”
@STEM2017 If sports are a strong draw for your student, it can be really helpful for them to experience. They get to see the school spirit , they also get a taste of the "party atmosphere " ( good or bad) When my son and I made most of our visits, we usually attended a football game and also a basketball game. It helped him determine that while he enjoys sports, it was not a major deciding factor in school choice for him.
Just returned from a 10 day, 14 school trip.
Crossed off the list:
Dartmouth: Too fratty, just didn’t resonate. Didn’t seem special enough for the effort
Muhlenberg (safety): Too much like a high school. Students seemed very mediocre
Lehigh: Liked the school but couldn’t get past Bethlehem
Colgate: Too fake. Even our tour guide didn’t seem happy there.
Shot to the top of the list: Brown. Great town, bright and excited students, shopping period, fit.
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@Otterma – for us, Houston is a non-stop flight and Rice is a short hop from the airport. LA is across the country from us and he’d probably be flying into LAX and then having to travel from there. I think that was more of an issue for the parents. Son didn’t like how long a trip it would be to get into the city.
@tenniswimvball’s report reminds me why I so much adore this thread—Muhlenberg and Colgate surprised my daughter positively to the point of rocketing up her list.
It’s good, I think, for students (and their parents) looking at selective schools to be reminded that alongside the often-frightening degree of subjectivity involved in “holistic” admissions, there is also a high degree of subjectivity on the applicant’s side, and you know what? That’s completely okay.
@stem2017 we did the same as @carolinamom2boys. We attended a game in each school’s favorite sport before DS decided. At one we were very pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere. If sports are a big deal to the school or to your DC, I highly recommend a visit both with and without a big game. It can make campus feel very different.