Marist dropped its Catholic affiliation years ago. It is a secular college.
Re: Marist - I stand corrected…but I knew it as Catholic and it still retained some of that feeling, which is not a bad thing.The campus was well kept and the info session and tour guide were were quite good, but it felt a little too close to home.
At University of New Hampshire we had the same experience as EllieMom had at UAB. Everyone we met was friendly and remarkably knowledgeable. The receptionist even knew individual language requirements for specific majors. We got there early for a tour and wandered into buildings a bit beforehand. One professor we bumped into sat down with my child in his office and had a very nice conversation about the school, his experience and what he liked about Durham. In the end my child applied and was accepted, but OS tuition seemed steep for programs she could get elsewhere at a more reasonable tuition.
I have done tours with several of my nephews as well as my own children. I tell them all…You are a consumer. Every school is not right for you. They are trying to sell you on the school when you visit (nowhere was this more apparent than at Northeastern). The reason to go on a tour is to find things you like and things you don’t like. Use that info to refine your search. When you find the right SCHOOLS (because generally there is not ONE perfect fit), you in turn need to sell yourself to them.
One time we visited a small New England city that had several possible academic fit colleges. The city is very rundown. In the morning we toured one college. During lunch my child said “this city is not for me” and didn’t even want to see the other colleges in the area. On a lark I drove through the most elite LAC on the original schedule and it confirmed that feeling. Months later when acceptances came a student in my child’s class was accepted at that fairly well known college. My child was upset. I consoled my child by explaining that this college and city was not a fit as we didn’t leave there with a feeling it was a place to even send in an application. I thought my child had made a thoughtful decision NOT to apply and just needed to be reminded of that and encouraged to be happy for the classmate who it did fit.
We are a Silicon Valley(CA) family, and my now junior in high school son wants to go to college out of state.He’s not interested in any of the UC’s because they are so overcrowded and it basically takes you 5-6 years before you can graduate. So in June, we visited four colleges, three in the midwest and one in the east.
1 favorite- Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. son absolutely adored this school ! He wants to major in Engineering, and isn't sure which faction he wants to do. What's nice about Stevens, is that the school gives you one year before you have to declare which area of engineering you want to pursue. They actually let you explore all the different areas of engineering , so that you have experience in all of those areas. They also teach the students how to use the Bloomberg Machines and get certified on them. This school is a co-op school , which means that you will have 1 year of work experience in the area of your degree when you graduate. This idea thrilled my son - his eyes just lit up when they mentioned this ! We all liked the idea that the school is small( under 6000 students) and the campus is cozy and very easy to get around.
Case Western Reserve was a HUGE disappointment ! My son was so excited to see this school. Case really over empathizes that they are a top notch Engineering School. Sadly, this really isn’t the case( no pun intended). They are more a Bio-Tech school. There are 3 hospitals on their campus and they really specialize in the medical/biotech areas.
Both my son and husband felt that Case added the engineering component to try to get more kids to apply there. My husband is in the Tech field and he felt that Case’s Engineering Department sorely needed to be updated. He felt that the electronics looked like very early 90’s, and tired. My son was not impressed, he also didn’t like the campus. His comments were that the school felt like a UC, was dirty(roach in dorm room light fixture) and out dated. Cleveland as a town, didn’t score well either. We all didn’t think it was worth $65 k a year.
College of Wooster was a very pleasant surprise ! My son thought it was more beautiful than Santa Clara University ! (Santa Clara is about a mile from our home)He absolutely loved the size and campus and really felt that this LAC had a private school feel. We thought the town was cute and small. They have a 3-2 Engineering program. My son said he was going to keep this school in his top 10 list.
Wittenberg University fell off the list completely ! We drove for 3 1/2 hours in 94 degree heat with 90% humidity to this school . As soon as we got out of the car to go to the Admissions building my son started to complain about the campus. We went on the tour anyway. Son didn’t like the fact that this school has a religious bent-- Luthern Church.
Our tour guide was pretty good, but my son was put off by some of the traditions that the students adhere to before finals. He also didn’t like the fact that the dorms didn’t have A/C !!! We were surprised about this as well.
Our next set of College tours we will check out Rose-Hulman, Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Whitman, Willamette and St. Lawrence. We really hope our son will like these schools !
^I second your opinion of Stevens. Plus, nearby Hoboken is an amazing place to have fun.
Is this accurate? Does it take that long to graduate because you cannot get the classes you need for your major? UCLA might find itself on my S’s list, but if that is true it gives me pause.
Like any college if students change majors or delay taking courses in order to get a preferred professor or class time it may take more than 4 years.
@svcamom I am sure your location eliminates SCU as a possibility. It is good engineering school though (they also have a small co-op program). My SV based company recruits a significant number of engineers out of the Waterloo Canada co-op program if you want to look that far away. RIT and Northeastern are two other programs that require co-ops.
@HarvestMoon1 Totally possible to graduate in 4 years from UCLA or the other UC’s.
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Not at the UCs I’m familiar with. For engineering they have good 4-year plans laid out. If you don’t follow those, then yes it will take longer. At UCSB, the engineering department will guarantee you get the required classes you need to stay on the plan. They know how many ME/EE/CE courses they need because the majors are limited. The tough part is staying on the plan because the workload is very tough with 16-18 units per quarter.
George Washington U. The night and day diff. between Georgetown’s campus and students was impossible to ignore.
It really depends on what you major in. Many of my friends who have kids say they are staying away from the UC’s because of over crowding. They are instead deciding to either go to private or to out of state schools. The biggest problem for students who live in California, is that the state schools are excepting o.os students first because they get more tuition money. There was an actual article about this practice in the San Francisco Chronicle this past spring.
One of the reason’s we are looking at private schools, is that my son isn’t comfortable with a larger school. He currently is at a small Charter High School ( ranked #4 best public High School in CA), and would feel completely lost at a school with more than 9-10k students. He also has ADD and we feel that a private/small school would be a better fit.
@svcamom I’m surprised you came all the way from CA and only saw Steven’s Instititute. It would have been so easy to also see Lafayette and Lehigh.
The average OOS UC admit has a higher GPA and standardized test score than the average IS admit. The ease of OOS acceptance is a myth,
@usualhopeful - According to a 2015 state audit, the OOS acceptance advantage is most certainly NOT a myth:
“…over the past three years, the university admitted nearly 16,000 nonresidents who were less qualified on every academic score we evaluated than the median scores for admitted residents. Further, the university made it less appealing for the residents it did admit to attend the university by denying an increasingly large percentage of them admission to a campus of their choice. In contrast, nonresidents, if admitted, are never denied admission to a campus of their choice.”
In the three years between 2011-2014, OOS acceptance rates increased by 182%, whereas instate acceptance rates increased by 4%.
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@LoveTheBard I would be interested in reading the article you quoted from above. Could you link it?
^^^ This will probably change since starting this Fall 2916, UC’s will no longer offer OOS students FA. I have read articles that UCLA and UCB are trying to raise funds through their Alumni associations to help fund some FA to offset OOS costs. If you take a look at the Freshman Profile stats for 2016, the OOS GPA and test scores are higher for OOS vs in-state.
http://www.admission.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof16.htm
@youcee So at Accepted Students Night for UCLA in our area, we were told by administration that on average, students take 1 extra trimester to complete requirements, i.e. 4 years + 1. We were a little discouraged to hear that many students take a couple summer semesters in order to get their classes and possibly graduate on time. My H is an alumnus. Still, it’s a great school and a great opportunity, but we’re thinking more for graduate school.
@Gumbymom wouldn’t that no FA for OSS put a real damper on their athletic recruiting efforts? Or are there athletic scholarships that are exempt?
@HarvestMoon1: I do not think that athletic scholarships for the UC’s are affected by the no FA mandate for OOS. UC’s have always given generous need-based aid for in-state applicants vs merit aid, but some of the need-based aid funds were used for OOS applicants which I am sure did not go over well with California taxpayers. Since there was an article revealing the use of these funds, there has been a huge backlash which resulted in the dropping of OOS FA funding. OOS applicants are still eligible for merit based scholarships and I am sure athletic recruits are in this group.
I agree this has gotten off topic but there are several threads this address these issue.
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