<p>Has anyone out there visited these three schools and come away with a feel or vibe that they can share? I'm talking a gut feeling as opposed to the curriculum or ranking. Had a definite good feeling from muhlenberg and have not visited skidmore or wheaton yet.</p>
<p>Visited Wheaton last year. (Assuming you mean the MA Wheaton.) A couple of impressions:
- Pretty quiet campus with not a whole lot around. D liked the Northhampton area around Smith a lot more in comparison. Wheaton isn’t exactly in a real rural area; there just didn’t seem to be much other than houses (on decent size lots) in the vicinity.
- Campus is pretty, very classic New England. Chapel is beautiful.
- D found the elementary language class she attended to be small (under 20 kids), but quite a few of the kids seemed under-prepared for the day’s lesson. The teacher was very vibrant.
- Dorms are apparently a sore point – Wheaton was apparently promising doubles but then forcing triples each year for the fall in the expectation that most would drop down to doubles in the spring when a bunch of kids go on study abroad problems. There was also a story in the student newspaper about a rash of outsider break-ins into student dorms; apparently the administration did not publicize the break-ins for some time during which still other rooms were entered. I gather the outcry finally convinced the admin to change the exterior locks, the keys to which had gotten spread around too widely.
- The cafe in the student center had pretty minimal offerings. Lot’s of posters around advertising and exhorting students to participate in various events. It wasn’t a campus where kids looked really happy, but they weren’t morose either. We saw a lot more girls than guys.
- Campus upkeep looked very good. </p>
<p>It was too quiet an area for D, and she was looking for a higher level of academic engagement than she saw. (But, it was one class. Every other class might have been utterly fabulous and full of highly engaged students.)</p>
<p>I have visited Wheaton & Skidmore within the past couple of years. Lately, Wheaton has the reputation of being a “suitcase school.” And yes, there doesn’t seem to be very much there; students go to Providence or Boston. </p>
<p>I enjoyed our visit to Skidmore-the dorm rooms were very spacious, very nice. Saratoga Springs has lots of shops & restaurants. Skidmore’s financial aid office was just written about in Time magazine, I believe. They do not meet 100% of need, they try to meet as much need as possible. Great academics, nice location, 60% female, 40% male.</p>