<p>I visited Bennington and Bard. Bennington is very very small (although it sounds like Marlboro is smaller). We talked to one girl who said that she was a psych major – but the school only had one psych professor. My immediate thought was “oh no, what if he gets a new job and leaves?”</p>
<p>So I guess the question would be how comfortable she is with that possibility, and what is she interested in studying? It’s definitely a gorgeous area, but pretty remote. I think there’s also a pretty high percentage of hippie/pot-smoking (we heard it referenced three times while we were wandering around the dining hall) very liberal kids. The dining hall was actually way more my kind of food than where I ended up attending – there were decent vegetarian and vegan options, and it seemed more focused on organic and healthy food.</p>
<p>In terms of Bard, it’s funny, because Bard was the school that made me realize that visits weren’t that important. We had an absolutely awful tour guide, who spent the whole tour telling us how much various buildings had cost, and really turned me off from the school. I’ve realized later that he was probably an outlier in terms of the typical Bard student, and really didn’t give us the best impression of the place. Tours can be so subjective depending on who you get to represent the school. My impression of the area Bard was in seemed pretty remote as well (I grew up in a small town, so that isn’t criticism) but it’s much more accessible to NYC. I don’t remember much about the dining hall or anything there. These visits were a while ago so my recollection is kind of spotty.</p>
<p>Personally, the fact that you could end up with a major in a department that only had one professor kind of freaked me out. If your daughter has any idea what she wants to study, even if it’s narrowed down to a few areas, I’d suggest researching those departments and contacting professors.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on your kid. Our kids really prefer larger schools, having had and heard of bad experiences in VERY small schools because there isn’t much selection (e.g. if there’s only one prof in a department and you disagree with him/her or want more than s/he has to offer). To us, college is a place to experience more and have the opportunity to explore divergent interests. By their nature, larger Us have the resources to make those available–economies of scale.</p>
<p>Our kids didn’t realize how much they were urban kids and wanted a big U until we drove around some more rural schools in Rochester NY & CO. They thereafter insisted they were both urban kids and wouldn’t easily fit into those more rural settings. They’re both pretty happy at USC, which combines urban with a real “campus,” unlike some other urban schools.</p>
<p>^ I would also recommend visiting SIMILAR schools if possible, in terms of locale. For instance, when I visited Cornell I knew immediately that it was beautiful (oh, gorgeous) but I already felt lost on the campus. I’ll be visiting urban next week, so we’ll see how that goes, but my preference is definitely for idyllic suburban/small-town LACs like Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Goucher and Ohio State are very much alike in that they are both located inside the beltway of their respective state’s largest city. Of course some people insist that colleges and universities are better described by their differences, rather than their similarities.</p>
<p>Don’t discount Marlboro due to its size. They also have prestigious outside faculty that play an important role. And look at their faculty retention. I still know faculty there who are still there after 30 plus years. If I was a college prof who was most interested in making the college learning experience important for my students I would LOVE to teach there.
Irvinemom - I pm’d you</p>
<p>I thought the idea of reading copies of the student newspaper at the schools you can’t visit was a great one. Will give a feel for what is important to at least some of the kids at that school.</p>
<p>Read stuff on the website that is more geared towards current students, staff and alums – NOT just stuff geared towards admitted students and recruiting. Those more mundane web-based communication vehicles for the school’s current community may help give an idea of what’s really going on and what’s important to the various constituent members (students, faculty, staff, alums) of that community.</p>
<p>For students who can’t visit, the campus nespaper is a great place to get information about campus culture from a student viewpoint, and it doesn’t cost a cent. Current and back issues are available on most college websites. There are also links to many college papers on newslink.com.</p>
<p>My D will be heading off from California to a Midwest school we’ve never seen; in fact, we visited none of her schools. It was simply not feasible last year. We decided that we’d wait until we got admissions letters and then visit one or two. </p>
<p>In the end, we didn’t even do that. She got only one viable offer (several waitlists and one admit/deny); fortunately, it was her top school. I actually feel blessed to be finished with this, and that the choice was so clear; many of her friends are agonizing about “love it but can’t pay for it vs. disappointing but debt-free.” We put the deposit in the mail on Tuesday.</p>
<p>We will be going to Admitted Students Day in a couple of weeks, just to give D a chance to relish her achievement and meet some of her future classmates. But I’m comfortable about her enrolling sight unseen. She is very clear about her learning style and what she wants, and has read everything she could get her hands on about the school. It looks to be a good fit for her, and I anticipate a good 4 years.</p>