<p>If so, how was it?</p>
<p>my wife and daughter went, and I haven’t had a chance to get all the details, but from what they did tell me it went well. They estimated 50 prospective students, started with a Q&A with current students, I think they said 8 or so students on the panel. That went on for an hour, sorry but I don’t know what was asked or presented. Then a tour that my daughter thought was more thorough than the one we had taken on previous visit. They skipped out before the pizza party/social event.</p>
<p>My daughter said she felt better about NCF after the event, and she already felt pretty good about it. When I asked about the prospective students she said there were a lot of people wearing Doc Marten shoes, and my daughter wears a lot of Doc Martens.</p>
<p>It was my wife’s first visit and she liked it a lot, she mentioned the down to earth students and seemingly supportive environment. </p>
<p>If you have any specific questions let me know and I will ask them.</p>
<p>My spouse and child attended. They both liked it a lot. All the presentations and conversations (students, faculty, admin) were very good. By that I mean they were informative, engaging and honest. They answered questions & did not try to sugarcoat or oversell the school. [Both my spouse and child are very sensitive to the over the top pitches & claims. (every other kid is or will be a Nobel) that are frequent at top LACS/ivies/, etc.]</p>
<p>The activities they had (tour panel, reception, pizza, evening concert, etc.) were great.
Child felt very comfortable with NCF. The experience matched what is in the brochures & web site. </p>
<p>The campus is very nice but not flashy at all (no 100 million gym complex, for ex.) a lovely view of bay right on the bay; and Sarasota was great. Restaurants & coffee shops were excellent. Beaches are fabulous. </p>
<p>Generous merit aid, also for OOS. Low cost for so much individual attention from faculty. It will be interesting to watch where the pendulum ends up with child’s decision as other application outcomes are pending.</p>
<p>Thanks, orangecontrol and secondround. It’s good to hear that your families liked the accepted students day. We had wanted to go, but communication with the school beforehand got messed up (for some reason, their system was blocking my e-mails), and by the time we figured it out the plane tickets down had become too expensive. </p>
<p>S would be an OOS student (from NY) and the net price is great compared to most of the other colleges he’s been accepted to. So happy to hear that what your families experienced matched the marketing materials. From everything we’ve seen and read, we think S would be very happy there if he could accept being farther from home than he’d prefer to be.</p>
<p>One of my biggest concerns with NCF is the seemingly relatively limited course offerings (gathered from what’s posted on their website). Do you know if that came up at all? </p>
<p>I’ve also read report after report of the food in the (one and only) dining hall being terrible. Did your families eat in the dining hall? It might sound a bit trivial, but I’m really into good food and want my kid to eat well! :)</p>
<p>Had a chance to speak to my wife about your questions, she doesn’t remember any info about the small number of classes offered. There were conversations about ‘mini-classes’ at the beginning of the term that are 15 minute samples offered by professors to give students a preview of what to expect. Apparently good mini-classes lead to an abundance of kids trying to register for that class, and once it is full there being few similar options, so I guess it does affect students options.
I saw the dining hall when I toured and it wasn’t impressive compared to some of the other schools we’ve seen. Small selections and pretty utilitarian, it does have a pretty good looking deli section. However they have a great student run cafe on campus where you can use your meal plan. Veggie wraps, good looking salads, nice decor. I think it was called four winds cafe. I think there is a price premium to the meal plan to eat there.
The dorms offer more cooking options than others we have seen, and apparently student potlucks are pretty common.</p>
<p>fosterte I recall you from Macauly and Bard forums. Can’t private message you due to limited posts. Our child is a big eater but values quality as much as quantity. Both child and spouse chose not to eat at caf. Sarasota restaurants they tried on the other hand were excellent and affordable compared to NY restaurants but not for student budget. Dorm rooms are huge they did not mention kitchenettes. Now that all of our childs admits/rejects are in this is the week to make decisions. Right now child grappling with student body size at NCF and question of social fit. Our kids overlap some schools. Interesting. Our other child went cross country to school as well and the plane tickets definitely need to be put into the budget. And purchased in advance.
If you want to PMessage you can try.
good luck</p>
<p>Thanks, orangecontrol and secondround, for the extra information - it’s very helpful!</p>
<p>secondround, I seem to have been able to send you a PM. We’ll see!</p>
<p>Hi fosterte. Got your message but it won’t let me reply. I spent time responding this afternoon via PM and what I sent never got sent and no draft or anything there. Bottom line: our kids have a lot of overlaps. Bard, NCF, Hampshire. Bard sends out FA on Monday. Ours denied at Skid. NCF best for the money. Child and spouse liked it a lot but our child not sure about fit socially. Smaller student body that is more hip than what child is used to. Still looking at other options but may yet surprise by going out of comfort zone a bit and not just cross country.
All privates full of wealthier kids. There is no getting around that but if kid knows this going in then they can stick to their guns and know that not there to keep up.
For our first child the visit was what sealed it; chose a top U (top 20) with merit aid over an Ivy (no FA no merit). Ivy frosh were drunk, obnoxious. Top U were super smart regular kids, more low key hanging out socially. Loved it.
Spouse & child going on a couple more visits yet. We’ll see. I will try to do more posts so I can PM you.</p>
<p>daughter announced last night that she was going to NCF, only potential wrinkle is her wait list at Barnard, but that would have to come through with generous FA to change her mind.<br>
She picked NCF over Ithaca, American, Emerson, UVM-honors, SUNY New Paltz and Drew, all of which with her merit were still about $10k per year more than NCF with Bright Futures and merit. She will leave New College with no debt. She was rejected by Brown and Vassar, wait listed by Barnard and Skidmore.
I’m exited with her choice, I had a good feeling there and I think it could put her in a superior grad school versus her other options. I think it is a good fit socially and I think she has the drive to manage the self directed curriculum.
Good luck to all!</p>
<p>YAY!! That’s great, orangecontrol! Congrats to your daughter, and it must be a relief for all that the decision has been made!</p>
<p>Like with secondround, S has a fair amount of overlap with your daughter as well. NCF, UVM-honors, New Paltz, and Skidmore. He was rejected at Vassar too, which was the only rejection that really stung. </p>
<p>NCF was a top contender until S was accepted into CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and until he got offered quite a generous aid package from Skidmore. Sometimes I wish I could just pluck NCF up and move it a little closer to where we live!! That’s really the only major drawback from S’s perspective, that he wouldn’t be able to easily get back to the area when he wanted to. From the parental perspective, Macaulay would end up costing significantly less than NCF and Skidmore would cost just a little more (with transportation costs figured in) but he’d be SO much closer to home. And we’re still waiting for Bard’s financial aid offer. I hate that it comes down SO MUCH to money, but the reality has set in that as two state workers with four children, once a few great fits are on the table, that’s largely what it’s going to come down to.</p>
<p>secondround, fingers crossed that we’ll get the Bard FA letters today - tomorrow at the latest!</p>
<p>fosterte - opposite issue here are we live in St. Augustine, only about 3 1/2 hours from Sarasota. It was all the other schools that offered geographic challenges for us. Opposite financial situation as well as instate tuition for NCF is very reasonable and we have state funded ‘bright future’ scholarships that help a lot as well. Bright Futures and NCF merit award cover all of tuition and a bit of housing. Really a great bargain.</p>
<p>my parents live at 69th and 3rd so I know Hunter well, at least the subway stop! Seems a wonderful place to go to school, I am sure from such great choices your son will make a great decision. if I can offer any more NCF info please let me know. Good luck with Bard FA and the rest.</p>
<p>LOL! That is so funny, especially since I thought given your moniker “orangecontrol” you must be from central NY and really into Syracuse Univ basketball!! If we were down in Florida, I think NCF would be it for him, an easy choice. But alas, we’re way up here in the Northeast. NCF is the only “farther away” school he applied to. All of the others on the initial long list were crossed off pretty quickly, and NCF is the only one that made it through our selection process.</p>
<p>Yes, S is getting excited about the possibilities that would be available by attending Macaulay and being in Manhattan, and Hunter really is in a nice part of the city. The residence hall he’d be in is located between Murray Hill and the East Village, another neat part of the city (especially for a young musician - vocals and lead guitar in a rock band). </p>
<p>Oh, I can’t wait until all of the kids have made that big final decision!!</p>
<p>Wow ! I need a more anonomous username, grew up in NJ and went to Cuse. The reason i missed NCF admitted day and my spouse and D went without me was my attending the last real Big East Basketball tournament in NYC to root on my Orange. (Who sadly lost in the finals). Good luck with your son Sherlock Fosterte!</p>
<p>orangecontrol–congrats on d’s decision. my d (NCF senior) just defended her thesis last Friday and she found the entire experience so positive, great support from her advisor…she learned so much, did a psych experiment of her own creation, and each step of the way New College supports their students, while inspiring dedication to their studies. In my view New College really does qualify as a CTCL, (college that changes lives). I agree with Bright Futures and merit awards, it is amazing to leave with no debt, (my d is leaving with actual earnings-had a third scholarship) and is planning on grad school so it’s fabulous to start out ahead of the game. Good luck…please feel free to pm me with specific questions too…</p>
<p>Thank you lindz126 ! That is a great affirmation of her decision. I am sure I will be in touch for advice</p>
<p>I’m guessing you all have this info, but thought I’d share the accepted students link…</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.ncf.edu/accepted-students[/url]”>https://www.ncf.edu/accepted-students</a></p>