Dirt and overall condition at New College

Colleges and Universities A-Z New College of Florida
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<p>Only two people have posted college visits for New College. I am troubled by what I have read - that the college is filthy, there is a lot of graffiti, and other than the Ringling mansion, the overall condition is poor. I know the kids there are supposed to offbeat, and we can handle that - my D would probably fit right in. But cleanliness is important too. At least to me.</p>

<p>We will tour it for ourselves in a few weeks, but I wanted to see if I could get some feedback on this ahead of time. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Please tour yourself!</p>

<p>My wife and I visited NCF this past weekend. I saw no filth or graffiti. We did not go into the Hamilton Center which houses the dining hall and student center nor did we go into the dorms, however. The story may be different there.</p>

<p>My wife did comment that the grass was less than lush green, but, being from Naples, we understand that, absent irrigation, the greenness of the grass is a function of rainfall. The “winter” and spring are low rainfall months, while rain is (overly) abundant in the summer.</p>

<p>The area around the college does not appear to be a bad one. It’s located on Tamiami Trail (US 41) which once was the main highway between Miami and Tampa. The Sarasota airport is adjacent to campus on the east side of 41. There are some residences immediately north of campus that appear to be middle-middle class homes. They do not have bars on the windows that are ubiquitous in the Miami area.</p>

<p>The landscaping of US 41 is minimal. I would rank the overall appearance of the US 41 area north of campus as not nearly as nice as US 41 in Naples, but better than US 41 in Fort Myers. We did not drive south of campus on 41.</p>

<p>My wife and I both attended older universities located where there are hills and lots of deciduous trees; NCF does not have the same campus “feel” as the schools of which we are alumni. But it is very nice and Sarasota Bay is breathtaking.</p>

<p>I guess it’s a matter of economic priorities, though: lush grass or low student:faculty ratio.</p>

<p>We met a professor, Dr. McCord, who could not have been more gracious. He was happy to answer our questions about NCF even though he was not then (Sunday afternoon) on-campus for admissions purposes.</p>

<p>I highly recommend you visit for yourself and seek out input from the people you meet on campus.</p>

<p>Our D may be your D’s classmate this fall. My D “would probably fit right in” as well.</p>

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<p>I agree Senior’s Dad—my d feels NCF is a very comfortable fit for her so perhaps they will all be classmates this fall. We visited three weeks ago~very helpful info session led by a graduate of NCF. The the tour showed a unique natural campus by the bay, (I did not observe any graffiti or filth on the campus) It is a different physical environment than many colleges in more traditional college settings. I also have a college freshman s (@ Washington and Lee University in Va) which is a “quintessential college campus”–brick buildings, white columns… We’ve visited many colleges over the last two years. and I was very impressed with NCF ~ took pics on my phone camera to show it off to others. The dorms were very nice, larger than average dorms, and pleasant, a bathroom shared by just the two roommates, which is unusual. We had a very nice fresh lunch at the Four Winds cafe in the middle of campus, a vegetarian cafe. good luck to your d, definitely go visit.</p>

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<p>In January before there were many students on campus, my daughter and I did the admissions-office-organized-tour during which we visited the I.M. Pei dorms. As you point out, NCF’s dorms are nicer and much more spacious than my own previous-century, major-state-university-situated-on-the-quintessential-college-campus dorm rooms.</p>

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<p>The NC campus has a very unique feel of old coastal Florida. We visited about a month ago and I commented to my son that I’m sure there are people that would give their eye-teeth to be situated on the Gulf in this part of Florida. Understand if you are not from Florida that the soil is mostly sand, the natural vegetation is somewhat scrubby and low, and that buildings are built out of concrete block to withstand the brutal summer conditions. Florida has very hot, rainy, and humid summers, but the winter and spring are very dry with moderate temperatures. It has been exceptionally dry this winter and it shows. Florida is water challenged enough so I am glad that NC does not irrigate and maintain freakishly green lawns. </p>

<p>We toured the library, the student center, the marine center, and the dorm areas. They were all pretty clean! My son and I were both impressed with the sample dorm room–down to the required air conditioners and private bathrooms. The areas outside of the dorm rooms were not landscaped and students had placed lawn chairs in some of the dirt areas, but they did not look trashed. We liked the balcony areas that we could see from many of the rooms. They did not have “views” but students had used them for anything from bike storage to mini garden areas. I do not remember seeing graffiti anywhere. </p>

<p>NC is very beautiful in a unique way. To me, it had a low key hum of a small school with a distinct coastal and real Florida feel. A visit is a must to decide if it will suit you or not.</p>

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<p>Thanks, PlantMom; you make all good points.</p>

<p>Another consideration may be that any fertilizer used on NCF’s grounds would find its way into Sarasota Bay. I don’t know that NCF eschews fertilizer for that reason, but doing so would be consistent with NCF’s expressed environmentally-friendly philosophy.</p>

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<p>Overall, I think they do a good job keeping NCF clean. The last time I remember seeing graffiti there was during construction of the new dorms…the college had allowed students to express themselves decoratively on a temporary construction fence. Maybe that’s where that reference came from, but it’s long gone.</p>

<p>Although the campus is not traditional, it has its own beauty. I think it would be hard to beat the classroom space in the old Ringling mansion overlooking the bay and what a great area Palm Court is for students to socialize in. </p>

<p>True the East side of campus is next to SRQ and there are some classrooms on the small side in other buildings, but like some of the other posters said, the small classes and quality of professors make up for it. The dorms are really quite nice compared to what you would find at most colleges. My D actually did have a nice view from her Pei 2nd floor balcony last year…the private bathroom is an especially nice amenity. This year she’s in one of the new dorms and it’s quite nice. I think really the one thing that could be improved is the cafeteria.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the quick responses on this. My daughter is a junior, so she would likely join your kids the following year. But New College is #1 on her list so far for several reasons, and I am suspecting she will like what she sees. We live in Chicago, but have a house on the western side of Florida, so the old coastal Florida descriptions sound fabulous! Now we just have to make sure she can get in…</p>

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<p>2forcollege – my daughter emailed yours today, thanks again…you would know more about this, but I wonder if the observation about “graffiti” might have referenced the chalk writing on the paths ~ we were told students leave info re: events/parties etc in this informal manner…kind of sweet to me.</p>

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<p>lindz, my daughter is on her way home from spring break as I type! I’ll tell her to check her email.</p>

<p>I looked at those visitor reports…Thank you Senior’s Dad for what I think is a very fair and accurate report. Guess I should have written one back in the day when we were college hunting, but didn’t think of it. Definitely the report about graffiti was from when we also first visited the campus during construction of the new dorms. And yes, there was some construction mess and a huge fence that the school had allowed students to “express themselves” on. That fence and construction mess are long gone. The new dorms are really quite nice. As for the other negative campus visit report, I think the poster just didn’t get the NCF vibe. I think they were looking for ivy covered walls, watered lawns and preppy kids. NCF students are a very unique collection of individuals that accept people for who they are…for example, you’ll see a girl in high heels dressed to the nines walking with someone barefoot in shorts and a T. Not everyone is comfortable with that, some people feel more at home if everyone else is wearing a polo shirt just like theirs.</p>

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<p>My son and I went on a New College visit this week. Overall, I would say the campus is in good shape and quite clean. However, in the area of the dorms (where our tour guide was careful to point out they have parties every Friday and Saturday night) the common outdoor areas are a bit beat up in a few places. One of the brick walls near the Pei dorms has some holes in it, and I was taken aback by the vast quantity of cigarette butts scattered and piled all over the walkways, in Palm Court, etc., all around the dorm area. The tour guide talked about how environmentally conscious the students are, but that was not supported by the piles of butts we saw. </p>

<p>Other than that, everything seemed quite well maintained. The only graffiti we saw was in chalk – no other defacement was obvious anywhere. We saw a Pei dorm room, one of the older ones, and it was quite large and had a private bath for two people. Much nicer than most dorm rooms, I must say.</p>

<p>The most impressive thing about the campus was that absolutely everyone was friendly. We were greeted by everyone who passed us, whether they were on foot or on a bike. Everyone smiles and waves and seems quite happy to be there. </p>

<p>The campus is typical Florida vegetation – not as lovely as the ivy covered halls of the Northeast, but the spectacular location on Sarasota Bay has to be one of the most beautiful campus locations I have seen. The grass was quite green when we visited, and the landscaping around campus appeared well maintained. </p>

<p>We were quite impressed – it is a very nice little campus. Other than the cigarette butts, we found nothing to complain about.</p>

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<p>That is interesting that the students appeared friendly to you. I toured with my family last Thursday. We passed a group of students and they almost looked at us defiantly, like “don’t question our lifestyle.” My daughter was surprised. Neither of us care about alternative lifestyles, but two of the girls holding hands walking past us glared at us in a very unfriendly way. We expected the students to be as friendly as they were at other places, like Grinnell, but we didn’t see that. Maybe we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We are from Chicago, so could understand that the appearance of the campus would not be the same architecture and vegetation as what we see here. But the two dorms we went through had a stench, smelled like dirty carpet in humidity. I came away from the school feeling that my D could get a great education there, but was disappointed she did not like it more than she did.</p>

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<p>susanr64:</p>

<p>Your experience was 180 degrees from ours when we visited last Monday.</p>

<p>Everyone we met was extraordinarily friendly. One student who my daughter met in a Latin class went to lunch with us and introduced us to several of her friends at the cafeteria. Two other students talked with us before the Islam in America class and one of them stayed for quite a while after class talking about her experiences and New College and answering all of our many questions. When we got back home, the one student had found my daughter on Facebook, and they are now Facebook friends.</p>

<p>The three professors we met were also all very kind and outgoing and seemed down to earth. Apparently only potential students are supposed to be asked to sit in a class, but the Islam in America professor asked me if I’d like to sit in as well which I gladly did. I was quite impressed with the students and the professor. Seminar-type courses such as Islam in America are apparently quite common if not the norm at New College, whereas at the major state university I attended years ago such seminar courses were reserved for seniors and masters students and mere undergraduates never even got to see the school’s “Great Professors,” although I did get to see the closed door to one of their offices once.</p>

<p>My daughter loved the school and the people we met. I am very pleased that I, too, believe she would get a great education there at a very reasonable cost and within 100 miles of home.</p>

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<p>Senior’s Dad - it does sound quite different. Our tour guide started to take us into the back of a classroom, I think it was the marine biology building, and the professor said “do you mind? we’re in the middle of class!” I guess if I were a professor I wouldn’t like that either, but the tour guide seemed to act like walking in the class was standard protocol. My daughter is a junior, so it’s not something she has to decide on now. My daughter is a little liberal but likes to wear clothes like JCrew. Did you get the impression you could wear preppy clothes on this campus?</p>

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<p>My daughter was wearing a “Save Darfur” tee-shirt and old blue jeans. She speculates it may have made a difference. But I don’t think the NCF students I met give all that much credence to clothing.</p>

<p>My daughter was all set to apply to Vanderbilt and everyone we know was strongly encouraging her to do so. But seeing the preppy attire adorning the students depicted on Vandy’s website convinced her it’s not the place for her.</p>

<p>One other difference, my daughter and I were not part of the guided tour (we’d done that in January when there were few students present). Rather, we arranged with admissions to sit in on classes and otherwise were on our own.</p>

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<p>Senior’s Dad…that is the best way to see NCF! The tour is ok, but really doesn’t give the real feel of the place that you get when you sit in on classes. </p>

<p>susanr64, I’m originally from Illinois and I have a feeling some of what you experienced at NCF was just a difference in culture. Florida just has a different vibe than the Midwest. You eventually adjust to it and realize that everyone isn’t glaring or angry at you. The students and staff at NCF are really quite warm and welcoming…my D thinks of it as one big happy family (maybe with a few odd cousins). </p>

<p>While you won’t see many students dressed preppy at NCF (or anywhere in Florida for that matter), I can’t imagine anyone would give someone a hard time about how they dressed at NCF. Really, individualism is encouraged and accepted whether it’s polo shirts or pirate outfits. It would be more of a matter of whether your daughter could handle being around people that weren’t dressed like she is, than the other way around.</p>

<p>Re the “Florida” smell, yes we do have humidity here and my D’s remedy is to keep the Yankee Candle Company in business with plug-ins and those oil/reed things.</p>

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<p>We will definitely visit again when she can interact more with the students. I’d love it if she went there; the educational levels seem great. Thanks!</p>