<p>I am a first generation, state university graduate. As the first member of my family to go to college I was very pleased with my university and education, as well as very loyal. My son has applied to and been accepted to my alma matter but they have not presented themselves well throughout the process. I used to enthusiastically endorse my school as having true advantages over other instate schools, I'm not sure I can still make that recommendation. I have not pushed this school on my S. I understand that he must choose what is best for him. What is so surprizing to me is how different my Alma Matter looks to me from this new perspective.</p>
<p>Mine went from being known for academics to a push for "big sports." They even ditched the wonderful scramble Pep Band for a regular marching band, and want kids to all buy the same t-shirt to wear on game day.</p>
<p>Meanwhile they are declining excellent candidates and taking athletes that have to be remediated for a year before they can come to campus. I was happy to see that two athletes they heavily invested their time and money in went pro a year early. Bad karma for declining those better qualified applicants!</p>
<p>We didn't encourage our kids to apply for several reasons, that being one. Another that we are out-of-state and the tuition would be higher than what we could get from a private. Also the size did not fit what mine are looking for in a school.</p>
<p>Both my wife and I had terrific undergraduate experiences and we both would be very happy to have our kids (be accepted and) attend our schools. I think we both have a much better understanding of "fit" and the multitude of dimensions that should be considered when selecting a school than when we picked schools. Our kids will also get a much better look at the LACs than either of us did.</p>
<p>I think it's natural that as you live and learn many perspectives change. When I was in high school the community college my older sister attended was my ideal. Then I saw Harvard and other colleges which I could not fathom before.</p>
<p>At Reunions my old 8x8 room sure didn't look like the heaven I thought it was in '76!.Ha!....talk about perspective!</p>
<p>Mine, which is still extremely fine academically (actually, probably even better than when I attended), is much more athletically inclined (and besotted) than when I was there. It will work well for some, but I was deeply disappointed when I visited, but it is no longer a place I can recommend without deep reservations.</p>
<p>Mine (SUNY-Binghamton) looked bad back then, and still looks very bad to me today...Interestingly, the complaints I had about the school are the same complaints kids express on studentsreview and other forums.</p>
<p>Mini, have you seen The Human Stain set at Williams?? Some scenes shot there too.</p>
<p>Mini, there was a beautiful essay in last week's Time mag. about Williamstown...written by a faculty brat.</p>
<p>My favorite was an old movie called "Three in the Attic", based at "Williard College". I even had a campus dog named Paxton Quigley III. </p>
<p>One of the amazing things is that now you can walk down Spring Street (the main college street in town) and there isn't a single bookstore! (I worked at two of them when I was there.) It's hard for me to imagine.... (The college bookstore is way over on Water Street, far on the edge of town, and not a place students are likely to walk except maybe once or twice a year. Hardly conducive to a literate culture. But then I like books, which I guess makes me an antiquarian.)</p>
<p>Yeah, it looKs BETTER.</p>
<p>texastaximom....sounds like UVA....I was there '75-80. Have a son in Bonnycastle now. Agree that football is bigger and the pep band no more. Academics have not suffered in my opinion but I could be wrong. Still stronger in humanities than sciences. Preppy days for the most part over. No longer mostly white and conservative. Most striking was the # of Asians.
Never easy out of state but now pretty stiff. Legacies still get a significant boost.
Not cheap!!! Almost as high as Michigan out of state.
Fun to stroll about when we visit. Corner about the same.</p>
<p>Hi, oldman.</p>
<p>I enjoy the little hamburger joint at the Corner that puts an egg on the burger--Gus's??</p>
<p>I'm such an oldman I can't recall the name.</p>
<p>I love mine, am a diehard alumni and in fact, think it looks better now than back then with all the work they did on landscaping, etc. HOWEVER, we learned that what counts is the fit. Our oldest S went there, for one year, thought it was the only place he wanted to go, and hated it. It was everything he was told it would be, far away from home, in the middle of no where, big, but he learned it wasn't right for him. At first it was a hard pill for two alumni parents to swallow, but it turned out to be the absolute best decision to transfer. Now he's exactly where he needs to be. Now with our second S, he's not even looking at it, or anything like it, nor would I want him too. He wants/needs a LAC, not a mega state public.</p>
<p>My parents hardly talked about their alma mater, but I found that it makes a lot of sense for me, so I applied there on my own initiative. They're thrilled!</p>
<p>Anyone here go to Faber College?</p>
<p>"The college bookstore is way over on Water Street, far on the edge of town, and not a place students are likely to walk except maybe once or twice a year."</p>
<p>Huh? Water Street is about a two minute walk from the center of Spring Street and just off the Route 2, the main drag through the center of campus. Water Street Books is a vibrant and well visited outlet. There is no shortage of book-learning and book-reading at Williams. Williamstown in general is so small that there's not a square inch that every student hasn't visited repeatedly during the course of the year.</p>
<p>As far as Michigan goes, when I went back to Ann Arbor recently, I was appalled by the rundown condition of State Street. I'm sure the change was gradual but not having been there for years and years, it seemed the center had come undone. Also when I was there North Campus was really out there in the wilderness-- just music if I remember properly. Now the two campuses have merged into a dynamic whole. It's positive to see the investment and commitment but at the same time the campus is much less cohesive. My old dorm, Stockton, still looked gracious and blessedly the cemetary where my grandparents are buried was peaceful and serene. The Law Quad on a summer's afternoon was splendid.</p>
<p>My alma mater was Illinois -- NEVER UIUC, nobody at Illinois EVER called Illinois, "UIUC," sometimes we said something oh-so-amusing like Illinois at "Shampoo-Banana," but mostly it was just Illinois (leaving all of the limiting language to the directional states schools).</p>
<p>My impressions? The academic building and set-up still shout "Quality Big State U." You get the impression that anything you want to do, academically, is there for you. The main Quad and other grassy areas are still enormous, comforting, just right for the school. But, the facility quality difference between the humanities and the Engineering Campus (right across Green street, but world's apart in spirit) is enormous. The Engineering Campus is amazing. Unbelievable facilities. Lots of money sunk into these programs. Makes the rest of a proud university seem a little bit like Cinderella.</p>
<p>The campus town? Seems much more cheap and tawdry to my much older eyes. Then again, I definitely use to like cheap and tawdry. :)</p>