<p>In the 70's, UCLA seemed cozy with strategically placed empty spaces compared to my last impression a few years ago. Now, tons of large new academic buildings have replaced some of those places where I used to lay in the sun, studying or whatever. The student union got rid of the bowling alley, an old haunt. There has been a wonderful buildup of the dorm hill area. Seems like a little town area. Very modern. My double room in Reiber Hall is now a triple, and it was too small for a double in the first place. Cozy memory was replaced by claustrophobia that I never noticed when I attended, but then again, I wasn't always in a state to notice anything. S chose UMich over alma mater, and D wasn't impressed. All for the best. It is my place. I don't have to replace my memories with my kids'.</p>
<p>I like your perspective," I don't have to replace my memories with my kids"
Thanks, thats is a great way to put it.
Unfortunately the actions of my school, FSU, are a disappointment to me of late. It seems as though with an abundance of applicants they see no need to seek out, pursue or even encourage the best and brightest in our state (Florida). Our rival the University of Florida on the other hand has the second highest number of National Merit Scholars in the country. It's is hard to swallow that your rival school is doing a better job. They roll out the red carpet for students like my S. My S however whose only instate choice was FSU will most likey to go out of state. Hopefully, he as well as our budget, will find the proverbial fit.</p>
<p>I graduated from Ohio University in the 70's. I loved the place but have NEVER been back since the day I moved out. I receive alumni mailings and have donated annually for many many years. I have actually heard very good things about this small university as it currently is. It actually sounds better than when I went there. I would love to get my daughter to at least look but it is not close enough to a reasonable sized town (she doesn't view Athens OH as a reasonable sized town) to meet her criteria. Still... I would have to say that I view the place (from a far) favorably.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update on Illinois. I got my masters there and haven't been back since then (way many years ago). I agree, it was Illinois, never even heard of UIUC. Is the corn field still in the middle of campus? I loved campus town back then, but most likely would have the same impression of it now, since I'm not a young, starving, poor grad student any longer.</p>
<p>I went to MIT, and tried desperately--from when he was 12 and visited the Media Lab with his uncle--to keep my son from going there... but failed. It is very strange to me, because so much is different, and so much is the same. The dorms and frats have pretty much the same reputations they did then (some of them even more so); the majors have the same numbers; most of the courses have the same numbers. BUT there are lots and lots of new and flashy buildings, and--horror of horrors!--they actually care about their undergraduates now. And my son is having a truly wonderful time, even though "IHTFP" still rules as a campus motto. So his experience is completely different from mine.</p>
<p>When I visit, even while I'm thinking that everything looks so new and clean, I find myself taking shortcuts that I don't even consciously remember.</p>
<p>There appear to be several UVA alums on this thread. The egg/hamburger place on the Corner, Gus' is still there, as are a number of other places like the Virginian, College Inn, etc. The University itself has changed a lot. It had better have, since when I started there were only men in the College. </p>
<p>I talked my D into applying, since with her legacy status, it's pretty much a big name safety school, but it's really not right for her. It's gotten large, about 8,000 total students when I attended, I think it's over 20,000 now. It has really emphasized athletics. When I attended, football games were just a social event, now they go to bowls. The irreverent Pep band is gone, and the introduction of a marching band makes them look like any other state U.</p>
<p>I hope these things have changed because the current student body wants it that way, but I liked it better when it was smaller and athletics weren't such a big deal.</p>
<p>I have visited Ann Arbor several times in the past few years because both my kids did college visits, plus my SiL lived there, so we always had a home there. I agree with many of Momrath's observations; the STAte st area seems different, and North Campus seems closer. The Diag is still the Diag, and the UGLi is still Ugly, but less so.</p>
<p>Momrath, the saddest thing is that Drakes is gone!!!! I still taste their hot chocolate when I read certain 19th century English novels that I sat and read there.</p>
<p>Both my kids liked Michigan, and both were accepted into the Honors program. My D chose badly, a school which was not nearly as good, but then transfered to an LAC which was far better for her. I think, esp as she was very young, Mich would have been tough for her, though still a better fit than University X.</p>
<p>S liked it a lot--his clear second choice. He'd have been happy to go there, and their football team is much better than where he is!!</p>
<p>Both have a lot of affection for the place, and grew up wearing UM duds, but I think both were happy to find their own places, rather than where Mom and Dad went.</p>
<p>Both have talked about going there for grad school, but since their aunt who lived there was killed, it now feels different to them--she was a huge presence in the town, and they're not sure they want to be there with that gaping absence. But time may change that.</p>
<p>It's interesting to me how many parents that I meet have their hearts absolutely SET on their kids going to their alma maters....especially when BOTH parents went there.......such unrealistic pressure! I can't imagine how that would feel to have your parents saying "Can't wait till we tailgate with you at your (my old) frat!".ugh!</p>
<p>Garland, My father grew up on a farm outside of Ann Arbor (though I bet its no longer outside). He went to Michigan during the Depression. His parents died when he was young and are buried in the cemetery in the center of campus. I lived in a suburb of Detroit and made holiday pilgrimages to Ann Arbor. Later my older sister went to UMich and I followed. It wasnt an entirely successful experience for me but it was (and I think still is) a GREAT college town. The places that I missed the most were Drakes, as you said I was a limeade fanatic and the Prezel Bell where our parents always treated us to dinner and where (before we became hippies) we drank on our fake ID. From what I could tell the P-Bell is gone too.</p>
<p>I, nor my husband, cared where our kids applied to college and did not suggest or persuade them one way or another. My husband and I both went to Tufts (where we met). When my oldest started her college search in fall of junior year, she began by looking through several thick college directory/guidebooks. She came up with a list that interested her and I noticed that Tufts was on it. I never cared if she looked into Tufts but found it interesting that Tufts appealed to her and the criteria she by which she was searching. She had briefly seen Tufts a couple times, because if we ever were in Boston, a couple times we'd drive by Tufts to show our kids where we met (actually once we got out and took them to the very spot, the laundry room in Hill Hall, but I digress). So, when she put together a more narrow list of where she wanted to visit, I saw that Tufts was still on it. Actually she was very attracted to Tufts. So, fall of junior year we went to visit, a more normal or comprehensive visit, not like the drive bys when they were little. And as I went on the tour and to the information session, it dawned on me that if I was 17 again, Tufts would be a school I would be attracted to for the same reasons as the first time around. There were plenty of new buildings and changes but still lots was the same. As it turned out, Tufts became one of my D's first choices, which I found to be kinda funny how that just turned out that way. In fall of senior year, she returned again for an overnight visit. It was tied for first choice in her mind by then. When acceptances rolled in, she was not sure where she would matriculate and decided to go to the open house events at three of her favorite schools (all were second visits but in the case of Tufts, it was a THIRD visit). She loved Tufts. I loved it all over again myself. That was a good thing for me to go visit with a prospective student as I have been interviewing for Tufts applicants for 10 years and this was a fresh perspective, current, and from the viewpoint of prospective admissions. As it turned out, as happy as she felt she would be at Tufts, and it was hard to choose, she chose Brown. She loves her current school but my guess is she would have also loved Tufts. I did not care which she chose and in fact, am delighted with how perfect a match and how happy she appears to be at Brown. However, back to the original topic, my alma mater looks just as attractive to me now as it did when I was an ED applicant and as much as when I attended and loved it. I think I would still love to go again if I were only 18 again. I'm glad I got to look at it in depth one more time, now as an adult, and see that it really was a good place for me and that I still love it. It was fun to go "back".</p>
<p>My alma mater, UC Santa Barbara, looks better to me know because it's gotten so much stronger since I graduated. Cause or effect? You make the call.</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara also looks so much worse to me because I now compare it to LAC's and some LAC-like universities, e.g., Tufts, Johns Hopkins, Rice, and say "Oh."</p>
<p>Geez, I work at my alma mater! :( Yes, more buildings, more students, and definitely more cars & traffic!!!! Didn't encourage or discourage D from applying...and she didn't! Whew!!!</p>
<p>I sat down one day and made a list of everything I wanted in a College and was surprised that it existed two hours away in Ithaca, New York. I didn't apply or want to go anyplace else. I arrived the day before my interview and got a glimpse of the room and the person who would interview me. I went to a waiting room and read several magazines that had the guys name on the label. I went back to my room and practiced introducing myself and allowed imaginary interviews to go over and over in my head. The next day, at the interview, I explained why I wanted to go there, what I expected to do and what I thought I brought to the table. I owned the room.</p>
<p>When my kids were born, I used to joke, "I don't care what college you go to as long as it is at Cornell." As they grew, I realized I wanted them to find their own place, their own experience and while I was pleased when my daughter looked at their catalog, I didn't mind when she said it wasn't what she was looking for. I was glad to find out she had made her own list.</p>
<p>I haven't been on the campus in a few years and Deans and Professors that I once knew have retired or passed on, buildings have been leveled and new ones built, but when I think of Cornell, it still meets all the needs of my list. I hope every student will be as happy with their decision as I am, years later, with mine.</p>
<p>Okay, Archermom...UCLA or the Dark Side?</p>
<p>Looking back at my undergraduate engineering college, I wish it was better in liberal arts. Liberal arts departments and professors were not upto snuff and that is an understatement. I was going to use a different word but I know it will be bleeped out of here.</p>
<p>In fact, my son is taking an Asian Religion course at Swarthmore and learning about Buddhism. My religion instructor managed to turn me off of religion and Eastern Philosophy completely. I am actually learning stuff from my son now from the bits and pieces of information I glean from him. :)</p>
<p>TheDad, I still have some blue and gold running through my veins! Children know better than to go "there" (the other side). ;)</p>
<p>You know, Archermom, the odds have just gone up exponentially that it's an even smaller world than we'd thought. TheMom has worked there for almost 25 years and knows a <em>lot</em> of people, many of whom I've met. Hmmm... Hmmm....</p>
<p>The real estate holding company masquerading as a university the wife and I attended 35 years ago has blossomed a bit and developed some pretensions. It gets a slightly better class of student and had much better facilities. Nobody will mistake it for Harvard but at least they don't mistake it for a similarly named institution across town either. </p>
<p>Still they fell majorly onto my s*list a decade or so back when they recruited a convicted rapist for the basketball team. Was a big stink in the papers and president of the university completely blew it with this alumnus when he said the school would give the victim a scholarship too IF she qualified for admission. </p>
<p>Hmm - I'd say it was one of the all time bonehead public relations blunders by a college president except there are so many to choose from - Sumers at Harvard, "Girls are dumb" - Hamilton College paying and Honorarium to Ward Churchill, "911 victims got what they deserved" - the American University president who had to resign for making hundreds of obscene phone calls. This could be a whole thread by itself. Stupid things college presidents have said and done.</p>
<p>"The egg/hamburger place on the Corner, Gus' is still there."</p>
<p>You're right it is still there but it is called The White Spot. The cheeseburger with the fried egg is called a Gus Burger.</p>
<p>TheDad...Wow! November will be my 28th yr of service. That IS amazing!</p>