<p>Personally, I’m not a big ivy fan. I think there are much better landscaping options if one needs a good landcover. Now, it does look great in certain locations (Wrigley Field, covering college exteriors), but for home residential use it’s a PITA, especially if you want to strip it out. The big leafed version, especially–esthetically, I prefer little ivies.</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>Slitheytove, I agree wholeheartedly with you!!! The side of my neighbor’s house that faces me has ivy on it and whenever I see it, I wonder, “Why do they DO that?”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Right. I think people lose sight of the fact that where you attend college is merely one small data point in a long list of attributes that determine a person’s life.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Indeed. I went to a half a$$ed no-tier private urban commuter university, at an extension campus taking evening courses yet. Certainly changed my life, too; and while I never had Berkeley grads working for me, I made a very good living for many years as a consultant with a client list that included a “Big 8” accounting firm and a number of Fortune 500 companies.</p>
<p>English ivy is really bad, here in the northwest it is invasive. Boston ivy is better, but what is better yet is salal or kinickinick.</p>
<p>I’m new to CC. It was introduced to me by my D1. This is my first post, and I’ve been looking for a thread like this one. I’ve read most, if not all, of this thread – thus the late hour. </p>
<p>My D did not apply ED. She has stellar scores, great EC’s, and enjoys learning. D is NMF and NAF, top 1%, 11 AP’s, over 2300 on SAT. Yet, her choice in colleges is based on:
our family’s life – including our financial one. Location is big. We are east coast, so west of the MS is out. Why --no money to fly D or family back and forth. We are one car and have been for about 3 years. Another important factor is temperature: nothing north of CT. No amount of silk long underwear, down feathers, etc would do in exchange for her happy outlook. Another factor – flexibility or opportunity to explore and take courses in other areas outside major. Finally, size of the school is high on her list. D is interested in physics, but loves art and music.</p>
<p>My advice: apply to where you will be happiest. Results: 2 Ivies (remember weather! and flexibility) – so that leaves P and Y in her mind. </p>
<p>Others: Case Western (flexibility), Wash U (?), Duke (weather, flexibility), UVA (weather),</p>
<p>There are a few more schools she has applied to, but my point is, I am not overly excited about Ivies or any other school. She has been offered full rides to several good but large schools that are too far away. We have a small amount of money we’ve saved for her college, so she knows she needs merit money. We are not poor, but merit money is important. Our LAC are very competative (UVA) and my D is not in the running for a local scholarship to that school. Yet, I must give VA credit, they have managed to keep in state tuition lower than many other states. </p>
<p>I was hoping to gain from this thread more insight from other parents on their kid’s choices, especially their thoughts on Ivies. As parents, we are from big southern state undergrads, and while we are grateful for the opportunity, we know our D would not be happy at either of our alma maters. </p>
<p>Note: we don’t have any unrealistic outlook that Ivies will grant life security and fame. Our D loves to learn and she works hard. She is naturally curious and likes being around kids who are interested in learning for learning sakes. I would be happy if she decided to teach (it’s an honorable profession and this country needs good teachers) or if she decides to change her mind and be an artist. I do want her to be healthy and be able to pay her bills.</p>
<p>What do you think #12Jonri, 2Paths – BTW, I’m not interested in bragging rights -even though I placed D’s stats on this thread. I really just want her to be happy. In fact, my choice for her leans towards Davidson, in NC. I don’t know anything about an Ivy ed because I don’t have any relatives who has ever been educated at one. We visited YPH, MIT, BC. All too cold except maybe P. So, if she is accepted there, I think she would go to class on a cold day. </p>
<p>What do you think #42 Cobrat, #54, Blossom, Bogney. I would welcome some of your thoughts.</p>
<p>You didn’t ask me, but I’ll answer anyway. I have a daughter who is a Rice grad and a son who is a Penn grad. Neither would have been happy at the other school. If I could only recommend one of the schools to someone, it would be Rice. I think Rice offered just about the perfect college experience. The combination of top academics, school size, D1 sports (although generally not strong…), a fun city with a safe campus and a big undergrad focus makes Rice just excellent. My D chose it for it’s conservatory-level music school. Penn ultimately served my son well, but I really had some misgivings. He hated his freshman year. It was impersonal with larger classes than he expected and less intellectual than he wanted. He had gone to an excellent prep boarding school, and he was spoiled by the level of intellectual debate. He adjusted to Penn, really took advantage of life outside of classes (not just social, but the ability to work at excellent jobs and meet interesting people) and liked a lot of his courses. He landed a good job in a tough market, and the Penn degree helped with that, as did his good work experience.</p>
<p>I have many family members who went to Penn (I did not), and, frankly, when I was growing up it was sort of regarded as the hometown school and no one really fell to their knees in worship. I think that all developed later.</p>
<p>I think Davidson has a lot in common with Rice, and I hope your D keeps it high on her list. Princeton and Penn are both pretty cold and grey, too. My son was recruited by Davidson for his sport, but he never got to visit since he got into Penn ED. My daughter applied to Case and was accepted (joint degree program with Cleveland Institute of Music). I found Case to be depressing and cold, but I’m a weather-sensitive person. I also found it to be expensive. She got a lot more merit money from other schools.</p>
<p>“My daughter applied to Case and was accepted (joint degree program with Cleveland Institute of Music). I found Case to be depressing and cold, but I’m a weather-sensitive person. I also found it to be expensive. She got a lot more merit money from other schools”</p>
<p>It’s funny, my son had put Case on his list as a safety school and it turned out he LOVED it when we visited there. He loved the football coach, loved the campus and the size was comfortable for him (it was larger than he initially wanted). It just goes to show you that you HAVE TO VISIT and that your so called safety can wind up to be a great place for you. </p>
<p>So far he has been accepted at Navy and CWRU and hasn’t heard from Hamilton, Williams or U of Chicago. If he can get a medical waiver he will attend Navy, but if not he really really loved CWRU (and they gave him a scholarship!) and considers it higher on his list than some of the more prestigious schools on his list.</p>
<p>Case is a good school with lots of merit money, but be forewarned about Case weather - it does get lake effect snow in the winters.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If your D is applying to Case for Physics with strong interests in art & Music, she may also want to seriously consider Oberlin College as they have strong undergrad science programs which send many kids onto topflight STEM PhD programs. We also send many graduates into K-12 teaching and the creative arts/music fields so she’d find much support if she goes in those directions. </p>
<p>We also have a great Conservatory and the third largest college/university run Art Museum(Allen Art Museum) after Harvard and Yale. It’s around 35 miles from Cleveland. </p>
<p>Only thing I’d caution if you’re concerned about cold weather is that it gets really cold in the Cleveland/Oberlin area.</p>
<p>Razzy, these reports from the American Institute of Physics about the size of the different departments might help your daughter decide on a school. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/physund08.pdf[/url]”>http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/physund08.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/physrost.pdf[/url]”>http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/physrost.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your insights. I’ve heard a lot about Rice. It’s a long way from home, but many of my friends think highly of it. We are also well aware of the “lake effect” in Cleveland, so it is one of the schools we may visit this winter.</p>
<p>Didn’t know those things about Oberlin. I’ll ask D to look into it.</p>
<p>rhumbob,
“Miami of Ohio - I think they chose the Miami name just to fool prospective students about the crappy Ohio weather.”</p>
<p>-Miami University is older than the state of Florida and city of Miami, which was named by the person from Ohio for the Indian tribe in Ohio. Many places in Ohio are called either Maumee or sometime Miami. And weather in Oxford is about 3 degrees woarmer than the rest of OH, so it is not so bad, but some winters are more severe than others. Miami has a gorgeous campus.</p>
<p>MOWC,
You have all right to express any opinion of anything in a world.<br>
Please, leave my D. alone. I am sure there are many facsinating facts of your life that you can share with us. My D. is not part of your life.</p>
<p>^^ I must be missing something, because I have never said anything negative about your obviously very bright and talented daughter. What are you smoking? I don’t criticize people’s kids on this forum- ever. I have every right to express my opinion about certain schools and whether MY belief is that one person’s experience may or may not be representative of the experience others may have. I hope you will read my posts with a little more comprehension.</p>
<p>“D is interested in physics, but loves art and music.”
“She has stellar scores, great EC’s, and enjoys learning. D is NMF and NAF, top 1%, 11 AP’s, over 2300 on SAT. Yet, her choice in colleges is based on:
our family’s life – including our financial one.”
Well, I’m going to chime in as well- Your D should apply to USC, even though it is in SCal.
The reasons-
1] she will receive an automatic 1/2 tuition scholarship there for being a NMF AND
2]USC has one of the most generous Financial aid programs of any non-Ivy private U. They distributed over 225 MILLION in FA this year alone. 60% of students at USC receive FA.
3] USC has a great school of music-Thorton-as well as an outstanding art college. Both offer non majors the opportunity to take music lessons, classes, etc, which can be much harder for non music majors to get into at colleges with Music Conservatories [ a la Rice and Oberlin.
4] USC has 18 other colleges of study and is fast becoming the “hot” U for top students because of its numerous, generous merit scholarships. Only Harvard and Chicago enroll more NMF’s than USC.
5] Cant beat the SCal weather and Southwest airlines offers many flights to the east coast, often at greatly reduced fares.</p>
<p>
[Weird</a> weather reported across Southern California - latimes.com](<a href=“Archive blogs”>Archive blogs)</p>
<p>[Newsvine</a> - Southern California storms cause flooding, fires](<a href=“NBC News - Breaking News & Top Stories - Latest World, US & Local News | NBC News”>NBC News - Breaking News & Top Stories - Latest World, US & Local News | NBC News) :eek: :eek: :eek:</p>
<p>" must be missing something, because I have never said anything negative about your obviously very bright and talented daughter. What are you smoking? "</p>
<p>-please, leave my D. alone. Looking forward to hear fascinating stories from your own life. My D. is NOT part of your life. I have never mentioned that I am a smoker. Strange question.</p>
<p>Since English is not your first language, you may be unaware that “what are you smoking?” is a colloquialism meant to imply “are you crazy?” by jokingly implying the person is on mind-altering drugs. It can be aimed towards anyone and has nothing to do with whether the person is actually a cigarette smoker.</p>
<p>pizza,
I am glad you have great command of English language. Thank you much for your efforts to improve mine. it is actually has been great entertainment, you and few others on CC are keeping me awake whole day long.</p>