<p>As someone who has spent a lot of time on these boards asking questions, I truly understand the pressure of choosing the right colleges to apply to. Now that I'm almost through my own college admission process, I'd like to turn that around and begin helping other people. Anything from campuses to programs to the student body, I'd love to help!</p>
<p>My experience: I have visited a whole bunch of schools, and extensively researched even more. My primary interests have been schools with good communications majors, but many that I have visited are great science/math schools as well.
The schools that I have visited in person are:
UNC Chapel Hill
NC State
Duke
UNC Asheville
UVA
Virginia Tech
Vanderbilt
Belmont Uni
NYU
Columbia
Northwestern
UChicago
Harvard
Boston University
Boston College
Berkley School of Music
Emerson College
Yale
Brown
Cornell
Elon
I believe that's it? These are schools which I can talk about definitively, but trust me, I have plenty of opinions about other schools as well, haha.
Now, disclaimer: I am obviously not a college counselor. I am simply a student who has recently been through this process, and is hoping to help advise others.
Now...who has questions?</p>
<p>If you can’t afford a school, do you think sometimes just applying and hoping that the financial aid works out is a good strategy? In general, does it work out?</p>
<p>I know that financial safeties are still important tho.</p>
<p>@alex7592
Applying ED to any school that you can’t afford is never a good idea.</p>
<p>However, if the decision is not binding, I would always encourage people to go for it. The key thing to keep in mind when applying is that there is a chance that you could get in can still not be able to go- this can be painful sometimes. As long as that is kept in mind, financial aid is always variable. Many schools, particularly the Ivies, are very well endowed and frequently offer generous financial aid packages. </p>
<p>Additionally, if you truly want to make it work at a school that is not affordable, just work your butt off for merit scholarships. I had to do some research to find all of them, but I received a good deal of scholarship money, and was often able to recycle essays for these applications! Good luck!</p>
<p>Vanderbilt-What is the general atmosphere like? Is the engineering program strong?</p>
<p>Columbia-How did you feel about the campus, stuffed inside NYC? Also, is the Fu Foundation school highly regarded?</p>
<p>Cornell-How did you feel about the location/campus? My parents have been trying to talk me out of it because it’s in such a small, remote city, but I argue back with that the campus is so large, populated, and active, that it probably won’t matter.</p>
<p>@thisisu
Emerson is actually one of the schools that I ended up applying to, so obviously I loved it. A major qualifier for a lot of people is the location. Either you love it or you hate it. It is directly in the Theater District in Boston (awesome area!) and they actually call the Boston Common their “quad.” The “campus” consists of several buildings, and many are actually connected together. Another one of my favorite things about Emerson was the dorms. Super nice! There seemed to be a lot of room in both the suites and the typical two-person dorms. There’s some really good pictures of dorms here… [Emerson</a> College Class of 2014 - Official Group | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook Public Group | Facebook”>Facebook Public Group | Facebook)</p>
<p>As far as the strength of Emerson’s programs- they’re all great. Emerson has been getting particularly selective in their film program in recent years. But as a school focused only on communication, it’s safe to say that they are good at what they do! I do feel like all of the available degrees at Emerson can be highly supplemented with a graduate degree, simply because those fields are often very hard to break into (Film, Television, VA, etc.)</p>
<p>-Columbia’s campus isn’t exactly “stuffed” into a city. Unlike the completely urban environments of schools like NYU and GW, Columbia has a more traditional campus, albeit a bit smaller. It feels similar to Brown, just with a much better city nearby.
-As for Cornell, I agree with you more than your parents. With 20,000 students in the college bubble I don’t think you’ll suffer from lack of things to do. Ithaca itself is tremendous. I’ve lived in three different cities, none smaller than 8 million, and I fell in love with Ithaca. The perfect college town, if you ask me. Plus, you’ll always be a 4 hour bus ride from NYC.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt- BEAUTIFUL campus! Probably the prettiest that I’ve seen. And seeing as how it’s in Nashville, there’s pretty great weather all year round. Seriously though, the place is actually a National Arboretum, that’s how pretty it is. I really appreciated how active and alive all of the students there seemed. The campus was one of the most lively I’ve visited. I’d say the atmosphere is pretty typical of a large Southern school. There is certainly the contingent of preppy southern belles and beaux, but as a large school, there are truly some of every type. I also really liked how Vanderbilt was truly in Nashville, but not crammed right into the downtown area (see Columbia below.)</p>
<p>Columbia- Okay, contrasting with Vanderbilt, the Columbia campus almost felt fake to me because it was truly a real campus crammed right in the midst of huge skyscrapers. However, the general vibe I got here was cool. I like the way the intellectual atmosphere fed off of the city’s energy. One cool think I know about the Fu Foundation there is that the typical class size for this school is only around 300! So there’s a really great student:teacher ratio.</p>
<p>Cornell- Though beautiful, the campus is, as you said, large. I think this, combined with the remote city surroundings, leaves a pretty isolated feeling. This might be just what some people are looking for, because they like to be so involved with the many students there, especially at great college like Cornell! However, I definitely appreciate being able to interact with a more urban environment.</p>
<p>Thanks abcderinkay! I LOVED seeing the photos of the dorms! I mean the people had Rent & Spring Awakening posters on their walls… my kind of people.
I had no idea that Emerson is located in their theater district, which is perfect! </p>
<p>BTW, you mentioned you were looking at colleges with strong communications programs, would you consider Vanderbilt in that area? I’m looking at that…
& why didn’t you consider Ithaca College? Just curious to know others opnions on these schools. Since I’m not from the East coast, i’m not familiar with their prestige or recognition.</p>
<p>How did you like Boston University? Any idea about the computer science program there? How is it there socially? Do you know anything about their core curriculum, for example is a foreign language required? Can a low A student (no test scores yet, sophomore) have a chance to get in?</p>
<p>I would say that while Vanderbilt is a very strong school in general, the communications program is not hugely well-known. In fact, the only available major for communication is Communication Studies, which is a more liberal approach to communication through study of rhetoric etc. I’m sure you could research more about it on their website. I think a broad degree like this is best paired with a graduate degree as well that is more focused on the field of interest. But again, just my opinion.</p>
<p>And also, there’s honestly not a reason I didn’t consider Ithaca. The school just never really popped up on my radar, and I wasn’t crazy about the city itself with I was visiting Cornell. I honestly don’t know very much about it either.</p>
<p>Boston University definitely had the atmosphere of a large state school, with the added bonus of the city-life just a mile away. The campus is very spread out, which is a turn-off for some people. Though they claim that most of your classes will be concentrated in a smaller area. Personally, I loved the row of dorms and buildings that were covered in ivy and were right across from the river. So pretty! As far as socially, again, big state school usually equals a great party scene. Though, such a big student body also provides great diversity and a place for everyone.</p>
<p>BU College of Arts and Science does have a core curriculum. I don’t believe a foreign language is required. There are three divisions of the core…humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. I believe each student must have two credits in each division at the end of their sophomore year. Of course, there is a huge variety of classes to cover these requirements. The major of Computer Science at BU is in the CAS, so these requirements would apply to you.</p>
<p>As far as getting in, the acceptance rate at BU is right at about 57%. A students with low A’s and even some B’s usually has a great shot. Just remember to also have some great EC’s with depth and leadership!</p>
<p>And to everyone I have not gotten to yet, I will soon! Thanks for the questions guys :)</p>
<p>What did you garner from visiting Elon while you were there? I’ve heard good things, particularly about the Honors Program and the benefits that come with it, but did you feel the focus was in fact education or was it more of a party school. How is the surrounded area, the town of Elon, I know, is small, but is Burlington as close as it is made out to be. I’d like a school with a small town atmosphere, and being in a very small town and then a slightly larger town right next to it might be good for me, but I’m unsure of how accessible both of the cities are. Thank you.</p>
<p>Statistically, UNC is a tougher school to get into, particularly OOS. The academics are probably more rigorous there, and it has a slightly more intelligent atmosphere. That said, they are probably the #1 and #2 schools in the state, and are really quite similar.</p>
<p>As far as science programs, it probably depends on specifically what you are looking for. As a larger university, UNC has fantastic research possibilities, and a huge medical center right on campus. As a whole, however, NC State is more focused on science and math. They have historic strengths in agriculture, engineering, forestry, wood and paper science, textiles, veterinary medicine and design.</p>
