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In general business buildings tend to be relatively new and to have the most technologically advanced and well-designed classrooms, while the bulk of non-Science LAS classes may still be taught in old buildings with student armchair desks that haven't been replaced in 30 years
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<p>Often new school buildings get constructed in large part due to the generosity of their alumni. Somehow business schools alumni are rather generous.</p>
<p>I don't know that business school alumni are so much more generous than everybody else. I think it's more that the same level of generosity funds buildings and professorships, rather than marigold plantings.</p>
<p>Maybe it depends on your tour guide and the time of year.
At both Harvard and Yale this summer, our tour groups saw dorm rooms (they were vacant and being painted), undergraduate library study areas and dining spaces.</p>
<p>I can understand the security concern, and I'm not saying they're wrong not to show dorms. But other schools do manage to do it somehow, and I highly doubt the likes of Georgetown, Swarthmore, Washington & Lee, NYU, and Lafayette are less concerned for their student's welfare than the Ivies are. Maybe they've just developed a good system? The LAC's are less famous and probably do receive fewer visitors than HYP, though our Harvard tour group was one of the smallest I've had on any campus visit. Also, many LAC's suspend tours after mid-November until mid-March, so all their visitors are crammed into a few months. That might erase the numbers discrepancy a bit.</p>
<p>I went to Brown 100 years ago. Dorms ranged from old/shabby but charming to new and spiffy but lacking in architectural interest. Visited a few times over the last 10 years with my own kids, nieces/nephews. Dorms pretty much the same although every building had been updated for wireless and more electronics. Classrooms the same- some historic and breathtakingly beautiful, others modern "boxes" with all the bells and whistles but without the claim that George Washington slept there or kept his horses outside.</p>
<p>This was pretty much our experience at every college we've visited that is more than 100 years old. There are places where the physical plant seems to be in exceptional condition (JHU's gardens are astonishing; Cornell's paths always seemed immaculate without as much as a blade of grass out of place; every classroom we visited was in perfect condition and the floors sparkled.) There are places that are historic and well loved but not as manicured (Brown, Harvard, U Chicago). There are places with huge variety (Yale is reputed to have "sophomore slums"- the Freshman housing is spectacular in old, beautifully maintained historic buildings surrounding a gorgeous quad with dramatic wrought iron gates; juniors and seniors get first pick in the residential colleges so their rooms tend to be beautiful and charming whereas the sophomores get the smallest rooms looking out on alleyways) and places where the housing is relatively equal across the four years.</p>
<p>I can predict that all colleges will defer maintenance and slow down routine upkeep in response to the current economy, which is only rational. I think you cut back on landscaping before you eliminate the Political Science department. There is also climate to consider- it is harder to keep the walkways clear of snow or ice at Dartmouth than at Princeton; they simply get more of it more frequently.</p>
<p>I don't believe that any college is hiding something. If my child were taking a shower and walked back into her room to find a crowd of visitors "checking out" the physical plant I would be more than irked. You need to remember that virtually every dorm room is occupied when school is in session. Your child can have carte blanche to wander into labs and dorms when accompanied by a student host on a weekend visit.</p>
<p>I feel uncomfortable going into inhabited rooms on dorm tours. It's generous of students to offer a view but sometimes it's a little too honest. I'm no neat-freak but the smells and level of filth that can be created just a month into the semester is truly amazing.</p>
<p>The problem with tour guides showing their own rooms, at least in the case of Harvard and Yale, is that almost all of the tour guides are not freshmen, and parents want to see freshman dorms.</p>
<p>GFG, I lived extremely well in dorms at Harvard, but the best way I can describe my House experience at Harvard is to show you an email I got from my House master a minute ago. The rooms were nice, but it's all about the community:</p>
<p>Dear Leverett Alum,</p>
<pre><code>I apologize for intruding on your email, but I would like to invite you to a special event -- breakfast at Leverett House on Saturday Nov 22 from 7:30-9AM. We will have a bigger than usual selection of hearty fare in the beautiful Leverett dining hall to fortify you for THE GAME before we go off to watch the Harvard team (with a large and talented Leverett contingent, I might add) smash the Elis. I am afraid that we have to charge you a nominal sum of $8 for this repast but I hope this will not deter you. We would love to see you back at the House. If you do plan to attend, I would appreciate an email to REDACTED@fas.harvard.edu just so I can keep a rough count. But I would rather have you appear without emailing than not to appear at all. Also, I am not sure I can reach everyone, so if you can pass the word to your Leverett classmates, I would be grateful.
I hope to see you before THE GAME!
</code></pre>
<p>Leverett Love,</p>
<p>Howard Georgi
Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics
and Harvard College Professor
Master of Leverett House</p>
<p>Re Harvard (I don't know the other Ivies as well - though Yale's dorms are similar in style and size and variety). I'm kind of surprised they don't show you Annenberg because it's really quite gorgeous and if you weren't there at mealtime, I can't imagine it would disturb anyone. The food OTOH is pretty mediocre - at least at the reunion! My son thought visiting dorm rooms in general was a waste of time - according to him they are all tiny. To his surprised he got a large apt as a Carnegie Mellon freshman. Much nicer than what he would have gotten at Harvard. There really truly is no typical room at Harvard. Even in the yard there's quite a variety in age and size. Generally you get a living room and bedrooms with bunkbeds. Suite sizes vary from 2 to I think 6 or so. Sometimes the students will put one of the students in the living room so that there are single bedrooms. I agree the entryway system of most of the dorms makes bringing tour groups through awkward. If your child is accepted to Harvard they can have an overnight with a student and see some rooms then. The bunk bed are comfortable but much taller than the ones my kids have at home. Truly difficult for this middle aged lady to climb up!</p>
<p>For those that are curious, aren't there pictures and videos available on the internet? Youtube? Facebook? Other sites?</p>
<p>The ivies are among the schools which have the very best facilities of all US colleges. They don't have the best dorms and this is by design. Both Princeton and Dartmouth recently added considerable new housing. The schools made a conscious decision not to compete with the schools that make their dorms marketing tools. There is a certain value in the minds for not making life to luxurious as the kids are there to study.</p>
<p>So they have beautiful, well though out new dorms with great social spaces but they don't compete with the dorms we saw at DS's safety schools, privates ranked between 50-100 which seem to specialize in great gyms, beautifully decorated dorm suites and sushi bars in the dining hall.</p>
<p>To see the freshman dorms at Harvard look here:</p>
<p>Frosh</a> Dorms Project: Graphical Map</p>
<p>Hover your cursor over the red buildings to see exterior photos. Click on the red buildings to see interior shots and to get more info.</p>
<p>My cousin took me on a tour of campus at Yale. It seemed alright, the outside was gorgeous as always, but the inside was alright. I would love to go, but you know whatever works. Everyone seemed down to earth, wasn't the "omg omg so amazing its Ivy League" stuff. I guess since it was the summer :/</p>
<p>This is a cool 360 degree picture of a dorm room at Brown (if you put your cursor on the picture, you can see the whole room). It is, however, one of the nicest freshmen dorm rooms there. Brown</a> University Virtual Tour</p>
<p>From being in my daughter's dorms at Harvard, this is my impression of those dorms:</p>
<p>Freshman year - Canaday - a dump, not well maintained inside and no elevator.
Sophomore year - DeWolfe - not bad, suites had kitchenette facilities etc.
Junior year - Quincy (new) - cinderblock contruction inside with dorm rooms not having a lot of ambience, rooms are on two floors with bedrooms downstairs and "living room" upstairs. Dining hall etc are nice however.</p>
<p>You cant lump all ivies into the same thing, but sure, they do show you their nicer parts of campus. I stayed overnight in Yale's beautiful residental college of Calhoun, where they have an xbox room and everyone was all friendly and it was all... im in love... but then my parents gave me a New Haven tour... yeah... grungy</p>
<p>Thanks for the pics, Coureur, I think you should repost on the Harvard thread when results come out this year. Look kids, you would have had to live here! I must admit DS is living large at Dartmouth compared to the big H. Nothing fancy but they sprung for sheet rock!!</p>
<p>I've toured quite a few campuses and never, ever seen a dorm room. I totally get why, for security purposes.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the pictures and information. I actually agree with the dorm philosophy explained by hmom5 in post #30. Some schools seem to set their students up a little too well, IMO. Friends of mine have commented that their kids' colleges seem like country clubs! Modest is good, but shabby and ill-maintained isn't. The Yale and Harvard dorm pics look fine, though I am not at all a fan of bunk beds and esp. bed-stacking necessitated by those very narrow rooms like I saw at Princeton. D and her summer campmates took all the mattresses out of them and laid them in the common room to sleep. Granted, this was partly for sleep-over fun, but also to avoid that cramped feeling.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Thanks for the pics, Coureur, I think you should repost on the Harvard thread when results come out this year.<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>We do. The link gets reposted from time to time on the Harvard board.</p>
<p>If you spend a little time at it, you can find photos of dorm interiors at flickr.com. Try searching "name of college" dorm room</p>