<p>We have visited Allegheny, Juniata, Ursinus, and Wittenberg. Don’t rule out Wittenberg. Far from being preppy, I would characterize it as “Midwestern nice.” If anything, Allegheny, Juniata, and Ursinus were more preppy than Wittenberg (maybe schools get more preppy the more northeast you go). Plus, Wittenberg has a very pretty campus.</p>
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<p>I have heard very good things about the history department, and a strong major I have read about I think is called Peace and Conflicts.</p>
<p>Don’t know about other humanities, but Juniata’s English department is relatively weak unless you want to go into education (i.e. generalist degree).</p>
<p>Keilexandra, thank you for confirming my suspicions. I am a prospective English major, and had not heard great things about the major at Juniata.</p>
<p>thanks John2698, we didn’t think Juniata was preppy at all, so that means we should probably look at Wittenberg!</p>
<p>^And I’d agree that Juniata, Wittenberg, Allegheny are not noticeably distinct from each other on the preppy spectrum.</p>
<p>“Preppy” is subject to various meanings by posters. Saying Dartmouth is preppy means it has a lot of kids from snotty prep schools. Other schools get described as preppy because kids wear designer labels; or shun sweatshirts and shorts; or yearn to get into the right frat or sorority. I have been to schools described on CC as preppy when it seemed based on boys simply having shaved and gotten their hair cut within the past month and admitting to voting for McCain (or knowing someone who did). I suspect Wittenberg would fit into this last category.</p>
<p>Oberlin is certainly not a preppy place (or a safety) and I recall some posters liking Baldwin Wallace (which certainly has one of the preppier names west of Hobart and William Smith).</p>
<p>yabeyabe2-good points. I think my D defines preppy in the more generic sense-how people dress (the aforementioned designer labels) and a predominance of frat/sororities.
she has no exposure to true prep school preppies!!</p>
<p>I think the key for a lot of kids is telling the difference between schools where kids dress “straight” or “preppy” but are what the poster called “Midwestern nice” (with the “Midwest”, for this purpose, beginning only 25 miles from the Boston-Washington corridor) from those kids who are nice to anyone who looks like them, but isolate those who do not.</p>
<p>And many kids who do not have unusual dress, etc prefer a campus where not everyone looks like them.</p>
<p>good distinction yabeyabe2</p>
<p>I had to chuckle when I read that Allegheny was preppy. My son is so not preppy or type A and choose Allegheny because he felt he could dress his way etc. Who knows, by now he may be seeing things different.</p>
<p>Murmur, for those considering Alleghenny, how does you rson like the school?</p>
<p>thanks for the info murmur. When was your son at Allegheny?</p>
<p>Murmur
How does your son like Allegheny so far.??
My son was accepted with a trustee scholarship.
We visited in the summer and will probably visit in the early spring when school is in session. My son like the size and what the school has to offer, (He is undecided as to major)
My husband is not sold on the school because of its small size and the remoteness.
(6.5 hours from home)</p>
<p>Scoutmom, we have a friend who is a sophomore at Allegheny and she really loves it there.</p>
<p>We visited Hiram, Juniata, Allegheny, Wooster, Geneseo, University of Rochester, Hobart and William Smith. My niece attends Haverford. She loves it there but works very hard. You have to be a good student to attend there.</p>
<p>Hiram was the first college we visited. We were warmly welcomed by the admissions office and had a great tour guide. The buildings were all up to date and modern. Another parent on the tour told me (he was a landscape designer) that it was the nicest landscaping of the other Ohio colleges he visited. It was a pretty and comfortable campus. The cafeteria food was not great. My son was not impressive with the small town surroundings. We met with one of the history professors and an admissions counselor who interviewed him and then brought me into the discussion. </p>
<p>We also visited Wooster the same week - the admissions office was as nearly as welcoming as Hiram’s. We stood in front of the admission receptionist’s desk while she shuffled through papers, finally acknoweldged us, and was obviously disorganized as she took some time to find my son’s paperwork. We had a nice tour guide and the cafeteria food was good. The campus is very nice. </p>
<p>Juniata was visited later in the spring. We were part of a group of a dozen or so students and their parents and were given a talk by the director of admissions. The tour was fine - the buildings were nice - especially their biology/science building. The cafeteria food was so so. For some reason I noticed more piercings and tatoos at Juniata than at any other college. Again, son not impressed with the small town. Only one hotel in Huntingdon. We looked at Juniata because it has a strong volleyball program which was of great interest to ds. </p>
<p>Alleghany was visited right after Juniata. It was a preview day for juniors so the crowd was huge. The event was well organized and son attended a class which he thought was boring and noticed students were sleeping or disengaged. It did have a bit rich kid feeling and the fraternity/soroity presence was felt. It seemed many of the students were interested in science - biology and environmental. Cafeteria food was okay. </p>
<p>We visited Hobart and William Smith in the summer. Nice campus on a hill overlooking Geneva lake (I think) with lots of wind which would be brutal in the winter. We didn’t see many students but I know the tuition is very high and there are some wealthy kids. No food offered. Admissions office was good and ds had an interview which went well. He was accepted but declined.</p>
<p>Geneseo was second on my son’s list. During the admitted student preview day, we met with a history prof who told the group that their department has doubled in the last 6 years but the staff has not so the classes are large and students don’t get the attention they need. Campus is okay - not beautiful but functional. We didn’t eat in the cafeteria. </p>
<p>Son’s choice? Wooster. They made the application process easy and once he was accepted and given a scholarship, the personal notes and calls from the coaching staff, personal attention give on the admitted student preview day, made the difference. The also had a strong history department.
If you have any questions, let me know.</p>
<p>Suzi, your post is a reminder of how very helpful Visit Reports can be.</p>
<p>Suzu, thanks for the very informative reports!! Small towns aren’t a problem for us, as we live in one! (smaller than where Juniata is!..albeit within short driving distance of the suburbs and a small city) And piercings are definitely not a problem (D has multiple in her ears!) We are looking forward to our visit to Hiram and Wooster and the other midwest colleges.</p>
<p>Great synopsis on all of those colleges suzu! And a great point by holliesue about how subjective the term “small town” is. For those of us from really small towns, any town that has over 5,000 people is larger then what my kids are used to.</p>
<p>Please also realize that reviews are only one person’s perspective. I believe that at Allegheny College, a large percentage of students receive need base aid. That belies the rich kid feel. Also, some classes are boring no matter where you go to college. That doesn’t mean that Suzukimomto2’s impressions are wrong, just that they are impressions. Please don’t rule out any school on the review of one person. :)</p>