<p>We posted a similar thread on the St. Joe's and PC sites. Our son is down to choosing from three schools that accepted him - St. Joe's, Providence College, and Marist. He is probably leaning more toward the other two, but also likes a lot of things about Marist.</p>
<p>Any comments from those of you who have experienced Marist by attending or visiting, would be appreciated. He keeps waffling between the three schools and hopefully, something that someone points out will click with him on making a final decision.</p>
<p>hello HisParents- do I know your dilemma! Maybe its a guy thing? My Daughter decided the instant she set foot on “her” campus and did ED. My son also was waffling, and he had a top 3. But—But! yay we may have a winner. We went to Marists’ Open House for admitted students last weekend, this after visiting several times, shadowing, and overnights at his top 3. and he said Marist is it, our only dilemma there is the $$ -they gave the least of all his schools, and esp in his top 3, some higher tuition of course, but not all. Anyway his feelings were: the campus is beautiful, everyone is very friendly, for us its a easy (under 3 hr) commute, and its a good size (ie-small) the housing is nice, and sport & club options fantastic. But do you know his real decision-maker? they have a freshman option called FOCUS- where you are guided in your schedule making, career choices, and other options, since he is undecided (waffling there too) this was perfect, there is a 3-credit course in the Fall (Psych) that goes to your core, and a 1-credit (careers) in the spring for 1/2 semester, but the information and guidance in between in invaluable. Of course finding fellow classmates from HS there helped, and he spent 2 days involved in the campus, and felt “at home”. That did it for me. I also felt “at home”. on another note, i have 2 nieces (sisters) that went to St. Joes in Philly and well, you can’t talk another college to them- they are in love with all it totally. BUT and this is a biggie, its like apples & oranges, Marist is small, suburban, and contained. St. Joes is huge, city, and since my nieces come from a family of 7, they are used to the hustle, noise & feel of a large “home”. I have just the 2, and we are suburban, small, & contained, as is his HS. My sons best friend goes to a HUGE
HS and is choosing UMaryland, another huge school. I think that plays into it alot. Your sons comfort level will correspond with what he is familiar with. Okay- this is long, sry!
But I am so happy to have “gotten over the hump” -well except for the big one $$ that I want to help everyone who was where we were just last week! its so frustrating!
Good Luck to you & your son!</p>
<p>oops mah bad- St. Joes IS comparable in size, guess the college brain-drain happened for me sorry- but the surrounding city- Philly is huge, and daunting if you are not familiar or in my sons case- do not like the urban feel.</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments and happy to hear you are down to just the $$!! Do you mind sharing the other schools in your son’s top 3? We also like the idea of the FOCUS program (same issues with our son — business or science), but did not hear much about it when we were there this past weekend. Your comments will definitely be food for thought. We are still leaving the decision up to him. We are also less than 3 hours away (in MA), so that is a good point about it versus St. Joe’s.</p>
<p>Petcat - please share more information about FOCUS as my son is deciding between business or biology??? My S is down to his final two - Scranton or Marist. After Sunday he is leaning towards Marist - loved the size of the campus, the location, the friendly students and he felt “at home”.</p>
<p>HisParents-& MaryAnnC- my son too is science or business flip-flop. his top 3 were Marist, UScranton & Siena. I was a very hard decision. and $$ still is playing a part in it :(</p>
<p>I just copied & pasted this from the website, but it has all the deets- the cost is $75.00 total. There was a table in the Student Activities center to sign up, and also they had a presentation @11am- there is limited enrollment, i believe.</p>
<p>Future Options and Choices for Undeclared Students (FOCUS)
HELPING FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS FOCUS ON SUCCESS</p>
<p>An innovative academic program for incoming freshmen that provides:
• An easy transition into the Marist College experience
• Strategies for academic success
• Self-management skills
• In-depth information about majors, minors and concentrations
• Career planning options</p>
<p>FOCUS Brochure</p>
<p>FOCUS APPLICATION</p>
<p>FOCUS Payment Directions</p>
<p>For more information please contact:</p>
<p>Jane Fiore
Director of the Academic Learning Center
Marist College
3399 North Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
<a href=“mailto:Jane.Fiore@Marist.edu”>Jane.Fiore@Marist.edu</a><a href=“845”>/email</a> 575-3300</p>
<p>Petcat and Maryann C - Our son is also business/biology! That is pretty interesting. Your sons have tough choices. UScranton is a nice place and our son also looked at Siena and still has it as a possibility, but well behind his other three choices. We met with the teachers in the Marist biology department on Saturday and they really impressed us. One nice thing is that there are no graduate students (that’s really both good and bad) having priority access to labs and equipment - everything is for the students to learn with. Also, that means the teachers are focused on teaching and not research. That is a big plus for me. I totally agreed with a comment from one of the professors, who said that she felt smaller schools were better for the undergrad work, then if they want to do graduate school, then they should go to the big schools.</p>
<p>Must definitely be a guy thing. My son, too, is undecided. But happily he is down to two schools, Marist and WPI (he eliminated RPI earlier in the process). His only decision now is whether to live in NY or commute to WPI:) Where in MA are you HisParents? Must be close by because we too are 3 hrs from Marist.</p>
<p>All the info posted on the FOCUS program is good to know, don’t remember hearing anything about it. Son and husband went to Marist on Saturday and neither of them mentioned it. </p>
<p>Good luck to you all and hope the boys make their decision soon!!!</p>
<p>Huh! My son received info in the mail from Marist just prior to the open house on FOCUS. That’s the only way we knew about it and signed up for the info session, which was so helpful. Maybe we seemed to need it the most? lol. Anyway, Good Luck to everyone! It really is our sons decision but notice who is doing all the leg-work- well, so to speak- finger work? ha! As my cousin (who is a single mom with 3 boys) calls her sons-MITs (men-in-training).<br>
10sPlayer2: One of my daughters friends just graduated RPI in May (female!) and she loved it there, very strenuous curriculum, but she was employed before Graduation, something to think about, Im not familiar with WPI- comparable?
HisParents: Yes! I agree, a smaller undergrad experience,especially when its all new, and a little coddling is needed yet, and a larger Grad/Prof experience. My Daughter did Wesleyan U and is now @ Columbia U (you see why we are broke), her classmate went to Columbia for undergrad and transferred to a smaller college and is back @ Columbia for Grad work. and Yes! I found the Profs very easy to talk to and knowledgeable @ Marist!
Have a great day all!</p>
<p>10sPlayer2: We are in Western Mass, near UMass and Amherst and Hampshire Colleges. If our son ends up at Marist, we will definitely push for him to take the FOCUS program. Some of the other schools he is looking at seem to have something similar, but not quite as direct and involved as the Marist program.</p>
<p>Petcat - My son probable did not recieve the FOCUS information because he applied to Marist as a business major. But is now having second thoughts about biology. I will have to check with Marist if only students who applied “undecided” are eligible for FOCUS.</p>
<p>Petcat - Son likes both UScranton and Marist but I think the winner is Marist. He will make final decision this weekend. How about your son? He has three great choices.</p>
<p>My son is down to St. Joe’s or Marist. We are making one last trip to Philly and then he will make his decision. He was really impressed with the Biology department at Marist, along with the idea of FOCUS. We hope to have a decision by the end of the week!</p>
<p>HisParents~ Can I ask what made him toss Providence out of the mix? We are bouncing that one around ourselves. My S is a Marketing major though.</p>
<p>I have heard nothing but rave reviews on Marist by the way. Good luck to all! It is one heck of a process! :)</p>
<p>Tiki24:
I am not really sure why Providence College dropped out of the running for him, he just sadi that he was down to St. Joe’s or Marist. I did see him looking at a lot of student reviews of all three colleges the the past few days and he was communicating with some facebook (I believe it was facebook) groups geared to a few of these colleges. He has been up and down about Providence College all along. I think with his three finalists, it is coming down to a “feel”. I don’t think there is a real glaring negative for him on these three.</p>
<p>We are still up in the air also. Marist still is tops, but he has not eliminated his other top 2 and for me I had started a new thread worrying about security “down by the river” since i observed a large group of inebriated kids on the dock when we were there last, and it scared me. That and the $$ is still out there awaiting our reconsiderations. So that being said, I HATE leaving things for last minute, and we are leaving things for last minute. Congrats to MaryAnnC’s son on his choice, and well, GL to us both, HisParents!</p>
<p>petcat:
I don’t think I would worry too much about the river and the drinking. I would be more worried about drinking and crossing the highway or the driving to bars to drink. That said, I think there can always be some dangers that we find out there. </p>
<p>Finally, unless some major financial aid miracle happens with Marist, my son has decided on St. Joseph’s. It was a tough choice, but I think shadowing a student in biology at St. Joe’s probably clinched it for him. We are still waiting to hear back from St. Joe’s and Marist regarding better financial aid, but I don’t think there will be a dramatic enough shift (St. Joe’s is already a better deal with the aid) to make him change his mind. Heck - he even bought a St. Joe’s T-Shirt!</p>
<p>Congratulations (?) HisParents. Yeah we are down to the wire, and we are still waiting to hear about financial aid reconsiderations. I got the feeling Marist isnt too caring about “matching” other offers, but I am a hopin and a prayin, cause I think thats where he wants to be. HE bought a car sticker. whoa! Anyway, thanks for the added concerns ha! I really felt less concerned with my daughter, she was such a march to a different drummer-type I knew she wouldnt be pushed into anything, but my son likes to be part of the pack, appearances are important to him. I have a huge respect for water, I was born on a boat, and have been around or in water my entire life. Therefore, I know its deception, it looks lovely but its deadly. It is one of my greatest fears, I will not let anyone (adults even) drink near a pool ! That being said, you see where Im coming from.
Ok, well St. Joe’s is a GREAT school, and like I said both my nieces attend(ed) and well, you can’t tell them there is another college! That says something, There is huge school pride, and wonderful academics! I am sure he will excell! Well 1 week to go! I sure hope we all can rest a bit after that, and then theres Prom, Graduation,Parties… Argh! ha!</p>
that I want to help everyone who was where we were just last week! its so frustrating!