NYT: 2,200 colleges, so little time (and money) to visit

<p>Article about different college tour videos in today's NYT.</p>

<p>where in the nyt?</p>

<p>Styles section.</p>

<p>thank u very very very mooch(jkjk much)</p>

<p>Maybe this link will work:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/fashion/06Online.html?ex=1152849600&en=ab90ae935074f32e&ei=5070&emc=eta1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/fashion/06Online.html?ex=1152849600&en=ab90ae935074f32e&ei=5070&emc=eta1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I was disappointed that there weren't any of these tapes for sale on Ebay that I could find. I'm thinking about buying a few and then selling them on there. I'm just so cheap I can't stand it.</p>

<p>That article was TOO funny. And um, in my experience RIGHT on the mark. (I travelled 3000 miles to get DD a close up view of her "dream school." She was on campus ninety seconds and said "OK, we can go now." And she was right -- lousy fit.) Our family purchased a half dozen of the collegiatechoice.com videos. Some were fabulous, some were OK, and some were truly awful. As for theu.com videos, I had the same reaction as Zoe: "ALL these schools are GREAT!"</p>

<p>PS, I gave the CollegiateChoice videos to our local HS when DD was done with them. Perhaps other parents did the same, which may be why there are none for sale on eBay! (Alternate hypothesis -- Parents thought so little of the videos that they threw them away!)</p>

<p>PS#2, The CollegiateChoice staff merely records campus tours. By "truly awful" I mean the circumstances of the tour were such that the video left a very unfavorable impression of the school. That's not a criticism of CollegiateChoice.</p>

<p>newhope:
I love your story about the 3000 mile trip. We travelled through horrendous traffic to get to Boston College and my son would NOT walk out of the parking lot! What the heck???</p>

<p>I have a set of the U DVDs mentioned in the article and I think they're very helpful. (Of course, if I could get D to watch them, they would be more helpful! LOL) </p>

<p>I'm going to conduct a real-life test next week. I watched the DVDs for the University of Maryland and University of Delaware. Maryland came off as a big party school with kids who are not that interested in learning. Delaware came off better. When we're at the schools next week, I'm going to see how the real campuses compare, although without students there, it might be hard.</p>

<p>Just a caveat about the U DVDs: The fact-checking wasn't so hot, and we noticed some factual errors. For instance, for a few colleges the male/female ratios were reversed. And the tuition numbers are off (too low) because the stats are from two years ago. But they seem to give a real sense of the students, the social scene, and the academic environment. And because they're designed with MTV-like pacing, they hold the interest of most 17-year-olds.</p>

<p>I'll put them up on eBay when we're done with them!</p>

<p>macnyc:
Be sure to post a trip report - we are especially interested in U Del and probably will not get to visit until way later on. Thanks. (I'm watching ebay ;) )</p>

<p>Had a good belly laugh reading the article. In case anyone is wondering, the "hamster school" in the article with the Indian Mounds, vegan student host, and Gun Club restaurant nearby was my daughter's first choice school, and is also the school she will be attending this fall. (And, oh by the way, we almost didn't visit because she was so turned off by the Collegiate Choice video before we left home.) Different strokes for different folks. LOL! :)</p>