<p>HWS was featured in a New York Times blog about sending out admission materials with 3-D glasses!</p>
<p>Viewing</a> a College Through 3-D Lenses - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com</p>
<p>We had already visited when S got this packet. He thought the glasses were cute, but it did get him to look very closely at the viewbook, more than other viewbooks he had received. Whether that was because he had visited and liked HWS or because he liked the graphics in the viewbook, hard to say. He’s an arts kid, so that probably impacted. He doesn’t like the viewbooks full of words from graduates about what wonderful things they are doing “after college.” He’s a pretty typical high scool student he’s focused on the next 4 years and not the next 10 years so the graphically interesting view books grab him and the viewbooks that concentrate on current students he finds more interesting.</p>
<p>Momofthreeboys, I’m glad your son enjoyed the glasses and the viewbook. For the most part, as beautiful as many of them are, I must say all the college viewbooks run together after a while, so if the 3-D glasses (and the visit, of course!) helped him to get a better sense of HWS, then it accomplished its purpose. I hope he’s interested and applying! If you have any questions, I’ll try my best to answer them, although my son’s a first-year so we don’t have extensive HWS experience yet.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, my d is also a first year and having a wonderful experience. She loves her classes, her activities and has a great group of friends. So far, HWS has proven to be an excellent choice.</p>
<p>Lilac3, I’m so glad to hear your daughter is having such a successful experience at HWS as well! You are welcome to chime in with any relevant commentary on any posts or to initiate threads as you see fit. I’m not an expert by any means, just a mom of a first-year student at Hobart who wants to help prospective students and their parents understand what HWS has to offer! I’d welcome hearing about your daughter’s experience.</p>
<p>My d is now a second semester first year student and loves HWS. She has found her professors to be accessible and interested in her academic success. I know that some of her first semester classes had writing colleagues and or teaching assistants who would review her (and everyone else’s) papers and give feedback. The first year deans meet with each student to get to know them and to make sure everything is OK. My d has been able to take leadership roles in her chosen activities quickly and now feels like a real part of the community. Her friends have all found their niche whether it be in sports, student government or performing arts. Also, the way the credit structure is set up, the students take 4 classes a semester for one credit each. (I don’t know what happens if students want to graduate early or any other permutation.) After seeing her siblings take 5 or 6 courses a semester at other schools, I can see the benefit of concentrating all her efforts on four. So far, all is going well. HWS has proven to be a gem of a school for her.</p>
<p>Heard that these cost a pretty penny, but I think they’re worth it - definitely a big step up from the previous HWS admissions literature.</p>
<p>Hi, I was wondering if any of you knew how their dance program is? Is it advanced, competitive? Do they put more weight on talent than academic grades? Thanks</p>
<p>They have a great dance program and some very accomplished profs. Their fine arts facilities are really awesome for a school of their size. I don’t know about the grade/talent thing. I have seen some of the senior theses, and was very impressed.</p>
<p>My S spent a semester at HWS this past fall as a non-matriculated student, and he really was happy. He got to be a big part of extracurriculars, and found his classes interesting and challenging. He thought the profs were great, very accessible and high quality.If you want to be a big fish in a small pond, it’s a great place.</p>
<p>OldbatesieDoc, thanks for weighing in. The more, the merrier. You seem to be fairly local–“NY Wine Country”, we live in Massachusetts, so your perspective and input are very helpful. I’m glad to hear your son enjoyed his semester. May I ask what he’s doing now? Whatever he’s doing, I hope he’s finding it satisfactory.</p>
<p>To parent with S/D at HWS… How does your child deal with the winter weather? We visited in the fall and my D thought the campus was beautiful, liked the student/faculty ratio, very impressed with the art department (she will be an art major) and loves the fact that there is a diving team. Her biggest hesitation is being right on the lake, the cold weather and getting the winter blues. It was kind of cold the first week in November and I am sure that was nothing compared to the rest of the winter.</p>
<p>My d has not complained about the weather. She says that it seems to snow quite a bit but doesn’t really add up. I guess she got used to it and it doesn’t impact her day to day life. She does comment on the truly beautiful days.</p>
<p>My son says there can be absolutely gorgeous, clear days. There can be really cold days, the wind is more a problem than the cold, and the snow doesn’t really seem to last. We’re from Massachusetts, so we’re a bit used to the cold.</p>