Yes, I’m wondering if they just don’t like actual small towns and historic buildings, or if they just did a perfunctory drive-by on a bad-mood day?
NoHo has a bit of everything, including a wide variety of cheap good eats, and used clothing/books stores that aren’t chichi in the slightest. It is a regional hub for touring music shows and other entertainment. It also has a lack of chain stores that is refreshing (except for the Urban Outfitters in the old bank building that is at least a cool conversion).
Northampton does have homeless people as well as “characters” - while I would hardly describe it as gritty some people don’t like any level of grit. I personally - as well as some teens I knew who lived in the area - really enjoy its independent shopping, including multiple used book stores and inexpensive but decent food. The teens also liked the tattoo/piercing place
I guess it’s all relative. Given what I’ve become accustomed to seeing in Seattle for years, I make trips to MA, including Boston, and when I leave I feel like I’ve had a holiday from seeing it at all. I never really notice it when I’m there.
South Hadley would be fine with a car. Without one it would be no go for me.
Breaking news: Different people prefer different things!
What is charming to some is boring to others, what is vibrant to some is crowded to others, what is gritty to some is exciting to others and horrifying to yet others,…
Sure, but when someone says they simply “don’t like” something without any supporting reasons, it doesn’t really provide useful info to others or help to advance the conversation.
Yeah, but that’s no fun. And strict application of that principle would eliminate half of the traffic this site generates. Thank about the marketing revenue man.
Besides, there is always room for debating opinions, since they are so cheap and varied. Tell a group of people here that Brandeis’ campus is prettier than Princeton’s and you are going to get some discussion.
I’ll assume we’re done discussing the rules. There’s a mechanism for that, but it’s not on this thread. Hint - it’s listed in the link to the rules appearing in the bottom of this, and every, page.
Not just stories, they really happen. Parent of a ‘21 Wake grad. He and his group within Academic Advising were invited to a dinner during orientation. They met with an academic advisor, were given some things to think about and reconvened in a week over dinner. I’ll never forget when we moved him in sophomore yr we attended a soccer game. Walking back from the field we heard his name being called. Turned around and it was one of us Freshmen professors with his family. He wanted to know all about S’ summer. Very big on Prof/student engagement.
FWIW, My daughter is a freshman at Elon. Her Elon1010 professor (he is basically her advisor) lives in my D’s dorm neighborhood with his wife, kids and dog. He invites his advisees over for dinner twice/year and also hosts a monthly ice cream social for his group on the quad. It’s a really nice aspect of the school…the first year programming is impressive.
@Clemsondana, thanks for your trip reports on Rose-Hulman and UAH! As your son is interested in engineering, particularly hands-on applications of it while in college, has he considered U. of Louisville? Its Speed School of Engineering was modeled after Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo’s and its motto is something like “learn by doing.” I haven’t visited the campus, but I suspect it might have good access to local internships as well, and it’d still have the football/sports that some of the other schools on his list have. Plus, even as a NMSF, he’d get $28,000 off (which is almost all of out-of-state tuition), so you’d primarily just be paying for room & board (source).
Thanks for the reply. We drove through Louisville on a road trip in Kentucky and the school had too much of a city vibe. This kid is much happier if there is mostly grass or trees adjacent to the sidewalks instead of roads and traffic lights. I had thought that it might be a problem in Huntsville, but even once you go outside of campus, an office park is quiet with sidewalks and not much traffic except during the commute rush hours. There is a downtown for people who like that, but it’s easy enough to avoid if you’d prefer to.
edited to say @AustenNut I think your post and my reply wound up in the wrong thread
I will add, FWIW, your description of the Wake Forest info session is exactly how ours was in Spring of 2019 and Summer of 2022, for D21&23, so it was like that when they were ranked 25-28–not changed due to rankings. Wake is just an excellent education. Both of mine loved it and were so happy when they got accepted. Many from their school have attended and have loved the experience.
Yeah, Wake dropping in the US News rankings means absolutely nothing to me or (I believe) my kid, because it happened pretty much solely because they devalued things we value, and started putting weight on things that might be very relevant to some kids, but not to mine.
Wake having a great (and justified) reputation for teaching (including by the way among the kids from our HS that have gone there before) is a large part of why it was already on his list, and will stay on his list, and indeed it was always higher on his list than a lot of other schools ranked higher.
So my reference to the US News ranking was a little tongue-in-cheek. Wake did not sound at all defensive, it sounded like it was proud of what it offered it students, and I am sure you are right that has not actually changed. Because why would it?
