“much more down to earth and less fratty than our TCU experience…”
Glad you enjoyed the SMU tour. We did as well…very impressive. We liked both schools but many would hold the opposite viewpoint of the above in regard to SMU vs TCU.
Hope you daughter is enjoying Trinity. Dallas and San Antonio are very different and have definitely met many people that have a strong preference for one over the other so your son is not alone there!
Agree.
Have one at TCU right now. I’m not sure I would call Highland Park “down to earth”…
Ha! No, you’re right, poor word choice. I’m sure SMU is just as ritzy and fratty as TCU is, maybe more, who knows. Simply reporting on our tour experience. No assault on TCU intended, my daughter’s very good friend is there and what we see from her is very shiny and fratty, I’m sure just like many schools, that’s just a portion of the students, just the portion we know in this case. The friend loves it btw.
In any case, its early days yet and no decisions have been made.
Possible that you are confusing TCU with SMU & vice versa ? (Serious question.)
Bryn Mawr is about 70% singles and singles in suites.
TCU’s new buildings are arguably shinier than SMU’s, though the architecture is so different. I felt the vibe at TCU was a little more inclusive, with the caveat that these things are relative. Neither school would be a good fit for a nerd like me. I have many students who are happy at both.
But see, now I kinda want to watch a documentary on the migration habits of wombats.
ETA: Google tells me that wombats don’t migrate. But still, even so.
Maybe wombats will migrate to Nashville. It’s not far from Australia.
We were at vandy yesterday but did not go to the meeting. The hats were very impressive
It is a short documentary. Title card, The Migration Habits of Wombats, followed by a blank screen and Morgan Freeman saying, “They don’t.” Then credits.
I liked it. I also hear Netflix is picking it up for a series.
Can’t fit their carry-on in the pouch in front of them.
I have lived in a variety of places, and have traveled widely. But I still haven’t been to Australia (on my bucket list)!
However, Amherst’s location in a area supported by at least 5 colleges and universities allows for more social options than are typically available to one attending a small school in a rural, isolated area.
? I’m surprised that you didn’t get an info session. I wonder if it is a time of year issue.
Both D22 and D24 attended information sessions at Amherst during their searches --in each case, the sessions met immediately before the tours.
When we visited Amherst, our tour guide told us Amherst students never take classes at the other campuses because why would they? They was one of many things that sent my kid running.
Certainly would be a bit inconvenient to take classes at one of the other Pioneer Valley area schools.
Amherst students might take a class at another of the consortium schools because the course or subject area is not offered at Amherst College or because an Amherst student wants to see new faces and meet new people in a different campus environment.
Attending school at any of the 5 schools in the area means that additional social opportunities will be available in the Northampton/Amherst area. Shopping or dining in Northampton can lead to making new friends.
Our Amherst info session was still one of S24’s favorites. Didn’t hurt it was an early one, but the AO was also very forthcoming about admissions, which was nice.
Our tour guide was planning to take a Hampshire math class that would be pass/fail. He suggested UMass Amherst was the most popular place for Amherst kids to take courses, because it was close and a university, but he also said he knew Smith people who took classes at Amherst.
It was unavailable when we took our visit.
My niece goes there so she gave us the inside scoop and confirmed that she is friends with an athlete which really helped her socially.
Yes D22 and D24 really loved their info sessions there and Amherst went near the top of their lists, but both also said that they had classmates who thought their info sessions were dull (sounds like it was a different admissions officer running it than the officers that my daughters had). So I would not have been surprised to hear that the OP disliked the session. I was just surprised to read “they dont host information sessions” because they absolutely do host sessions.
Also, daughters had tour guides at both Amherst & Smith who actually had taken classes and joined extracurricular activities through the five college consortium. D22 has visited Hampshire to hang out with a former classmate (though she didn’t consider applying when she was senior) and it sounds like there are at least a few Hampshire kids involved in activities on the other campuses.
I guess this just shows how much depends on who you get! Obviously the built environment is what it is, but your sense of the vibe of a place may be pretty dependent on your individual experience.
My feeling is generally there are many more fish in the sea (particularly if you are talking about private schools and OOS publics), so really it is a non-issue in my mind if some people strike out such colleges after a bad experience. Even if in theory you could have had a different experience, why bother forcing it? Just stick with the ones you actually liked and can be excited about attending without qualification.
But then don’t necessarily let others turn you off the ones you liked either.
I’m glad Amherst has improved its info session, because it was one of the worst we attended, back in 2009 (wow, so long ago!!). A stuffy old guy was the presenter and they just drilled into the kids that “You’d be very lucky to come here.” Plus the “indoor track” was a rubber mat laid down around the volleyball court in an icky old building. I think they have a new facility now? I’m glad things have changed. My son was accepted to Amherst as a runner and decided not to go.