<p>I think NYSmiles experience should not be ignored. The lack of student "life" on a Saturday morning can mean that there's nothing for the students to do on campus. That is the experience of a student I know. Small school, luckily in a city. The school does a really poor job of organizing student events or sponsoring clubs and weekends are a real drag for the students. Unfortunately, this requires the students to find their own fun off campus, doesn't provide for a very cohesive school community and is all together unsatisfactory from my parent perspective.</p>
<p>(another hint for parents/students deciding between schools - contrary to all the promises of "there's a club for everything and if there is not, the school will provide funding," do NOT fail to check to see whether there are a lot of extracurricular options that float your boat. Otherwise, the student can find themselves on a campus with only one or two options and miss the opportunity to grow and explore by participating in a breadth of activities)</p>
<p>My daughter's school is like a ghost town on the weekends. She says most people go home for the weekend (many are from the area)...but a lot do go for weekend jaunts to various tourist places. She likes the quiets weekends, says she can get a lot done. But, she spends a couple weekends away each month visiting friends at their schools and such.</p>
<p>When touring colleges on weekends, keep in mind that at some schools Sundays are busier on campus than Saturdays. This was true at Penn, where weekends for upper-classmen basically start on Thursday night. Students always used Sat to sleep late, go to the gym, and then went out at night. By Sunday however everyone would be getting in gear for the upcoming week so the libraries would be packed, people would be working on group projects in the student union, going to practices/meetings for various groups etc.</p>
<p>I was touring University of Wisconsin for a couple days about a month ago and my family and I were there on a Saturday. Contrary to many of the small LACs that have been brought up in this thread, it was very busy there even at 8:30 in the morning. I guess I should take this experience with a grain of salt though. Even though it was only like 25 degrees, ESPN College Gameday was there that day and they had a basketball game that night. Seems like larger Universities would have a better chance of people up a different times of the day than smaller ones though</p>
<p>S1 works at a grocery store. He has opened the store many a weekend morning at six o'clock. Lots of college kids work on weekends especially those in larger towns/cities where there are more opportunities for employment off campus. If not working, they are asleep on Sat. until noonish at least.</p>
<p>Mine are at big state u's. Lots of kids live off campus. The ones who live on campus spend a lot of weekend time getting off campus and hanging out at their friends apartments, shopping, eating out, going to visit friends at other schools.</p>
<p>Anytime I have been on my daughter's campus on a Saturday, I see tour groups. I see some students, but I am guessing the majority of them are sleeping in, as others have said here.</p>
<p>Yes, as stated above, my daughter says Sundays are definitely busier than Saturdays. I have to say, though, that when we were walking around on a Saturday,and she kept saying, this is not like it usually is, this is dead -- I didn't think so at all. There were people everywhere. This is, of course, an 8,000+ population school in a big city. The LACs I described were LITERALLY and ACTUALLY deserted -- not a soul in sight in the AM.<br>
Bigger schools will always seem busy -- big state schools look busy in the summer, too.</p>
<p>I don't think empty Saturdays necessarily mean no clubs or activities. I think that needs to be investigated in other ways.</p>
<p>Much as they worry me, over night college visits are very illuminating. I've encouraged them along the way, always having the kids stay with like-minded current undergrads at prospective schools. Kids and hosts must be reminded of the age of the visitors and consequences of bad actions. The deeper understanding of each school's culture/norms has been invaluable.</p>
<p>Overnights are good, esp. in instances where you really just can't figure out if students are doing anything on the weekends besides drinking in the dorms. Keep in mind though that at some schools, the character of the dorms varies widely due to self-selection and the available space, so an overnight visitor only gets a view of life in that one dorm. At Penn, there's one dorm which is very social, partly due to the abundance of space. Some high school visitors love it and see the 'social ivy' view of Penn, while others are completely turned off by seeing beer bottles all over that dorm all weekend. Another is a stereotypical frosh dorm, so if you spent Sat. there -- you'd see students sleeping in, eating brunch in the cafeteria in the building, hanging out in each others rooms watching tv, maybe doing a dance/yoga class at the studio also in the building, and possibly heading out on an organized group trip to center city, a game etc. That dorm really gives you the feel of being a typical frosh at any school in the country.</p>
<p>I think many are asleep until around noon, but just because they aren't out on the sidewalks doesn't mean they aren't doing something. It's too bad no school has put out a video (they totally could) with feeds from various areas - the 24 hour life of the school in fast time....
One thing my D looked for was hours the library was open. 24/7 was better than the schools that closed at 11.</p>
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One thing my D looked for was hours the library was open. 24/7 was better than the schools that closed at 11.
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Interesting. One of the schools we visited actually touted the fact that their library was not open 24/7, that it closed at certain hours on the weekend, stating that they wanted their students to have a life as well as an education.</p>
<p>Interesting. One of the schools we visited actually touted the fact that their library was not open 24/7, that it closed at certain hours on the weekend, stating that they wanted their students to have a life as well as an education. </p>
<p>Sounds good. As a parent..... I suspect that it has to do with hours used rather than that the college wants kids to be doing something different at 6 PM on a Saturday. "Please leave the Library, your social life is important... you will be welcomed back at 8 AM on Saturday".</p>
<p>Swarthmore's library closes at 2 am on most days, and it closes early on Saturdays. I wish the library stayed open all night, and I think if it did there would be students there, but the library relies quite a bit on student workers, and nobody wants to work in the library late at night. And neither do the librarians, I bet.</p>
<p>Anyone want to venture a guess about how cell phones have changed the climate at college? I know that in my neighborhood it's not uncommon to see neighbors on the street, but engaging them in casual conversation is harder these days as they are often on the phone.</p>
<p>missypie--I had exactly the same reaction...where are all the kids? This occurred at several schools. Then, at the last school we went to, by 2 p.m. on Sat things had picked up significantly. Members of the frats were outside hosing down the sidewalks! lol</p>