I too think Bucknell is a place you want an overnight at to see the real vibe…they also, in the past, had an announcement on their homepage that said , in academic-speak: " yeah, you think you’re a big deal. everyone here is super smart and super monied, so please don’t call us whining about financial aid because you really aren’t that great, here." Has a reputation of being very Greek and very preppy, fwiw.
Glad you are getting the list narrowed down! Isn’t it funny how being physically present matters?
That’s interesting that you felt that way about the streets. They didn’t faze us at all. Unless the school is in a residential area, like Muhlenberg, I can’t see how a school wouldn’t have busy streets. Even Lehigh has them (and a lot of hills!). It’s a shame, then, that you skipped Ursinus. I don’t think that has any busy streets. You might have liked it better.
I would have loved to hear a comparison or Ursinus and Susquehanna. We liked Ursinus when we visited, but we liked Susquehanna better just looking around. D dropped Ursinus because she got turned off hearing about the drinking.
Don’t forget the train tracks at Dickinson as well! I agree completely with the feeling that the roads brought to dividing up Dickinson’s campus. We also got the nasty woman at the small takeout coffee shop who wouldn’t make change for anything larger then a five dollar bill. All in all not a favorite visit for us.
Haverford is visually stunning. I believe it is exactly what my daughter has envisioned her college to resemble. But don’t think she would fit in there. I really think our tour guide represented the school well. She was extremely smart, appeared to come from $$, pleasant and socially distant. Everyone we walked by seemed very “proper”, but no interaction with us or the tour guide, other than one rigid hand wave. She spoke about having tea before a game… said 66% of the students were involved in sports… but we saw 1 “sporty” looking student who was walking all alone. My D absolutely loved the intellectually stimulating feeling she got from the school, but the overly polished students just didn’t seem like her type of “people”. However we could easily see how wonderful this school would be for the right student!! It is coming off our list.
Next school we saw yesterday was Ursinus. Started off with a personal information session with a very enthusiastic senior from the school. She clearly loves her school and her time there. Spoke about how the school adjust to their students and doesn’t want the students to adjust to them. Our tour guide was nice and considering she was just a freshman there, she seemed to be very knowledgeable about the college (clearly through training, but also just as a student there). Unfortunately, nothing about the school captured either my D or myself. It’s a large spread out campus for about 1500 students. The buildings also didn’t have a very cohesive look either- almost like a bunch of separate buildings and ideas put into one area. They also don’t have cheerleading (which is not a make em or break em deal, but more of a cherry on top). So based on everything and based on the fact that our list is quite long, we took this one off.
Unfortunately Mother Nature decided to have a temper tantrum today, so we made the 8 hour drive home last night and will have to get back down at another time to see- Lehigh, Lafayette, Muhlenberg and Bucknell.
My daughter is a sophomore at Susquehanna and loves it. She’s double majoring in photography and art history. She has a small music scholarship for non-music majors that includes free piano lessons and participation in the jazz band. She will be studying art in Florence next fall. I can’t say enough good things about the school. It first came on our radar screen when oldest was looking for schools, and our college consultant told us about it - he sent his own son there.
@MaineLonghorn thank you for sharing your daughter’s experience. That school is staying on the list. I want her to relook at it and interview there. I could see this one as a good fit for her.
Interesting and surprising reaction you had to Haverford’s student body. I know things are in the eye of the beholder but I’ve haven’t heard folks having that impression before.
I don’t think Haverford is anything like you just described it actually. I would not categorize those students as “overly polished” at all. They’re very welcoming and open minded and extremely bright, although not at all academically competitive. I don’t think they’re very overly enthusiastic about their sports teams, although they do have their athletic “culture” there, and the athletes do tend to stick together. So I’m not really sure how you got that impression. Those students are pretty down to earth, very intellectual, and take their Honor Code extremely seriously.
I would agree with your assessment of Ursinus. It didn’t wow us, but it’s a good safety that’s still strong academically.
Thanks, @toomanykiddos for the review of Ursinus. My D19 is interested because it is an LAC with good science/health majors. She rejected one school because they really emphasized the Socratic teaching method in every single class. Did you get any sense of the students and professors being “intellectual-minded” v “practical-minded”? (does that even make sense?) She would also be an athlete and loves a campus with school spirit.
Interesting @doschicos and @megan12 about our different views of Haverford. Realistically it’s hard to make a decision based on an hour visit! But both my D and I came to the exact feeling of the school. She really hesitated to take it off the list, because there was so much she did like about it. But I absolutely would not have gotten the impression of the student body being very welcoming and down to earth. All of the students (except for the one “sporty” students), were all dressed in a similar preppy almost business casual attire and none of them seemed to be interested in any type of minor interaction with our tour guide or our small group.
@doschicos what is the feedback that you have heard?
This school may be worth relooking at. Perhaps we need to take a closer look! Because my D really did like many things about it, including the honor code.
Not being interested in interaction with a tour guide or tour group doesn’t mean people are not welcoming to one another, or not social, or not whatever. It more probably means that college tours aren’t an important part of their lives.
PREPPY?!?!?! Are you sure you were at HAVERFORD and not HARVARD?? :))
They’re not preppy. If you want preppy, go to Bucknell.
It’s possible that they didn’t say hi because they were just introverted or socially awkward or they were just doing complex mathematical calculations in their heads! LOL!
We went on lots of tours, and I have to say, I didn’t see a whole lot of interaction with most tour guides or groups we had. I wouldn’t judge by that.
There’s a small amount of preppy kids at Haverford but it is truly an outlier. Maybe there was some career fair or something on campus that day? Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to explain that impression because it is very different from the Haverford I know. Not trying to be defensive, just really surprised. The kids are really diverse - you have a few jocky bro types but they are still super smart (admissions gives very little to no weight to athletes vs. pretty much any other college - athletes need the academic chops to get into the school). Plenty of more artistic types, edgier kids, plenty of “nerds”, some crunchy granola types, etc. Honestly, I think it is hard to characterize a “typical” Haverford student accept they are accepting and intelligent. They take their studies seriously but are non-competitive. They really embrace not only the honor code but the Quaker values of community, equality, consensus, acceptance.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but we as a whole are choosing schools based on what we have researched, what the majors and quality of the courses are, AND what we gain from information sessions and tours…otherwise why are we doing tours?? I am also not basing our entire decision to keep a school on or off a list, based only on whether students said hello or not, but yes I do think some interaction from fellow students does show a little bit about the personality of the student body. I’m surprised you guys don’t.
I am also not sure how to take your comments @megan12. I have not said anything negative about Haverford, in fact I noted that my daughter really liked a lot about the school and admittedly said perhaps we should relook or do more research. But from OUR visit almost every boy we saw walking around appeared to be in button up long sleeve collard shirts, sweater vest, chinos, and many had scarfs wrapped around them for fashion (it was not particularly cold that day). The girls were in conservative type clothing as well. So yes I catorgorized that as preppy or business casual type of look.
We have a long list of many great schools. We can not keep them all on our list and ultimately apply to them all. These were the impressions we got of the schools we saw on our ONE HOUR tours, and interactions with our guides. I am sorry if you don’t share those same impressions of the schools. Let’s also keep in mind that I am getting our impressions based off of our personal likes, dislikes, and overall life experiences- they may not be the same likes, dislikes and life experiences that you have had! But that doesn’t make them wrong!
I think some of us are chiming in not because we question your process but because the Haverford we know is so different from what you observed. That’s all.
I would actually try to put little weight on a tour guide although I know that is hard to do. It’s easy to be influence but it is a bit of luck of the draw on who you get on a given day and how they mesh with one’s own style.
I appreciate the chiming in about any of the schools @doschicos. This is part of the research process. Clearly the impressions my D and I for from our tour and interactions are not accurate about Haverford.
@Acersaccharum, I’m not positive how to answer this question- perhaps someone with personal experiences at Ursinus can chime in?
I did get the feeling that the school really fosters personal growth in many different feels and encourages students to not just focus in one academic area; including developing personalized degrees and experiences when needed. They also made a point to talk about how much they value the input of their students and really try to act upon overall suggestions that the student body makes via surveys they often send out.
They have a nice athletic center and the tour guide made a point to talk about other schools coming to Ursinus because of its track size and over all facilities.
@toomanykiddos stick with your gut. Not everyone has the same feeling about a school. On any given day, your interactions could be different but if you weren’t feeling it at Haverford, that’s fine. The defensiveness is just from others wanting you to like it, like they do. I adore my alma mater but others might not be interested in going to a school in a cornfield. I get. that. As I posted in another thread, when you walk on a campus you either get it or you don’t. If it didn’t speak to you and your daughter, then move on. No harm, no foul. I walk over at the University of Richmond all the time. Some days I see preppy kids, sometimes athletes, sometimes groups of asian students speaking in their home languages. Last time I was there, I watched part of a Quidditch match. The only thing that is a constant to me is the beautiful campus and the parking lot - filled with cars with license plates from all over the country.
