<p>I already did the search and I found very little. So, could you all please share your experiences with Austin College and Cornell College. Thanks!</p>
<p>I don’t have direct experience with Austin College - except for visiting the campus and living in the dorms for a week one summer (dorms are “eh”). But many of the top graduates around here go to Austin College on large scholarships. It has a great reputation as a LAC in Texas. My best friends’ D went there for undergrad and they let her design her own major (combining art history, history and business into a “museum studies” major). She did 2 internships and study abroad. The town of Sherman is a typical Texas small town. But it does have a new shopping area with lots of chain retail stores, restaurants and a movie theater. It’s also close to Lake Texoma so there are outdoor activities on the weekends.</p>
<p>My brother went to Austin college years ago and loved it. It’s not for everyone, but great for those kids that just don’t fit in at a mainstream college. Very quirky student body. Makes kids at Rice look normal. Small classes. He lived in a language house and really enjoyed it.</p>
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<p>My brother regretted not going to Austin College (wound up choosing a “more prestigious” school, with a preppy culture that was not nearly as good a fit for him).</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore at AC. She’s double-majoring in physics and theater and loves both programs. Right now she’s in London for JanTerm, seeing 15 theater shows in three weeks on London’s West End. (She also took advantage of a break in the schedule to hop a train up to Cardiff with some friends to see the Doctor Who Experience.) Next fall the school’s new IDEA center will be open, providing a huge upgrade to the science facilities and also offering new classroom space and student lounges.</p>
<p>AC is on a 4-1-4 schedule, a traditional two-semester year with a three-week JanTerm in the middle. Students take one special class during JanTerm or use it to study abroad. The JanTerm offerings are usually something outside the box – last JanTerm my daughter took a class about Greek and Roman mythology in modern science fiction. She’s also taking 5 classes each semester this year instead of 4. The on-campus JanTerm classes and the extra courseload don’t cost extra, but traveling abroad does.</p>
<p>AC is a fun place. Students call professors by their first names, and the professor of my daughter’s video game design class last semester provided Coke and Cheetos during the final. My daughter was never a social butterfly in high school, but her circle of friends at AC keeps growing.</p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about Cornell College, but their one class at a time schedule wasn’t right for my daughter, so we never looked into it.</p>
<p>We will be visiting in March with S14. Visited last summer and thought it was good but need to go back when students are in session. At least here in TX it has a very good reputation… it just gets overshadowed by our large (gargantuan!) state universities. Sherman is a good size town and you’re close enough to Dallas for special events. I LOVE the idea of the Jan term - provide a little out of the box learning. so… my two cents worth!</p>
<p>We toured Cornell College during an Open House. Random thoughts: Friendly folks. Mount Vernon seems like a pleasant and safe rural farm town, nicer than Grinnell, near a major city (20 minutes?). Campus itself was pretty and well-maintained too, but poor cell-phone reception. Beautiful new theatre building. Well-equipped arts building, but underwhelming sciences building. New food service was to begin this year, which should remedy the prior food-related complaints I’d read. Otherwise, campus is missing a swimming pool, and athletics seemed focussed on wrestling. Library is shared with community, but pleasant. Campus felt “small”.</p>
<p>“One class” scheduling requires “good fit” for particular student and major. Another “students review colleges” site (not “P-letter” site) has many negative comments from Cornell students concerning schedules’ relative inappropriateness for certain subjects. Schedule also seemed to incorporate a great deal of free time. For right student, Cornell College would be a great experience. For another student, it may be a bad choice. This is an unusual school which requires a visit and serious evaluation while school is in session to determine “good fit”.</p>
<p>Austin College has a great repuation. But it’s in Sherman, Texas. In a neighborhood. I think a student would really need a car. My son just couldn’t face the idea of living in Sherman.</p>
<p>Austin College does an outstanding job of preparing students for grad/med school. The students I’ve known there have been confident, articulate and capable. By giving substantial merit aid for strong grades/test scores the school attracts high quality students. Like most LACs, the student body tends to live in the bubble and the Sherman location is not as significant to student life as an outsider might think.</p>
<p>I am a Cornell grad ('88). They did have a pool and a swim team at that time, the pool may still be there though I had heard that it had been closed.</p>
<p>I enjoyed the one course at a time calendar. It does require a student to learn how to be organized. There was often a major paper due every week for the same class, though students don’t have the 3-5 major projects for different classes due at the same time.</p>
<p>It does make it easier to learn a foreigh language, especially if the student can put 2 or more classes of the same language back to back. And the science students can spend hours at a time in the lab without worring about what they need to do for other classes.</p>
<p>There have been many changes and upgrades to the campus since I graduated, which I think is good.</p>