<p>Never been to the campus before.</p>
<ol>
<li>Excellent facilities, compactly set up so you can traverse from dorms to science buildings in a few minutes. Many of the facilities are very high quality. Lots of libraries, lots of study spaces. One library - really a study center - is all flexible seating with team rooms and is open all the time. The main library is classically beautiful. There's a big science library, etc.</li>
<li>Went into a number of classrooms. They were mostly quite nice and some were very nice with lots of projection facilities, etc. </li>
<li>Dorms have good sized rooms, decently kept. Food was fine. Not as bad as people said it was in old UR comments. Decent variety, fairly well prepared, some healthy options. Lots of places to eat on campus and they're redoing the food court in the Commons this summer. There's a Starbucks in the Commons and a food / coffee stand in the biology building, etc.</li>
<li>Gym is nice. Good workout equipment and aerobics. Didn't see the dance facilities.</li>
<li>Much prettier than I expected. Lovely setting on the river. Nice, consistent Georgian architecture, much with old detail. Nice landscaping. Track and fields are right there. Lots of green space, much wireless coverage. A park runs along the river with a bike path. The gym rents bikes for free. </li>
<li>Kids seemed normal. Dressed normal. Not designer, not slob. Friendly. Heard lots of conversations about schoolwork.</li>
</ol>
<p>About the Rochester Curriculum. I didn't realize what it really is until today. You should know they have no requirements - just major in something and take a few clusters (3 related courses) or a major, a minor and 1 cluster or double major, etc. Lots of kids double major. The idea was, beginning back in 1994 review, to think about how a research university could teach undergrads better. They decided a major cost, meaning a frustrating inefficiency, was making kids take classes they don't want to take and thus having teachers teach classes they don't want to teach - or which are filled with kids who don't want to be there. They decided to eliminate that cost. Languages resisted but the number of kids taking languages grew immediately after the req. was dropped. I spoke to a professor who said his classes fill up with kids who want to take them and that makes teaching much more fun. He has a kid at another school and he is frustrated with their requirements. I had not realized the intent was to address how to teach undergrads in a university where faculty do research. This was a great approach because they impose structure without requirements: take what you want but find a major and find some things you can get into more deeply. So many schools have added requirements but this approach seems really smart.</p>
<p>Take 5 program. Talked to a review board member. No limit on how many can do this. Say a kid is in engineering. That makes little time to pursue an interest in poetry or something else. Develop that idea, work with an advisor to come up with a plan and get your argument together, have that reviewed by advisors and then submit - ideally in junior year because you get a 2nd shot if you're denied and because if you get in then you can allocate your major reqs over 5 years and mix in your Take 5 classes. You pay room and board. It's a great idea because it means the school is using slack - extra spaces in classes - and it doesn't cost them because you pay for upkeep. (You can also live off campus or be an RA and pay less or nothing, etc.)</p>
<p>85% live on campus all 4 years. The housing lottery is set up to encourage friends to bond, so a group of 6 goes in a 6 person suite, etc. They have mixers to help that group of 5 find a 6th, etc. I'd say the rooms are good sized for college dorms. Better than many I've seen. </p>
<p>Freshmen have not only an RA but 2 sophs who have found they love UR and who want to spread that and another kid who is there not to enforce rules but to advise and help. That's 4 for roughly every 26 freshmen - about 13 rooms.</p>
<p>Career services person was interesting. Says his constituency is all 4 years and that means 3 classes interested in internships and 1 interested in jobs, internships and grad school. They do a lot of internships, both during the year and in the summer. They suggest working with them right away to develop interests. This is an advantage of being UR in Rochester because the city is large enough and has big corporations but not a lot of schools competing for attention.</p>