<p>But for the past several days I've been thinking of a school that my D applied to that on paper certainly deserves to be highly regarded. On paper, in many ways it's a "better" school than the one D actually chose. Then there was her Safety, which felt just too much like a Safety. Then I just responded to a transfer student who's in at UC Irvine but is waiting for UCLA. I've been to UCI and by many objective criteria, it's a decent school, especially if you overlook how it empties out on the weekend as so many local students head for their parents or entertainment up in the Westside of LA. D almost applied there as her Doomsday Safety, so we've looked at it more than casually, plus I've spent time on campus when TheMom was down for conferences.</p>
<p>So, three schools that I should think better of but have a hard time getting excited about: Wellesley, Skidmore, UC Irvine. And about Wellesley I feel really really really guilty. It's like meeting an exceptional person that you just don't connect with.</p>
<p>Think of this as a guilty pleasures thread without the pleasures. Anyone else have schools that they just have a hard time getting excited about? Any thoughts as to why?</p>
<p>U Penn. I know a number of kids going there or just accepted - great students, interesting kids. They are so excited to go there, but I just don't get it. (And it's not that it is located in a city - there are other city schools that I "get").</p>
<p>What causes the negatives about Skidmore - besides the fact that it is lower rated than many of the schools we discuss here (though still in the top 50)? It's on my junior D's l-o-o-o-n-g preliminary list.......</p>
<p>DD attends UCI- it was the only UC app as a financial safety- </p>
<p>D would not listen to 'rents advice on other options and ended up there as other privates were simply too scary to contemplate a four year financial commitment! UCI is heavily Asian, in certain majors especially, which, when Asian people are speaking Asian languages, limits the interaction. That being said, there are plenty of other kids there too. You have to work at making friends and connecting, it is a big school and you really ought to live on Newport Beach to have the true fun experience :)</p>
<p>The problem is that it does not feel like a "real" traditional going away to university experience. Every one is busy living their lives and not necessarily into campus activities. There are things to do and you can have fun and make great friends, but you have to work at it.</p>
<p>I don't know much about Skidmore, but I have spent a lot of time in Saratoga Springs. I'm not certain of Saratoga's "fit" for college students (pricey?) but it is a lovely area.</p>
<p>ID - I was actually just about to post a query about the campus culture of Duke as it is on one of my kids' preliminary lists. I'd very much appreciate hearing about your perceptions as well as anyone else's.</p>
<p>The UW
It has great buildings- in a favorite city- beautiful when the Mt and the cherry blossoms are out- the price is right- it has some fantastic resources- and both my parents attended and both my girls were born at the hospital. But I just can't get excited about stadium sized classes no matter what they do to connect with students, and I don't like that for so many high schools, the UW is the height of the counselors aspirations for students.
Nothing really wrong with it if you don't drive by it everyday I guess unless you are looking for a school smaller than a good sized town.</p>
<p>Amherst, and to a lesser extent Haverford. I also have trouble with DD's choice, mostly because I think she discounted 2 other schools that I thought fit better - good thing this is not my life.</p>
<p>School that I really liked that I had assumed I wouldn't like - Duke.</p>
<p>School I wanted to attend and leave daughter at home - Swarthmore or Yale.</p>
<p>WUSTL--never been able to get a handle on its "character" at all</p>
<p>Stanford--Taco Bell, need I say more </p>
<p>TCNJ--Many New Jerseyans love to rave about it, but my kids wouldn't even consider it (their safety was Rutgers)--seems like a suitcase school for very pre-professional types.</p>
<p><em>sits back, waiting for own oxes to be gored</em></p>
<p>You may want to check out the Duke thread. There are at least two well spoken students that post regularly on that board. I think it is important for you to hear what current students have to say about the campus culture.</p>
<p>My son would not post on this board, but he is very happy there. I'm sure that you can find critics that really don't know much about the campus, or base their opinions from a one hour visit! (or worse, - from what "they hear" about those nasty jocks and frat boys...)</p>
<p>Vassar- just like the studentreviewers say, old run down town, beautiful campus, great small class sizes, good opportunity to connect with profs, very militant (per my DD) in terms of politics, etc....seemed not accepting of non-militant viewpoints</p>
<p>HA! I crossed posted with IDad - just goes to show different strokes!</p>
<p>Twinmom - negatives (Please don't flame me guys, this is only my perception!) - understand that Duke truly is the Harvard of the South, in the sense that just about everyone, educated or not "knows" to be impressed when someone says they went to Duke. With that tidbit, almost to a person, all the people I encountered professionally that had had any education or training from Duke always reminded you of that fact, frequently (if you follow my drift). It was kind of a joke throughout my post grad training, but one of those jokes with truth underlying it. So when I visited campus (which I had visited before, interviewing for residencies) I was prepared to be underwhelmed, except for the lovely architecture.
To my surprise, there was a tremendous vibrancy and camaraderie that many of the other schools we visited lacked. Lots of tables out in front of dining and student center drumming up business for student orgs., kids with cell phones making dates, herds of kids having fun.
It is very pre-professional (which maybe positive or negative), and in retrospect after visiting a number of other schools, it was unusual that our tour guide was critical of changes admin was making in Greek housing (more typically the guides were uniformly upbeat, maybe honest is better). I was impressed with class size, campus feeling, it is a very "urban" big city feeling place (?more Northern) for a medium sized city in the South. The biggest practical negative I saw was the separate frosh campus, too much bus riding, and the down at heels tate of Durham - another bus ride down to Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>For me it was Penn. It's often compared to Columbia, but I love the Columbia quad and thought the Penn dorms looked horrible and the area around the campus rundown.</p>
<p>However, we are all splitting hairs. TheDad, I have the sense that Smith attracts a wider range of students than Wellesley in terms of interests, and so I am not at all surprised you and your daughter liked the former. Smith has the academics but also so much for creative types. In terms of the "on paper" aspect, I am not sure these things matter to anyone except us nutcases here on CC. ;)</p>
<p>On Duke: We visited with the expecatation that it would be high on my daughter's list.</p>
<p>All of us found it to be somewhat unsettling, with a chilly, Stepford quality. Gorgeous spring late afternoon. Didn't hear any laughter. Didn't see students walking in groups or stopping to talk to each other. No eye contact passing kids on the walkways, even with a "Hi" or a "How ya doin'?"</p>
<p>I think it was striking that both my wife and daughter reacted that way because they have spent considerable time at one of the Boston area universities that isn't exactly known for being the most "warm and fuzzy" campus in the world. But, they were both taken aback by Duke. We didn't know it at the time, but it has a reputation for being a "cold" place. </p>
<p>I read a recent commentary from a current Duke professor who felt that Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons" was an unfair portrayal of Duke because .... only about 30% of Duke students are really like that.</p>
<p>Colgate is the one school that I wished I liked better. I have friends who went there, have spent time on campus, and looked very carefully at their academics, but it just doesn't do it for me. No matter what I keep thinking that it is over-rated and over-blown. No offense to anyone whose child goes there - just isn't a school that I am personally enthusiastic about.</p>
<p>I wanted to like Dickinson and do think it is a good school for the right folks but I was very turned off by their manic marketing while we were visiting. It's a mid-level school that tries a bit too hard to convince students and parents that they would be lucky to go there.</p>