<p>Xiggi: I've often wondered where you go to school. Care to tell?</p>
<p>Xiggi: "Liberal, misfit hippies." You've captured my D and me in a nutshell. (Well, maybe just me: she's the liberal; I'm the liberal misfit hippie.) Perhaps that's why we both love so many of the small LACs discussed on CC! (:</p>
<p>Xiggi goes to Claremont McKenna.</p>
<p>Well I agree with sokkermom but the schools our sons attend get the most negative press on CC.(or at least I think her son attends Duke) I've gotten used to it and rarely respond. I'm a pretty objective parent, able to look at the weaknesses of Wash U and I would even go so far as to agree with some of the posters. If any of you remember I started a thread a while back about intellectual curiousity because I think my son doesn't see a lot of kids with it at Wash U , and yes, Garland, it is difficult to get a handle on the personality and I probably know it better than most. I grew up in St. Louis and went to summer school there one summer and thought it was a far cry from the midwest public that I attended. It's what convinced me that a private college was a priority for my kids. (I'm not closed to publics and my son applied to several and was accepted but it wasn't right for him) </p>
<p>There are however other positive things about Wash U, one of which is a responsive administration ( which may have something to do with EZ's comments about a college run by parents). He also has wonderful professors who meet his need for intellectual curiousity. I would have loved for him to find that perfect fit, but he was rejected from the colleges we perceived as having intellectual curiosity and we probably weren't savvy enough to understand how to find better matches that had it. We didn't have CC and barely had a computer. So that being said, I agree this thread is silly and I was deeply disappointed by TheDad for starting it. It is gossip and there are few comments that are constructive or worthwhile. Yeah, I'm offended by EZ's comments about parents and unfit kids - that's destructive and gossip in my book. </p>
<p>As always I much prefer actual people who have kids who attend, attended themselves or have a connection. One visit can tell you a lot but it's not enough to come on this board and give your negative opinion. Talking about things like the Engineering dept not being what was expected is constructive or that a department doesn't have enough challenge or whatever are all constructive. Some people have done that, but most have not.</p>
<p>liz & sokker,</p>
<p>Remember we're all talking about schools we "wanted to like"-- meaning we knew they were good schools, and felt they could be good matches for our kids, but something (usually minor & flukey) hit us "wrong." It is clear that for everyone who likes school A better than school B there is someone with the exact reverse impression.</p>
<p>I am sorry you felt your kids' schools were attacked. I don't believe that was anyone's intent. (How can an impression gleaned from a tour or a few hours on campus possibly trump the detailed insider knowledge of someone who attends the school? It can't...)</p>
<p>This thread is just remarking on the ironies of great schools sometimes (and proabably undeservedly) giving off bad vibes when people only get a brief glimpse. In a way, it's saying we need to take all these visits & snap judgements with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>SBmom - I think you're right about the original intent of the thread. I think a few posters have gone a bit further and have actually "attacked" schools, rather than just keeping it to naming a school that didn't appeal to them for whatever reason.</p>
<p>SBMom,
I get the idea of the thread but I think some have used it to just say negative things. And I admit, I am defensive about Wash U comments. I don't like flukey, minor opinions about colleges with no substance or explanation. That sounds like the definition of gossip to me. I don't give them and I think they are destructive. </p>
<p>There is a way to talk about what you don't like about a college or how you were disappointed without maligning it in such petty ways. I pointed those out and there are some who get it. </p>
<p>Sbmom said, "(How can an impression gleaned from a tour or a few hours on campus possibly trump the detailed insider knowledge of someone who attends the school? It can't...)"</p>
<p>I don't think you understand the power of negative spin. All you have to do is look at the power of the swift boat ads to understand it. (Not trying to incite any political argument or trying to push an agenda - just using a poignant example) I'm not Pollyanna or Mother Bear defending her cub. I know some of Wash U's weaknesses and if you could see the e-mails I wrote to a few of last years parents, you would understand that I'm able to have a discerning and critical look at it. </p>
<p>Someone talking about kids looking unfit at Wash U? I'm sorry but I've been on that campus and many others and that is not an observation I've ever made there. I don't know why anyone would bother to mention it even if it was true - it's petty.</p>
<p>Standard disclaimer - the ideas and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.</p>
<p>That said, I think some of you folks are taking things waaaay to seriously. I thorougly enjoyed reading this and it brought back memories of some of those ill fated visits. </p>
<p>With daugther it was Lehigh; about half way through the tour she asked if we could break away, get lunch and head home. Skidmore wasn't as negative, but she was decidedly indifferent. I even took her to Caroline St. to show off Saratoga -to no avail.</p>
<p>With son it was Bucknell - one of those "do I have to get out of the car" trips.</p>
<p>Yankeegirl- I have to wonder if she'd be given an edge as a minority at Bowdoin- I'd guess that Yankees fans compose less than 1% of the population 'round these parts :-P.</p>
<p>I like this thread. It's like a parents version of StudentsReview.</p>
<p>Wish I liked Wake Forest better. Everything way too quiet. (Had seen Duke on this trip and seemed lively in comparison). Also there was a big tent and a keep off the grass sign (for graduation about three weeks ahead) on one of their quads -- quite a turnoff.</p>
<p>Mary Washington felt way too small. One prospective thought the classroom they showed was smaller than her HS class, and wanted to split with her dad right then.</p>
<p>lizhsup, ez was responding to a direct q from me and she was trying to be helpful, so blame me, not her. Wash U sounds good to me after reading this thread, so what harm was done?<br>
Anybody have any impressions of Georgetown or Northwestern to share? I'm a teensy bit worried about Georgetown because my s has only been to church once, for his father's re-marriage. :-)</p>
<p>I think it's important to acknowledge what ez acknowledged: that comments can say more about the speaker than they do about the subject. With that in mind, what may seem like gossip can, in response to a question or two, become of some value to someone. Ez's comments were of some value to me even though I have to reinterpret them based on what was clearly a personal filter. And they elicited a more realistic view of the way girls dress at Tulane from others, so it all came out in balance.</p>
<p>It's not that serious, and I don't accept a comment in a thread like this as being worth 1% of the hard info and offers we'll get and find out for ourselves, so it's all useful in some way. </p>
<p>Besides, like Dr. Phil, it's entertainment, not therapy, yes?</p>
<p>Wow. 2+ years on CC and I'm still surprised at what threads take off and what threads languish.</p>
<p>Liz, I think there's a value in reflecting on what doesnt "click" and why not, often for unanchored gut reasons or for causes that may not be entirely logical. Certainly, the idea of the thread isn't "let's bash schools my S/D turned down." For the record, I'm pro-WUSTL (TheMom grew up in St. Louis and I've been there) and an agonstic about Duke, though the latter is a purely theoretical exercise as I have a strong aversion to a heavy Greek presence.</p>
<p>Garland and Xiggi, you get it. Thanks.</p>
<p>Cheers, for years I prayed everynight that I might become a singer. One morning I woke up and I was a sewing machine.</p>
<p>AParent, the combination of the arts with the academics is indeed one of the larger factors that tipped D to Smith over Wellesley. In her words, at Wellesley they [ballet, orchestra, etc.] seemed like an afterthought, not a part of the central experience. I think the feel of Wellesley for her was a little more careerist (maybe that suggests "pre-professional", I don't know) and an uncomfortably more affluent student body.</p>
<p>Coureur, well, you might be confounded by my D who is quirky but decidedly <em>not</em> counter-cultural. And then there's one of her best friends, who has custody of Seamus the Study Lobster.</p>
<p>Elizabeth..THAT is exactly the reason she doesn't want to go there.
I love NE, especially Boston, but she won't change her mind. Right now she will go no further north than New Haven, but she really liked DC so it looks like she's going south.</p>
<p>I haven't posted yet, but I personally like and appreciate this thread (even though I was shocked - shocked - that some people weren't turned on by my personal favorite, Bowdoin!</p>
<p>It's actually funny that some people's negatives are other people's positives: "coddling" --- hmmm, just what my next child needs! (though the others didn't). I've got a bright girl, high IQ, hanging on to an A- in all Honors and APs ---- might be a fit with a lower ranked top 50 school (hence the look at Skidmore --- more comments, please, anyone) but due to her specific personality and study habits, coddling sounds good, so maybe some of the smaller and less well prestigious LACs (also St. Mary's of MD, a public).</p>
<p>So carry on ! This is very helpful!</p>
<p>Dear Lizschup,</p>
<p>Your posts are very timely to me as S just got admitted to Arts and Sciences at Wash U, and when he visted the campus a week and a half ago, he was VERY impressed by it. He liked the students who did the tour especially, and felt he would fit in better there than any school he has visited. Now the issue will be the other decisions and whether or not there is a financial way to send him. I had noticed a dearth of discussion about Wash U, but have several friends who sent their kids there, and they (parents and students) loved it. So, though I do not know what the ultimate outcome of this will be you have shared something that will be very helpful to me~ and thanks~</p>
<p>M'o3</p>
<p>I actually get a giggle out of seeing how what negative vibes Wes can engender. I know how good it was for D after she came limping in from a disastrous freshman year elsewhere, but it sure does strike some people the wrong way.</p>
<p>The other one I could add to this list is Haverford: I had decided it was perfect for my S. We visited on a Friday morning (big mistake) and it was quiet as a tomb. Everything I read about it sounded wonderful (still does) but I can't shake that picture of tht empty place from that day, and he didn't like it at all (except that Dave BArry went there.) OTOH, it turns out that he's a big city kid, who knew?</p>
<p>Liz, Would it be okay if I sent you a PM later to talk further?
M'o3</p>
<p>Thedad,
I guess I need those lessons in humor or was it how to be humorous? </p>
<p>The only humor I found on this thread were posts made by Cheers because she wittingly or unwittingly put the thread in its place.</p>
<p>I get the thread too, but I wasn't going to take part. I'm not asking anyone to be PRO Wash u. What I am asking, is for posters to be respectful and constructive. We ask that of each other , why not ask it of people when they post about colleges that are not their own?</p>
<p>And why should I be singled out as not having a sense of humor because I'm defending against petty comments? I recall a heated discussion about articles in the Atlantic Monthly about Harvard and Princeton. Parents and alums defended the honor of their schools and I don't recall anyone telling them to lighten up. Those articles were written by insiders but they were roundly rebuked. These comments are written by one time visitors and sometimes without revealing their prejudice. </p>
<p>I am not trying to hinder criticism, just trying to make it constructive. But hey, if hearing opinions about unfit kids and a school run by parents helps you make a decision, far be it from me to get in your way. Read on!</p>
<p>We also toured Haverford, and it was incredibly quiet. I can't remember which day of the week that was. I was disappointed because we were all predisposed to like it.</p>