<p>We just took D to visit a few colleges on our summer vacation. She sampled muffins at cafes at both colleges. One muffin had a decidedly earthy character (pumpkin cranberry), the other muffin was significantly more haute cuisine (raspberry almond). She has started a “muffin diary” and intends to do this at each college visit. I heartily recommended that she continue to do this - the silliness takes the pressure off such a high-pressure process! ;-)</p>
<p>Brown has good muffins!! Just saying :)</p>
<p>I based my decision on how cluttered professor’s desks were (more junk = better).</p>
<p>S1 thought the cartoons on the profs’ office door were an important indicator of the department’s vibe and whether he’d be happy attending. Worked pretty well!</p>
<p>I applied to Swarthmore because I liked the name.</p>
<p>S wanted a school without light pollution because he wanted to see the stars. He’s a junior, and he is still excited by that (among many other things about his school.)</p>
<p>mythmom: That’s a wonderful reason!</p>
<p>I’m applying to a few in-state public safeties I don’t really need because their apps didn’t require any work, my counselor wanted me to, and so I saw no real reason to argue with her.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I wish more school counselors insisted that all college-bound students apply to a couple of in-state publics as financial safeties. My kids’ school didn’t used to insist, but after one or two students couldn’t afford to attend any of the schools that they applied to, the school changed it’s policy. I guess if kids “have to apply,” they are more likely to do it than if their parents just tell them to.</p>
<p>that’s funny, I wish my son’s school was more encouraging about out of state schools! The counselors are so focused on the UCs and Cal States that they don’t have much time to learn about what else is out there - all of the schools my son is applying to are OOS except for one, and we’ve done tons of research on our own. This started with my D 2 years ago.</p>
<p>A Chipotle and Starbucks right across the street from campus. What else does a young man need??</p>
<p>I applied to Northern because they sent me a picture of people cliff diving at a place nearby to campus and because the hockey tickets were free.</p>
<p>I ended up going to Michigan and tonight actually am kind of regretting it. :</p>
<p>I think one of the silliest reasons a child (not mine) applied to a very low-ranking OOS commuter school was because her parents had gone to that school. Her parents had gone to that school because it was their local in-state and all their pals went there, too. It was then and still is a commuter school.</p>
<p>All year during senior year of high school we heard the parents and the D talk about how excited that they were that she was going to go to her parents’ alma mater. Some of us could see that this was a disaster waiting to happen, but we were “pooh poohed.” We warned that the parents liked going to that school because it was their local school, and they had friends and roots there. We warned that their D was going to feel abandoned at night and on weekends as other classmates went home. </p>
<p>Well, once school started in fall 2008, all one had to do was watch her Facebook status quickly drop from “I’m excited to move in to my dorm,” to “I’m lonely at night when everyone goes home,” to “there’s no school spirit or team to support,” to “why did I come here.” Within 2 months she had applied to another school (one that wasn’t commuter or suitcase), and she started her new school in the spring of '09. </p>
<p>I don’t blame the young girl at all; I blame the stupid parents who couldn’t see past their own experiences to see that a resident student at a commuter school would likely hate the experience.</p>
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<p>Yes, that can happen, too. And, it really happens in Calif as counselors struggle to keep students and parents informed of all the UC and Calif requirements and rules.</p>
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<p>This is especially the case this year, as decisions come down fast and furious that all trace back to the Stat’s budget issues and the cut backs in funding for higher ed.</p>
<p>Sometimes the silly reasons end up being the most important…
For example, it would be really nice to go to a school in a location where my hair looked better, because I would spend less time on my hair. Or a school with a gym that was open later than 10 pm, because then I would be able to go to the gym more that once a week, which would make me a happier person in general. If my current school did not have pineapple, I probably would not eat breakfast. If the campus was not so pretty, I wouldn’t be able to show it off to my friends from other schools. And if there weren’t wifi in my dorm room, I would either be really sad or really productive. I wish I had considered these things before applying, haha.</p>
<p>D liked the round dorms at Pittsburgh (based on a picture)</p>
<p>Those round dorms are actually very nice. I expected cheap Seventies construction, but they’re pretty solid. The rooms are smallish though.</p>
<p>I liked Bama because they have outdoor water slides…</p>
<p>i LOVE reading these. & my dad thinks my reasons are irrational :o</p>
<p>[well, i would never go to a school that had a bad name. not reputation. literally, the name. there’s an old thread on this topic. but some of the worst…cornell (reminds me of corns on an old person’s foot), bucknell (reminds me of a farm), tufts (reminds me of gross little tufts of hair on an animal). <em>sigh</em>. maybe i am sort of shallow…]</p>
<p>edit:
“For example, it would be really nice to go to a school in a location where my hair looked better”
oh my gosh, i swear, the bay area/berkeley town does wonders for my hair :]</p>
<p>^I could never get over Colgate. (It was far from a good fit anyway, but the toothpaste association didn’t help.)</p>
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