<p>Mini, you cheat: you looked up the program.</p>
<p>I did not care for "Suor Angelica;" as a piece set in a convent, it makes a wondeful recruiting tool for Judaism. [I still have a hard time swallowing that opera plots make ballet plots look taut and rigorous in comparison. There's some connection between this and Italian military prowess, I feel sure.]</p>
<p>The other one, "Gianni Schicchi," was a lot of fun, if more of a pre-sitcom artwork.</p>
<p>This week we switch to conventional stage to see "The Importance of Being Ernest."</p>
<p>Well, for starters, they're on Elm Street. </p>
<p>Lower Elm is closer to downtown.</p>
<p>On Upper Elm, Capen and Lamont have in-house dining; Parsons & Talbot have it during weekdays only. D has friends in Tlabot...seems to like it. Sessions is where by reputation "...not even the walls are straight"...that may have been said tongue in cheek.</p>
<p>On Lower Elm, Albright doesn't have dining and there was a <em>lot</em> of roommate drama there last year that infected the whole house. Duckett, Gillette, and Northorop have in-house dining and Baldwin has it weekends only...Duckett is one of the smaller houses, less than 40.</p>
<p>Fyi, Parsons, Talbot, Capen and Baldwin no longer have dining. Talbot just lost theirs this past year, but the others are in at least their second year without it. </p>
<p>I wouldn't choose a house by it's so-called straightness. I honestly don't think there's much of a disparity between houses, and as it's often said, the feel of a house changes from year to year. I'm not sure of what actually happened in Albright last year, but I have heard from sophomores that lived there last year that there was a lot of switching between rooms. One student I met had three roommates, and one of them now lives across the hall from me. In my house last year, out of more than 20 new students only eight were in the same room with the same roommate they started out with. Switching rooms (or houses) is pretty common.</p>
<p>{In my house last year, out of more than 20 new students only eight were in the same room with the same roommate they started out with. Switching rooms (or houses) is pretty common.}</p>
<p>I gather that this is an acceptable practice? Can they just arbitrarily decide to move rooms, or do they have to have the switch approved? Same with houses?</p>
<p>Borgin, I would never choose a house on "straightness" either...if anything, I thought it was a funny description. Damn, there were more dining losses than I had realized...I thought I had the up to date list.</p>
<p>Room are both formal and informal. Most house switches are formal. D's roommate shuffled herself into a different room with a different roommate, leaving D with a single in a double. Two girls then asked D if she'd switch to a smaller single so they could room together and she said sure...so she had three different "situations" the first year, only the first of which was official. She wouldn't dream of switching to another House.</p>
<p>This year she's had the same roommate for both semesters; they agreed to room together last Spring, before the room lottery. They got a very good number and a very good room. There was some "but we wanted that room" drama but it subsided quickly. [The reason there's a lottery is to establish who picks what room when.] There's always a bit of slosh as people leave for a term or year abroad, people graduate at the end of Fall term, people come back from a term abroad, etc., as well as people wanting to makes switches for reasons of compatibility.</p>
<p>There's a three week room freeze at the beginning of the fall semester, and after it's over you can switch with other people in the house (you probably have to let your HR and/or Randy Shannon know, I'm not positive on the procedure as I never changed). In order to change houses, you have to talk to your HR, the Area Coordinator, and let your roommate know that you are asking for a room change before you can hand the form to Randy Shannon. </p>
<p>First years changing rooms happens all the time, as students discover what their real college sleeping and study habits are and who they're actually compatible sharing a room with. And honestly, knowing that you can change rooms is better than spending a year with a roommate who keeps you up at night because she's talking on the phone when you're trying to sleep or who frequently has overnight guests when you'd prefer more privacy.</p>
<p>{{Good adcomms know the schools you applied to because of the paperwork you fill out and the fafsa}} </p>
<p>Admission counselors dont have access to the colleges you sent FAFSA or CSS forms, unless you sent them through the CollegeBoard. CB sells the list. But even if the college had the list, admission officers arent supposed to correspond with the financial aid office regarding admission decisions. Unfortunately, even ostensibly need blind colleges determine how much aid has been awarded when deciding on their final admission list, in some instances.</p>
<p>Many admission officers ask what other colleges youre applying to in an attempt to ascertain the chances youll matriculate, to what degree youre interested in their college, what colleges theyre competing against, simple curiosity, or if youre applying to the college as a safety; they have their ways of telling. Colleges want to protect their yield, so they attempt to admit kids that they believe have a chance, even if a small one, of accepting admission. There are 2nd and probably a few 1st tier colleges that will turn down or waitlist a student such as your daughter. They know she wouldnt attend because shes overqualified and in all likelihood will accept admission elsewhere. It used to be called the Tufts Syndrome. Tufts became frustrated as being known as the <em>safety</em> to the Ivies, so they started denying admission to very overqualified students. They also wanted to increase their yield and lower their acceptance rate for the rankings.</p>
<p>Harvard will ask you to interview if theyre going to accept you to get a <em>feel</em> if youll matriculate. Again, theyre protecting their 85% yield. Harvard also buys SATs and mails tens of thousands of beautiful brochures to students in the belief if a student receives an unsolicited brochure they might think they have a chance at Harvard. Many fall for the ploy and apply. Id love to see what Harvards acceptance rate would actually be if there were not many thousands of <em>Hail Mary</em> applications.
One caveat to my aforementioned comments are merit awards. Most 2nd, 3rd and a few 1st tier colleges will admit overqualified students with an offer of a merit award in an effort to entice the student to enroll for the financial benefit. It often works for middle/upper middle income students who dont qualify for a great deal of aid, are paying full ride, or the parents believe their EFC or debt is too high.
I met a Hobart alumnus who turned down Cornell because he was given a substantial merit award at Hobart and he didnt want to graduate with debt, as he would had he attended Cornell. </p>
<p>Because your daughter pulled her apps, youll never see a RD acceptance letter. When students receive their acceptance notifications in April, if the student isnt going to matriculate to a specific college, theres a questionnaire the college asks the student to complete informing them what college they are going to attend, as well as numerous other questions, in a effort to determine why they didnt choose their college e.g., location, inadequate aid offer, college size, etc.
Colleges are always doing consumer surveys to see what attracts or doesnt attract students. A Starbucks in the student center is always a winner--lol</p>
<p>A Starbucks would sell me, bunky! RLT, as usual, I learn so much from your posts, thank you. How did you get to know the world of college admissions so well?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Id love to see what Harvards acceptance rate would actually be if there were not many thousands of <em>Hail Mary</em> applications.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's a factor to be sure. I am always shocked at the number of no-prayer applications to Havard we see here. Kids post a big number on the SATs and everyone tells them they are "Harvard material", overlooking the fact that co-editor of the high school newspaper as a main EC isn't going to cut it.</p>
<p>The bigger factor is the high yield. A school with a 25% yield must mail 400 acceptance letters to get 100 students. Harvard mails 120 acceptance letters to get 100 students. Those extra 280 acceptance letters make a big different in the acceptance rates and in how deep into the applicant pools the two schools have to dip to fill their classes.</p>
<p>This in turn explains why many applicants with high SAT scores and solid transcripts, but nothing special, actually have no prayer.</p>
<p>The published acceptance rate is the number apps accepted divided by apps received. Therefore, the more apps received the lower the acceptance rate appears. Percent of students admitted and yield are two different numbers, but I dont need to tell you know that. I believe we are looking at this issue differently.
Because Harvards yield number stays constant at about 85%, they admit the same number of students year after year.. But over the years, because applications have increased immensely, the percent of applicants accepted has fallen dramatically even though the number of students accepted remained constant.
All the colleges are playing the <em>get as many apps as possible</em> game. Colgate recently dropped any mention of recommending SAT subject tests from their admission website and made applying online free in an effort to increase applicants and have their acceptance rate begin to appear lower, as more applicants will now apply due to the lowered requirements and no cost.</p>
<p>I'll tell you a bit about my experience at Smith...</p>
<p>It's hard to be in an all girls' environment, since most of my best friends back home are boys. There are times when I wish it was co-ed. However, it's not so bad because I feel less self-conscious. Also, you're not completely restricted from boys since there are a lot from Amherst, Hampshire, and U-Mass who take classes on campus. And if you want, you can take classes at those schools after your first semester is over. </p>
<p>Smith is an incredibly diverse school, so there's a lot of social interaction between people of different ethnicities - which is definitely a good thing. Most of the people I've met are ambitious, intelligent, hard-working people with friendly personalities. And I've noticed that they are the type of people who love to learn because of self-interest and not because they want to prove that they are better than others. You will notice that class discussions are very common. The work is challenging and demanding (especially the writing-intensive classes), but not impossible if you study hard. </p>
<p>Smith has lots of employment opportunities on-campus and even off-campus. I cannot begin to tell you how many emails I get from the Career Development Office a week. It's really helpful, though, because anytime you are looking for a job, you have a list of places you can work right in front of you. </p>
<p>Smith is not a party school at all, and I consider that both a good thing and bad thing. It's good in that you get more studying done, and people won't tempt you to drink. However, it's bad because Smith really doesn't have too many social things for people to do on campus, so it's difficult to find something to do with your friends on a free weekend.</p>
<p>{{{so it's difficult to find something to do with your friends on a free weekend}}}</p>
<p>Query. Is that b/c you dont drink and dont want to venture to Amherst, UMass, etc to socialize or attended parties with guys who most likely will be drinking?</p>
<p>Well, I haven't the time to go over to those schools so far for parties. I would if I had a free weekend (and if some of my friends were willing to come with me). I don't mind being at a party where people are drinking. I just prefer not to drink with them.</p>
<p>{{Smith really doesn't have too many social things for people to do on campus, so it's difficult to find something to do with your friends on a free weekend}}
{{I would if I had a free weekend }}</p>
<p>I'm confused. If you haven't had a free weekend and you aren't going to Amherst for parties, what are you doing if there is nothing to do at Smith?</p>
<p>Gosh, my d. never has a free weekend at Smith without something social to do: music, plays, readings, contradancing, parties, the kosher K....she hasn't made it over to Amherst once in two years (and hasn't gone to the Iron Horse either.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Smith is not a party school at all, and I consider that both a good thing and bad thing. It's good in that you get more studying done, and people won't tempt you to drink. However, it's bad because Smith really doesn't have too many social things for people to do on campus, so it's difficult to find something to do with your friends on a free weekend.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>hang in there trumpeter...it will get better. There's tons of things to do at Smith, just search them out. Get involved in an activity or club/organization. Do you like to sing? NoHo has plenty of things to keep you busy on weekends as well. Are your friends party animals making the party scenes, or are they like you; interested in other things besides drinking?</p>
<p>Well, I do keep busy...I'm in music ensembles and some other organizations, which are fun. I'm just saying that I find most of the parties boring because there aren't too many guys there - and as it is, I'm around girls all the time so I'd like to be able to make friends with guys.</p>