My daughter has requested that I not mention her school name on social media for people she doesn’t know. She goes to a small school of about 6000 on a suburban self contained campus with lots of retail around it. My daughter fell in love with it from her first visit
Surprise Positives
Freshman (including any high school graduate with any amounts of credits from AP, dual enrollment etc) need to do off campus community service - often helping out in after school programs in a nearby school system with a large percentage of kids living in poverty. Freshman aren’t allowed to have cars on campus so the school sets up and runs shuttle buses to get all kids to/from community service locations
School has strong sense of community involvement such as hosting a dance program for local dancers, a family astronomy night, best buddies etc.
Very into school spirit which my child loves
Excellent move in system for freshman (wish they did it for all years) and crazy busy orientation days
classes are 15-30 students even in general ed classes and all are taught by professors or professionals in the field
Never thought about this one but clubs are open to everyone
Surprise Negatives
no on campus shuttle and far away classes are not as quick of a walk as they claimed without speedwalking
at family orientation we heard good things about food choices but some like food trucks are only available special days from 10pm to midnight etc and other than the main cafeteria meal swipe times are limited to off peak hours
Several classes are only offered either spring or fall semesters not both - not quiet as easy when you enter with credits already
So much of this is subjective. Some of the things people complained about at schools my kids attended are things they liked about it:
Rice: great experience with the Residential College system and the helpfulness of the House Fellows (faculty who lived by the college) when DS broke his leg. Also loved the food and took a cooking class from the servery chef. He brought home the food from the class and was pretty popular on his floor
The only negative was the limited on-campus housing, forcing him off campus sophomore year. He was able to return to campus junior and senior year. At most colleges, upperclassmen want to live off campus. At Rice it was for many, a desire to live on campus.
Tulane: The major negative was getting nickel and dimed got bonus dorm charges (clean up mostly) for things that were the fault of others. ANd they tried to charge $100 to clean a carpet tht was (a) nasty at the outset and (b) would have been cleaned over the summer anyway. Had to negotiate to get that fee reduced.
MoveIn/Out dorm is very easy: Given the size of the school, I had imagined the traffic jam, driving round and round looking for parkings etc., but none of that happened.
Registration of classes sounded a lot easier than I expected from a large state school: This might due to the fact that D is very organized and talked to her advisor quite often. She did say the advisors are very good. She also has close to 50 AP credits that give her earlier sign up slots.
Research opportunities: She was able to start doing research at a prof's lab second semester frosh year.
Negative surprises:
Upperclass (junior+) tuition rate: This is purely my lack of thorough study. UMich charges 3000+ more for upper class tuition. Since my D brought in so many AP credits, she was charged higher tuition rate the second semester frosh year. She cancelled 8 AP credits to have that rate brought down. Oh!, there is 3.9% OOS tuition raise this year, I guess we should say this is expected?
Hard to get a summer internship: I do expect it easier for Juniors, but I can't stop wondering as the current job market is hot and Michigan Engineering is supposed to rank pretty high. D is a high GPA engineering student and a senior officer of her sorority. I'd think that is a desirable combo. After a huge campus job fair, she has 0 interview requests. Maybe it is only her...as her BF (CS major) has not only interviews but offers...
At least Michigan seems to count all the AP credits. My son passed 13 AP tests with 4’s and 5’s and only got to use one of them at his college. I noticed the public universities seem more generous with using AP credits than the private schools or at least the private LAC’s. My daughter learned her lesson from my son and is in a bunch of AP classes senior year but is not going to take most of the tests because there’s zero chance of getting credit for them no matter how she scores and the tests occur after college acceptances anyway.
Case Western Reserve University a private mid sized well ranked university, is generous with both AP and IB credits, and will let a premed who gets accepted to med school early leave early with a bachelors degree. Its one of the more flexible Arts and Sciences programs but student can also branch out into preprofessional programs. Case Western also allows the top undergrads to teach calculus sections, and coaches them on how to be a good teacher. Offers good research options for its size. Offers a nursing program that leads to top jobs, has a well known accounting program. Engineering is OK. I don’t rave about the engineering, but some people do. Its more of a well rounded school I would say than most engineering colleges, in that all students have to take reading and writing and master it. GaTech for instance does not really require a lot of reading to get any degree, although they require English 1, 2, and some social sciences, GaTech waters it down for “engineers”. Case Western does require students read books and understand what they are reading, whether they are an engineer, nurse, accountant or physicist.
@whataboutcollege GaTech is exactly the same. GaTech students get internships with their parents connections by and large, until they are JUNIORS, then apparently the school really helps students connect at that stage. I am totally shocked at how BAD the big state engineering programs are for internships. MIT shines there ! So does Case Western, so maybe I should say that about Case’s engineering, they actually get kids internships on the west coast,
earlier than GaTech. At GaTech, one boy we know skipped classes in sophomore year, to apply to jobs on Indeed,
applied to over 100 , got one interview and one summer job offer. This is truly gotten absurd, but I blame the engineering industry, and the on line nature of job applications. Public schools have 1000 kids applying for three jobs at Google. These kids need to branch out, and the public engineering programs need to help them.
@whataboutcollege I totally agree with you about Michigan, the rank is there, but its a factory for engineering degrees, just like GaTech, UIUC, and Purdue. Purdue may be the best of all of those for getting students interviews. I know a sophomore mechanical engineering student at Purdue who is already interviewing for jobs in October for next summer. Purdue is very very well connected on the west coast. Michigan rides on its “rank” and Ann Arbor, but lets face it, the rust belt is not the best place, and its cold. Michigan should have deep connections to west coast jobs, and there probably is some of that, but its not nearly as good as most students hope for.
For co op programs, GaTech is good, but then its a five year bachelors degree plan. I don’t know if Michigan offers a five year co op degree plan, but thats something to look into. Again some co ops are really BAD, like admin work or regulatory paperwork, instead of design engineering work, , so buyer beware. Co ops are not all created equal. GaTech has worked to develop good relationships with many Georgia and some west coast firms.
@whataboutcollege A problem for chemical engineers is that many jobs are in oil and gas and Michigan will
not lead a student to those jobs. Another avenue it semiconductors, so Micron in Idaho, Global Foundries in Vermont, but most of those jobs need PhDs and they need your daughter to study both electrical and chemical engineering. Another avenue for chemical engineers is the plastics industry, and another is pharmaceutical factories mass producing drugs. Chemical engineering has become a field where a PhD is needed to do any half way complex job. But there are jobs in manufacturing, the straight chemical industry, think Dow Chemical, but mostly there are automated plants. Look at Mattheson Tri Gas and other traditional chemical jobs, as well as pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceuticals hire chemical engineers to build drug factories in locations like Puerto Rico and Longmont Colorado. They fire them regularly too. I suggest she take some software classes, too, as many chemical engineers get jobs writing code today. Another avenue is becoming an equipment engineer, so take mechanical engineering minor for that.
Use Indeed and search chemical engineering to get an idea of the job market. She can use Indeed to find a job as well, as the GaTech kids do this. And I am talking the computer science kids and engineering, not much help from GaTech for major, unless they sign up for five year co op plans.
@Coloradomama Thank you for your insight! My D is thinking about co-op Junior year. She technically can graduate early (thanks to all those AP credits). She is thinking of using a semester plus the super long summer ( starts in late April ends labor day) to do co-op. We will see. I am encouraged that I heard Junior ChemEs do get interviews and offers.
I waited until after parent’s weekend to better contribute to this excellent thread
Brown University
Biggest surprise is how few surprises there have been. Son and family had very high expectations and they have been exceeded in most areas.
Closest thing to a surprise has been how seriously they take the open curriculum and academic exploration. Son arrived with classes he wanted to take; but during a deep advising process that list was promptly torn up and two of his four classes are ones I never would have guessed (one STEM and one humanities). He loves them both. Shopping period really helped him do that with confidence. Teachers are great, accessible, and invested in student success it seems.
Yes, his Keeney Quad dorm is extremely small and not great – but his friends up in Andrews have lovely large rooms and nice bathrooms. None of the meal plans really work well for him either but he is adapting. We were informed about the dorms here, so those things weren’t surprises either.
Socially he’s made many friends and joining clubs. Best part has been getting a text out of the blue thanking me for enabling him to attend “this amazing place”. I took a screenshot of it to read on my next really bad day (which, based on the start, might be today )
@whataboutcollege - Purdue had their first job fair (industry round table) in September. I have a freshman who went for the experience but was told that it’s very unusual for a freshman to get a summer internship. Sophomores have a bit more luck but most internships go to juniors. That said, my dd got a couple of hits and made it a couple of rounds into the process at a well known pharmaceutical company. She’s currently pursuing leads from family connections and talking to profs about summer research on campus.
@Coloradomama - There were companies from all over the country at Purdue’s job fair. Many of the big companies offered housing for interns. I know my daughter spoke for a long while to the rep from BP.
Purdue’s career center recommended all incoming freshman have a sample resume and an interview suit. My daughter was at the career center the first week of classes so she’d have something together before industry round table. They helped my daughter put together a great resume considering her only paid work experience was at a fast food restaurant in high school ; ). They also have an app of all the companies coming so students can research who they want to talk to ahead of time. It was a super experience for my daughter and really helped her brush up and be comfortable with her “elevator pitch”. There were also companies that collected resumes from freshmen and tracked “interest”. They told her to be sure to come back to talk to them the next time they were on campus.
So far we’ve been very impressed with the career center at Purdue.
@Postmodern commented on “how seriously they take the open curriculum and academic exploration” and then talked about how great the advising process is. Our experience aligns with theirs about the fabulous advising process. They are truly invested in the kids and help them craft their educational experience. But we were surprised that the open curriculum and academic exploration component is a lot less than what we expected. That’s due to what my D’s potential major is, which has a lot of prerequisites and co-requisites, and the fact Brown strongly recommends you only take 4 classes a semester. So here we are, a couple of days away from my D registering for second semester freshman year classes, and she’s figured out there are several problems with what she registers for if she wants to have the option of having a co-major in another particular subject. FWIW, for her next semester all 4 slots will be filled with required classes for her major, but that’s unusual. This same problem would happen anywhere. I’m just pointing it out because we kept on thinking about the open curriculum and didn’t really focus on how certain majors require you to obtain a lot of minimum, specific, information so there isn’t a lot of wiggle room for some majors. (I know, Brown calls them “concentrations”).
Shopping period was great, but again my D used it less than one might think. She had 2 classes she had to take for her prospective major, so she had 2 slots left to fill. She was interested in 3 different other classes so she sat in on all 3 for the two week shopping period and decided which one to drop at the end of that period.
My D lives in a different dorm than @Postmodern’s S, and it’s quite spacious. We don’t like the fact that her unisex bathroom doesn’t have shower doors, only shower curtains, so she goes to the women’s bathroom on another floor to shower. The meal plan works out well for my D, and she says the food is actually pretty good. So you can see, exactly the opposite of what @Postmodern’s son thinks.
And although it’s not a surprise, I want to comment that my D has definitely found that the school culture is extremely collaberative, everyone is so helpful, there isn’t any sense of competition or judgment, but instead a strong feeling of wanting kids to be the best version of themselves that they can be and kids wishing each other the best. She feels blessed to be at Brown.
@melvin123 , he likes the food, it is just the plan that doesn’t work. He finds himself away from the “swipe” locations and would like one that was much more heavily “points”. (I did the “dad” thing and didn’t just buy him more points – he has to figure it out and he is).
Basically, the department for the student’s major (EE at San Diego State) changed requirements without sufficient advance notice, so that a student who was on track to graduate in 8 semesters following the old requirements now cannot do so.
Then I should update the negatives in my post about West Point to add that the Army just decided that those selected to serve in our son’s first-choice branch (Cyber) now owe an additional year. Had he been selected for it and commissioned last year, he would owe five years of service. Now it’s six if he gets this branch.
I’m told lodging a complaint with the DoD won’t do any good.
My freshman daughter loves Trinity. It’s a perfect fit for her. I love Trinity because she is so happy there.
+Move in was a breeze. Each freshman dorm had a move in time window. When you pulled the car up in line, a group of volunteer students hauled everything up to the room.
+This is a parent specific surprise, but I love that Trinity has a really active parents facebook page. Parents with students who are juniors and senior are very generous and patient with all the questions that freshman parents have. The “search” function is also really helpful for looking up things that you know have been asked a hundred times.
+Every student takes a 6 credit hour first year experience course that really bonds students with the group they are with. My daughters FYE also had the option of living in community, which she opted for. The students all really clicked and my daughter has developed close friendships with many of them.
+Lots of resources to help students with any issue they might be struggling with. It may be standard for LAC’s (this is my first experience with one), but I’ve been blown away at the resources my daughter has access to.
-Somewhat complicated “pathways curriculum”, which are the basic requirements that all student have to meet in order to graduate (but we knew about it going in, so it was not a surprise).
-First year advising leaves something to be desired. Thankfully my daughter is very pro-active, so she does her research in advance about what courses meet what requirements, and the advisor just signs off on it.
[ul]
[]Guest speakers: in the last few weeks, we’ve had: Michelle Obama, Reince Preibus, Hillary Clinton. Next month Barack Obama is coming, and the tix were sold out in 5 mins. I can’t believe the caliber of speakers that come here.
[]Excellent food: great variety, fresh food and tasty. 3 Different dining halls to choose from.
[]Cheap books: Most of the profs assign old editions of textbooks, or ones that are very inexpensive. My textbook bill was quite low: $100 this past term. So glad that the profs are considerate for student budgets.
[]Hyde Park: I’ve heard horror stories of how bad Hyde Park was in the 1990s. But now, I can’t believe how wonderful and quaint it is. Its a bustling up and coming neighborhood now. Plenty of new shops, restaurants, cafes, and even a new hotel. Only about a 10 min walk from campus, and easy access via the Shuttle. Many upperclassmen live in the many apartment complexes nearby.
[]Parents Programming: my parents came to several campus events so far: Accepted Students Weekend, Move in Weekend and Family Weekend. The programming was excellent. Everything so well organized. The family weekend was coordinated with Homecoming. Plenty of activities. My parents loved the model classes and got to sit in on an Econ class taught by a Nobel laureate.
[]Food trucks: there are about a half-dozen food trucks that line Ellis Ave each weekday. Plenty of tasty options with a wide variety. I like to have lunch from one of the food trucks when I’m not in the mood for the dining hall.
[li]Gothic architecture: I never really thought much about design before I came here. But it is so invigorating to walk down the quad and see the bright red roofs and gargoyles everywhere. So beautiful. I seem to forget about the cold weather sometimes. My favorite is Saieh Hall and Harper Library. Reminds me a lot of Harry Potter.[/ul][/li] Negative Surprises:[ul]
[]Dining halls closed on Sat evenings. However, can use maroon bucks for other facilities on campus. We generally go downtown for dinner on the weekends. However, this has turned into an unexpected positive. Because of this, I’ve tried all types of ethnic foods from my classmate’s culture: Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Russian and Chinese food. So many types of food to eat in Chi-town, it is simply amazing.
[]Competitive Clubs: Some of the clubs are extremely competitive to get into (esp finance and politics). One of my friends applied to 8 clubs and didn’t get into any. I’ve heard that it is much easier to get in as an upperclassman, though
[]Gym Location: two gyms, but both located on the north end of campus. For those on the south end, it’s about a 15 min walk.
[]AP/Prior College Credit: College registrar is notoriously stingy for giving credit. Even when you do take an AP class, they make you just take a more advanced class. Not really sure why they do this.
[li]Registration: Getting into classes isn’t as tough as I thought it would be. But they have an evaluation system for all professors using MyUchicago. However, each department decides the anchor points for ratings. This results in a chaotic mess when trying to read through previous ratings for professors. Takes a lot of effort to read through and figure out which professors are good. Last year they instituted a new process by which students couldn’t sell their prime spots in line. I will be registering for my second term next week, so we’ll see how it goes.[/ul][/li]
I agree with @JHS, definitely no Wawa around here!
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