<p>Sorry, I know that is a lot of schools, but those are the 8 that I haven't declined admission from yet.</p>
<p>Can anyone out there give me some idea of what the school, town, sports scene, etc is like? Really, anything would be beneficial to me, no matter how small it seems. (:</p>
<p>Preferably Michigan, Washington, UNC, and Ithaca, since I don't know if I'll have a chance to visit them. And I don't really need that much information on UCLA, since my sister goes there and I have visited her around 15 times.</p>
<p>Ithaca has a great college town from what my friends say. Small but nice. Theatre at Ithaca is really good, hence the reason as to why my friends want to go there. These schools may have student blogs so maybe check those out too?</p>
<p>If you’re not from the south, I wouldn’t go to Alabama. It is very homogeneous and conservative - the good ol’ boys. Not very accepting of Yanks. Kind of random look at the schools though; did you chose them with a shotgun?</p>
<p>Haha, thanks a lot. I’m from Southern California.</p>
<p>I kind of wanted to go away, since I’ve been in Cali my whole life. Hence, the only school I’m considering in-state is UCLA. I was really looking east coast, but Washington and Michigan appealed to me. Clemson and UNC have the kind of feel, i think, that I was interested in. Alabama and Miami my mom had me apply to because of merit aid. And Ithaca was rather random.</p>
<p>Oh, adding on to my previous post, I forgot to mention this:
UCLA - I’m instate
Miami - 26k/yr</p>
<p>Going to step outside of myself for a second:</p>
<p>Go to Michigan, UCLA, Miami, or UNC. The others should be afterthoughts. With the exception of Michigan, these schools have the best weather, the best academics, diversity, sports, and location. Even if there is some obscure program or state flower that draws you to one of the other schools, you will be much happier at one of these schools. Hell, other college students go to where Miami is located for spring break. I think that says enough about that.</p>
<p>I actually visited Miami for 3 days to see how I liked the school. I liked it, but I didn’t enjoy the location it’s in (surrounding area), the 40% commuters, the food, or the housing. But there was stuff I really liked, so it’s kind of at the bottom half of my list right now.</p>
<p>UCLA is definitely a top choice, although I always wanted to go to more of a college town.</p>
<p>U Michigan and UNC just need to somehow make themselves affordable.</p>
<p>Manhattan-those are awful. UNC has a good football team, better than UCLA and Washington. UNC is better academically than Miami. And I don’t think Bama deserves last in the town/atmosphere.</p>
<p>And by sports, I don’t care if the teams suck. I just need the fans to be passionate about them. I know at UCLA and Washington, they love their sports. However, I have heard from people at Alabama that beyond football, they don’t care much. I’m a huge sports fan, so I can’t live with a one-sport school.</p>
<p>Don’t go to Ithaca college. Me and my friends plan to burn it down reallllll soon. Ithaca belongs to Cornell and Cornell only!</p>
<p>But on a more serious note… Ithaca is very different from so-cal. Don’t go unless you like small, sparsely populated towns. And if you’re a sports fan, Ithaca isn’t particularly known for its athletics (I have never heard anything about their sports, and I live 10 minutes away).</p>
<p>I want something different than SoCal, so it might be nice. It’s a main reason I’m looking at Clemson really closely; affordable and college Southern town location.</p>
<p>Hahaha… Maybe at this current time UNC is doing better on the turf, but they also play in a much weaker football conference, so I don’t think that is a good point. Historically speaking, UCLA and Washington have much better programs than UNC and much better fan followings. UNC football has nothing to compare to a USC - UCLA game.</p>
<p>ithaca is really in the middle of nowhere, but it’s big on theater/communications if you’re into that</p>
<p>i’d pick michigan since that really does have the whole college experience/package. the weather would be a huge shock from california, but i think it would be less of a transition from california to alabama/clemson/unc.</p>
<p>good luck! you have some awesome choices :)</p>
<p>Well, I attend Alabama and previously lived very close to U Washington, so I’m partial to the two. I get the point that Tuscaloosa is not NYC, LA, or Seattle, but one expects that. I love visiting big cities and experiencing that culture, but for the time being, I like where I am. There are small towns in all regions of the country, 100,000+ people does not constitute a small town, IMHO.</p>
<p>Miami would be a cool city to live in, but it seems to me that you don’t like its version of many things that are important to college life. Thus, I don’t think it’s a good fit for you. Michigan would be a good school, but you have to consider cost and the things you don’t like about Miami (food, dorms, city life) when comparing. Ithaca seems to be out of place in this list, but you applied to it for a reason. UCLA is instate, which it seems you don’t want to do. Washington would be good if you like living in Seattle and don’t mind okay weather (you get used to rain real quick). That leaves UNC, Alabama, and Clemson. Sports are important at each, some sports more than others, but that seems to be the case with a lot of schools I see. I think you or your mom mentioned that you were more conservative, so the South would be more to your liking, even though college towns tend to be more liberal. </p>
<p>Overall, it’s really wherever you see yourself the best and that you can afford is where you should go. If you really want to, you could pick a school based on its school colors and mascot, but I recommend using different search criteria to begin with. </p>
<p>I hope you come out of the selection process feeling that you made the right decision and will enjoy your 4 years of college. Good luck!</p>
<p>@SEA_Tide, I agree that 100k+ people isn’t small. I’m from Orange County, so there is a toooon of stuff to do, but the actual city I’m in is 30k people, and I could easily just stay in the city and hang out. I’m actually visiting Alabama in 2 weeks to see what it’s like.</p>
<p>Hah, I applied to Ithaca for a scholarship program, but I applied too late to be considered, so now I’m just accepted to the school. But the location is a big draw, so I haven’t nixed it yet, even though everything else doesn’t seem as great as the other schools.</p>
<p>I am pretty conservative, but I don’t mind other people’s opinions. I actually enjoy hearing what they have to think, but I’m sure I’ll meet people with whom I have varying opinions from at any school I go to.</p>
<p>UNC students are incredibly passionate about our athletic programs, and they don’t suck. Football is quite good and basketball is legendary. The football atmosphere here is great, particularly during night games. The UNC-Miami football game last year was one of my favorite memories so far as an undergrad, second to only winning the NCAA basketball national championship last spring.</p>
<p>Coral Gables is really lame and the atmosphere at Miami is nothing special. I would go with either UNC or UCLA. Michigan is the total package besides the weather.</p>