I recently visited the Rochester campus independently, and even though I had read about the clock tower thing, I had forgotten and walked right under it. Actually, I practically did a little jig - I was trying to take a cool picture. It was very cool. However, even if I had remembered in the moment, it’s not like there were any acorns around to start tossing at the statue. (Also, there was a wooden duck wedged between the bars of the tower? No clue how that got there.)
Basically, while I know superstitions are just that: superstitious, I feel like I need a little consolation here. Also, I’d love to post that picture on social media, but I’d want to tag the university and…maybe the superstition will be reinforced if the admissions office sees that.
Any students have thoughts on the clock tower superstition?
Not a student, but a parent here. It seems like every school I visited with my kids had a superstition associated with it. At Princeton, you can’t walk through the main gate leading to Nassau Street, or you won’t graduate (or graduate on time - can’t remember). At other schools, you can’t step onto the school emblem that’s prominently situated on the ground. Yadda, yadda, yadda. (I wonder if anyone on CC ever listed all the superstitions?). I think it just adds to the character of the school and it’s just good fun.
With that said, my son never walked under the UR clock tower and he graduated on time! But, since you already did the deed, I think it would be fun to prove the superstition wrong and post about it on social media.
If I recall correctly, my guy purposely walked under the clock tower because he wanted Take 5. He got it! (He still could have graduated in four if he hadn’t gotten accepted into Take 5, but perhaps the tower helped his goal?)
When we toured WPI, the tour guide told us about the superstition about stepping on the school seal in the middle of the quad. As if on cue, a student came flying out of nowhere, jumped through the air and landed with a thud on the seal!!
Hi, just creeping thru UR posts. I actually did this orientation week since I never toured and thus never learned about the superstition but I love to talk about it now—I was already applying to a five-year program (dual degree w/ Eastman school of music) and later got in so fate was on my side! Perhaps you’ll realize you want to do a take 5, some kind of dual bachelor’s/master’s, or just take extra time to add a third major (so many UR kids do these and I feel like the school encourages it so I almost don’t even understand the superstition!)
(He still could have graduated in four if he hadn’t gotten accepted into Take 5, but perhaps the tower helped his goal?)