Hi- forgot to reply to this. I have been going deep into social media, messaging current students, etc. So it’s very much hearsay. But i’ve heard pretty credible-seeming stories of crappy handling of various issues (flooding, all the sexual assault mishandling, etc) that gave me pause.
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Yes my son loved having the unlimited plan. Some of his friends switched to points the second semester and he said they were always hungry!
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My oldest plays field hockey at Oberlin. They were a walk-on to the team. Some players also play Lacrosse so they know several of the players on the Lacrosse team. At Oberlin, as far as I can tell, it’s not super intense to play a sport - the school definitely prioritizes academics. If you were intersted, you may be able to walk-on to the Lacrosse team. Food for thought! Best of luck.
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@A2TwinMom @cliffordstower I’m visiting UVM the weekend of the 16th! I’ll let you know how it goes. Also, I talked to a friend who went to UVM for a year (transferred for money reasons, not necessarily anything else) and she had some interesting insights. She said that she loved the people there and generally had a wonderful time but that she thinks a lot of that was thanks to being in the Honors College. Which is not super encouraging for me considering I was declined. She also said that there was a general feeling of being completely unprioritized by administration. She says there are great people, great opportunities, and great singular professors, but that as an entire school there were lots of institutional issues and students felt frustrated by lack of support. I wish I had more details, but that’s where I’m at. I hope my visit is illuminating but I’m a little worried the issues I’m not considering are not something that could be clarified by a single visit.
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Thanks for sharing these interesting insights from your friend! Though a bit discouraging, tbh. It’s esp. concerning to read that students would feel unprioritized by administration - students should always be the primary priority at a university! I know universities are businesses like anything else, but since their business is educating students it seems like students should feel valued and supported.
I keep thinking about what I’ve been reading in the parents FB group about the housing issues at UVM - forced triples, students not getting to room with their selected roommates even when both students indicate their preference is each other, students getting their 4th, 5th, 6th, or beyond preference for housing, and then of course the fact that students are forced off of campus after sophomore year into a housing market that apparently is challenging and expensive, ResLife being unresponsive or unhelpful. I’ve read a lot of parent complaints about these issues and I’ve also read a lot of parents giving more chilled-out perspectives, saying it’s all a part of the educational experience for their kids to learn how to adapt to unexpected circumstances, how their kids got a roommate or dorm they didn’t want and it worked out so beautifully, how it’s only for 8 months, etc. But I keep thinking about how expensive UVM is, including how much housing costs, and it just feels like it shouldn’t be this way - and it sort of seems to line up with your friend’s experience of students not being prioritized. I’d like my son to have a high-quality experience across the board, including housing, academics, and beyond. (I should say - I know that housing can be difficult at any large state university, but what I’ve been reading about the housing situation at UVM is nothing like what the students here at University of Michigan seem to experience.)
Though I’ve been planning for us to visit on April 22, my son is feeling less and less inclined towards UVM to the point that he may be ready to make his decision without a visit. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts after your April 16th visit regardless!
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Totally agree with you! We’ll both end up in a place that’s good regardless- i’m grateful that my biggest worries are not really that massive in the grand scheme of things. 
hope it all works for you and I’ll let you know how the visit goes.
Do you happen to know what the criteria is for admission to the Honors College? The UVM website is vague about the requirements. Just wondering if there are set GPA/test scores they are looking for?
As far as I can tell it is just super vague. If they have actual standards they don’t announce them. My friend’s friend got into Stanford and got rejected from the honors college
Lots of these issues are similar to what gets discussed on the parent FB at my child’s SLAC…Housing issues caused by over enrollment; problems with the food; irritation with the administration over this or that. I’m in no way downplaying any serious issue, but small schools are not immune to these types of concerns. (And, often when you ask students about the things parents are worked up about, they are a nonissue.) Just food for thought.
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Oh, absolutely, no doubt. I wasn’t at all trying to imply that SLACs can’t have problems with housing, food, administration, or any number of other things. I’ve just seen what has seemed to me to be an unusual degree of complaint about the UVM housing issues, from both parents and students, coupled with what sounds like a complete lack of responsiveness by ResLife there. I think housing and food are both areas of campus life that are fairly easy to check out for any school, of any size, so they’re easy to compare when deciding on a school. The SLAC my son is considering is a 4-year residential (students are required to live on campus all 4 years), and even at their highest enrollment they have never run out of room.
I think issues with administration can be a bit harder to suss out, because you’re right - students and parents get irritated with administration over all sorts of things, but it can be hard to determine what is actually substantive, and of course administrations aren’t always transparent.
And yes, point taken - lots of things that parents get worked up about just aren’t that important to the students!
Just checking in to see if you ended up visiting UVM and what your impressions were? Would love to hear how it went and what you ultimately decided!
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I’m curious if anyone on this thread ended up going 2021-2022? What are you thoughts? UVM is my daughter’s first choice and she’s splitting EA. I’m just trying to get my arms around the different schools’ vibe, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
UVM is in my daughter’s top three and is applying EA. Her sister went to st mikes and loved it and Burlington. She has read some things that make her nervous about UVM but we both really loved the tour and she preferred it to Middlebury but will also apply there. Will be graduating in 23 with a class of fifty so UVM seems huge - would love to get into the honors college but seems very competitive.
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Not one of the ops, but my son is at UVM. He did the LASP program as a freshman which I would highly recommend. He says the food is not great, but that some of the complaining is over the top. They do seem to be suffering with staffing issues in dining as much as anything else. His dorm experience has been fine, same dorm/same roommate 2 years in a row. Now searching for off campus which is a little stressful but seems to work out for most people. Academically he has been really happy- has had great professors, has changed his major once and I think is leaning towards changing it again which has been fine. He came into it very undecided and is taking kind of a liberal arts approach. Loves Burlington and Vermont. He was looking at mostly small lacs initially, but is glad he ended up at UVM.
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All I know is what I read here, but anyone interested in U. of Vermont should probably be aware of this:
We toured UVM last year and my son decided not to apply. He really wanted to like it as he loves to ski and hike and he liked the campus. But for him, the vibe was not at all a fit. It’s definitely a very liberal student body. Lots of colored hair, quirky clothes, and as my friend (jokingly) said “not a hair straightener anywhere on campus”. Would have been a great fit for my D, not so for my S. It’s definitely worth a visit as it definitely has a “vibe”. I know lots of kids there that love it and Burlington is a really cool town (although it definitely has a homeless problem). And the views surrounding the campus are amazing.
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I am not sure I would call it a housing crisis, the yield has been higher than predicted the last 2 years and numbers are a bit off - likely from covid as is true many places. It is true there are a lot of triples, but I was in a triple (at a different school) way back in the 90s and survived it. My ds is in a suite- shares a room with one roommate and has a pretty good sized common area. It’s not exactly luxurious but I have definitely seen way worse. Housing is guaranteed (and required) first two years, I do think the next two years will be tougher for off campus housing- just because of the size of the current freshman and sophomore classes and the general housing crunch in Burlington- but I am confident he will find something. As far as vibe, there is for sure a big quirky element, but it’s a pretty big school- I would describe most of Ds’s friends as outdoorsy/wholesome types but there are all kinds of kids there.
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My son is a sophomore in college elsewhere but I remember hearing the horror stories from friends from his year who go to different school about how everyone is over-subscribed. Purdue housed (houses?) students in bunks in the basement of a building (maybe the library)? It was a big room with no windows and no separation between bunks. It looked like a barracks. Anyway, just to say that the housing crisis is nationwide and a big problem in colleges everywhere.