Visit Report- Penn, Princeton, Colgate

<p>S, H and I had a busy three days. On Wednesday morning we arrived at Penn- in the pouring rain. It was miserable and cold, but the people on campus were friendly and helpful. In the parking garage elevator a Wharton professor offered to show us the way to the admissions building. We were a few minutes late to the info session by the time we found our way, but there were student escorts ready to take us to the auditorium and being late was no problem. We had an excellent student tour guide (a Wharton junior) for our campus tour. We all were very impressed with the campus and the Wharton School in particular. The new Wharton building, Huntsman Hall, is a wonder of technology. The campus, even in the rain, felt safe and "campusy". We rushed from the info session to the campus tour to the Wharton info session to the meeting with a coach in S's sport. Coach was just beginning to eat his lunch- and H and I went outside to the cart by Franklin Field and bought lunch for WildChild and ourselves. It was great food- and cheap. Apparently the Chinese cart by Franklin Field is a Penn tradition. Coach was great. He seemed sincerely glad to meet S and spent a lot of time selling his program to S, instead of "interviewing" S for the program.<br>
H and I let S go into the meeting by himself, and we chatted briefly with Coach at the end of the meeting. He was down to earth and a straight-shooter. He can not contact S directly until July, but wants S to keep him updated through the spring as the season progresses. We left Penn cold and wet, but with Penn at the top of the list. The surrounding area is much safer and nicer than it used to be, and I would have no concerns about S going to Penn. I was excited to step onto Franklin Field, where I used to go watch my beloved Philadelphia Eagles many, many years ago. S liked the options of housing outside the quad, which is where most of the freshman live. S has been in boarding school, and will be an older freshman. He would prefer the high-rise dorms and does not feel a need to be around a bunch of freshman in order to find a social niche. One neat thing at Penn is there is a "cereal bar" (restaurant) right across from campus. S thought that was pretty compelling.<br>
The next day (Thursday) we were off to Princeton. Fortunately, the rain had stopped. We arrived on campus, figured out where to park (well- turns out we weren't in a legal spot, but didn't get a ticket) and found our way to the information session. We were starving, so grabbed a bite to eat on our way. This made us a few minutes late to the info session, and we got scolded by the lady at the desk. It is spring break week for many high schools, so the info session was packed. There was only standing room left. I was not allowed to take my tea into the room because "it is a historical building". The admissions rep doing the info session was low on the totem pole, and gave out a few pieces of wrong information. She said that current juniors could still take the SAT II writing as one of their 3 SAT IIs. She also said applying ED doesn't give you much of an advantage (right....). We left half way through, since I knew more than she did (as a result of CC), and went to the running store. We made it on time to the start of the tour, along with most of the high school students in America! They split the group into three sections, and we began the tour. The Princeton campus is beautiful and the academic opportunities are vast. We had to duck out before the tour was over to get S to his meeting with Coach, which was across campus in the athletic building. S went ahead so that he could meet with the Coach without us for a few minutes. (S feels that I tend to monopolize the conversation- can you imagine that???) The facilities at Princeton are amazing. H and I looked around a little and then accidentally wound up right outside Coach's office. He insisted that we come in and join his talk with S, because he wanted us to understand how he runs the program for the athletes and why Princeton is such a great place for a student-athlete. I behaved and listened, and did not embarrass S. Coach is fairly young and is in his first year at Princeton. He had an amazing track record (no pun intended) at another college and Princeton hired him away. The indoor training facility at Princeton is state of the art, and even has an indoor softball field UNDER the gym- complete with fake grass! He also asked S to keep in touch and give him progress reports. He indicated that he has some pull with admissions, but that the athletes have to be strong students (no kidding). After we finished with Coach, we got some great pizza across from campus and then headed for Colgate. It was a 4 hour drive, and got colder and snowier as we headed north. At least it wasn't raining.<br>
We got to Hamilton, NY (the geographic center of NY state) at 9pm. As soon as we pulled into town I fell in love with it. The moonlight was reflecting off the snow, and the campus rose above us on a hill. The buildings were beautiful and the town of Hamilton is quaint. We stayed at the Colgate Inn, a lovely modernized bed and breakfast/inn. S and I both got up and ran this morning. We went over to campus for our tour at 10am. The receptionist in the admissions office was the exact opposite of the woman who scolded us at Princeton. There were umbrellas for the guests to use (if needed), coffee and tea, driving directions to other campuses in NY and other nice touches. She offered to call Coach for us while we were on the tour to arrange for him to come meet with S. Coach had called S earlier in the week in response to S's email and S's coach's email to him. One of the Colgate athletes who graduated from S's hs 4 years ago also had emailed S about the visit to Colgate. Our campus tour was great. Everyone on campus was welcoming and friendly, and the facilities are great. The campus is built on a hill, so we got lots of exercise! When we got back to the admissions building, Coach was waiting and wanted to meet with all of us. He told us that S would be one of his top recruits and that he could definitely help with admissions. He gave us some stories about admissions issues he has faced and said that the particular admissions rep he works with gives him a straight read on whether an athlete will be accepted ED. He took us in his van and showed us all the athletic facilities. He has been at Colgate for a number of years. We were impressed with him and consider ourselves fortunate to have met three wonderful coaches in three visits. If you add Coach at Cornell, who we met in October, we are 4 for 4. I was pretty sure Colgate would NOT be high on S's list, because it is smaller than the Ivys (2700 students) and is in a remote location and is COLD. To the contrary, S loved it. He liked the living options (dorms, apartments etc.) and the fact that all students can have cars on campus. S mentioned taking an early decision shot at whichever one of the Ivys comes through with a strong recruiting push and if he doesn't get in, apply Early Decision II (January 15) to Colgate. Coach actually recommended that strategy.
One of my criteria is whether there is a nice college bookstore. All three of the bookstores were fantastic- lots of books and logo clothing.<br>
Another interesting twist was that for the first time in this whole process, S expressed an interest in a combination business/engineering curriculum (offered big-time at Penn and Cornell). It's amazing the things that come out during a car trip!
Hope this helps some of you who might go visit these schools. I think our trip went well. It is a tiring process, but fun.</p>

<p>had similar experiences at Penn and Princeton 2 years ago. Princeton attitude less than friendly but the place is great as you mentioned. Agree that Penn is safe enough if you keep your wits about you. Did not get the warm & fuzzies at either but maybe they are not of that ilk.</p>

<p>Sounds like you had a good productive trip MomofWildChild! Keep us posted how it goes. You're off to a great start.</p>

<p>Did your S meet any Colgate students? They are often much nicer than they appear. Glad you enjoyed Hamilton (that's my hometown) and Colgate. Good luck with everything next fall! Athletics at Colgate are pretty important, so if your S is an athlete, he'll probably fit in just fine.</p>

<p>During spring break last week I had a chance to chat with one of my son's friends who is a Colgate frosh. He loves it there, saying it has exceeded his expectations. He comes from relatively modest circumstances but that has been no problem in making friends and managing the social scene. He was a marginal applicant by Colgate standards and took a chance applying ED. But Colgate came through with a good finaid package which they needed since his brother is a junior at Amherst.</p>

<p>I can attest that the universities golf course, Twin Oaks is a nice one, at least it was 35 years ago when I last played there.</p>

<p>We did speak with several Colgate students as well as adults in the town. Everyone was friendly and encouraging. Our student tour guide made sure everyone had her email address in case we think of questions later. She told us she applied to 13 colleges and was accepted at 12. Her dream school, Tufts, was where she was rejected. Her final decision was between Colgate, Cornell and Bucknell and she chose Colgate.</p>