<p>For our rising senior daughter, her list of trivials are:
must be in a city or large town
must have a substantial grassy area on campus
must be in the NE or NW section of the US
must have air conditioned dorms (why if you are in the NE or NW, but what do I know?)
must NOT operate on the quarter system
must have nice dorms (nice has not been defined, and she hasn’t found any so far that she would assess as “nice”)</p>
<p>Private schools are often on semesters.
I think both my kids schools had pretty nice dorms, but don’t know if they were air conditioned. In the NW we usually just open a window.
:)</p>
<p>FlyMeToTheMoon:</p>
<p>Sorry if this seems totally random, but University of Washington goes on the quarter system. I’m thinking of applying there, and it is my dream. Just putting it out there if she’s not seriously considering it but applying anyways.</p>
<p>Here’s my list of “must haves”:</p>
<p>-Be in a large city (this rules out three schools on my list, but they’re mainly home-state safeties)
-Be out of state (again, the three schools are out, but whatever)
-Large library
-Multi-person dorming for upperclassmen (it’s the cheapest dorming at the schools I’m looking at)
-Preferably a Greek presence
-Must operate on the semester system</p>
<p>I’ll be applying this fall/winter (unlike many teenagers, I do not have a child). Uncommon factors that I care about in a college include:
-non-isolation of its city/town (though I’m still applying to Dartmouth)
-not being in my home city’s metropolitan area or state
-walkability
-being well-rounded aside from my major and minor/concentration
-not being the same temperature all year round
-open-mindedness of locals (not to be confused with liberal political affiliation)</p>
<p>None of these factors makes it or breaks it for me, but they’re all definitely considered.</p>
<p>My son wanted a school with a Division 2/3 football team. He just does not think he would be happy at a school where he could not play football but he is not big enough to play Division 1.</p>
<p>Mountains…That narrows things down a bit.</p>
<p>Especialy if you want mountains to look like mountains.</p>
<p>My son:</p>
<p>Music scene, music performance minor or just plain enough folks to jam with.</p>
<p>green space, preferably with water. And if the water is a fountain it must be bigger than what folks put in their home yards (Yes - one school was knocked for discussing the “awesome” fountain that looked like it came from Target).</p>
<p>Mountain view preferred</p>
<p>A/C preferred</p>
<p>Walking distance to a store</p>
<p>Walking distance to class - taking a shuttle to all classes nixed our flagship</p>
<p>Food available at most hours of the day. Since he really was heavy on the LAC front, the 2 hour increments of dining hours at many schools frustrated him. Schools with “grills” and flex dining dollars became significant.</p>
<p>I was happy for the trivial, because he cast a wide geographic net and needed some items to narrow the focus.</p>
<p>My D was interested in Division 1 sports, nice dorms and good food. All non-academic, but since they were important to her, I don’t consider them trivial.</p>
<p>D1’s criteria included:</p>
<p>In or near a city accessible by public transportation
Small school, small classes
No Greek life
Not too cold in winter
Pretty, well ordered campus, ideally arranged around a central green or quad
Good Indian restaurant nearby
In the Northeast
Progressive, politically engaged student body</p>
<p>None of these was non-negotiable, but each was pretty important to her in its own way. Fortunately, she found exactly what she wanted.</p>
<p>D2, a rising HS senior, has some overlap:</p>
<p>Small school, small classes
No Greek life
Pretty campus and surrounding area (rules out most cities and suburbs)
Four seasons, including snow in winter
In the Northeast or Midwest, but ideally New England
College town feel
Internationally oriented curriculum and student body</p>
<p>We’re keeping our fingers crossed.</p>
<p>The Residence Houses at Smith College rather than a standard dorm system. Daughter was really impressed with this unique aspect to her College choice.</p>
<p>DS had the following:</p>
<p>Greek life over 30% (the magical number where it isn’t exclusive and limited to the rich kids only)
No East Coast schools
Campus with a quad highly preferred
Campuses with Bon Appetit or known for good food</p>
<p>Older s wanted a small school with engineering
Younger s wanted warm weather. Period.</p>
<p>Mine are probably:(1) No animals allowed in dorms as I’m allergic to cats (2) Interesting Architecture (3) Limited greek life (not a MUST, just something that is a deciding factor) (4) A chess club, or easy to start a club (5) Research opportunities. I don’t think there is anything else… Although, these are EXTREMELY minimal, like if I got into a more prestigious school than the one I got into that fulfilled all of these criterion, I’d probably go there.</p>
<p>Mine are:
- Has to be located in or very, very close to a city (I’ve grown up around NYC all my life, and that’s the environment that I’ve grown to love!).
- Fairly large school.
- Campus doesn’t feel “boxed in” and closed off from the outside world.
- Offers a significant amount of discounts for students in terms of going out and doing things in the surrounding area (e.g. discounts on theater tickets, museums, etc.)
- Not much emphasis on Greek life.
- Nice facilities, and a fairly modern campus.</p>
<p>Mine was the “nerd” factor. I needed to go to the type of school where most people would be considered nerds and geeks.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>All but maybe one or two of my courses have been in rooms with chalkboards, not even white boards. Oh, the humanity :)</p>
<p>My DD had these things…in this order:</p>
<ol>
<li>Good science/engineering programs</li>
<li>Ability to play in the school orchestra (not a band) , and take private instrument lessons…but not be a music major.</li>
<li>A “pleasing” climate (meaning no snow)</li>
</ol>
<p>The hardest thing to find was that orchestra criteria…but she found four schools that fulfilled all of her criteria.</p>
<p>Mine were:</p>
<ol>
<li>D1 athletics. I went to a hs with a strong football program, and I liked the school spirit that came with that.</li>
<li>A house system in the dorms.</li>
<li>A quidditch club.<br></li>
<li>A marching band. I couldn’t imagine going to a school without marching band. </li>
<li>A cafeteria that doesn’t fry stuff in peanut oil, seeing as I’m allergic. </li>
</ol>
<p>Luckily for me, the school I’ll be attending this fall has all 5</p>