<p>Just stay out of South Carolina! My first choice co-op program would definitely be with the NC DOT since I’ve always wanted to live in North Carolina or Virginia.</p>
<p>Here’s what I’m paying for Clemson though…(angry face)</p>
<p>And it’s nowhere near as nice as High Point. Stupid state legislature for cutting funding.</p>
<p>If they had an engineering program, I would be at UNC-Asheville in a second. The ironic thing was that the only school I got denied to was NC State and it was my safety school haha</p>
<p>Lack of public transportation? When we visited High Point we dropped my daughter off at the train station and she took a train to meet a friend in Charlotte. My son could use the same train to get to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, we have NO rail service where I live in PA and the public bus only has stops in the large cities. We visited four colleges in NC this Spring and liked three of them. One we liked was HPU but not for son’s major, where it seemed pretty weak. Their marketing major though- that one seems strong.</p>
<p>ncmentor - and it doesn’t mean they don’t. Not really very helpful.</p>
<p>We get it that you want to run down HPU. There are a lot of posters on CC that would rather just bash schools instead of supplying intelligent criticisms. In any case I think you have made your point that you don’t think much of HPU’s efforts.</p>
<p>^ fallenchemist - Yes your correct, that was not helpful, and I’m sorry…</p>
<p>I constantly struggle with two truths in the discussions about High Point University (HPU).</p>
<ul>
<li>Like all schools, it’s a good school for some students and therefor a valuable institution.</li>
</ul>
<p>And then… </p>
<ul>
<li>I feel that no school gets misrepresented (as being more than what it is) here on CC as often as HPU. One might even suspect that HPU’s extensive marketing of HPU extends to posting here on CC.</li>
</ul>
<p>Sure - when was the last time you saw a thread about Ouachita Baptist University, John Brown University, Erskine College, or Covenant College here on CC - other than to remind people that they were the schools rated higher than HPU on the USNWR list of Baccalaureate Colleges (South) Rankings… Don’t much care about the rankings but when was the last time you saw any school at the same level as HPU mentioned here… Marketing is everything (even when it shouldn’t be).</p>
<p>Just a thought…Might it be possiblle that HPU noteriety/attention of whatever degree here on CC has ridden in on the coattails of Elon’s rise to prominence here? </p>
<p>Elon has really become high on the radar of oos’ers and is favorably mentioned often here on CC. It may stand to reason that if said oos’ers are looking at Elon and traveling to NC that they might also be interested in checking out nearby schools hence the curiosity/discussion about HPU. Guilford also seems to get some looks from the Elon shoppers. </p>
<p>I have friends whose D wanted Davidson but didn’t get in. She also toured Elon and HPU.
She chose Elon but was interested in seeing HPU since it was so close by. See what I mean?</p>
<p>Is this objection sort of WashU Lite … How dare a school raise its awareness profile – shouldn’t it just be modest and stay in the shadows, status quo forever? I have no dog in HPU. Don’t like it? Don’t go.</p>
<p>PackMom - I agree with you completely - colleges often get a bump from location and close proximity to other schools. Case in point - S1 liked Wake Forest - so while visiting Wake - we also visited Elon - which I had never heard of really before - this was a few years a go - and he ended up applying to both. Now Elon is on S2’s list - and we would be visiting High Point as well - were it not for the lack of religious diversity that I mentioned earlier. So, yes - I think High Point benefits from Elon’s growth in popularity. For many students who like Elon - High Point functions as a safety school.</p>
<p>I also find it interesting that Elon has come a long way in the past 15-20 years - it no longer resembles the humble Elon College that it was a few decades back - drawing more mediocre students - and certainly being more regional. I believe that High Point is trying to do what Elon has successfully accomplished - but in the case of High Point - they have gotten a little caught up in the superficial changes and have not put as much meat on the bones yet. But who knows? Ten years from now - High Point could be a much more respected institution.</p>
<p>ncmentor - these last couple of posts by Pizzagirl and rockvillemom reflect was I was thinking was another way you could (should?) look at it. If a school wants to change its mission, standards, reputation, etc. how else can it do it than by making investments and attracting better students? It is easy to say, well first raise your academics, then you will get the better students, but it doesn’t work that way in the real world. People judge the academic quality of a school in large measure by the quality of students as represented by their average SAT’s, class rank, things like that. But students won’t choose a school that is academically below them too far. So one has to move the bar incrementally by getting more of those students that are in the upper half of (in this case) HPU’s usual stat zone, which inches the stats up, which means they can attract more students in that new upper half, etc. etc. And what convinces those students to come to HPU vs. a school they might have otherwise picked? Nice facilities for both academics and living spaces, clear investments in faculty and other things, and yes heavy marketing.</p>
<p>I have seen this same kind of thing come under fire for top institutions, like Wash U, Chicago, and Tulane. It makes no sense to me. Colleges are not sacred temples where marketing should come across as unseemly. For goodness sake they teach marketing. They are businesses, although somewhat unique ones to be sure. I cannot say too much about WUSTL and Chicago, they are obviously already in the upper tier. But I can tell you that for Tulane this exact strategy has been enormously successful with a huge increase in applications and, as a result, the last three classes being the most academically talented in the schools history. For all we know, maybe HPU sees these kinds of efforts and says “Why not us?”. If the other schools choose not to do that and so don’t get as much “ink” on CC, so what? HPU shouldn’t try to improve themselves because their peers don’t? Or more accurately perhaps, they shouldn’t try something a bit more “out there”? I don’t get it. Maybe you are just being too cynical about their motives.</p>
<p>It wouldn’t just be the marketing and pitch which I have seen at every school on those carnival days when they invite prospective students to come for a great big party. Shame on some of those school like CMU trying to look like it’s all fun and games, which, by the way, was pretty much their pitch during our tour there a couple of months ago. If the school truly has the magnificent facilities and happy students there enjoying them, then that is the really thing. Why shouldn’t you let your child go there, if that is where s/he would have the optimal chance of graduating and enjoying the experience? I know some pretty sad parents whose kids dropped out of some top schools, that would now give their eyeteeth for their kid to get a degree, any degree, anywhere. It’s not like all of us have these great choices and options with our kids.</p>
<p>I agree with you cpt. In the case of CMU, rather like Chicago, they are already well known for academics; in fact they have reputations for being “too academic”. The University of Chicago has the nickname as the “school where fun goes to die”. The administrations are well aware this public perception and so it is natural that they would emphasize things to counter such an image. While being academic and scholarly is all well and good, college isn’t supposed to be dull and monolithic either.</p>
<p>When kids go to these visit days, they should know that these are not typical college days. I try to avoid those funfests, because kids can really get their heads turned by these things. Heck, I know kids who judge the school on the tourguide or the weather or some isolated experience during the visit. A couple of days of carnival full of fun, food and play can really give the kids the wrong impression.</p>
<p>The tour guides at CMU didn’t say a thing about the intensity of the academics there, no mention was made of the low 6 year grad rate (low for the rank CMU occupies), the lack of cohesion among the various schools of the university, the number of non traditional students at the school. They talked about the Spring Fling, the Fence and pushing chairs down a hall. All the food opportunities and parties–no mention of the lack of a cafeteria. </p>
<p>When my kids considered some of the schools, we visited in the middle of a typical week, spent a couple of days there including shadowing a freshman in a major that is not to far from consideration for my kid. That gave them a truer picture of how life is at that college. They learned a lot of things that were not braggin’ points on the tours and info sessions that way. </p>
<p>I have not visited HPU, so I don’t know if this is just all PR and hype, but from what I have been reading, it is not. The school is making a concerted effort to make the college experience fun and luxurious. And, yes, I feel a twinge from my more Shaker sensibilities about this, but the reality is that getting my kids to graduate from college is really the challenge. Better a HPU graduate than a CMU dropout, in my book.</p>
<p>Somehow if Harvard were to try to institute things to make their campus more luxurious, it wouldn’t generate controversy. But, the message is: you schools for the non-academically elite … Know your place, don’t try to be uppity, and certainly don’t do anything to gain any awareness / notoriety beyond 10 miles of your campus. Average kids don’t apparently deserve nice dorms or amenities. Those amenities should only go to kids hanging in the 4.0 / 2400 neighborhood. / sarcasm</p>
<p>“Mentioned here” isn’t exactly meaningful. To listen to CC, you’d think the world revolved around the Ivies (specifically HYP), Duke, U of Chicago, Michigan and Berkeley.</p>
<p>Northeastmom - You may be right. It is interesting that at Tulane, the honors dorm is fairly old (>40 years) and very ordinary. Hall bath style, no sinks in the rooms, not really designed for modern electronics at all (few outlets, for example). There are nicer dorms, and a new one being built, but they aren’t/won’t be designated for the Honors Program students. So I know this idea of the best dorms going to the best students isn’t universal.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse - I thought you were being sarcastic in your post #314. While I do still agree that coming during the days of a festival would be misleading, I disagree that they need to highlight extensively what the vast majority of kids already know about CMU’s academics. I can completely understand focusing on combatting an image of being a school that is all work and no play. Sure, maybe there should be more balance in any presentation. I’ll just have to take your word for it that they didn’t discuss academics during your visit, although that seems a bit hard to believe. But if a student judges a school based on the tour guide or the weather, how is that the school’s fault? As for your other criticisms:</p>
<p>
So are you saying that academics were not mentioned at all during the entire visit? Or were they covered in the info session, and maybe the tour guides know that and so don’t feel the need to repeat it. You know, no school is going to highlight its warts. That just doesn’t make sense. That is what guidebooks and forums like CC are for, as well as Q & A sessions which I am sure they had. For that matter you could have put the tour guide on the spot I suppose, although I think those kinds of issues are better left for the administrator handling the info session. If you visited C-M during a FunFest, that was your choice, right? I am sure you could have gone in a typical week like you did at these other schools you mention. Seems like you are being a little harsh on CMU. Really, a CMU drop-out? Don’t forget that the 6-year graduation rate fom CMU doesn’t mean the kid didn’t graduate from college. It just means they started at CMU and didn’t graduate from there in 6 years, excluding those that died or were severely disabled, went into military service, or went into the Peace Corps or similar service.</p>