College Visit Reports Thread

[kokotg]

I'm finally coming to terms with the reality that we probably can't visit all the colleges before application deadlines get here, so I'd love to hear about other people's visits to the ones we'll miss and live vicariously. Plus I've become something of a college visit junkie, and I like to read about even schools DS has no interest in (and I have three more kids to get through, so who knows which ones might end up on someone's list eventually?) So who wants to share impressions from college visits? I do!

We visited Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas last week for their fall open house, so I'll start with that. Less recently we've toured Emory, Oxford (at Emory), UGA, Vassar, Brown, Williams, Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, and Hamilton, so I can also talk about any of those if anyone's interested.

I can't remember how Hendrix showed up on our radar (Colleges that Change Lives maybe?), but we both really liked it. My goal for this fall was to help him find at least one school where he'd be very likely to be admitted (that list up there of other schools we've looked at is very reach heavy), that we could afford (Hendrix has some really great financial aid, both merit and need based), and where he'd be genuinely excited to go. And I think we found it with Hendrix! I pushed him into doing the overnight with a current student, and, because I'm always right, he had a pretty good time. He went to the dining hall, a choir practice, and a theater meeting, and played a bunch of Coup with his host and his host's friends. Then I met back up with him in the morning for the open house, but he got whisked away almost immediately to go to a math class while the parents had an info session thing. He liked the math class (it's a SUPER small math department, with, I think, three full time professors. So it's good he knows he likes at least one of them. He won't definitely major in math, but it's the most likely option for him right now). 

The campus is very nice, and they're doing a lot of building, with a new fine arts building opening up next fall. The dorms are not so great--at least the ones that freshmen usually live in, but they're redoing all of them over the next 2-3 years. The dorms were probably DS's least favorite thing about the school....but I pointed out that a lot of tours we've gone on don't take you inside the dorms; it's possible most schools with outdated dorms strategically keep them hidden as much as they can.

I was kind of surprised at how regional the student population is (although this would have been an easy thing to find out beforehand); everyone was very excited that we were from so far away, although there were plenty of people from Texas, Oklahoma, etc. (I was told it's 50% out of state students). 

They have a colony of feral cats that they take care of! They have this Odyssey program where you have to do all kinds of experiential learning (which can be a million things--an internship, singing in the choir, research work, etc)....so a few years ago one student took on trapping all the feral cats on campus, getting them spayed/neutered, and releasing them again, and now they have two "cat gardens" where they feed the cats every day. I'm not sure why this isn't the first thing they mention in all their advertising.

They're rated #1 for college food in the US according to someone or other, and they're very proud of it. DS ate there 3 times. He said it's good but not, like, AMAZING. That said, if you do an overnight visit plus day on campus, there is SO MUCH FREE FOOD. So probably worth a visit just for that ? 

[Arch at Home]

19 hours ago, kokotg said:

We visited Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas last week for their fall open house, so I'll start with that. Less recently we've toured Emory, Oxford (at Emory), UGA, Vassar, Brown, Williams, Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, and Hamilton, so I can also talk about any of those if anyone's interested. 

Kokotg, thank you for your offer. I would appreciate a report on your Bates visit. DD will not be able to visit it or Occidental prior to applying. I could share about our visits to Truman State, Drake University, Macalester, St. Olaf, Carleton, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Regis University, and Brandeis and to a less extent Benedictine University, St. Louis University, Washington University, and Barnard College.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Arch at Home

[kokotg]

9 hours ago, Arch at Home said:

Kokotg, thank you for your offer. I would appreciate a report on your Bates visit. DD will not be able to visit it or Occidental prior to applying. I could share about our visits to Truman State, Drake University, Macalester, St. Olaf, Carleton, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Regis University, and Brandeis and to a less extent Benedictine University, St. Louis University, Washington University, and Barnard College.

 

Bates was kind of a weird one for DS. He didn't DISLIKE it at all, but nothing really made it stand out, either. He keeps almost crossing it off his list of schools to apply to but not quite being able to do it. I think he'd be happy there, but it's definitely not at the top of his list. We were there over the summer, so not many students on campus, but we did the info session and tour. Everyone was super friendly (and they talked about how super friendly everyone is a lot) and seemed really earnest and into community service and that kind of thing. There was lots of talk about students being involved with Lewiston and the refugee community there. I feel like a lot of the way they present themselves is about trying to differentiate themselves from Bowdoin down the street, so there's a lot of emphasis on their abolitionist roots and how they view themselves as friendly and unpretentious. The campus was nice, but, again, nothing really wowed DS about it. Lewiston is a fairly big city (for Maine), but it didn't feel like a college town at all to me. We ate in town after the tour, but we had to drive a good ways to get to the restaurant, and when we asked someone at the college for restaurant recs, they didn't really seem to know what to tell us. It's certainly possible that there's some fun little part of town right by campus with great restaurants and we just asked the wrong person....but we got the impression that students mostly stay on campus for social stuff and food (and word is the food is very good at Bates, so maybe that makes sense). 

I would love to hear about Macalester, St. Olaf, and Carleton! I really wanted to get to those, but I don't think it's going to happen (unless he gets in and we visit in spring before he makes a decision)

Edited October 15, 2018 by kokotg

[Sebastian (a lady)]

54 minutes ago, kokotg said:

 

Bates was kind of a weird one for DS. He didn't DISLIKE it at all, but nothing really made it stand out, either. He keeps almost crossing it off his list of schools to apply to but not quite being able to do it. I think he'd be happy there, but it's definitely not at the top of his list. We were there over the summer, so not many students on campus, but we did the info session and tour. Everyone was super friendly (and they talked about how super friendly everyone is a lot) and seemed really earnest and into community service and that kind of thing. There was lots of talk about students being involved with Lewiston and the refugee community there. I feel like a lot of the way they present themselves is about trying to differentiate themselves from Bowdoin down the street, so there's a lot of emphasis on their abolitionist roots and how they view themselves as friendly and unpretentious. The campus was nice, but, again, nothing really wowed DS about it. Lewiston is a fairly big city (for Maine), but it didn't feel like a college town at all to me. We ate in town after the tour, but we had to drive a good ways to get to the restaurant, and when we asked someone at the college for restaurant recs, they didn't really seem to know what to tell us. It's certainly possible that there's some fun little part of town right by campus with great restaurants and we just asked the wrong person....but we got the impression that students mostly stay on campus for social stuff and food (and word is the food is very good at Bates, so maybe that makes sense). 

I would love to hear about Macalester, St. Olaf, and Carleton! I really wanted to get to those, but I don't think it's going to happen (unless he gets in and we visit in spring before we makes a decision)

On the food thing it could just relate to how dining dollars work at that college.  One of my kids mentioned not eating off campus, because he can't use his dining plan out in town. He knows we will add cash to the dining plan if he runs out (the plan is a combo of dining and flex dollars and cadets run out every semester because they always eat breakfast and live too far from the all you can eat dining hall to use it) but places in town would be out of his reserves.

On the other hand he could tell a prospective student what is open at 2am within a short walk of his dorm. He does coding projects until the wee hours and has a regular order at the Waffle House.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

What folks did a few years ago was to post a new thread with a trip visit. The title was something like Trip Visit: Utopia College.

It made it easy to search for and let others add comments related to that school.

[kokotg]

2 minutes ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

On the food thing it could just relate to how dining dollars work at that college.  One of my kids mentioned not eating off campus, because he can't use his dining plan out in town. He knows we will add cash to the dining plan if he runs out (the plan is a combo of dining and flex dollars and cadets run out every semester because they always eat breakfast and live too far from the all you can eat dining hall to use it) but places in town would be out of his reserves.

On the other hand he could tell a prospective student what is open at 2am within a short walk of his dorm. He does coding projects until the wee hours and has a regular order at the Waffle House.

Yeah, I think that's probably it (and probably the same at most of the places DS is looking. At Hendrix, I asked someone about walkability, and she spent a long time assuring me it was possible to walk to Wal-mart, which wasn't really what I meant). It's just so different from my own college experience (in Athens, GA in the mid 90s) that I always feel a little wistful that DS likely won't have the same college town experience (of course, he could go to UGA, too. But Athens isn't as good now because everything was better in the 90's ? )

[whitestavern]

We've seen the following, if anyone would like information:
UConn
Wesleyan
Holy Cross
Mt. Holyoke
Wheaton (MA)
WPI
RIT
Hamilton
Clarkson
Colgate
SUNY Geneseo
SUNY Binghamton
URochester
Susquehanna
UScranton
Allegheny
Franklin & Marshall
Dickinson
Gettysburg
Siena
Juniata
Ursinus
Bates
UMaine
UMass Amherst
Vassar
Lafayette
Trinity (CT)
Connecticut College
Gannon
Uni New Hampshire
Uni New Haven
Western New England Uni

SEEKING info on the following:
-Catholic Uni
-Drexel
-Fairfield
-Loyola Baltimore
-Manhattan
-New Jersey Institute of Technology
-Quinnipiac
-Thomas Jefferson/Philadelphia Uni
-Stevens Institute
-Wentworth Institute
-Wilkes Uni

TIA ?

 

 

[Dmmetler]

We’ve visited 

University of Nevada-Reno

Middle Tennessee State University 

University of Tennessee (Knoxville)

University of the South (Sewanee)

York University (Toronto)

University of Toronto (main campus)

 

DD is interested in:

University of Alabama-Huntsville

Purdue University

Auburn University 

University of Central Florida

University of Florida

Villanova

Penn State University.

Oberlin

 

She is interested in biology, cognitive science, and ethology (animal behavior), especially herp behavior.  

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by Dmmetler2
Added links to the threads I did on campus visits.

[Arch at Home]

10 hours ago, kokotg said:

 

Bates was kind of a weird one for DS. He didn't DISLIKE it at all, but nothing really made it stand out, either. He keeps almost crossing it off his list of schools to apply to but not quite being able to do it. I think he'd be happy there, but it's definitely not at the top of his list. We were there over the summer, so not many students on campus, but we did the info session and tour. Everyone was super friendly (and they talked about how super friendly everyone is a lot) and seemed really earnest and into community service and that kind of thing. There was lots of talk about students being involved with Lewiston and the refugee community there. I feel like a lot of the way they present themselves is about trying to differentiate themselves from Bowdoin down the street, so there's a lot of emphasis on their abolitionist roots and how they view themselves as friendly and unpretentious. The campus was nice, but, again, nothing really wowed DS about it. Lewiston is a fairly big city (for Maine), but it didn't feel like a college town at all to me. We ate in town after the tour, but we had to drive a good ways to get to the restaurant, and when we asked someone at the college for restaurant recs, they didn't really seem to know what to tell us. It's certainly possible that there's some fun little part of town right by campus with great restaurants and we just asked the wrong person....but we got the impression that students mostly stay on campus for social stuff and food (and word is the food is very good at Bates, so maybe that makes sense). 

I would love to hear about Macalester, St. Olaf, and Carleton! I really wanted to get to those, but I don't think it's going to happen (unless he gets in and we visit in spring before he makes a decision)

Thank you for the information about Bates. Interesting that they were trying to set themselves apart from Bowdoin. I am not sure why DD put Bates on her list but Bowdoin did not make it. Food is very important to DD though she would like a couple of coffee shops and an ice cream shop nearby. She occasionally likes to escape. Okay, she is a city kid.

I forgot to put Grinnell also on my list.

I will post tomorrow in a separate string about Macalester, St. Olaf, and Carleton.

[Dmmetler]

Just visited Arkansas State today

 

 

[katilac]

On 10/15/2018 at 1:50 PM, whitestavern said:

We've seen the following, if anyone would like information:
 
  

 

Okay, you win. Where would you like your medal delivered? 

On 10/15/2018 at 3:31 PM, dmmetler said:

DD is interested in:

University of Alabama-Huntsville

 University of Central Florida

She is interested in biology, cognitive science, and ethology (animal behavior), especially herp behavior.  

 

 

My oldest is a junior at UAH; I'll ask her if she knows anyone in those areas. 

UAH is nerdy and fun. Very friendly, definitely a southern vibe. Lots of opportunities to get involved, lots of activities, lots of gaming/nerd stuff but also lots of outdoorsy stuff. Undergrads do have the chance to participate in research, dd just started assisting her economics professor and certainly some students start earlier and do more of their own research. Good honors college with its own dorm and priority registration. Walkable campus, free shuttle to shops and stuff every Friday (and the regular shuttles are only like fifty cents, lol). Single rooms in the dorms, very small rooms but pretty big common areas. They are growing fast and housing is tight - dd only gets to stay on campus as a junior bc she has a housing scholarship. They are about to open a new dorm, though. Lots of cheap and free activities on campus. Pretty easy to get campus jobs (well, your dd might be too young?). If you're an engineering student, jobs and internships fall upon you like rain. Great city and everyone is friendly. 

It's not ethnically or culturally diverse, but dd thinks that everyone gets along and is welcomed (coming from the majority viewpoint, though). 

UCF was on her radar for a while, and we visited them about four, five years ago. This is a huge school. Huge, I tell you! One of the largest in the country, with about 60,000 MORE students than UAH, lol. The campus is beautiful and organized, though. It was Thanksgiving week, so no classes but the campus and UC were still open. I remember we were quite impressed with the two young men at the UC desk, we just walked up and said, hey, we couldn't get here for a tour, what can you tell us? And they told us a lot, gave a very good impromptu presentation and didn't act annoyed at having their slow work day interrupted, lol. Campus housing is very tight and not even all sophomores get in. 

[katilac]

On 10/15/2018 at 3:31 PM, dmmetler said:

DD is interested in:

University of Alabama-Huntsville

 

She is interested in biology, cognitive science, and ethology (animal behavior), especially herp behavior.  

 

 

Okay, dd talked to someone who is double majoring in bio and psych. They said there are plenty of opportunities for research in bio and usually several undergraduates working in the labs. They don't know much about herp research but said that one of the profs is a herpetologist who works mainly with salamanders and does cave dives. 

[Dmmetler]

10 hours ago, katilac said:

 

Okay, dd talked to someone who is double majoring in bio and psych. They said there are plenty of opportunities for research in bio and usually several undergraduates working in the labs. They don't know much about herp research but said that one of the profs is a herpetologist who works mainly with salamanders and does cave dives. 

He’s the reason DD is considering UAH-he used to be at UT, and wrote the Amphibians of Tennessee book(and has been active in the TN Herp Society). And DD has been getting some pretty targeted recruitment :). 

 

DH is a UCF grad, and we have family there. UCF seems to work heavily with sea turtles. It’s enough to get them on the list. And since one of DD’s current favorites is University of Toronto, with 75,000 students, UCF might not be too big. We’ll see...

Edited October 27, 2018 by Dmmetler2

[katilac]

2 hours ago, dmmetler said:

 DH is a UCF grad, and we have family there. UCF seems to work heavily with sea turtles. It’s enough to get them on the list. And since one of DD’s current favorites is University of Toronto, with 75,000 students, UCF might not be too big. We’ll see...

 

UCF is big but also seems like the campus was big from the beginning or they planned it with growth in mind, it doesn't have that chaotic feel, unlike some of the bigger campuses that seem to have randomly added buildings here and there as needed. We were in the middle circle looking around and my OCD kid was like, this is extremely satisfying, lol. 

But I must cast my vote for UAH ?

Edited October 27, 2018 by katilac

[Dmmetler]

It was built very intentionally, according to DH, because the other Florida state schools had struggled with growth. When he was there in the 1980’s, it was only about 20 years old and had a lot of empty space, but you could see the plan. They also did things like move student parking to whatever area was going to get a building next to tamp down the dirt and make it easy to build. 

[whitestavern]

On 10/26/2018 at 9:46 PM, katilac said:

 

Okay, you win. Where would you like your medal delivered?

 

Not sure if you're being snarky - it sounds like it, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt ? To defend myself, I will say that living in New England it's easy to see a ton of schools without much trouble. I had a dd that changed her mind on majors a few times and also felt that fit was very important. We had no idea really where costs were going to net out, so we looked at a lot of schools based on potential merit. I have no regrets. We had a ton of fun together on those trips and built great memories. 

[Penguin]

@whitestavern

I would love to hear about Wheaton (MA), and I can tell you about Catholic. I’m presuming that you mean the one in downtown DC? Anything in particular you want to know? I’ll check in later today.

[katilac]

11 hours ago, whitestavern said:

 

Not sure if you're being snarky  

 

Heck, no, I'm being impressed!

[Dmmetler]

DD just got a mailing from Juniata, and likes what they’re saying. We’d be interested in hearing more. 

[RootAnn]

@dmmetler If you have any specific questions for UCF, let me know. We're heading down there soon.

[whitestavern]

21 hours ago, Penguin said:

@whitestavern

I would love to hear about Wheaton (MA), and I can tell you about Catholic. I’m presuming that you mean the one in downtown DC? Anything in particular you want to know? I’ll check in later today.

Yes, looking at Catholic in DC. He is interested in Civil Engineering, so anything you might know about that in particular would be a bonus. But really any info on what the campus is like, students, area around the school, etc. would be welcome.

I really wanted to like Wheaton! We drove by campus on the way to my brother's one Thanksgiving, and we all thought the campus was very pretty, and the town was cute. So we set up an official visit the following spring. The campus is very pretty, but it felt small, more like a prep school. (We toured mostly small LACs, but this really felt "small", not like a college really) This feeling was exacerbated by our tour guide, who I'm sure was not a good representative for the college. She was a complete airhead and kept comparing Wheaton to her high school and how similar the experiences were and that's why she loved it so much. Her complete ditziness was a huge turnoff. There also didn't seem to be a lot going on with regards to activities on campus. We heard it was a bit of a suitcase school, though we never checked into whether that was accurate or not. The school also did not seem very diverse. The town of Norton, while cute, does not offer much. Overall dd did not find it to be a vibrant campus and was worried there wouldn't be enough to do. She actively participated in a wide variety of things at her high school.

It is part of a 12 college consortium and you can take classes at Brown while you are there. I am not sure of the details. I would assume it would have to be classes not available at Wheaton. Also, dd thought their curriculum was too rigid. She was looking for a more open curriculum. Lastly, I don't remember complete details, but there was some kind of guaranteed funding for internships that they offered that was enticing.

I hope this helps a bit. If you have any specific questions I can try to answer them.

[....]

We just did the tour and admissions presentation at Texas Woman's University...if anyone is interested.  Getting ready to do the nursing program tour/presentation at University of Texas Arlington after the holidays.

My kids are really only looking at 2 schools.  They want to live at home while they go to college.  We might go see a third school, but it feels like a waste of time.  The 3rd school that has a nursing program here also costs $40,000 year.  Yeah, not a good idea.

[Penguin]

@whitestavern Thank you for the review of Wheaton ?

I have been to Catholic U several times over the last decade. All three of my boys toured the campus, and I know some kids who went there. The surrounding area has changed a lot over the years. It has become very hipster or very gentrified, depending on your point of view. I was there in April, and was rather surprised at the changes. The metro stop (red line) is all but on campus. This is not the case for American U, fwiw. Directly across the street is one of my favorite DC cafes/bookstores - Busboys and Poets. But while you are on campus, you definitely feel like you are on a campus. It is normal to see priests and nuns from all different orders / parts of the world walking around campus. 

As THE Catholic University of America, it has a more conservative vibe than, say, the Jesuit colleges.

[MamaSprout]

On 10/15/2018 at 4:31 PM, dmmetler said:

We’ve visited 

University of Nevada-Reno

Middle Tennessee State University 

University of Tennessee (Knoxville)

University of the South (Sewanee)

York University (Toronto)

University of Toronto (main campus)

 

DD is interested in:

University of Alabama-Huntsville

Purdue University

Auburn University 

University of Central Florida

University of Florida

Villanova

Penn State University.

Oberlin

 

She is interested in biology, cognitive science, and ethology (animal behavior), especially herp behavior.  

 

I would only recommend Purdue if you are in their honors program. Otherwise, it's all the disadvantages of a big school with few of the advantages.

[Lanny]

12 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

I would only recommend Purdue if you are in their honors program. Otherwise, it's all the disadvantages of a big school with few of the advantages.

 

Obviously this would depend upon how the Majors of the DD are rated and if they are doing things the DD is interested in. One of my late uncles, the genius Electrical Engineer, got his B.S. degree there. And, one of my colleagues and friends got his B.S. degree in Engineering there.

No university is #1 or #2 for every major.  I agree that in a Big, Public, university, I would probably encourage my DD to get into their Honors program if she can.  

[MamaSprout]

12 hours ago, Lanny said:

 

Obviously this would depend upon how the Majors of the DD are rated and if they are doing things the DD is interested in. One of my late uncles, the genius Electrical Engineer, got his B.S. degree there. And, one of my colleagues and friends got his B.S. degree in Engineering there.

No university is #1 or #2 for every major.  I agree that in a Big, Public, university, I would probably encourage my DD to get into their Honors program if she can.  

Purdue has changed. Anyone who wants to pm me about Purdue is welcome. We've looked at or had kids/ kids friends attend or look a number of smaller midwestern schools (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan area).

Edited November 3, 2018 by MamaSprout
removed personal info

[catz]

Well, we have visited Lawrence University, UW Madison, UMN twin cities, Macalester, Carleton, St. Olaf, Northwestern, De Paul, UChicago, Roosevelt/CCPA, Oberlin, Carnegie Mellon, UMichigan.  And a few other random smaller name schools in the upper midwest.  If any of those strikes anyone's fancy, you are welcome to PM me!

[3andme]

18 hours ago, FuzzyCatz said:

Well, we have visited Lawrence University, UW Madison, UMN twin cities, Macalester, Carleton, St. Olaf, Northwestern, De Paul, UChicago, Roosevelt/CCPA, Oberlin, Carnegie Mellon, UMichigan.  And a few other random smaller name schools in the upper midwest.  If any of those strikes anyone's fancy, you are welcome to PM me!

 

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on Lawrence and St. Olaf.

Edited November 3, 2018 by 3andme

[kirag714]

1 hour ago, 3andme said:

 

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on Lawrence and St. Olaf.

I would also love to hear about Lawrence. My daughter just applied EA there particularly because of their Museum Studies concentration but I'm not sure if we'll get a chance to get there to see it ourselves.

[kirag714]

We've visited NYU, Barnard, Clark, American, GWU and Swarthmore. If anyone would like a report just let me know!

[Kassia]

20 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

We've looked at or had kids/ kids friends attend or look a number of smaller midwestern schools (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan area).

 

I'd love to know more.  We live in Ohio and are looking at smaller schools.  Can you post a list here or send me a pm?  I'd appreciate it.  

[Arch at Home]

6 hours ago, 3andme said:

 

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on Lawrence and St. Olaf.

I reviewed St. Olaf in this thread. 

 

[catz]

Arch's review of Olaf is great too.  I happened to notice a recent visit report on CC for Olaf this morning too.  

https://www.collegeconfidential.com/vibe/st-olaf-college/2513625.html

Olaf is one of the prettiest campuses we have visited.  It sits up on a hill.  The buildings and facilities are lovely.  Our experience with admissions was very personalized.  We're actually going back to sit through a music info session and have the kid interview later this month.  It's an easy day trip for us.  I've heard music auditions and admissions can feel cut throat there (I think music admissions is < 20% these days) but once you're in, I get the feeling it's a warm collaborative community.  It's a dry campus so though there is some drinking/partying it's'kept on the down low.  Study abroad is a HUGE thing at Olaf - lots of opportunities there.  And the food is very highly rated.  We had a great meal there on our visit day.  Though it's not rated as high as Carleton, I think they have their own quirky contingent there due to their sometimes generous merit aid.  I do know people who have been disappointed with expected merit too so I suspect it just depends on the year and who else is applying and who they really want on campus for a particular year.   I have always lived in range of Olaf and their alum community is extremely tight and their placement offices are excellent.  I do not know any underemployed Ole's.  They all seem to do well.  Downtown Northfield is very cute.  Northfield is pretty easy access to the Twin Cities and the airport.  It's about 45 minutes.  I know people who commute from Minneapolis to work in Northfield daily.   Though this is a Lutheran school my athiest kid is fine with it.  I thought it would be a hard no but he is very enthusiastic about Olaf.  I know LBGTQ grads that were happy with their experience there as well.

Lawrence University!  We are actually returning there next week.  I thought it felt a little quirkier than Olaf.  I do think the acceptance stats are misleading at Lawrence.  I think that is a pretty self selecting group.  I do think both Lawrence and Olaf are working hard to bring international students, SE and ethnic diversity to their campuses.  The population of Appleton is like 80K and it's like 30 minutes from Green Bay so it doesn't feel like it's in the middle of no where.  It's sits right on east end of downtown on main street and the student center overlooks the river - that's a beautiful newish building.  There are restaurants, coffee shops, etc in easy walking distance.  There is a theater that has traveling broadway shows and there are student discounts available within walking range too.   Admissions was super welcoming, we had a great experience.  This school seems built for homeschoolers.  There is so much customization you can do with curriculum.  The faculty contact we've had has been great.  I've heard there is more partying here than Olaf for sure and there is a little greek life, though the student body is varied enough it seems like there is something for everyone.  Grads we know from Lawrence generally seem to do really well too regardless of major.   It's small at about 1400 students (vs. 3000 at St. Olaf) .

I have heard stories from both these schools that the academic expectations and rigor is too much for some.  I love both these schools and I'd be happy if kid ended up at either one.  He is going to probably have 11 total when he's done which is he getting close.   He pulled another out of left field this week and I' hope he's done with that.  We need merit for privates to work  and he wanted to apply to some reachier options (he has high stats) so I'm glad he's stayed in the game for a fair number.  

 

[Dmmetler]

We went to an HBCU fair today (and if your child needs an antidote to college stress, I really encourage doing so. DD came out feeling very wanted and affirmed-and there is some awesome automatic merit aid available)and DD really likes the sound of Tuskegee for animal science /experimental biology. Anyone know anything? 

[Roadrunner]

On 11/3/2018 at 2:59 PM, kirag714 said:

We've visited NYU, Barnard, Clark, American, GWU and Swarthmore. If anyone would like a report just let me know!

 

I would love to hear about your impression of Swarthmore. 

[kirag714]

15 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

 

I would love to hear about your impression of Swarthmore. 

Absolutely!

First of all, we live in Philadelphia, so this was a local trip for us, and we are (obviously) very familiar with the area, city and weather here. In fact, we were visiting Swarthmore on my insistence since my daughter has been saying all along that she did not want to attend college in the Philadelphia area, or even the state of Pennsylvania! Everything changed after this visit, and she is now going to be applying to Swarthmore ED.

What changed her mind? Well, she just loved the "feel" of the place and felt that it was a great fit for an intellectual nerd like her. She really liked their emphasis on exploration, and that everyone goes in as an "undecided" student. She liked that it was a Liberal Arts College that was still pretty close to a city (even if that city was Philadelphia, which she loves but seems old hat to her), which is pretty hard to find, at least in the Northeast. She liked the fact that the first semester is graded pass/fail, and really felt that that would be a huge advantage as she is transitioning to college. You also get 4 more pass/fail classes during your time at Swarthmore, which encourages students to reach beyond their comfort zone. They are strong in the subjects that interest her (anthropology, history & classics), and she could also conceivably design a major combining those subjects if she wants. The campus is also gorgeous - it's an arboretum, with amazing trees and gardens everywhere you turn. It's also a quick walk down to the town, which is small but very nice.

She did find the Honors program there to be intimidating, and at this point it does not appeal to her at all! It's based on the tutorial system in Oxford and basically seems like graduate school a few years early. But she really thinks she could find people like her at Swarthmore: people who approach school with intellectual curiosity, and want to learn for learning's sake. A ridiculous number of students go on to grad school! It also seems like a genuinely collaborative school, where you can have close relationships with your professors.

While her scores and grades are excellent, Swarthmore only admits about 12% of applicants and so is a reach for almost everyone! So she's doing everything she can to help her application, but is trying not to get her heart set on getting in. 

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have more questions.

[Kassia]

19 minutes ago, kirag714 said:

 

First of all, we live in Philadelphia,

 

What's your opinion about safety issues in the Philadelphia area?  My dd is passionate about circus, and Philadelphia has so many circus opportunities for her but I don't know if it's safe for her to leave campus and go to the places alone.  We were looking at Temple as well as some other schools but I am worried about her driving or taking public transportation.  Not sure if Uber would be safer?  We live in a semi-rural area with so little crime so this would be very new to my dd.  

[kirag714]

20 minutes ago, Kassia said:

 

What's your opinion about safety issues in the Philadelphia area?  My dd is passionate about circus, and Philadelphia has so many circus opportunities for her but I don't know if it's safe for her to leave campus and go to the places alone.  We were looking at Temple as well as some other schools but I am worried about her driving or taking public transportation.  Not sure if Uber would be safer?  We live in a semi-rural area with so little crime so this would be very new to my dd.  

Philadelphia is a large city, and has crime. That being said, I have lived in the city for the past 30 years, in several different neighborhoods and have had very few issues myself. The worst was about 15 years ago our car was stolen from the street in front of our house; we got it back a few days later - it was abandoned just 4 blocks from us. I feel safe 99% of the time. My kids went back and forth to their HS on public transportation starting at around age 14, and have all driven and taken public transportation into tons of different neighborhoods and never had an issue either. You need to keep your apartment door locked, lock your car when you park it (and don't leave anything in there), be generally aware of your surroundings, travel with your friends, don't put yourself in a sketchy neighborhood after dark, etc. - i.e. general safe city-living practices. It is by no means a war zone or extremely scary or dangerous, but it's good to be careful.

Center City is super safe. Temple U is not in the best neighborhood (but it's gentrifying), but has tons of security in the area. Same with UPenn and Drexel. They all have call boxes everywhere, their own police forces, etc. etc.

In Philadelphia public transportation is mostly trains and buses. There are two subway lines as well - one runs north/south along Broad St, and the other runs east/west along Market and then up to the Northeast of the city. The subway is kind of gross and stuff does happen there from time to time - generally fights between school kids at dismissal time. I ride it if I need to, and so do my kids, but I'll avoid it if possible (mostly because it's dirty, not because I'm worried for my safety). Trains and buses are very safe.

If the circus school you're talking about is Circadium, we literally live less than a mile from there in the same neighborhood. In fact, my kids took classes there for years! That neighborhood (Mount Airy) is a very safe, leafy residential community, and there is a train stop about half a block from the circus school. You can actually take a train right from Temple to the Circadium - to travel there you need to go through center city and change trains, but it would be very easy and safe to do. The trip would take about 45 minutes each way, depending on how the train times lined up. Driving in the city is perfectly safe, and I also have never had any issues with Uber or Lyft.

Feel free to ask other questions - and let me know if your DD ends up here and I can give you more specific tips. I LOVE Philadelphia for many reasons, and it makes me quite happy to introduce people to my town!

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, kirag714 said:

Philadelphia is a large city, and has crime. That being said, I have lived in the city for the past 30 years, in several different neighborhoods and have had very few issues myself. The worst was about 15 years ago our car was stolen from the street in front of our house; we got it back a few days later - it was abandoned just 4 blocks from us. I feel safe 99% of the time. My kids went back and forth to their HS on public transportation starting at around age 14, and have all driven and taken public transportation into tons of different neighborhoods and never had an issue either. You need to keep your apartment door locked, lock your car when you park it (and don't leave anything in there), be generally aware of your surroundings, travel with your friends, don't put yourself in a sketchy neighborhood after dark, etc. - i.e. general safe city-living practices. It is by no means a war zone or extremely scary or dangerous, but it's good to be careful.

Center City is super safe. Temple U is not in the best neighborhood (but it's gentrifying), but has tons of security in the area. Same with UPenn and Drexel. They all have call boxes everywhere, their own police forces, etc. etc.

In Philadelphia public transportation is mostly trains and buses. There are two subway lines as well - one runs north/south along Broad St, and the other runs east/west along Market and then up to the Northeast of the city. The subway is kind of gross and stuff does happen there from time to time - generally fights between school kids at dismissal time. I ride it if I need to, and so do my kids, but I'll avoid it if possible (mostly because it's dirty, not because I'm worried for my safety). Trains and buses are very safe.

If the circus school you're talking about is Circadium, we literally live less than a mile from there in the same neighborhood. In fact, my kids took classes there for years! That neighborhood (Mount Airy) is a very safe, leafy residential community, and there is a train stop about half a block from the circus school. You can actually take a train right from Temple to the Circadium - to travel there you need to go through center city and change trains, but it would be very easy and safe to do. The trip would take about 45 minutes each way, depending on how the train times lined up. Driving in the city is perfectly safe, and I also have never had any issues with Uber or Lyft.

Feel free to ask other questions - and let me know if your DD ends up here and I can give you more specific tips. I LOVE Philadelphia for many reasons, and it makes me quite happy to introduce people to my town!

 

Thank you SO much!  I appreciate your response and it makes me feel a lot better about Temple.  I was going to rule it out because it made me nervous.  

[madteaparty]

8 hours ago, Kassia said:

 

What's your opinion about safety issues in the Philadelphia area?  My dd is passionate about circus, and Philadelphia has so many circus opportunities for her but I don't know if it's safe for her to leave campus and go to the places alone.  We were looking at Temple as well as some other schools but I am worried about her driving or taking public transportation.  Not sure if Uber would be safer?  We live in a semi-rural area with so little crime so this would be very new to my dd.  

Philadelphia is pretty spread out and there’s many different neighborhoods. My sister lives near the Italian market and is raising three little kids there. They consistently have amazon packages stolen from their porch, but I’m pretty sure that’s the worst of it. They walk everywhere, walk kids to school, and only drive on weekends.  What I remember just riding on the car near Temple back it my time in philly  (many years now) is that it was not a great neighborhood, I seem to recall floodlights from one of the buildings. But I hope I’m not making things up. Different neighborhoods have very different feels. Also, I’m a nervous driver and Philly is one of the only cities I’ve driven to with three kids in the back of the car and not completely lost it ?must know how to parallel park, I had someone park for me ??

Edited November 12, 2018 by madteaparty

[kirag714]

10 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Philadelphia is pretty spread out and there’s many different neighborhoods. My sister lives near the Italian market and is raising three little kids there. They consistently have amazon packages stolen from their porch, but I’m pretty sure that’s the worst of it. They walk everywhere, walk kids to school, and only drive on weekends.  What I remember just riding on the car near Temple back it my time in philly  (many years now) is that it was not a great neighborhood, I seem to recall floodlights from one of the buildings. But I hope I’m not making things up. Different neighborhoods have very different feels. Also, I’m a nervous driver and Philly is one of the only cities I’ve driven to with three kids in the back of the car and not completely lost it ?must know how to parallel park, I had someone park for me ??

I love the Italian Market area! We lived near there for several years in Queen Village before we had kids - and while I love living in Northwest Philly with the beautiful parks and trees, I still miss the convenience of living there. I actually used to cry when I borrowed my parent's huge station wagon (I didn't need a car most of the time when we lived there) and had to park it in that neighborhood. Now I'm a parallel parking master, and so are my children!

Temple is still not a great neighborhood, but it is a LOT better than it used to be. Center City is slowing creeping both northwards and southwards, and some of the really bad blight on North Broad is now completely gone. 

[RootAnn]

On 10/15/2018 at 4:31 PM, dmmetler said:

University of Central Florida

So, dh, dd#1, and I were on the UCF campus today and DD sat in on an Honors Calc I class. A couple of take aways:

The campus is well-designed. It doesn't seem like it has as many students as it does. Dh was worried it would be super crowded. The students were polite (even to us old fogeys), and none seemed overly stressed. DD enjoyed the teaching of the professor. There seemed to be a lot of involved students.

I quoted dmmettler because we had dinner with some old friends. We were doing a run down of the kids and I mentioned dd#3 loves herpetology. I wasn't sure they knew what that was, so I was going to explain but one of our friends said he already knew. In fact, he has six of them working for him! Something to do with working with gators (measuring, chipping, getting blood samples) and endangered species (can't remember any of the names, but one was some sort of burrowing turtle, maybe?).

[Dmmetler]

On 11/15/2018 at 8:26 PM, RootAnn said:

So, dh, dd#1, and I were on the UCF campus today and DD sat in on an Honors Calc I class. A couple of take aways:

The campus is well-designed. It doesn't seem like it has as many students as it does. Dh was worried it would be super crowded. The students were polite (even to us old fogeys), and none seemed overly stressed. DD enjoyed the teaching of the professor. There seemed to be a lot of involved students.

I quoted dmmettler because we had dinner with some old friends. We were doing a run down of the kids and I mentioned dd#3 loves herpetology. I wasn't sure they knew what that was, so I was going to explain but one of our friends said he already knew. In fact, he has six of them working for him! Something to do with working with gators (measuring, chipping, getting blood samples) and endangered species (can't remember any of the names, but one was some sort of burrowing turtle, maybe?).

Gopher tortoise :). State endangered in FL-and creates burrows that support a whole range of wildlife :). Adorable little guys. 

[RootAnn]

Yes! And he mentioned they like to go back to where they were  (recidivism?). They had to relocate them maybe?

[Dmmetler]

Land turtles and tortoises have amazing site fidelity, which makes them hard to relocate successfully, which is bad if they are in land targeted for development. The little guys will do almost anything to get back to the area they were living in. Often relocation trades construction mortality for road mortality. In general, herps don’t relocate easily, but chelonians are one of the hardest, because not only are they habitat specialists, they really want that one piece of sandy, easy to dig in soil, not just any appropriate setting that isn’t already claimed by someone else who will defend it. (Which is the common issue with snakes-often good habitat already has enough other animals that relocated ones have to immediately fight-and usually lose). 

[RootAnn]

Best time of year to do a college visit in a warm state. Spent a couple of days in this: 

And came home to this: 

Is it any wonder she wants to go away to college & two of her top three are south of us?

[Arch at Home]

58 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

Best time of year to do a college visit in a warm state. Spent a couple of days in this: 

And came home to this: 

Is it any wonder she wants to go away to college & two of her top three are south of us?

I can’t figure out why any of mine want to school north of us but they all do. 

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, Arch at Home said:

I can’t figure out why any of mine want to school north of us but they all do. 

 

I grew up in FL and ended up in the Ohio snow belt for college.  I loved the change (I'm still here 33 years later and am so over winter now!).  My dd is a high school junior and is so torn between wanting to go to college somewhat close to home and going somewhere warm.  She hates hates hates the cold and the snow.