Any examples of your child actually using the resources at a ritzy college?

[Anonymous]

Financial aid kid here who went to Duke.

My freshman year, school resources paid for me to take my first two overseas trips (DukeEngage and a student group I joined). My junior year, financial aid supported my semester abroad.

For kids from UMC families, this is probably not important, but as a poor kid who never traveled overseas, it changed my life. I now work in foreign affairs.

[Anonymous]

Mine isn’t at a ritzy college, it’s an urban biz school within a liberal arts university. Alumni is ever present, and do help facilitate internships. He was hired last summer by an alum who created the internship. Professors, too. He just got a paid “graduate” assistant job (he’s only a junior) through the professor he had last semester for her class this spring semester. Lots of sports games, banquets, invites to local restaurants for various speaker series, club events (lured with free food).He takes advantage of many free tickets to MBA and MLB games, concerts, theatre. Cheap, great, walkable off campus restaurants and bars. Discounted metro cards, news subscriptions, and a myriad of student discounts which most college students get. And the van that takes him directly to his off campus apartment after a couple of night classes.

There’s been an uptick of scooter thieves. His phone was snatched out of his hand last week while he was texting a friend that he arrived at their apartment. Thankfully, he wasn’t harmed. Campus security, RDOD, and detective checked in with him every day, hand delivered his new student ID, followed up with leads that DS sent— the kid tried using his debit card 4x, find my iPhone app provided a residential address near campus, and smoke shop address. Detective did go to both and gave DS an update. Oh, the counseling services department emails him every day, too. He’s declined multiple times, but he feels bad if he doesn’t reply back. Closed, gated campus is nirvana, nonetheless, petty crime is getting closer and closer to campus.

[Anonymous]

Fancy gym & lazy river.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Often you read parents touting the vast resources at the most selective colleges, funded by multi-billion endowments and pricy tuition. Nobody ever details what those resources actually are and how often they’re used.

Our DD is at a top 10 and the only resource seems to be a boundless amount of staff who email her or forward her to another staff member, who will email her or offer to jump on a zoom, to detail things they will later email her. They don’t really offer bespoke help, they just email her copy and paste text and links into emails. Is this one example of the alleged resources?

She should learn that networking is everything. You have to build relationships to get better service. She should go in person and get to know those she's asking for help.

So you first need to network in hopes of getting access to these so-called vast resources? Never heard that before. In other words, the lavish vast resources aren’t actually available to all students?

[Anonymous]

If my DC gets into Bowdoin (please, please, please), they will (a) eat the quality food, (b) stay in the nice dorms, (c) participate in the week-long freshman orientation session before, and (d) attend the three-day Sophomore Bootcamp for career development, as all of these things are more or less required. I'd also hope that DC would take advantage of certain Bowdoin grants in DC's particular field, maybe spend a summer on Bowdoin's island in Canada, and/or get a Bowdoin-funded summer internship. I'd consider all of the aforementioned items fairly reflective of Bowdoin's broad resources.

FWIW, I went to a well-regarded public flagship. It had good food and a beautiful campus, but few would consider it "ritzy." I took advantage of things like the school's well-appointed gym and impressive study-abroad program. But, in terms of academics, there was no hand-holding and I don't recall ever working with any counselors, advisors, or administrators, although they were probably opportunities to do so. I'm sure there were forms of tutoring available, but I never used them.

From my perspective, the difference between my flagship and Bowdoin is mostly that the resources at my flagship, while immense, were less known and took more individual initiative to use. I get the sense that schools like Bowdoin make a lot of effort to ensure that students use their resources. Whereas other schools, like my public flagship, rely on students to find and use those resources on their own. Also, there are a lot of grants and funding available at schools like Bowdoin. If you're full pay, it probably doesn't matter as much. But if you're on financial aid, it's nice that Bowdoin can help a student financially with certain projects. For instance, Bowdoin my financially support a student during an otherwise unpaid summer internship or cover the cost of research supplies.

[Anonymous]

I had a class taught by a nobel laurate and a small seminar taught by the president of the university

[Anonymous]

My kid enjoyed the Olympic-sized swimming pool (not on the swim team, just loved to swim) and capacious hot tub. She liked the fancy buildings. Chose to study and hang out in unused classrooms at one of them rather than go to the library. The building had a coffee shop and was unusual -- a modern structure built over and around an older building. Interesting architecture. Exciting field trips covered. Lots of research opportunities and mentored projects. Small classes (five kids, in some cases), so lots of interaction with professors. Free weekly music lessons. Nice science facilities. Sent to conferences (including one in Europe to present a paper) for free. Close mentoring and advising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fancy gym & lazy river.

Oooh, nice! A definite plus!

Check out these amazing aquatic centers: https://www.collegeraptor.com/find-colleges/articles/college-comparisons/colleges-coolest-pools-swimming-facilities/ Now I think I could even endure TX to go to Texas Tech or the Iowa cold to go to U of IA.

[Anonymous]

Great career services at holistic advising at DC's SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Often you read parents touting the vast resources at the most selective colleges, funded by multi-billion endowments and pricy tuition. Nobody ever details what those resources actually are and how often they’re used.

Our DD is at a top 10 and the only resource seems to be a boundless amount of staff who email her or forward her to another staff member, who will email her or offer to jump on a zoom, to detail things they will later email her. They don’t really offer bespoke help, they just email her copy and paste text and links into emails. Is this one example of the alleged resources?

I am sorry, but I am tired of all the folks with a kid that attends a Top 10 and expects some VIP level of service with zero effort on behalf of the kid.

My kid attends a top 10 that opened an incredible lab to incubate new student ventures. My kid has attended numerous sessions where they have met the Managing Partner of one of the largest VC firms in the world and met the founder/CEO of a prominent unicorn company (both alums). Both agreed to 30 minute one-on-ones with students that signed up with the lab for announcements and then signed up for these events. My kid now has a nice little back-and-forth with the unicorn company CEO.

My kid is a freshman and this happened just in the 1st semester. My kid appreciates all the other students that don't bother to investigate these events, as mentioned they are not nearly as well attended as one might expect.

[Anonymous]

Not much to mention. Interesting.

[Anonymous]

Nice gyms always seem to be a good investment for colleges. At every college I've ever attended or visited, the gym was always bustling with students even when the rest of campus was quiet. But I don't think gym quality always equates to how fancy a school is. I've seen far nicer gyms at large public universities than I have at the few NESCAC and Ivy schools I've visited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not much to mention. Interesting.

Vague supposed "resources." We request more precise details and examples of these "resources" bestowed upon the lucky few and all we get is crickets or gobbledygook. Weird!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a class taught by a nobel laurate and a small seminar taught by the president of the university

How are those resources? Did they help your career or grad school admissions? I would assume Laureates are very, very selective about penning letters of rec for undergrads.

[Anonymous]

Ice cream sundae bar.