Ivy Tours

[Anonymous]

*wouldn’t

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My only impression of the Princeton tour was that it felt more geared towards a tourist exploring Princeton than an incoming student.

Lots of time explaining the history of Nassau Hall and other buildings but not allowed to go into anything.

Also, the tour stuck to a very small physical area in the heart of campus but didn’t see any engineering or other STEM parts.

Also thought it was odd we did not enter any buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you wasting time touring Ivy schools? Visit safety schools instead to a make sure your kid has some options they like and can get into

— Mom of 2023 grad with 4.9 W GPA and 36 ACT that did not get into any Ivy.

Yes totally agree with this--can drive/walk through top schools if you happen to be in the area, but not worth a tour. Tour safeties and targets--find a 2 safeties you love so you don't have to apply to any more than you need. My kid didn't tour safeties so we had to throw in extras in case she didn't like them after getting in. She applied to some schools she had no intentions of attending--waste of time and money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the Ivies are older schools. The WASP aesthetic for a long time was ok with shabbiness. This no longer sells well in the modern environment where college costs $90K per year.

Despite the wealth and reputation of these schools, it is quite expensive to build new buildings.

I went to school at a top MBA school that replaced its building after I graduated. The old building had a 1950s high school vibe but in retrospect I liked it better than the new one. The new one is fancy, grandiose, and sterile. It also has expensive and ridiculous corporate art sculptures scattered about. It's strength is probably better wifi and more breakout rooms. For $100M or so.

I'm the Cornell poster. I don't need new buildings (I personally own a 1920s house by choice) but Cornell completely felt like it was falling apart. There were giant weeds everywhere. It truly looked like there was zero ongoing maintenance being done. I know this doesn't matter for academics but I notice these things.

Yes, much prefer old to new and sterile, but also a noticer of weeds, dirty upholstery, and peeling paint. I know they take a beating with the weather, but my eye just sees this stuff. It for sure was a $90k tuition and noticing maintenance too!

DD just graduated. It's such a huge campus..you focused on weeds? I guess find a school with more if a landscaping focus? We lived visiting the arboretum and walking around the gourges watching the sun set on the slope, boat rides on the lake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the Ivies are older schools. The WASP aesthetic for a long time was ok with shabbiness. This no longer sells well in the modern environment where college costs $90K per year.

Despite the wealth and reputation of these schools, it is quite expensive to build new buildings.

I went to school at a top MBA school that replaced its building after I graduated. The old building had a 1950s high school vibe but in retrospect I liked it better than the new one. The new one is fancy, grandiose, and sterile. It also has expensive and ridiculous corporate art sculptures scattered about. It's strength is probably better wifi and more breakout rooms. For $100M or so.

I'm the Cornell poster. I don't need new buildings (I personally own a 1920s house by choice) but Cornell completely felt like it was falling apart. There were giant weeds everywhere. It truly looked like there was zero ongoing maintenance being done. I know this doesn't matter for academics but I notice these things.

Yes, much prefer old to new and sterile, but also a noticer of weeds, dirty upholstery, and peeling paint. I know they take a beating with the weather, but my eye just sees this stuff. It for sure was a $90k tuition and noticing maintenance too!

DD just graduated. It's such a huge campus..you focused on weeds? I guess find a school with more if a landscaping focus? We lived visiting the arboretum and walking around the gourges watching the sun set on the slope, boat rides on the lake.

That wasn’t me that posted that about Cornell, just agreed I notice which schools maintain more than others despite age. The gorges are incredible, I said I like campus and Ithaca!

[Anonymous]

Yale was not it for DC. Was an early action pick initially and dc even stayed in a friends dorm and hung out with his friends for a few days- hated it. One of the friends actually got attacked by a homeless guy there and he said this seemed “common” from the friend groups description. The dorm was really shabby, snuck into a class and found students not very engaged, and just generally found campus architecture boring and ugly. Surprised because this was DC’s favorite college, but they’ve moved onto new choices.

[Anonymous]

We toured MIT and, as an alumni, I'm biased but that campus is so much nicer than when I was there. I thought the tour guide did an awesome job talking about the no-so-common things about MIT like focus on the arts, etc.

[Anonymous]

The point on Penn - it's a horrible campus for crime. I lived there one summer and gun shots were a regular occurrence as well as constant cat calling. Absolutely would not want my kid there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The point on Penn - it's a horrible campus for crime. I lived there one summer and gun shots were a regular occurrence as well as constant cat calling. Absolutely would not want my kid there.

This is such a stupid comment. Gunshots are not a regular occurrence at all. I assume you are someone that wouldn’t want your kid in any major urban area as you could claim that the areas around GW, Columbia, Yale, etc are all unsafe too.

Penn is directly across the river from the start of downtown Philly. Within one mile you are at Rittenhouse Square which is a very upscale part of Philly. I was actually shocked how gentrified the blocks West of campus have gotten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale was not it for DC. Was an early action pick initially and dc even stayed in a friends dorm and hung out with his friends for a few days- hated it. One of the friends actually got attacked by a homeless guy there and he said this seemed “common” from the friend groups description. The dorm was really shabby, snuck into a class and found students not very engaged, and just generally found campus architecture boring and ugly. Surprised because this was DC’s favorite college, but they’ve moved onto new choices.

It’s good to visit a place and figure out if it’s not for you, but it is absolutely not the case that “attacks” on students by homeless folks are “common”, sorry your kid came away with that impression

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you wasting time touring Ivy schools? Visit safety schools instead to a make sure your kid has some options they like and can get into

— Mom of 2023 grad with 4.9 W GPA and 36 ACT that did not get into any Ivy.

Why are you still here? You post this kid's stats continually. Time to move on!

[Anonymous]

Kids graduated from Ivies and re-looking now for law school. Seems Cambridge can't be beat. Unfortunately, 3 of the Ivies don't have law schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you wasting time touring Ivy schools? Visit safety schools instead to a make sure your kid has some options they like and can get into

— Mom of 2023 grad with 4.9 W GPA and 36 ACT that did not get into any Ivy.

Umm. Maybe it was your kid? One-dimensional? Bad interviewer? Boring and uninspiring?
My kid with 33 ACT and 3.8uw is going to Ivy.

Let ppl tour what they want. No one made you God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the Ivies are older schools. The WASP aesthetic for a long time was ok with shabbiness. This no longer sells well in the modern environment where college costs $90K per year.

Despite the wealth and reputation of these schools, it is quite expensive to build new buildings.

I went to school at a top MBA school that replaced its building after I graduated. The old building had a 1950s high school vibe but in retrospect I liked it better than the new one. The new one is fancy, grandiose, and sterile. It also has expensive and ridiculous corporate art sculptures scattered about. It's strength is probably better wifi and more breakout rooms. For $100M or so.

And yet the celebrities and rich are still sending their kids there….several high profile crime kids headed to Ivies next year.

[Anonymous]

Crime 😂 supposed to be celeb kids