Anyone touring top schools and finding then all to be dumpy and unimpressive?

[Anonymous]

Having similar feelings. Just dropped off DC at Hopkins and was underwhelmed. Food was not good… dorm room was old. I don’t think we would pay $90K/year for it. Sounds like the feeling is similar at other private schools too.

My top SLAC 20+ years ago was so much nicer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having similar feelings. Just dropped off DC at Hopkins and was underwhelmed. Food was not good… dorm room was old. I don’t think we would pay $90K/year for it. Sounds like the feeling is similar at other private schools too.

My top SLAC 20+ years ago was so much nicer.

Which LAC did you graduate from? Most of them are shabbier than JHU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a rising senior and have been doing the rounds of many top 25 schools (universities and colleges). We started with safety schools last year and then junior year grades came back so this summer we've been touring some top schools. My kid is trying to figure out an ED.
We have a rising junior as well so we have a couple of kids with us.

The more of these schools we tour, the less impressed I am. They're sort of all a bit falling apart, poorly maintained, with pretty odd students (tour guides, summer students and especially touring students alike--don't jump all over for for saying this--being brutally honest), little sense of community, same-old, same-old stuff about study-abroad, etc. Many have very large class sizes, etc.

I feel like we're (kid and parent alike) are supposed to love these schools and want to pay $90K for them and my kids can't find one they really like. I very, very, very much feel like we're being sold a product that we're supposed to want to buy because of prestige and name but when we see the product up close it doesn't look great and I feel like a sheep lining up to say "yes sir. let me put my kid through mental/emotional twister for a 5% chance of being admitted to your school and then I will gladly pay you $90K for the honor. Yes sir." It just feels... gross. Maybe not gross but yucky. My kids are like, "well I didn't really like this or that here but I could probably make it work." They too feel the pressure to LIKE these places. The Almighty XYZ or ABC school! It's supposed to be their dream!

Please don't jump on me. I know it's summer and we're not seeing the universities at their best but ugh. They're all kind of disappointing. I can't be the only one who feels this way? (I'm not going to name university/college names because then this post will turn into a giant thread about whatever school(s) I name.

So look outside the T25 schools. Find what matters to your kid and search for schools to meet that need. Because yes, paying $90K simply because "a school is so highly ranked" is ridiculous if your kid does not love the school.

Been thru this with 3 kids now. All 3 knew when they found their top 2-3 schools (and definately had a "top school" in that group). All 3 attended the school with best fit for them and thrived

[Anonymous]

For high-achieving students who don't want to suffer in a cramped dungeon with no A/C, Alabama's honors dorms are the nicest college housing I've ever seen, bar none. They're more like luxury apartments. Freshmen can live in them, too.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised about Hopkins. The dorms are pretty 80s, I agree. Renovated now with AC and clean but drab. Not much they can do but start over and they're not that bad. The apartment style ones way nicer but less social.

But the rest of Hopkins? The gym? The new science building? The interiors of the old buildings are so well done. The new student union is going to be amazing. I feel like that campus drips with Bloomberg money.

[Anonymous]

One of mine attended an elite school with a mix of fancy and dumpy dorm buildings. Unfortunately, ended up in a dumpy one in dorm draw. It was so painful to pay for housing, they moved out to off campus rentals with friends after freshman year, which was way nicer and cheaper.

[Anonymous]

*they did love the school though and even dorm for its community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of mine attended an elite school with a mix of fancy and dumpy dorm buildings. Unfortunately, ended up in a dumpy one in dorm draw. It was so painful to pay for housing, they moved out to off campus rentals with friends after freshman year, which was way nicer and cheaper.

What school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of mine attended an elite school with a mix of fancy and dumpy dorm buildings. Unfortunately, ended up in a dumpy one in dorm draw. It was so painful to pay for housing, they moved out to off campus rentals with friends after freshman year, which was way nicer and cheaper.

Northwestern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a lot of these schools have half the kids paying 100k a year and half paying 15k a year. People already feel like suckers .. and then when the food is frozen chicken cutlets or the dorms have mold in the vents, it's natural to complain.

The real issue is that many of these schools force students to pay $$ for these moldy crowded dorms that regularly flood and frozen chicken cutlets for the first few years of the degree.

and now they're forcing you to live in their moldy dorms for 4 years to make more $$$. It was a PITA to get DC's college to let him live off campus, because it's a "residential experience" and 94% of students live on campus-uh huh, and it's also $92,000 this year and he'd rather share an apartment in this expensive area than stay on campus.

Vanderbilt? This sounds exactly like their bullshit rationale -- and price tag. Many of the dorms literally ARE moldy, and flood periodically on the 1st floor. And the forced chicken cutlets are raw in the middle about 28% of the time.

It has taken me almost 3 years to realize that the school scrubs its FB and other fora of negative discussions like this, or uses parent "moderators" to gaslight commenters who protest the objectively horrible residential conditions for many* students. (Wow! MY rising junior says she's never TASTED such great food options! She says there's ALWAYS something fun going on in the residence halls and wishes she had even MORE TIME to spend in the dorms with all her friends who LOVE the SOCIAL aspect of dorm living!!!!!

* Vandy does have 3-4 pretty new "residential colleges" with 14 ft. ceilings that, despite a "lottery," are mostly awarded to Hollywood kids and the prettiest girls. But you'll still probably get a triple there

I have a senior at Vanderbilt. So much BS here I couldn't help but at least acknowledge it.

But do tell us more about the prettiest girls and the Hollywood kids and the 14 ft ceilings for those in the know

Are you asking me to name the student names? Can't imagine that is what you actually mean when you encourage me to tell you "more." Some people get Hank and EBI year after year, somehow

Happy to be more specific about flooding, mold and raw chicken though. McGill and Tolman flooded last year. The year before it was Gillette, which is infamous for 1st floor flooding. The HVAC system of Memorial spewed out black mold in 2022-2023. I have a lot of personal photos of that one.

There are multiple, signed posts *still present* on the two main FB pages detailing the lack of food (because it ran out in the middle of dinner); the undercooked food (with pictures!); the lines that are so long the students bail in order to make it to class and end up using the entire $21 meal swipe for a single tub of Chobani. There's even a video of that last situation.

To experience the gaslighting at its best, search for posts by a parent ambassador with the initials R.G. She'll tell you straight up that your kids need to "learn to be uncomfortable."

For $90k/yr, my kid actually does not need to learn to eat raw chicken, RG, and breathe mold as he sleeps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For high-achieving students who don't want to suffer in a cramped dungeon with no A/C, Alabama's honors dorms are the nicest college housing I've ever seen, bar none. They're more like luxury apartments. Freshmen can live in them, too.

Ha! I googled their dorms to see what you are talking about. I wanted to see pictures. I look at pictures for Ridgecrest South (listed as an honors dorm). in one of the pictures, the student has the Maryland flag on the wall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a lot of these schools have half the kids paying 100k a year and half paying 15k a year. People already feel like suckers .. and then when the food is frozen chicken cutlets or the dorms have mold in the vents, it's natural to complain.

The real issue is that many of these schools force students to pay $$ for these moldy crowded dorms that regularly flood and frozen chicken cutlets for the first few years of the degree.

and now they're forcing you to live in their moldy dorms for 4 years to make more $$$. It was a PITA to get DC's college to let him live off campus, because it's a "residential experience" and 94% of students live on campus-uh huh, and it's also $92,000 this year and he'd rather share an apartment in this expensive area than stay on campus.

Vanderbilt? This sounds exactly like their bullshit rationale -- and price tag. Many of the dorms literally ARE moldy, and flood periodically on the 1st floor. And the forced chicken cutlets are raw in the middle about 28% of the time.

It has taken me almost 3 years to realize that the school scrubs its FB and other fora of negative discussions like this, or uses parent "moderators" to gaslight commenters who protest the objectively horrible residential conditions for many* students. (Wow! MY rising junior says she's never TASTED such great food options! She says there's ALWAYS something fun going on in the residence halls and wishes she had even MORE TIME to spend in the dorms with all her friends who LOVE the SOCIAL aspect of dorm living!!!!!

* Vandy does have 3-4 pretty new "residential colleges" with 14 ft. ceilings that, despite a "lottery," are mostly awarded to Hollywood kids and the prettiest girls. But you'll still probably get a triple there

I have a senior at Vanderbilt. So much BS here I couldn't help but at least acknowledge it.

But do tell us more about the prettiest girls and the Hollywood kids and the 14 ft ceilings for those in the know

Are you asking me to name the student names? Can't imagine that is what you actually mean when you encourage me to tell you "more." Some people get Hank and EBI year after year, somehow

Happy to be more specific about flooding, mold and raw chicken though. McGill and Tolman flooded last year. The year before it was Gillette, which is infamous for 1st floor flooding. The HVAC system of Memorial spewed out black mold in 2022-2023. I have a lot of personal photos of that one.

There are multiple, signed posts *still present* on the two main FB pages detailing the lack of food (because it ran out in the middle of dinner); the undercooked food (with pictures!); the lines that are so long the students bail in order to make it to class and end up using the entire $21 meal swipe for a single tub of Chobani. There's even a video of that last situation.

To experience the gaslighting at its best, search for posts by a parent ambassador with the initials R.G. She'll tell you straight up that your kids need to "learn to be uncomfortable."

For $90k/yr, my kid actually does not need to learn to eat raw chicken, RG, and breathe mold as he sleeps.

What is with colleges and refusing to fix dorms that don't flood? Why do they even create dorms that CAN flood?
My alma mater Pomona had a few dorms that would have rooms flood every time it rained, and it baffled me the first year, because what shanty construction does someone have to do to make it so a room floods. Even the new, shiny senior dorms that look like luxury suites (Dialynas and Sontag if you want to look them up) flood! It's beyond me at this point, but it is insane for $90k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For high-achieving students who don't want to suffer in a cramped dungeon with no A/C, Alabama's honors dorms are the nicest college housing I've ever seen, bar none. They're more like luxury apartments. Freshmen can live in them, too.

Ha! I googled their dorms to see what you are talking about. I wanted to see pictures. I look at pictures for Ridgecrest South (listed as an honors dorm). in one of the pictures, the student has the Maryland flag on the wall.

A couple years back, there was a legendary (or infamous depending on your perspective) DCUMer whose son was in the honors program at Alabama, allegedly on a full ride. The poster claimed their kid had high stats and got into more competitive schools but chose Alabama for the full ride, luxury dorms (which they usually described in detail), and attractive girls (although I believe the term the poster preferred was "coeds"). They signed off every post with "Roll Tide!" Just a hilarious poster. That kid should be at least an upperclassman if not an alum by now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had that same gut feeling as well, OP! Two years ago, when we toured colleges with DS. I'm a foreigner, so I don't care about the authenticity of old stones. I have medieval buildings on my country estate in my native country! What I want from a US college is a nice balance of academics and comfort.

The only places we really liked were George Washington and Middlebury. They were both renovated, clean, airy and comfortable. One was rural, the other urban, and DS opted for the urban.

Agree about Middlebury. When we toured, we felt like we were at a high-end country club. My wife, who went to a large public, was amazed at the perfectly manicured lawns and neatly placed stone buildings. Historic yet clean and well maintained. Apparently they knocked down most of the ugly buildings from the 50s, 60s, and 70s and replaced them with more modern facilities. Amherst, on the other hand, felt tired and worn down.

“High end country club” is definitely The experience I know some people are looking for, it would’ve been a total turn off to my kid. She is at one of the “very old” East Coast schools that may even be on OP list as being dumpy ( certainly the parent FB group is full of parents complaining about the old dorms without AC) but she absolutely loves it. That’s the great thing, there’s something for everyone!

[Anonymous]

Surely there's a reasonable middle ground between country club and moldy dump dorms?