Ivy Tours

[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.

There's a lot of new construction taking place at Princeton. Good that they are building a new residential college (Hobson) and some other state-of-the-art facilities (environmental science and engineering will be more centrally located) but it means they probably just want you to see the north part of campus right now. Otherwise the prospective students will realize the construction work starts at 7 AM.

https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2023/10/princeton-news-adpol-campus-construction-explained

[Anonymous]

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.

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

What is a high profile crime kid?

[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.

20 years ago, yes. Today, not at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Feel free to waste your time. Just passing on what post people seem to need to learn the hard way. Its hard to get in. No need to get nasty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Feel free to waste your time. Just passing on what post people seem to need to learn the hard way. Its hard to get in. No need to get nasty.

Different poster here. Why come in to any Ivy post to talk about your kid who didn't get in 2 years ago? Clearly many kids DID get in and therefore it isn't crazy for the next crop of kids to visit the school(s).
You post your kid's stats constantly and it's been 18 months since he/she was rejected. It's really time to move on with life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Feel free to waste your time. Just passing on what post people seem to need to learn the hard way. Its hard to get in. No need to get nasty.

Different poster here. Why come in to any Ivy post to talk about your kid who didn't get in 2 years ago? Clearly many kids DID get in and therefore it isn't crazy for the next crop of kids to visit the school(s).
You post your kid's stats constantly and it's been 18 months since he/she was rejected. It's really time to move on with life.

Thank you!!!

[Anonymous]

Yale ROCKS!

[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.

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

What is a high profile crime kid?

It was corrected right after original post to “celeb kids”. Go back and look

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Feel free to waste your time. Just passing on what post people seem to need to learn the hard way. Its hard to get in. No need to get nasty.

Different poster here. Why come in to any Ivy post to talk about your kid who didn't get in 2 years ago? Clearly many kids DID get in and therefore it isn't crazy for the next crop of kids to visit the school(s).
You post your kid's stats constantly and it's been 18 months since he/she was rejected. It's really time to move on with life.

Never posted stats before. And have moved on. Just trying to be helpful. Good luck to your kids.

[Anonymous]

I liked the Penn tour. Really good guide who I sensed was kind of representative of the school. Thought the campus was fine - but I went to an urban school myself so nothing felt particularly gritty. But it also wasn't anything extraordinary. I got the sense that Wharton does dominate the school. The students seemed very business-like. Not unhappy necessarily, but already on the job.

Columbia seemed grim. Guide was also good - student-athlete. But his good cheer did not match the environment, which seemed dismal. Everyone looked unhappy. And so many smokers. It seemed like an incredibly stressful place to go to college. And NY always intensifies things.

We did a walk around at Harvard. Not a tour. So we were tourists - like probably 80 percent of the people wandering around Harvard. I think it'd be irritating to go to school and feel like a zoo animal whenever you step outside. For something as grandiose as Harvard, it's not that remarkable of a campus. And Harvard Square no longer has the dissolute charm that I remember from back in the day. Boring. I went to college nearby, and Harvard and environs does not have anything like the energy I remember. It felt corporate and inauthentic.

That's it for Ivy visits. DC didn't see himself at these three schools, and applied elsewhere. So useful visits regardless.

[Anonymous]

I’m still recovering from my daughter’s graduation weekend at Brown. Those graduates absolutely love the school and they sure know how to throw a party!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m still recovering from my daughter’s graduation weekend at Brown. Those graduates absolutely love the school and they sure know how to throw a party!

I'm a Brown alumna and I love that they combine reunion with graduation.

[Anonymous]

My kid debates and I judge so I spend a weekend every year at Harvard, Penn, and Princeton. Harvard has a mix of good and then absolutely terrible classrooms (where we debate). That science building should be blow up. And I don’t understand the aversion to landscaping. So much dirt where there should be grass or bushes or flowers.

Tours are so dependent on guides. Our Penn guide was a nursing student and our Princeton guide spoke mostly of vibrant Jewish life. Great kids who have nothing in common w 90% of the kids on the tour. I blame the colleges for that. So easy to let kids pick the guide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Hey wannabe, we're talking Ivies!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m still recovering from my daughter’s graduation weekend at Brown. Those graduates absolutely love the school and they sure know how to throw a party!

I watched some of it on Instagram- seems amazing! The outdoor campus dance looked so pretty.