Okay, so where is DS/DD going to go to college next fall?

[Anonymous]

University of Washington is excellent for premedicine and medical school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Washington is excellent for premedicine and medical school.

+ 1 And one of the top nursing schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Add my name proudly to the list of "Meddling Parents". I drew a mental radius of several thousand miles around every university that DD's idiot boyfriend was being recruited and she wasn't allowed to even apply. Otherwise DD would be going to Arizona State next year instead of the wonderful and competitive colleges she is choosing from now.


BTW DD and her idiot boyfriend broke up last week.

Hey there -- I went to Arizona State and turned out just fine. Let's be adults and try and keep the comments positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add my name proudly to the list of "Meddling Parents". I drew a mental radius of several thousand miles around every university that DD's idiot boyfriend was being recruited and she wasn't allowed to even apply. Otherwise DD would be going to Arizona State next year instead of the wonderful and competitive colleges she is choosing from now.


BTW DD and her idiot boyfriend broke up last week.

Hey there -- I went to Arizona State and turned out just fine. Let's be adults and try and keep the comments positive.

You aren't bright enough to know that you posted on the wrong thread, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add my name proudly to the list of "Meddling Parents". I drew a mental radius of several thousand miles around every university that DD's idiot boyfriend was being recruited and she wasn't allowed to even apply. Otherwise DD would be going to Arizona State next year instead of the wonderful and competitive colleges she is choosing from now.


BTW DD and her idiot boyfriend broke up last week.

Hey there -- I went to Arizona State and turned out just fine. Let's be adults and try and keep the comments positive.

You aren't bright enough to know that you posted on the wrong thread, PP.

DC elitism summed up in one comment, folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add my name proudly to the list of "Meddling Parents". I drew a mental radius of several thousand miles around every university that DD's idiot boyfriend was being recruited and she wasn't allowed to even apply. Otherwise DD would be going to Arizona State next year instead of the wonderful and competitive colleges she is choosing from now.


BTW DD and her idiot boyfriend broke up last week.

Hey there -- I went to Arizona State and turned out just fine. Let's be adults and try and keep the comments positive.

You aren't bright enough to know that you posted on the wrong thread, PP.

DC elitism summed up in one comment, folks.

+100 In most cases, it's the kid, not the college, which they seem to recognize in most other parts of the country. for all this area's intelligence, you'd think people would have more confidence in their kids.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What's a "Boston College"?

Is this sarcastic or have you really never heard of Boston College? You're like the PP who had never heard of Scripps...you guys need to do some serious research before you and your kids head into the college application process!

Not the PP, but calm down. BC has certainly come up in the world, but it is not in the same league as the Claremont Colleges.

LOL. Very few people on a easy coast know the Claremont colleges - they are regional.

Actually - no. We are all from the east coast and DD's first choice two years ago was Claremont McKenna but she didn't get in. Two kid's for DS's class are going to Pomona (I think) and Harvey Mudd. There are big in the private school world maybe as they are very expensive and selective.

I'm both a west coast and east coast person. All educated people know about the Claremont colleges and its design to offer University-type services to five distinct colleges. Money is pooled to create state of the art facilities like library and health center, but students apply to each college (very very walkable). The child of a friend of mine coming in from Boston could not get into Claremont McKenna so accepted Scripps (all women) but is taking classes at Claremont mcKenna and will reapply every year until she gets in. In my day, I got into Pomona, which is an xlnt school. Pitzer wasn't a serious contender then because they did not give grades, just teacher letters, and since I wanted to go onto law school, that concerned me. The dorms were nicer at Scripps so I thought I would board there but take classes at then Claremont Men's College and Pomona. I went to Stanford instead. But I would rank Pomona and Claremont McKenna very high.

Sadly, in my experience all educated people are definitely not familiar with the Claremont colleges--which is no reflection on the colleges' quality. Word about SLAC's just doesn't get around--my Swarthmore and Williams friends say many employers haven't heard of their schools either. I'm an East Coast academic and used to be a professor at a SLAC similar to those colleges on the East Coast--and even so I am only vaguely familiar with the Claremont schools and I didn't even know that they were some kind of consortium until I read that here.

You sound moronic.

LOL. Your response is getting old. Sorry you can't accept it. I grew up in a well-educated area of the NE. My public HS was an Ivy factory. A handful went to East Coast SLACs - most of the them were driven by family traditions rather than deep-rooted educational philosophies. People only went out to the West Coast for Stanford, Berkeley, USC, UW, etc.

Ask a broad group of people from the East Coast and see who has heard of them. I'm guessing a few people from SLACs, but that's it. Please report back when you've concluded your research.

SLACs are declining in popularity. But I have never met anyone from the East Coast who went out West to UW. That's a mediocre school at best.

It may have been somewhat mediocre years ago. Not any longer.

Incorrect.

It is ranked 48. Wisconsin is ranked 47. A top 50 college is not mediocre.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So first my background--I have experienced the range of schools: I attended a state school, went to a HYP for grad, and taught at a Top 25 liberal arts college.

I'm just curious...I went through this thread and I see a lot of people saying that they are going to stretch financially to send their kids to places like the place I used to teach. Which is to say schools like Bates or Pomona.

And I guess I'm just curious and trying to understand why. Based on my experience, these are places that are great and where a student will get a decent education and have a pleasant life for four years. But very honestly, they are a similar price as HYP without offering the same level of name recognition, facilities, faculty, peers, etc. You can get an equivalent education at the University of Maryland--maybe better if you are interested in doing undergraduate research--and typically go to the grad or professional school of your choice. So what draws people to faraway expensive colleges?

The answers I came up with myself are that for some parents college is not just about education but about DS/DD finding a partner, or maybe the family is interested in a religious education (Catholic schools, BYU, etc.), or maybe they think that four years on an idyllic campus and what are hopefully lifelong friendships are worth the $240k price tag. But I still honestly have some trouble wrapping my mind around that. I'd be curious to hear people's responses.

Another academic here -- and, abstractly, I have the same reaction to SLACs vs. public schools (with some exceptions re specific schools and specific majors). But I'd also throw in the mix the facts that the best state universities are getting harder to get into for in-state residents and, of course, for those of us in DC, there's no high-quality public university. So, yeah, Berkeley over Bates but if the choice is Claremont vs. JMU (or Carleton vs. UC Merced), it's not so clear cut to me.

What I don't get is why so many private school parents seem be more inclined to pay for Colby than to pay OOS tuition to send their kids to Ann Arbor or Madison. But then I'm biased toward major research universities and am not particularly invested in the public/private distinction. And I'm guessing that not many parents (or kids) are primarily interested in seeking out schools where the intellectual action is. They're looking at social environment, networks, job prospects, and grad school acceptance rates.

I guess not everyone sees the benefit of large research universities for undergraduates nor do they underestimate the intellectual firepower of SLAC professors and students. The sports emphasis at places like Michigan and Wisconsin can also be a major turn-off. I find your perspective and attitude to be narrow and narrow-minded - all the most reason for me to support the kind of broad education a liberal arts college provides.

Clearly it's true that people don't see the benefit of large research universities for undergraduates -- that was my point. There's a much broader education available on a campus where 3676 are offered to undergraduates (Michigan) vs one where 395 courses are offered (Swarthmore). As for the "intellectual firepower" of SLAC professors, it really depends on personality and field. Intellectual stagnation is a real risk in situations where you don't have grad students, colleagues in your subfield, funding for state-of-the-art labs, and where the emphasis is on undergraduate teaching (which, of necessity, tends to get repetitious -- some courses need to be offered year in and year out and there may be only one faculty member who can teach them). SLACs are not the most intellectually stimulating environment for faculty.

As for the students at SLACs, I'm not making assumptions about their "firepower." Just saying that access to grad courses, better facilities (labs, libraries, museums, hospitals), and a larger and more diverse faculty and student body can be a really important (and "broadening") experience for an intellectually-inclined kid. Maybe parents who are more concerned, at this stage, with small class sizes, personal attention, and the right cohort sometimes do their kids a disservice when they encourage them to select a college using the same criteria we use for selecting an elementary school.

I will use your Colby example since you single it out to contrast to big research U. Maybe you should know that the chair of the Government department is a non-resident fellow at the Brookings. And another Colby Government prof is also a development practitioner with field experience as Team Leader for State Department- and USAID-commissioned assignments in the Middle East and North Africa, Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Balkans, West Africa and East Africa. And that's just two of my kid's professors. So no, she (not we) did not "select a college using the same criteria we use for selecting an elementary school". And she did not choose Colby to find a partner.

And further, some of the best art museums in the country are at SLAC's. Have you ever been to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute at Williams, or the Smith College Museum of Art or the Colby College Museum of Art?

You appear to suffer from a bad case of superiority complex or you need glasses to correct your myopia. You are also condescending and patronizing. You must be a peach of a professor.

[Anonymous]

DS will attend Notre Dame, his first choice and ours! So happy for him!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS will attend Notre Dame, his first choice and ours! So happy for him!

To each his own. Another poster on this same thread was thrilled when her DS turned down Notre Dame.

[Anonymous]

+1. ND is not what it used to be (although its not a bad place either)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. ND is not what it used to be (although its not a bad place either)

Really nice that you decided to try and piss all over someone else's happiness. Typical DCUM jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. ND is not what it used to be (although its not a bad place either)

Really nice that you decided to try and piss all over someone else's happiness. Typical DCUM jerk.

Get over it - people have been having opinions all over this thread. I'm sure PP's snowflake will not melt at the first dissenting opinion of his chosen college.

[Anonymous]

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What I don't get is why so many private school parents seem be more inclined to pay for Colby than to pay OOS tuition to send their kids to Ann Arbor or Madison. But then I'm biased toward major research universities and am not particularly invested in the public/private distinction. And I'm guessing that not many parents (or kids) are primarily interested in seeking out schools where the intellectual action is. They're looking at social environment, networks, job prospects, and grad school acceptance rates.

I guess not everyone sees the benefit of large research universities for undergraduates nor do they underestimate the intellectual firepower of SLAC professors and students. The sports emphasis at places like Michigan and Wisconsin can also be a major turn-off. I find your perspective and attitude to be narrow and narrow-minded - all the most reason for me to support the kind of broad education a liberal arts college provides.

Clearly it's true that people don't see the benefit of large research universities for undergraduates -- that was my point. There's a much broader education available on a campus where 3676 are offered to undergraduates (Michigan) vs one where 395 courses are offered (Swarthmore). As for the "intellectual firepower" of SLAC professors, it really depends on personality and field. Intellectual stagnation is a real risk in situations where you don't have grad students, colleagues in your subfield, funding for state-of-the-art labs, and where the emphasis is on undergraduate teaching (which, of necessity, tends to get repetitious -- some courses need to be offered year in and year out and there may be only one faculty member who can teach them). SLACs are not the most intellectually stimulating environment for faculty.

As for the students at SLACs, I'm not making assumptions about their "firepower." Just saying that access to grad courses, better facilities (labs, libraries, museums, hospitals), and a larger and more diverse faculty and student body can be a really important (and "broadening") experience for an intellectually-inclined kid. Maybe parents who are more concerned, at this stage, with small class sizes, personal attention, and the right cohort sometimes do their kids a disservice when they encourage them to select a college using the same criteria we use for selecting an elementary school.

I will use your Colby example since you single it out to contrast to big research U. Maybe you should know that the chair of the Government department is a non-resident fellow at the Brookings. And another Colby Government prof is also a development practitioner with field experience as Team Leader for State Department- and USAID-commissioned assignments in the Middle East and North Africa, Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Balkans, West Africa and East Africa. And that's just two of my kid's professors. So no, she (not we) did not "select a college using the same criteria we use for selecting an elementary school". And she did not choose Colby to find a partner.

If you want to make comparisons, you need data -- not anecdotes.

Colby has 11 faculty in Government (one of whom seems to have a 50% appointment as an administrator, another of whom is on leave). By contrast, Wisconsin's Political Science department has 38 faculty members (as well as 4 postdocs).

Only four of the faculty members at Colby got their PhDs within the past 15 years. That might not matter at a school with graduate students, who infuse new energy and enthusiasms and ways of thinking into a department at regular intervals -- but Colby doesn't have grad students. At Wisconsin, 23 of the regular faculty got their PhDs in 2000 or later. And, not coincidentally, it's a department with a much broader, more diverse, and contemporary curriculum than Colby's and one where each subfield has at least a half dozen profs. Bottom line: for a poli sci or gov major, Wisconsin has in terms of both breadth and depth.

As for how your DC chose her college, I have no idea and ventured no opinion. I just suggested that parents' assumptions that the same criteria they used to select private primary schools should drive college selection might not serve their kids well at this stage, especially if those kids are bright and intellectually ambitious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. ND is not what it used to be (although its not a bad place either)

Really nice that you decided to try and piss all over someone else's happiness. Typical DCUM jerk.

Get over it - people have been having opinions all over this thread. I'm sure PP's snowflake will not melt at the first dissenting opinion of his chosen college.

Get over yourself. Your college must have sucked to have produced such a douchebag.