Venn diagram of selective colleges and pleasant campuses/dorms/food

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went on tours for a number of selective SLACs, and I think there would be a high quality of life at any of them. I don't think selective small colleges (many with healthy endowments) are choosing to forgo renovations or pick inferior dining services just because students will go there any way.

Maybe we're not talking about the same ones, but when we toured northeast (S)LACs, we saw that Vassar had some terribly run-down buildings, Bard was ramshackle (OK, maybe not that selective), even Dartmouth and Williams weren't that great. Middlebury had the best facilities of all of them. None of them allowed dorm visits except Skidmore (OK, maybe not that selective), which had decent dorms and cafeteria.

Then more locally, William & Mary and St John's College (Annapolis) had awful food (I hear W&M is doing something about it), UMD showed us the nice Honors dorms and decent dining halls, Georgetown only showed us the hard-to-get rooms with stunning views of the Potomac, and George Washington had better dorms and food than Skidmore and UMD.

Ivies probably have a non-existent need to attract students with luxury carpeting and hotel-like single rooms with private bathroom I was told certain Ivies are really not comfortable when you live there, but I haven't visited any, so can't speak from personal experience.

Whoa. You thought Dartmouth and Williams weren't that great? Personally, I was blown away at how nice everything is at Williams. It felt like everything had been either built or refurbished in the last decade and polished by a team of well-paid elves each night. Dartmouth was also extremely nice although just a shade less nice than Williams. I'm not disputing your observations, but just noting how different my own were.

In terms of nice, well-kept buildings, I'd rank Bowdoin just after Williams and Dartmouth. But, overall, very nice. I had no complaints. And Bowdoin's food was excellent.

PP you replied. You're right, now I think about it, Williams was nicer than Dartmouth. But Middlebury was slightly better than Williams. I did not visit Bowdoin.

Agree that Middlebury had the nicest facilities of all the colleges we visited. Well-manicured lawns, well-kept buildings, nice sports complex. Modern science center and library. Doesn't hurt that they have an 18-hole golf course on campus and their own ski mountain. Bowdoin was nice but too small for my kid. I was impressed with Colby--not so much with Bates. Williams was my second fav after Midd.

I thought Middlebury had a massive housing shortage and some freshman were living in trailers now ? Those FEMA trailers.

See Forbes article.
It’s a huge problem and for that money, I would be pissed if my kid was living in a trailer in the middle of winter

No one is living in trailers anymore.

Anymore…
😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went on tours for a number of selective SLACs, and I think there would be a high quality of life at any of them. I don't think selective small colleges (many with healthy endowments) are choosing to forgo renovations or pick inferior dining services just because students will go there any way.

Maybe we're not talking about the same ones, but when we toured northeast (S)LACs, we saw that Vassar had some terribly run-down buildings, Bard was ramshackle (OK, maybe not that selective), even Dartmouth and Williams weren't that great. Middlebury had the best facilities of all of them. None of them allowed dorm visits except Skidmore (OK, maybe not that selective), which had decent dorms and cafeteria.

Then more locally, William & Mary and St John's College (Annapolis) had awful food (I hear W&M is doing something about it), UMD showed us the nice Honors dorms and decent dining halls, Georgetown only showed us the hard-to-get rooms with stunning views of the Potomac, and George Washington had better dorms and food than Skidmore and UMD.

Ivies probably have a non-existent need to attract students with luxury carpeting and hotel-like single rooms with private bathroom I was told certain Ivies are really not comfortable when you live there, but I haven't visited any, so can't speak from personal experience.

Whoa. You thought Dartmouth and Williams weren't that great? Personally, I was blown away at how nice everything is at Williams. It felt like everything had been either built or refurbished in the last decade and polished by a team of well-paid elves each night. Dartmouth was also extremely nice although just a shade less nice than Williams. I'm not disputing your observations, but just noting how different my own were.

In terms of nice, well-kept buildings, I'd rank Bowdoin just after Williams and Dartmouth. But, overall, very nice. I had no complaints. And Bowdoin's food was excellent.

PP you replied. You're right, now I think about it, Williams was nicer than Dartmouth. But Middlebury was slightly better than Williams. I did not visit Bowdoin.

Agree that Middlebury and Williams were excellent. Actually thought Dartmouth campus looked a little run-down. Great school though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went on tours for a number of selective SLACs, and I think there would be a high quality of life at any of them. I don't think selective small colleges (many with healthy endowments) are choosing to forgo renovations or pick inferior dining services just because students will go there any way.

Maybe we're not talking about the same ones, but when we toured northeast (S)LACs, we saw that Vassar had some terribly run-down buildings, Bard was ramshackle (OK, maybe not that selective), even Dartmouth and Williams weren't that great. Middlebury had the best facilities of all of them. None of them allowed dorm visits except Skidmore (OK, maybe not that selective), which had decent dorms and cafeteria.

Then more locally, William & Mary and St John's College (Annapolis) had awful food (I hear W&M is doing something about it), UMD showed us the nice Honors dorms and decent dining halls, Georgetown only showed us the hard-to-get rooms with stunning views of the Potomac, and George Washington had better dorms and food than Skidmore and UMD.

Ivies probably have a non-existent need to attract students with luxury carpeting and hotel-like single rooms with private bathroom I was told certain Ivies are really not comfortable when you live there, but I haven't visited any, so can't speak from personal experience.

Whoa. You thought Dartmouth and Williams weren't that great? Personally, I was blown away at how nice everything is at Williams. It felt like everything had been either built or refurbished in the last decade and polished by a team of well-paid elves each night. Dartmouth was also extremely nice although just a shade less nice than Williams. I'm not disputing your observations, but just noting how different my own were.

In terms of nice, well-kept buildings, I'd rank Bowdoin just after Williams and Dartmouth. But, overall, very nice. I had no complaints. And Bowdoin's food was excellent.

PP you replied. You're right, now I think about it, Williams was nicer than Dartmouth. But Middlebury was slightly better than Williams. I did not visit Bowdoin.

Agree that Middlebury and Williams were excellent. Actually thought Dartmouth campus looked a little run-down. Great school though.

I thought the same. Loved them both -- Midd for its cohesive feel, and W for its eclectic and bith for the mountains. Dartmouth was nice, but I didn't like that the green is surrounded by fairly busy roads. For a school labeled as rural, it felt like there wasn't a lot of green space. My feelings also may have been affected by the fact that there was some construction going on. Gorgeous performing arts center, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went on tours for a number of selective SLACs, and I think there would be a high quality of life at any of them. I don't think selective small colleges (many with healthy endowments) are choosing to forgo renovations or pick inferior dining services just because students will go there any way.

Maybe we're not talking about the same ones, but when we toured northeast (S)LACs, we saw that Vassar had some terribly run-down buildings, Bard was ramshackle (OK, maybe not that selective), even Dartmouth and Williams weren't that great. Middlebury had the best facilities of all of them. None of them allowed dorm visits except Skidmore (OK, maybe not that selective), which had decent dorms and cafeteria.

Then more locally, William & Mary and St John's College (Annapolis) had awful food (I hear W&M is doing something about it), UMD showed us the nice Honors dorms and decent dining halls, Georgetown only showed us the hard-to-get rooms with stunning views of the Potomac, and George Washington had better dorms and food than Skidmore and UMD.

Ivies probably have a non-existent need to attract students with luxury carpeting and hotel-like single rooms with private bathroom I was told certain Ivies are really not comfortable when you live there, but I haven't visited any, so can't speak from personal experience.

Whoa. You thought Dartmouth and Williams weren't that great? Personally, I was blown away at how nice everything is at Williams. It felt like everything had been either built or refurbished in the last decade and polished by a team of well-paid elves each night. Dartmouth was also extremely nice although just a shade less nice than Williams. I'm not disputing your observations, but just noting how different my own were.

In terms of nice, well-kept buildings, I'd rank Bowdoin just after Williams and Dartmouth. But, overall, very nice. I had no complaints. And Bowdoin's food was excellent.

PP you replied. You're right, now I think about it, Williams was nicer than Dartmouth. But Middlebury was slightly better than Williams. I did not visit Bowdoin.

Agree that Middlebury had the nicest facilities of all the colleges we visited. Well-manicured lawns, well-kept buildings, nice sports complex. Modern science center and library. Doesn't hurt that they have an 18-hole golf course on campus and their own ski mountain. Bowdoin was nice but too small for my kid. I was impressed with Colby--not so much with Bates. Williams was my second fav after Midd.

I thought Middlebury had a massive housing shortage and some freshman were living in trailers now ? Those FEMA trailers.

See Forbes article.
It’s a huge problem and for that money, I would be pissed if my kid was living in a trailer in the middle of winter

No one is living in trailers anymore.

Anymore…
😂

Granted, this was back in 1990. But my husband was an undergraduate student at Stanford at the time, and some of their student housing was in trailers on cinder blocks. It was called Manzanita Park, and was in place for 22 years. My DH had friends who lived there, who said that there was also an ant infestation.

(Stanford student housing has themes for each dorm, and the students in Manzanita Park jokingly called it the "White Trash Theme House.")