College tours over springbreak...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is funny, but there's a lot of truth in it. We visited a couple of the New England LAC's and then scratched the rest from the to-visit list; I suspect they're really all about the same.

I think that if you want a small LAC, there probably are meaningful differences between Bates, Colby and Bowdoin... just as there are differences between UW-Madison and U-Minnesota.

Like what? I'm genuinely curious. We are interested in several of the New England LACs but there is no way to make it to visit all of them. Of the ones we have seen (only one of which you mentioned), I haven't seen many differences. I'm just wondering whether it's worth a trip back there.

Some put more or less emphasis on sports. A few still have frats/sororities. Some are more liberal than others. Some attract kids more regionally than nationally (heavy on the NY/NJ contingent for example). There is a difference between 1600 and 2600 (especially if you went to a large public school). Some are in really remote small towns, others in more urban areas, others in decent size towns (e.g., Middlebury vs Northhampton vs Hartford).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is funny, but there's a lot of truth in it. We visited a couple of the New England LAC's and then scratched the rest from the to-visit list; I suspect they're really all about the same.

I think that if you want a small LAC, there probably are meaningful differences between Bates, Colby and Bowdoin... just as there are differences between UW-Madison and U-Minnesota.

Like what? I'm genuinely curious. We are interested in several of the New England LACs but there is no way to make it to visit all of them. Of the ones we have seen (only one of which you mentioned), I haven't seen many differences. I'm just wondering whether it's worth a trip back there.

Some of it is intangible, sure, but there are differences: degree of isolation, level of Greek vs geek, diversity of student demographics. I guess you could just look it all up and go by the data, but I keep hearing stories of kids who arrive on a visit, take a look, and either say "Hell no" or "I'm hooome!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is funny, but there's a lot of truth in it. We visited a couple of the New England LAC's and then scratched the rest from the to-visit list; I suspect they're really all about the same.

I think that if you want a small LAC, there probably are meaningful differences between Bates, Colby and Bowdoin... just as there are differences between UW-Madison and U-Minnesota.

Like what? I'm genuinely curious. We are interested in several of the New England LACs but there is no way to make it to visit all of them. Of the ones we have seen (only one of which you mentioned), I haven't seen many differences. I'm just wondering whether it's worth a trip back there.

Some of it is intangible, sure, but there are differences: degree of isolation, level of Greek vs geek, diversity of student demographics. I guess you could just look it all up and go by the data, but I keep hearing stories of kids who arrive on a visit, take a look, and either say "Hell no" or "I'm hooome!"

Almost anyone who has visited schools has a story about "the one" that felt great from the moment they stepped foot on campus. Then they have to defend that feeling to anyone who won't look beyond a top colleges list.

[Anonymous]

mjsmith wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you realize you can visit colleges after your kid is accepted. its cheaper and kid is feeling good and really tries to visualize themselves there

yes, but no point in spending money to apply if the kid doesn't like the campus...

The time between acceptance and pay deposit flies. You only have time for one revisit

[Anonymous]

We've toured a few campuses. The lightning flash happened at the WL one.