Marist v Ithaca v Syracuse
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Anonymous
| Thoughts? DS who will likely end up low 1300 SATs and about 3.4 UW And maybe 4.1 weighted in MCPS public specialty program. Journalism and theater EC at strong levels. GPA function of ADHD and exec function and need school with some good supports. Want to make sure relatively supportive collegial feel. Also looking at CTCL schools and really liked Wooster and St Olaf so far. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Also very welcoming of recommendations. |
Anonymous
| We visited Marist and really liked it. It had a similar feel to Lafayette. We drove through the campus of Ithaca college while visiting Cornell, and my dd insisted we leave immediately (too much blue hair, flannel, and smoking/vaping). We never visited Syracuse because it’s much bigger than she wanted. We also looked at and liked Dickinson, Skidmore, and Franklin and Marshall. CNU in VA also has a similar small-school feel. |
Anonymous
|
Check out Muhlenberg. They have a strong theater program. Small, tightknit community, much closer to DC than Ithaca.
Ithaca has an ugly campus, but is strong in theater I believe. Of the three, I think Marist might be most well known for disability support. Marist is close to Amtrak, which is also a plus for getting home. |
Anonymous
So Ithaca had more blue hair/vaping/smoking than Skidmore? Kinda surprising. |
Anonymous
It did. Skidmore had a few smokers, but it had a more outdoorsy vibe. |
Anonymous
| Skidmore has announced that their campus will be smoke free as of January 1, 2019. |
Anonymous
|
My son wanted Ithaca for their film/communications program which is very well regarded. My wife and I could not warm up to the school for some reason. It felt like their communications program was very well regarded but the rest of the school gave off a Long Island mediocre student who was there to drink his way through the cold winters. Financial aid wouldn’t commit to a four year package. My son would have liked to attend but I believe that was partly based on his limited time spent exploring other programs. I know this sounds somewhat harsh.
He is at a CTCL school. I showed him the curriculum at a bunch of great SLACs that had interesting course catalogs in his area of interest and where my wife and I felt he would get a better education. Frankly I remember telling one of his potential Ithaca professors the name of one his admitted schools and that we were driving to go do an overnight. She literally looked at me with “what are you doing here look” as she explained what a good school the SLAC was... So we’ll regarded for communications but we weren’t feeling it. And while Ithaca is a great college town my sense is that most kids likely stayed up on the hill/campus. And for whatever reason I just got the vibe that their was an awful lot of pot being smoked - nothing concrete - just the vibe. I told my son it wasn’t worth the money. He’s happy at a CTCL school. It was a risk we took - if it didn’t work out I would risked alienating him but I thought he could do better and where he landed I think he did. Some parents might disagree but sometimes you have to parent. |
Anonymous
| I think Ithaca was ranked #1 for pot smoking, so you have good instincts! |
Anonymous
|
One thing to consider if he wants to do theater, but not as a major is that both Ithaca and Syracuse have top BFA programs that are very selective. Having those kids on campus can make it much harder for kids who do theater as a hobby or avocation to get involved.
I don't know about theater at Marist. |
Anonymous
| OP here- 19-13 that is very helpful. What state was the CTCL in? Curious. Thx much. |
Anonymous
| Syracuse grad here. LOVED it!!!! |
Anonymous
The CTCL school was in Ohio. Again this was just our impressions as I know both Ithaca and Syracuse are very well regarded for journalism I don’t want to provide poor or misguided feedback. I think part of it was we were looking for a little more I don’t want to say intellectual but I think for our son we wanted a little smaller with a student body that appeared more intellectually curious I quess is the best way to say it. He’s quiet and doesn’t drink - would rather read or watch a movie. I suspect Ithaca does a very good job at the firm and radio programs but they almost had a vocational feel to it which had merit but I thought college should be more about learning and opening your mind and I quess that was the vibe I wasn’t feeling. So I pointed out to my son that a lot of SLACs had great film programs and that in his career he would time to learn the vocational but never again would he have four years to learn for the sake of learning. Wesleyan, Kenyon, Oberlin, Lafayette, and Denison to name a view had programs with interesting course catalogs. He didn’t apply to all of them and he wasn’t accepted at all that he did apply to but for us that type of school was a better fit. My son does not go to Oberlin but that was the school I had mentioned to the Ithaca professor we would be overnighting at an accepted students function. She basically cane out and said if your son can get accepted at schools like Oberlin he doesn’t belong here. And his stats were similar to your sons. But he wanted film not theater or journalism and I know Ithaca and Syracuse are both well regarded in those disciplines. I wish you and your DS the best of luck. |
Anonymous
| $70k for Cuse. Lol! |
Anonymous
| Newhouse School is Syracuse is worth it, if you can get in |