college red flags

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD wants to major in a science. Touring one school we noticed that in a very long hallway in admissions, they had many photos of outstanding recent grads. Not a single one of them was in the sciences. Made it clear that was not a priority there.

So you were at a Slac not known for its sciences. Why was your DD then interested? She wasted her time, your time, and AO time. All of this info is readily available on the internet so there is no excuse for this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a really nasty practice some private colleges have of granting a full ride for the first year to attract the top students they really want (and increase “yield”) and then significantly cutting back the amount of aid for the next year, regardless of how well the student is performing. They expect that the student and/or parents will then apply for a huge amount of loans. Awful. It happened to me years ago at one of the top 5 wealthiest private colleges and again to my nephew recently at a different private college It’s devastating. In my case, the chair of the department I was as majoring in found a private scholarship for me but it was too little too late and I had to go into debt. In my nephew’s case, he transferred to a state university. It’s a horrible and hidden practice.

+1

And you don't realize it until you're there and it's too late. I went to GW and knew numerous people who had this happen to them. It messed up their entire college trajectory in some cases, since credits were hard to transfer and they needed to take an extra year at a new school. Some people decided to wait a year to see if their aid changed, and if it didn't, it was a year lost. Really, really sad.

I don't understand. Is this not a question you ask before you take the scholarship and placement? I'm not trying to be snide. I'm genuinely confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Doesn’t look like you are seeking diversity, at least not in political views, but rather more group-think.

No, honey, in 2022, we do not want "diversity" by going to school with a bunch of dumb Trumpers. Keep up.

Good job at teaching your kid mind control and hate . PS that’s not what college is about!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD has a full tuition scholarship - letter says she gets it all four years as long as she maintains at least a 3.0. I assume the letter means what it says - did other people have similar wording and their offer still got yanked? I don’t see how that’s possible, since the four year offer was accepted and terms were met.

Pick up the phone and call the college . Ask to have proof provided in certified letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a full tuition scholarship - letter says she gets it all four years as long as she maintains at least a 3.0. I assume the letter means what it says - did other people have similar wording and their offer still got yanked? I don’t see how that’s possible, since the four year offer was accepted and terms were met.

I'm the one who posted about my own and my nephew's experience. In both cases, it came as a complete shock because there were absolutely no indications of any conditions under which we had to maintain a certain grade point average, or any other conditions for renewal of the award. My parents would have been very vigilant that I was meeting the requirements, if there had been any. I got straight A's, was elected a freshman rep in the student government, played on teams, made good friends -was pretty much a model citizen. Same for my nephew - he was given no indications that there were conditions for his award.
I know that people want to believe that these colleges' decisions must have a rational basis, and my conclusion is that it has to do with wealthy private colleges hanging on to their wealth while simultaneously pumping up the stats for test scores of first year admits and their "yield."

But your experience was a number of years ago, no?

[Anonymous]

One really good question to ask a tour guide is “who is your favorite professor?” I actually work in a university and I have discovered from touring campus with my own kids that ideally a tour guide will describe a good relationship with this person - he took us on a field trip, read multiple drafts of my thesis, worked with me to find resources, had us all over to her house for pizza. At a big impersonal school this question helps you to gauge if there is any personal interaction with professors or TAs.

[Anonymous]

Any school that repeatedly hammers on “collaboration”. It means their students are really stressed and they’ve gotten criticism about excessive pressure and suicide risks. It’s their new buzzword to try to prove they’re a happy, healthy place. It’s mostly aspirational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One really good question to ask a tour guide is “who is your favorite professor?” I actually work in a university and I have discovered from touring campus with my own kids that ideally a tour guide will describe a good relationship with this person - he took us on a field trip, read multiple drafts of my thesis, worked with me to find resources, had us all over to her house for pizza. At a big impersonal school this question helps you to gauge if there is any personal interaction with professors or TAs.

A field trip? Over to their house for pizza?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD wants to major in a science. Touring one school we noticed that in a very long hallway in admissions, they had many photos of outstanding recent grads. Not a single one of them was in the sciences. Made it clear that was not a priority there.

So you were at a Slac not known for its sciences. Why was your DD then interested? She wasted her time, your time, and AO time. All of this info is readily available on the internet so there is no excuse for this

It is very easy on line to see the top majors at every school. Any college guide also tells which schools are strong for which majors. Why are you having to gauge this by photos on the wall. Very random method!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One really good question to ask a tour guide is “who is your favorite professor?” I actually work in a university and I have discovered from touring campus with my own kids that ideally a tour guide will describe a good relationship with this person - he took us on a field trip, read multiple drafts of my thesis, worked with me to find resources, had us all over to her house for pizza. At a big impersonal school this question helps you to gauge if there is any personal interaction with professors or TAs.

A field trip? Over to their house for pizza?

MOh, you must have gone to a large impersonal school.

My kid wanted a small LAC. We often heard stories of people doing things like dog sitting for their professors. At my kid’s eventual choice, the History of Food prof had the whole class over to cook the food that was the focus of their final paper, with his family. My DD made fondue. She has many memories like this from her undergrad experience (including another prof taking members of the Wildlife Society to his favorite herping spot in the woods on the night of the Vernal equinox! )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One really good question to ask a tour guide is “who is your favorite professor?” I actually work in a university and I have discovered from touring campus with my own kids that ideally a tour guide will describe a good relationship with this person - he took us on a field trip, read multiple drafts of my thesis, worked with me to find resources, had us all over to her house for pizza. At a big impersonal school this question helps you to gauge if there is any personal interaction with professors or TAs.

A field trip? Over to their house for pizza?

NP. Yes. In our small family of 3, both parents and the one kid have absolutely had these experiences.

The schools are one Ivy (parent) one giant Midwestern state school (parent, who had the pizza and field trips within a smallish department), and Vanderbilt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Doesn’t look like you are seeking diversity, at least not in political views, but rather more group-think.

No. I don't care to have Right Wing, Trumpian, Anti-vaxxer, COVID denier, NRA moron kind of diversity. As I mentioned very clearly it is mostly racial and gender diversity which is important for us. These kinds of diversities also automatically lends to economic diversity and acceptable cultural diversity. Now you will ask what I mean by Acceptable Cultural Diversity? By that I mean the diversity of food, language, national origin, sexual orientation, attire, religious practices, arts etc. I believe in human rights and women's rights. I do not mean Misogynistic, InCel, Gun Fanatics, Polygamists, Racist and Homophobic, anti-Science and anti women's right, pedophile, Christian Right Wing people who watch Fox News.

There are plenty of misogynists, polygamists, pedophiles, and ant-science folks on the far left. It's just packaged differently. But if you don't want your precious worldview challenged, then by all means don't go to a college where this might happen.

Watch out for those leftist myrmecologists. They study red ants not doubt.

I laffed.

[Anonymous]

Big red flag: unhappy looking students. Break away from the tour and walk the campus on your own. Do students seem happy and engaged? Are they smiling? Does there seem to be a sense of vitality and spirit?

If not, dig deeper to understand the culture of the school and make sure you go in with that understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Doesn’t look like you are seeking diversity, at least not in political views, but rather more group-think.

There is nothing wrong with colleges in Texas and Florida. They have diverse student populations. They have strong support of student athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Doesn’t look like you are seeking diversity, at least not in political views, but rather more group-think.

No, honey, in 2022, we do not want "diversity" by going to school with a bunch of dumb Trumpers. Keep up.

You have clearly never been to Gainesville, Tallahassee, Orlando, Austin, Lubbock or Denton.