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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you have visited both University of Rochester and CWRU with a prospective student (even better if you saw them both and have a student who enrolled at one of these schools): Can you tell me about “vibe” differences and similarities? We toured Rochester last week and my DC (current junior) had some reservations after the tour. We are trying to decide whether to make a visit to CWRU at some point since it checks many of DC’s boxes, but I’m a little hesitant if the feeling is a lot like Rochester’s.

While the Rochester campus is attractive, self-contained, and close to downtown (all pluses in DC’s book), it was hard to get a sense of the student body’s personality. We did not see a lot of students walking or studying together. It was a chilly morning and the tour guide took us inside very few buildings (only the library and dorm, not any of the classroom buildings or campus center or athletic spaces). At other schools we have seen indoor spaces where students can sit together to study or chat, but we weren’t able to get a sense of that at Rochester. The tour guide mentioned a competitive vibe among her classmates that had turned her off from her original major and led her to pivot toward something more social-science related than STEM. My DC is already interested in the social sciences but is hoping to avoid a very competitive atmosphere.

We also didn’t love that the walk from Rochester to any off-campus restaurants, coffee shops etc. would take at least 15-20 minutes. They’re trying hard to promote their “Collegetown” strip of businesses, but it’s not adjacent to campus.

Thanks for any insights if you have enough experience to be able to compare the two schools![/quote]

FYI---my now senior at Rochester had Rochester and CWRU as her top choices in April.  Rochester is a more balanced school and definately friendly and collaborative.  On a nice day, the outdoor space will be filled with students studying/socializing together.  When it's not nice weather, most are in the library study rooms--my kid has booked those with 10-15 friends since freshman year---or in a study space in the engineering buildings (my kid is Engineering).

CWRU had a more "nerdy" vibe and definately is much more STEM/engineering/premed focused.  Many less social science and humanities majors than at UR.  UR "core curriculum" actually encourages kids to explore more areas and focus in depth.  So much that many non-stem kids end up with 2-3 minors and/or a double major.  Because once you've completed your cluster, you are 50-60% to a minor already.

For my kid, she loved the UR campus each time we visited.  Had a ENg tour guide each time (UR has a variety of 3-5 tour guides for each large group and students get to pick which one to follow), specifically in my kid's major (which is smaller--typcially only 30-40 students each year).  So it helped my kid to see that kids in her major were smart, social, and not too "nerdy".  My kid is a dancer and has been able to continue that all 4 years (along with clustering in Dance) and has an amazing group of friends.  Most are going to graduate school (including PHDs, MS, medical and law) next year at Top schools.

CWRU is a great school, but more of a city feel and definately more nerdy. My kid would have been okay there, but UR was a much better fit for them.  [/quote]

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