Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have to say Georgetown was on the list and we love the area but almost stepping on a dead rat on the sidewalk led to some more google research and finding out about the widespread rat and cockroach problem. That was enough for my DS to take it off his list haha

Exact same response for us. Such a shame. When will Georgetown get its act together?
They are starting to build a bad reputation that could take a while to undo.

A reputation for dinginess is not the same as a reputation for everything else that is actually quite excellent. Yes, I'm a parent of junior there and they could not be happier. Believe it or not, smart kids don't care about a little dinginess. Honestly, it just emphasizes that Jesuit vibe. I guess you have to get it, to get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wisconsin- went in expecting to love this one, but just...didn't. Campus really disjointed.

Syracuse- depressing

Sorry to hear that, as my daughter is considering both schools. We haven't visited yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found it interesting how visits really impacted DD's opinions on the midwestern SLACs.

Going in, her preferences were:

Carleton, reach; Oberlin & Macalester, targets, Wooster, likely/safety

After visits:

Carleton, reach; Kenyon & Macalester, targets; Kalamazoo & St. Olaf, likelies/safeties

We had talked with her extensively about needing to find a likely that she loves that would also be a financial safety (we need aid to afford the SLACs she wants). On paper, Wooster sounded 100%--she loved the focus on student research, they offer great merit aid, she had talked with a student on the phone ahead of time and was really enthused. I liked it , but she found the campus a bit too remote and it just didn't connect with her anymore. She said she just felt "blah" about it. (I think she may have built it up too much in her mind).
Meanwhile, Kenyon, which is even more remote, surprisingly rose to the top based on her tour of the campus, discussions with students, she just really loved it. So I don't really see how the remoteness of Wooster was the real issue.

Conversely, Oberlin. She originally had it as a top target, on paper she's a great fit (loves music, STEM major) but decided it would be a fantastic school for several of her friends, but not for her. Not sure why.

Kalamazoo, however, we just visited because it was mid-point on a 5 hour drive between Detroit and Chicago. But she loved it-- the study abroad options, internships, the people and the campus and town and now it's her top "likely" (and one which they gave her an estimate of merit aid based on her scores and it would be very affordable).

Similarly, St. Olaf--visited because we were in the area. She said that she had never felt so peaceful in a school before, it fit with her music interests and that everyone was nice without being boring (and again likely great merit aid).

So, Wooster and Oberlin fell off the list and Kenyon, Kalamazoo, and St. Olaf came on the list--for hard to pinpoint reasons, but more "feelings." Just glad she's figuring things out. Also very glad we opted to go to colleges we happened to be nearby on trips!

We loved St. Olaf too! Wasn't even on the radar screen for dd, but we were in Northfield to tour Carleton and thought we might as well look while we were there. It is on her list now!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have to say Georgetown was on the list and we love the area but almost stepping on a dead rat on the sidewalk led to some more google research and finding out about the widespread rat and cockroach problem. That was enough for my DS to take it off his list haha

Georgetown is one of those schools that looks great from the air but looks really dingy and, dare I say, ugly from the ground. There are only one or two beautiful buildings on campus and the rest are quite shoddily built.

Story is too funny because my sister went to Georgetown and woke up one night the first month of school to a rat licking her neck. According to her as big as a cat. She stayed and graduated but was spooked for years…,

Anonymous wrote:Wisconsin- went in expecting to love this one, but just...didn't. Campus really disjointed.

Syracuse- depressing

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have to say Georgetown was on the list and we love the area but almost stepping on a dead rat on the sidewalk led to some more google research and finding out about the widespread rat and cockroach problem. That was enough for my DS to take it off his list haha

Georgetown is one of those schools that looks great from the air but looks really dingy and, dare I say, ugly from the ground. There are only one or two beautiful buildings on campus and the rest are quite shoddily built.

Story is too funny because my sister went to Georgetown and woke up one night the first month of school to a rat licking her neck. According to her as big as a cat. She stayed and graduated but was spooked for years…,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have to say Georgetown was on the list and we love the area but almost stepping on a dead rat on the sidewalk led to some more google research and finding out about the widespread rat and cockroach problem. That was enough for my DS to take it off his list haha

Georgetown is one of those schools that looks great from the air but looks really dingy and, dare I say, ugly from the ground. There are only one or two beautiful buildings on campus and the rest are quite shoddily built.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse (with merit aid) was way too expensive

Alum here- understood, but it is a great school.

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse (with merit aid) was way too expensive

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse (with merit aid) was way too expensive

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvey Mudd - My daughter did not like the 1960s motel-like dorms.

I tried very hard to interest DD in Harvey Mudd, but it is rather amazingly ugly, especially compared to the other 4 schools in the Claremont cluster. We were feeling a little shell-shocked on our self-guided tour between the Soviet gulag-looking dorms and a near-collision with one of the several students on unicycles. A nice lady stopped us and said she was a Pomona admissions officer with a kid at Harvey Mudd, and she made a great case for the school based on her DD’s experience. My daughter, sadly, had no interest in applying there, and she wouldn’t get out of the car at MIT (which DH and I also really liked).

Surprised to hear upthread that a poster didn’t like the area around Macalester. I think that part of St. Paul is lovely.

I agree with the poster who said that Charlottesville is somehow sinister. I went to law school there and enjoyed it (other than the attending law school part), but there is definitely a lot of weirdness, violence, and unresolved racial issues mixed in with the many great things about the area. It has much more of the worst of the south than is apparent if you are just a visitor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvey Mudd - My daughter did not like the 1960s motel-like dorms.

I tried very hard to interest DD in Harvey Mudd, but it is rather amazingly ugly, especially compared to the other 4 schools in the Claremont cluster. We were feeling a little shell-shocked on our self-guided tour between the Soviet gulag-looking dorms and a near-collision with one of the several students on unicycles. A nice lady stopped us and said she was a Pomona admissions officer with a kid at Harvey Mudd, and she made a great case for the school based on her DD’s experience. My daughter, sadly, had no interest in applying there, and she wouldn’t get out of the car at MIT (which DH and I also really liked).

Surprised to hear upthread that a poster didn’t like the area around Macalester. I think that part of St. Paul is lovely.

I agree with the poster who said that Charlottesville is somehow sinister. I went to law school there and enjoyed it (other than the attending law school part), but there is definitely a lot of weirdness, violence, and unresolved racial issues mixed in with the many great things about the area. It has much more of the worst of the south than is apparent if you are just a visitor.