Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a rising senior and have been doing the rounds of many top 25 schools (universities and colleges). We started with safety schools last year and then junior year grades came back so this summer we've been touring some top schools. My kid is trying to figure out an ED.
We have a rising junior as well so we have a couple of kids with us.

The more of these schools we tour, the less impressed I am. They're sort of all a bit falling apart, poorly maintained, with pretty odd students (tour guides, summer students and especially touring students alike--don't jump all over for for saying this--being brutally honest), little sense of community, same-old, same-old stuff about study-abroad, etc. Many have very large class sizes, etc.

I feel like we're (kid and parent alike) are supposed to love these schools and want to pay $90K for them and my kids can't find one they really like. I very, very, very much feel like we're being sold a product that we're supposed to want to buy because of prestige and name but when we see the product up close it doesn't look great and I feel like a sheep lining up to say "yes sir. let me put my kid through mental/emotional twister for a 5% chance of being admitted to your school and then I will gladly pay you $90K for the honor. Yes sir." It just feels... gross. Maybe not gross but yucky. My kids are like, "well I didn't really like this or that here but I could probably make it work." They too feel the pressure to LIKE these places. The Almighty XYZ or ABC school! It's supposed to be their dream!

Please don't jump on me. I know it's summer and we're not seeing the universities at their best but ugh. They're all kind of disappointing. I can't be the only one who feels this way? (I'm not going to name university/college names because then this post will turn into a giant thread about whatever school(s) I name.

Dumpy? Unimpressive, meaning structurally, academically, what? As you looking at colleges or real estate to purchase?

She is buying a service for $360k and expects the quality of the service to reflect the price paid.

When did people start thinking of education in this way?

Oh I'd say between 1995 and 2000. Colleges have nobody to blame but themselves for it.

The Government and popular expectations are responsible for most of it. I went to a highly regarded school a very long time ago. No air conditioning in any but the science buildings. Dorm rooms consisted of two metal single beds! Two desks and two chairs. One bathroom area per floor. All you had to learn from were books. Very little tutoring, almost no mental health support centers, etc. I’m sure that relatively few reports were required by the Federal Government. Of course there was no internet or other such things that we take for granted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are people even arguing about? People have different priorities when it comes to picking a college. Why is this a shocking or bad thing? Do you want everyone to value the same things and hence apply to the same schools as your kid? Denigrating other people's priorities is pointless.

Somebody really needed to bust out Aesop's Fables to suggest Ivy wannabes are just jealous.

Btw the point of the Medium post is that the Fox can truly be happy with some other fruit after going on his merry way. Not being able to snag some particular bunch of grapes is hardly a life crisis.

If you think that is the moral of the story then you fail.

Nope. Sorry. I reject your world view and your crappy fable.

It's not my fable. It's Aesop, a cornerstone of western literature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop

They can teach about this at lots of schools, crappy dorms and all.

PP. I'm well aware of Aesop. I mentioned this in my original response. I didn't go to any of the schools namechecked, whether the dorms were crappy or fancy. No need to cover Aesop's Fables in college. Already covered in elementary school. I find your namechecking and presentation of the fable rather smug. (I noticed you copy-pasted a huge fraction of it, rather than type it out from your classically-educated, ancient world bardic memory). I continue to object to your world view that sour grapes are what's causing people to complain about poor conditions at expensive schools. I correct my post to read "your smug presentation of a fable."

For the record, the first time I ran across a semi-permanent colony of feral housecats was on the north side of Georgetown U's campus. My bf rented a space in a room in a Burleith slumlord's ratty townhouse. It recently became a $1M to-the-studs teardown. I know exactly what these complainers are talking about. I've also been in parts of Ivy campuses that failed to wow or were old/dirty/broken down. Completely factual. No fable.

So don’t send your kids there. See how easy? Why complain publicly about it unless sour grapes?

Thanks for correcting your previous post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are people even arguing about? People have different priorities when it comes to picking a college. Why is this a shocking or bad thing? Do you want everyone to value the same things and hence apply to the same schools as your kid? Denigrating other people's priorities is pointless.

Somebody really needed to bust out Aesop's Fables to suggest Ivy wannabes are just jealous.

Btw the point of the Medium post is that the Fox can truly be happy with some other fruit after going on his merry way. Not being able to snag some particular bunch of grapes is hardly a life crisis.

If you think that is the moral of the story then you fail.

Nope. Sorry. I reject your world view and your crappy fable.

It's not my fable. It's Aesop, a cornerstone of western literature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop

They can teach about this at lots of schools, crappy dorms and all.

PP. I'm well aware of Aesop. I mentioned this in my original response. I didn't go to any of the schools namechecked, whether the dorms were crappy or fancy. No need to cover Aesop's Fables in college. Already covered in elementary school. I find your namechecking and presentation of the fable rather smug. (I noticed you copy-pasted a huge fraction of it, rather than type it out from your classically-educated, ancient world bardic memory). I continue to object to your world view that sour grapes are what's causing people to complain about poor conditions at expensive schools. I correct my post to read "your smug presentation of a fable."

For the record, the first time I ran across a semi-permanent colony of feral housecats was on the north side of Georgetown U's campus. My bf rented a space in a room in a Burleith slumlord's ratty townhouse. It recently became a $1M to-the-studs teardown. I know exactly what these complainers are talking about. I've also been in parts of Ivy campuses that failed to wow or were old/dirty/broken down. Completely factual. No fable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand people who tour schools in the summer. You aren't getting to see them other than the buildings. It's a waste.

I don’t understand tours. Just go on campus and enter buildings after people. Ask people on the quad questions. The tour guide is just a student doing their job and giving you lies about the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are people even arguing about? People have different priorities when it comes to picking a college. Why is this a shocking or bad thing? Do you want everyone to value the same things and hence apply to the same schools as your kid? Denigrating other people's priorities is pointless.

Somebody really needed to bust out Aesop's Fables to suggest Ivy wannabes are just jealous.

Btw the point of the Medium post is that the Fox can truly be happy with some other fruit after going on his merry way. Not being able to snag some particular bunch of grapes is hardly a life crisis.

If you think that is the moral of the story then you fail.

Nope. Sorry. I reject your world view and your crappy fable.

It's not my fable. It's Aesop, a cornerstone of western literature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop

They can teach about this at lots of schools, crappy dorms and all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a lot of these schools have half the kids paying 100k a year and half paying 15k a year. People already feel like suckers .. and then when the food is frozen chicken cutlets or the dorms have mold in the vents, it's natural to complain.

The real issue is that many of these schools force students to pay $$ for these moldy crowded dorms that regularly flood and frozen chicken cutlets for the first few years of the degree.

and now they're forcing you to live in their moldy dorms for 4 years to make more $$$. It was a PITA to get DC's college to let him live off campus, because it's a "residential experience" and 94% of students live on campus-uh huh, and it's also $92,000 this year and he'd rather share an apartment in this expensive area than stay on campus.

Ok you people need to start naming names. My DC is at a private on the west coast. Dorm year 1, on campus apartment year 2 with a kitchen and only the basic meal plan. And then off campus year 3. No meal plan at all. Zero Mold in any of her livings spaces. And Full AC. It all has been better than my first adult apartment post grad tbh. If you made a mistake in selecting or vetting a school’s living conditions that accountability is on you.

Why don't you name this school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are people even arguing about? People have different priorities when it comes to picking a college. Why is this a shocking or bad thing? Do you want everyone to value the same things and hence apply to the same schools as your kid? Denigrating other people's priorities is pointless.

Somebody really needed to bust out Aesop's Fables to suggest Ivy wannabes are just jealous.

Btw the point of the Medium post is that the Fox can truly be happy with some other fruit after going on his merry way. Not being able to snag some particular bunch of grapes is hardly a life crisis.

If you think that is the moral of the story then you fail.

Nope. Sorry. I reject your world view and your crappy fable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a lot of these schools have half the kids paying 100k a year and half paying 15k a year. People already feel like suckers .. and then when the food is frozen chicken cutlets or the dorms have mold in the vents, it's natural to complain.

The real issue is that many of these schools force students to pay $$ for these moldy crowded dorms that regularly flood and frozen chicken cutlets for the first few years of the degree.

and now they're forcing you to live in their moldy dorms for 4 years to make more $$$. It was a PITA to get DC's college to let him live off campus, because it's a "residential experience" and 94% of students live on campus-uh huh, and it's also $92,000 this year and he'd rather share an apartment in this expensive area than stay on campus.

Ok you people need to start naming names. My DC is at a private on the west coast. Dorm year 1, on campus apartment year 2 with a kitchen and only the basic meal plan. And then off campus year 3. No meal plan at all. Zero Mold in any of her livings spaces. And Full AC. It all has been better than my first adult apartment post grad tbh. If you made a mistake in selecting or vetting a school’s living conditions that accountability is on you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a lot of these schools have half the kids paying 100k a year and half paying 15k a year. People already feel like suckers .. and then when the food is frozen chicken cutlets or the dorms have mold in the vents, it's natural to complain.

The real issue is that many of these schools force students to pay $$ for these moldy crowded dorms that regularly flood and frozen chicken cutlets for the first few years of the degree.

and now they're forcing you to live in their moldy dorms for 4 years to make more $$$. It was a PITA to get DC's college to let him live off campus, because it's a "residential experience" and 94% of students live on campus-uh huh, and it's also $92,000 this year and he'd rather share an apartment in this expensive area than stay on campus.

Ok you people need to start naming names. My DC is at a private on the west coast. Dorm year 1, on campus apartment year 2 with a kitchen and only the basic meal plan. And then off campus year 3. No meal plan at all. Zero Mold in any of her livings spaces. And Full AC. It all has been better than my first adult apartment post grad tbh. If you made a mistake in selecting or vetting a school’s living conditions that accountability is on you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a lot of these schools have half the kids paying 100k a year and half paying 15k a year. People already feel like suckers .. and then when the food is frozen chicken cutlets or the dorms have mold in the vents, it's natural to complain.

The real issue is that many of these schools force students to pay $$ for these moldy crowded dorms that regularly flood and frozen chicken cutlets for the first few years of the degree.

and now they're forcing you to live in their moldy dorms for 4 years to make more $$$. It was a PITA to get DC's college to let him live off campus, because it's a "residential experience" and 94% of students live on campus-uh huh, and it's also $92,000 this year and he'd rather share an apartment in this expensive area than stay on campus.

Ok you people need to start naming names. My DC is at a private on the west coast. Dorm year 1, on campus apartment year 2 with a kitchen and only the basic meal plan. And then off campus year 3. No meal plan at all. Zero Mold in any of her livings spaces. And Full AC. It all has been better than my first adult apartment post grad tbh. If you made a mistake in selecting or vetting a school’s living conditions that accountability is on you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a lot of these schools have half the kids paying 100k a year and half paying 15k a year. People already feel like suckers .. and then when the food is frozen chicken cutlets or the dorms have mold in the vents, it's natural to complain.

The real issue is that many of these schools force students to pay $$ for these moldy crowded dorms that regularly flood and frozen chicken cutlets for the first few years of the degree.

and now they're forcing you to live in their moldy dorms for 4 years to make more $$$. It was a PITA to get DC's college to let him live off campus, because it's a "residential experience" and 94% of students live on campus-uh huh, and it's also $92,000 this year and he'd rather share an apartment in this expensive area than stay on campus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a lot of these schools have half the kids paying 100k a year and half paying 15k a year. People already feel like suckers .. and then when the food is frozen chicken cutlets or the dorms have mold in the vents, it's natural to complain.

The real issue is that many of these schools force students to pay $$ for these moldy crowded dorms that regularly flood and frozen chicken cutlets for the first few years of the degree.

and now they're forcing you to live in their moldy dorms for 4 years to make more $$$. It was a PITA to get DC's college to let him live off campus, because it's a "residential experience" and 94% of students live on campus-uh huh, and it's also $92,000 this year and he'd rather share an apartment in this expensive area than stay on campus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are people even arguing about? People have different priorities when it comes to picking a college. Why is this a shocking or bad thing? Do you want everyone to value the same things and hence apply to the same schools as your kid? Denigrating other people's priorities is pointless.

Somebody really needed to bust out Aesop's Fables to suggest Ivy wannabes are just jealous.

Btw the point of the Medium post is that the Fox can truly be happy with some other fruit after going on his merry way. Not being able to snag some particular bunch of grapes is hardly a life crisis.

If you think that is the moral of the story then you fail.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are people even arguing about? People have different priorities when it comes to picking a college. Why is this a shocking or bad thing? Do you want everyone to value the same things and hence apply to the same schools as your kid? Denigrating other people's priorities is pointless.

Somebody really needed to bust out Aesop's Fables to suggest Ivy wannabes are just jealous.

Btw the point of the Medium post is that the Fox can truly be happy with some other fruit after going on his merry way. Not being able to snag some particular bunch of grapes is hardly a life crisis.