<p>Thanks Umich. This makes me so sad, from all sides of the situation…</p>
<p>momofa12 - as with everything, take what you read on CC with a big grain of salt. If your D liked a school, and continues to like it based on her research, that is wonderful!</p>
<p>My D goes to Adelphi, which is extremely similar to Hofstra in many ways. She is going there for very personal reasons, and she is very happy with it. Yet whenever I looked for information about it on CC, I read only turn-offs: that it is “too local,” too much of a commuter/suitcase school, not known for “high quality” (which on CC means being in the top 100 schools on some arbitrary list), etc. As with many schools that don’t make the high rankings or aren’t “name brands,” we had doubts, too.</p>
<p>Some of these things are true - and some of them she doesn’t particularly like - mostly the hard facts about commuters, etc. Some aspects have extremely “high quality,” and others not so much. But she knows why she is there, and she is finding, as with any school, that the experience SHE is having, and the people SHE is working with, are the most important factors to happiness and success. My advice is to follow your own observations and your own gut.</p>
<p>As for the Hofstra/Hartwick choice (or any mid-sized university in the burbs vs. a small LAC in a cute college town) … I’ll say that my D spent a few weeks in Oneonta (at camp at SUNY) so we’ve been there, and she found that area stifling. She also found small LACs stifling (and she got into several excellent ones). If a kid likes a 5-8,000 student, bustling, city-access kind of campus, then that’s their taste. Neither of my D’s liked the small LAC in a small town atmosphere, when all was said and done. Come to think of it, I never did, either!</p>
<p>You definitely have to take everything on CC with a grain of salt. There are so many people here who think 2200 on the SAT is terrible - where will I get in - oh no - should I retake the SAT - my GPA is only 4.7 - if I don’t get into a top 20 LAC my parents will kill me - I will never get a job - my life will be over - blah, blah, blah.</p>
<p>So their perspective of other schools is just somewhat “off.” I can’t even get a straight answer (except on this thread) about a safety school for a potential engineering major because people can’t get out of the JHU-Duke-MIT mindset. There are engineers at UConn. And I’m sure they get jobs.</p>
<p>You may get negative vibe on a school like Hofstra from the LIers on the board. There are a ton of exceptions, but so many kids who grew up here want to get away when they go to college (I was the same way). We have some excellent colleges here, but for many kids/parents, they are too close. It’s really not about the school, it’s the proximity to home.</p>
<p>Hofstra no longer has a football team, for those who care about that.</p>
<p>And, it just doesn’t meet criteria for those kids who want an urban campus or a campus that is a hop-skip-and-a-jump from the city (although it is perfectly accessible to Hofstra, it’s more than a subway ride). But a lot of schools don’t. For the record, my kids hated BU and Penn (don’t want such an urban environment) - again, Hofstra would be the perfect suburban school for them if it wasn’t so close to home (especially DD).</p>
<p>I’m equally frustrated on CC by the college threads that are not popular. Hard to get feedback on colleges like Miami (OH) and RPI. Those threads are really quiet, while UMDCP, Miami (FL) and of course the top colleges are non-stop everyday.</p>
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<p>LINYMOM, have you tried searching for mentions of less-popular schools on the parents forum? Sometimes that helps. If the number of results you get is overwhelming, you can try just searching on thread titles. For instance, some results from searching on the keywords Miami Ohio </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/76796-miami-university-ohio.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/76796-miami-university-ohio.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/537064-parents-only-impressions-miami-ohio.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/537064-parents-only-impressions-miami-ohio.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/156973-miami-vs-clemson-vs-ohio-st-vs-uconn.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/156973-miami-vs-clemson-vs-ohio-st-vs-uconn.html</a></p>
<p>LINYMOM: d’s best friend is a freshman at Miami of Ohio…let me know if you have questions</p>
<p>I have heard that Hartwick does some “bait and switch” with Financial aid. The aid drops off after the first year.</p>
<p>momofa12- As a Long Islander, I think Hofstra gets a bad rap because Hempstead is not a great town, imo. Adelphi, by contrast is in Garden City, which Long Islanders might think is a nicer place to live. As has been discussed, one man’s fabulous LAC is another man’s stifling environment. Potato, Potahhto. If your d loves Hofstra, good for her that she found a place that feels right for her.</p>
<p>I’ve seen the negative stuff about Hofstra too but I’m not really sure what the issue is. It’s true that Hempstead is not a nice college town. I think Hofstra used to be more of a commuter school than it is now, but the perception lingers. We also had a great tour.</p>
<p>For anyone who has a sense of humor, and at this point I am hanging on to mine based on what I have not done, what I have seen, what I have read, what I have heard, and what has happened during this process so far:</p>
<p>My mind-boggling discovery (ha, ha), college acceptance/rejections are based on …“Eeny, meeny, miney, mo”. </p>
<p>Signed,
SMH - Smacking My Head</p>
<p>thanks to you all. I will make sure she tries to remember this. The allure to her were the professors she got to speak with and the opportunity to double major in dance and business, and she loved the dance girls she met. So, I will make sure she looks into all the options. Ugh this is so hard.</p>
<p>For the record, we looked at Hofstra when we toured Adelphi. Remember, our college search was all about theatre programs - especially BFAs. Adelphi has an auditioned BFA; Hofstra has a BA in theatre, with a BFA you can audition for later on. D didn’t happen to like the Hofstra campus, after just seeing Adelphi. I agree - Adelphi is in a “prettier” town, with a prettier campus - although I am not asserting it is a better all-around school, of course, and “pretty” was not one of D’s criteria (she actually likes “grit,” and wanted to be in a city, but decided to give that up for other things). D had other reasons not to apply to Hofstra, but felt it was a perfectly nice school.</p>
<p>Also - as has been said before - one person’s “local” school is another person’s exotic new opportunity. D knew Adelphi was full of locals, but she much prefers going to college with “locals” she’s never met than a bunch of people from her own HS!</p>
<p>S got into his ED school: Bucknell!</p>
<p>911C2S–Congratulations!!!</p>
<p>911 - HOORAY!!! Wonderful and exciting news. Now you can go out and buy all sorts of Bucknell gear for him for Chanukah!</p>
<p>Yeah 911. Happy dance for you and your S!</p>
<p>Happy day 911. Congrats!</p>
<p>911-Your son is in a special class of students-Bucknell men rated the #1 hottest in the country by College P----.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! Vitrac, yes, S is fully aware of the “hot” stats of the student body. He certainly doesn’t suffer from low self-esteem, no matter how hard I try to be the reality check for him. I’m sure he thinks he’ll continue to uphold those stats for Bucknell.</p>
<p>BTW, I really think that applying ED and being full pay helped S a lot. His stats put him in range, but the range is more generous for the ED decisions, per Bucknell’s own literature.</p>
<p>911:congrats to you and your family!!</p>
<p>Great news, Congratulations to your son!</p>