<p>On another thread several people have mentioned Smith as being a “nurturing” school. I’m wondering what aspects of that (or any other) school make it nurturing? And are there other examples of “nurturing” schools? (My issues are similar to the parent who started the other thread–a D who is on the shy side. She is especially shy around people who are overtly competetive or who seem supremely confident; she will also be a year younger than most college freshmen.)</p>
<p>I’ll take a stab at things that might be important to at least some students looking for that hard-to-define nurturing environment. Most of these are things you can ask about or find out with a little research:</p>
<p>–well thought out freshman orientation that includes introduction to both academic an student life
–lots of formal and informal peer mentoring (which can take the shape of everything from formal mentoring to a tradition of dorm residents looking out for underclassmen)
–friendly or at least helpful staff in the administrative offices that students interact with most
–culture of close faculty-student contact and strong tradition of student-faculty research (one of the school D was interested in provided expense accounts that reimbursed faculty for entertaining students in their homes; look for faculty eating with students in the cafeteria or the number of open office doors with students in faculty offices)
–dorms that aren’t segregated by class year
–academic advising done by full faculty members and not staff, para-professionals, administrators, etc.
–tenure system where teaching and advising are valued, even if research expectations are high
–high-level administrators who are accessible to students
–athletic coach who mentions something about how the team supports a student’s course work or how academics come first</p>
<p>Here is a list many people use:
[Colleges</a> That Change Lives](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/)</p>
<p>I think MarathonMan is dead on. Rice is a nurturing schools for many of the reasons identified by MarathonMan.</p>
<p>–academic advising done by full (insert here - teaching!) faculty members and not staff, para-professionals, administrators, etc.</p>
<p>Could have saved a lot of aguish at our house while we were paying full load for a huge name west coast school… D1 was assigned an advisor at one of the engineering research institutes… If meeting with your advisor means a 25 minute bus ride, and if your advisor doesn’t teach or know about undergrduate classes… yeah, that’s a world class education.</p>
<p>Marathonman–Your thread says to me --“Go to an LAC” And, OP,you will probably find most, if not all, of the things you wrote about at an LAC. I have two kids at an LAC and one at a bigger U. I am not choosing one over the other!</p>
<p>I guess I have a concern with what is meant by “nurturing.” I think it is time for the kids to grow up and the parents to back away. Parents should rarely, if ever, intervene in the students academic development. The student should figure out what they want to study and what courses they need to take.</p>
<p>Of course there should be discussion with parents and academic advisor’s. But ultimately it is up to the student. And it is ultimately up to the student to figure stuff out. This includes what EC’s they want to become involved with, whether they want to join a sorority or fraternity, athletics, theater or volunteer work. </p>
<p>Let the student grow up and figure out his/her interests. He/she might come out of his/her shell.</p>
<p>I don’t entirely agree with morrismm. 18 may be mature for some, but not for all. Of course the student should figure out what his passion is, but I think most of them need a little help on the way. My daughter is at the very nurturing school mentioned in the OP’s post, and I am particularly impressed with the way her advisor goes over all her course choices for the next semester, often pointing out that she should take a more challenging one (and calling his collegue to ensure she will be given a place in that class), or mentioning that another class she hadn’t thought of would be an interesting addition to her Curruculum. Of course, I have no experience of other institutions, although I am often appalled at the number of students I see on CC choosing their classes through Ratemyprof. on the basis of who gives the easiest As. My nephew, who is at Brown, is driving my sister crazy by shopping around for fun classes that don’t start before 2PM. We had a horrible year last year when D’s father spent 9 months in intensive care. The school was incredibly supportive, both towards her and me, and I was and am incredibly grateful for their commitment to the wellfare of their students.</p>