<p>I’m not a ■■■■■ but a longtime lurker who really needs to put LeechBlock on this site because I spend WAY too much time here!!!</p>
<p>Daughter went on a college tour last spring, and we have visited a few schools on our own:</p>
<p>UC RIVERSIDE: “Everyone looked sad there and told us they were redirects (after having applied to other campuses of the Univ. of Calif.) and wanted to be elsewhere.”</p>
<p>UNIV. of SAN DIEGO (the Catholic school): “Students were walking alone and talking into their cells.”</p>
<p>UC Irvine: “Ugly.”</p>
<p>LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: Too preppy; her image of SoCal with a lot of girls wearing Hollister and the like. (Their brochures seemed to have the most attractive students of any I’ve seen!)</p>
<p>UC SANTA BARBARA: “The frat guy who talked to me looked like a god!!! But it’s too much of a party school to me.”</p>
<p>WHITTIER: “It felt like high school, especially the way the Psychology professor was talking to the class; the students should have learned how to make presentations in high school.” She sat in on a class, and the professor told the kids to make eye contact, not just read their notes, etc. We found notices in the restrooms reminding students that they needed to start preparing for finals, visit the academic support center, etc. The school is and has been working to increase its retention rate so I guess this hand holding is part of that effort. Both students and professors were quite friendly and sat with us at lunch. A friend whose dad was a professor there and whose daughter will be attending Whittier this fall said, “The facilities have a Quaker vibe; they are not luxurious but they get the job done.” I didn’t “get it” until we visited Occidental. Whittier is nice and adequate, but most definitely does not exude $$$$. </p>
<p>OCCIDENTAL: “My dream school but I don’t think I will apply.” Why? The guide’s course load was six or seven classes, she was involved in varsity sports, working, and was in a sorority or otherwise had a social life, and DD felt intimidated by such over-achievement, especially the extra heavy course load. </p>
<p>UCLA: Too big.</p>
<p>USC: Too big; sketchy part of town. (But actually, she’s also considering Clark in Worcester, MA because she finds the city appealing, although she has never visited.)</p>
<p>ST. MARY’S in Moraga, CA: Too close to home.</p>
<p>UC BERKELEY: Too close to home. Huge. </p>
<p>Places visited and still on the list:</p>
<p>Pitzer College: Beautiful; especially loved the dorms. Really good cafeteria food like Occidental’s. Did not seem overly or especially hippie, but then we’re from NoCal so maybe don’t see those things. Was inspired by students’ campus projects. Walked around campus but did not attend any other Claremont College tour. Pitzer seemed to be the best fit.</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz: I didn’t think my city kid would like the redwood trees as much as she did; she said the school looked like summer camp. The students looked <em>normal</em> to her and not particularly hippie. We didn’t make it to the college with the highest concentration of students in the arts, so we didn’t see any or many artsy looking types. The school IS extremely spread out.</p>
<p>Sonoma State: Great dorms, nice looking campus. Supposedly, we saw the <em>worst</em> dorm and not the apartment style ones with granite counters. The new music center is GORGEOUS but quite a hike from the rest of the campus. SSU is supposed to be the CSU most like a private college. For some reason we missed the dorm dining hall and were horrified by the dreadful food in the campus pub and the limited food in the <em>Commons</em>. We found the dining hall after we ate, and she pronounced the food to be <em>normal</em>, so Sonoma State will remain as our financial and academic safety school.</p>