<p>Yeah, that Sylvia Plath comment is great. Might well explain why my daughter really did <em>not</em> like the Lewis & Clark information session. She was able to look past the arrogant tour guide, with her handkerchief skirt and the unemployment-line double major (sculpture and Hispanic studies), but the information session really turned her off. </p>
<p>She was also not impressed by the buildings, though I didn’t think they were that bad (but it was a sunny day). Still, at the end of the day I agreed that it wasn’t the place for her. That, despite my initially hoping that she’d like it.</p>
<p>Despite the expected differences, it’s interesting to see how many similar opinions people have of campuses.</p>
<h1>2650 post: LOL at bad impression of Whitman rep at college fair. There is one rep known as “The creepy Whitman Lady” amongst D’s friends. She has been at several fairs that we attended and seems to uniformly turn kids off. Ditto the rep for Ursinus - saw twice at fairs and D didn’t even want to pick up literature because, “If that’s who they pick to represent them I wouldn’t want to be there.”</h1>
<p>It’s amazing the power of a first impression.</p>
<h1>2679 OK, reading back a ways I found post 2679 with a link to “Stupidest reasons child won’t look at college” What a great comedy release after the push to get through Jan 15 apps! It would make a great book or funny reason a day desk calendar. Best of all . . . I’m not alone. Squirrels, sandals of the tour guide, etc. - D refusing to consider schools with orange and blue colors because she always hated that combination is looking less out there :-)</h1>
<p>After much thought, S2 crossed off St. Olaf. He really liked it on his first visit (as did I), but crossed it off after going back for a more extended stay. Everyone was really, really nice (Minnesota, right?), but S2, despite being musical and athletic, felt he couldn’t fit in with the dominant campus culture (white, religious, etc.). Was repeatedly told not to worry, because there is a lot of “tolerance” at Olaf. Finally decided that he didn’t want spend four years being “tolerated.” Also thought the campus was too isolated - not within walking distance of downtown Northfield.</p>
<p>“Carleton: No real student union/commons or other place to gather in cold climate.”</p>
<p>Uh… Sayles is the student center - a grill, open spaces, comfy couches, great place to hang out. The new arts center also has some great spaces. There’s also the Dacie Moses House: an old house open to students to hang out and bake cookies; or just hang out. Carls also gather outside on the Bald Spot - even in cold weather (they make an ice rink out of it!). </p>
<p>Or around a camp fire on one of the islands in the Arb. S1 says that his deciding moment for choosing Carleton was when he did an overnight - his plane was late and he missed some of the scheduled activities for admitted students, but when he arrived on campus (after 11:00 p.m. on a weeknight), he was led to one of the island campfires where a bunch of Carls and prospies were hanging out despite the cold weather. Great community.</p>
<p>I didn’t go, my husband and son did and my son thought it was beautiful. During the tour, they were told the campus was modeled after Columbia’s in NYC. I viewed the virtual tour on line and thought the campus had nicely mixed old and new style. Sorry I don’t have more to share.</p>
<p>I’m a high school senior and just recently visited a bunch of schools. </p>
<p>Ones I crossed off my list… immediately - </p>
<p>Saint Marys College of California - It’s nestled in a canyon and is close to really nice cities, but you absolutely need a car to do anything. Our tour was so unmemorable I can’t even picture the guide. It seemed extremely small and even in the middle of the day when school was going, the campus seemed deserted. </p>
<p>Santa Clara U - The campus borders were nebulous, I couldn’t tell exactly what was part of the university and what wasn’t. Their library was incredible and I’m pretty sure I could just live in there for the rest of my life. But it was summer time and there was not a soul on campus. </p>
<p>UCSC - Beautiful campus and beautiful town, but I don’t want to be a banana slug. Also, the kids seemed indifferent about their education, and I don’t like the idea of pass fail grades. Not my style, but it seemed grade for someone who fits in better than I would.</p>
<p>Pepperdine - The campus was amazing, but the vibe was all wrong. Everyone seemed too happy, like they couldn’t stop smiling. It was almost scary. The academics seem great but the Christian lifestyle “ring by spring” as they call it mentality is not for me. </p>
<p>Harvey Mudd - Amazing school with amazing academics and amazing opportunities, but the buildings look like individual state penitentiaries.</p>
<p>Mango15 - We visited Syracuse last summer. It is set up like a bulls-eye with 2 inner rows of academic buildings and the dorms on the outer edge. I really liked the old historic buildings. S, OTOH, who loved RITs entire red brick campus, was not impressed. We had a hard time finding someone in the computer science area to help us - and this was right at the tail end of an open house day. Also, the dorms seemed old and only a couple had air conditioning. Mostly, though, we did not like the very industrial feel and congestion of the surrounding area. While they have a great computer science program and S could attend tuition-free with my school’s exchange, we ended up crossing it off our list. I’m certain there are students for whom Syracuse is a wonderful fit. But my boy, who is not into sports and is very suburban, was turned off.</p>
<p>Mango15 - we also looked at Syracuse but crossed it off our list. Although the campus is lovely, the surrounding area is very depressed. We met with representatives from my Ds major - they also seemed depressed with low energy. It was not a warm or inviting vibe - definitely something going on there. I would recommend that you meet with reps from the dept. that your child is applying to…they are the people that they would be interfacing with the most and that can make the difference.</p>
<p>My niece attended Syracuse and loved everything about it- except for the location and the weather. She wanted me to design a a ‘giant bubble’ to insulate the campus from the weather and the surrounding area. She graduated a few years ago, and is doing very well, thanks to her education at Syracuse.</p>
<p>I went to high school in a Syracuse suburb and did graduate work there as did my DH. It is really not in a depressed area. To the immediate south of campus are several hospitals and then downtown and Amory Sq (several nice restaurants, boutiques, galleries, etc.) To the east, what you might think is a depressed area is the student ghetto. Big old kind of rundown houses which the kids live in after Freshman yr. in dorm. It’s 99% students. To the east of the student ghetto is a very suburban part of the city. Going down the hill to the north - more old homes - lots of which have been converted into doctor’s offices. And to the south, past Manley Field house there are modest ranch homes. </p>
<p>The school has their own shopping/restaurant/bar neighborhood immediately adjacent to several dorms, library and the newer schools (Newhouse for eg.) on Marshall Street. The Student Center (Shine) is huge and relatively new (25 yrs?) </p>
<p>The really bad thing about Syracuse is the weather. It’s the second cloudiest city after Seattle.</p>
<p>emilybee, I thought Rochester was the cloudiest. How different is the weather between the two. My son is applied to both Univ of Roch and Syracuse.</p>
<p>Colleges knocked off list:
Mary Washington - The girls were too superficial
BC - The crucifixes creeped me out
Tufts - The science labs were outdated
Columbia - Too urban
Amherst - Too preppy/ ugly campus
Harvard - Too big/ too urban
MIT - Too awkward</p>
<p>Colleges added to list:
Hopkins - Loved the campus
W&M - Bumped into a professor and had a lovely conversation
Williams - Homey, if that makes sense
Swarthmore - LOVED the students and the food :)</p>
<p>Lakemom, tbh, I’m not sure. I goggled the clousiest city lists but it’s only for cities with metro areas over 1 million so Syracuse doesn’t even come up on the list. Rochester might get bigger snowstorms than 'Cuse but it snows more often in Syracuse. It can snow every day from November until April. 3"-4" types, day in and day out which adds up to lots of snow by the end of the season. </p>
<p>According to the Farmers Almanac Ten Worst Weather Cities:</p>
<p>5 & 6. SYRACUSE and BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK—Similarly, two cities in New York State ran very close to each other in terms of cloud cover and precipitation. Syracuse ranks fourth among the rainiest cities in the U.S. (171 days); Binghamton came in tenth (162 days). Binghamton is among the top ten cloudiest cities (212 cloudy days annually) while Syracuse ranks fourth among the snowiest cities with 111.6 inches annually. Being adjacent to the St. Lawrence storm track and subject to color air masses approaching from the west and north, these cities must continually endure unsettled weather patterns.</p>
<p>What I don’t understand is if it’s raining/and or snowing all the time doesn’t that mean it must also be cloudy?</p>
<p>Who knew about Binghamton. I usually only hear about Rochester and Syracuse as being cloudy but I knew Syracuse gets more snow than Rochester. I think it has something to do with it being higher up. </p>
<p>My son also applied to RPI which is along the Hudson so in addition to NE weather is supposed to be windy.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great replies about Syracuse! I actually live in South Florida so i’m actually excited for a complete change of settings. I guess I’ll just have to visit Syracuse to see for myself, hopefully I’ll continue to like it as much as I do now!</p>
<p>Hey Lakemom- RPI in Troy is not that windy, and we (I live and work nearish to there) have a lot less precipitation than Rochester and Syracuse. Because we are tucked between the Catskills to the west, the Berkshires to the east, the Helderbergs to the north, we are pretty protected and have a nice regional/micro climate. Now it is no So Cal (where I hail from), but the weather is nothing like most of the rest of the state. We get a lot of blue sky days, even in winter (especially this winter).</p>