<p>My S crossed off Earlham after his visit, which made me sad, as I attended a Quaker HS myself and loved it. That aside, thought it would be a great fit for him. I wasn’t on that trip, he went with a friend, and I wonder if the friend’s impressions rubbed off. He just said to me, “too small”.</p>
<p>He nixed Otterbein for the same stated reason and again, I wasn’t’ there.</p>
<p>For the ones we visited together we’re batting 1000 ;)</p>
<p>kinderny, glad to hear that. RPI is high on his list. Now tell me about Troy. If he is accepted, I hear less than good things about it and there is little to do in the town. Albany is 20 min away but mid week, no student is going to blow off the round trip drive time to find something to do.</p>
<p>I am also from So Cal btw 
but now live here in the N.E.</p>
<p>My understanding is that Binghamton sits in sort of a “bowl” ergo the kind of year round gloominess (not to mention the potential for major flooding as seen this past summer).</p>
<p>Lakemom, SoCal to NYS, not a good move weather-wise :). Really, the whole state can be tough…</p>
<p>Clearly, I didn’t move across the country for the weather But my son was born here and likes winter and snow so he wanted to go to school on this coast.</p>
<p>Lakemom, I live across the river from Troy and boychild went to high school there. I like RPI’s campus but it is very hilly. Troy’s downtown is improving a lot. Some great restaurants, art galleries and antique row. There are some really lousy areas of Troy but not so much near the campus. Downtown Albany is 10 minutes, if that, by car. The thing people need to keep in mine, imo, when looking at any school is that most kids hardly ever leave campus no matter where they go to school. I went to school at UChicago which is surrounded by ghetto on 3 sides and Lake Michigan on the forth side. But hardly anyone leaves Hyde Park as it’s a PITA to get anywhere from there and college student’s lives are mainly on campus and areas adjacent to them. My son is at Bates and believe me Lewiston is a dump but none of the kids mind at all as their lives revolve around campus and their classmates. Most aren’t trotting off to see the latest exhibit at the Met - even when they go to school in NYC. </p>
<p>And for some prospective, New Haven (I’m originally from New Haven and down often as most of my rellies are still in the area) is a dump, too, but no one ever seems to bring that up when talking about Yale.</p>
<p>At Barnard, ash rained from the sky. That pretty much soured the idea of urban life for me.</p>
<p>emilybee, I think you are right about kids not really leaving the campus much but everyone likes to have a couple of places they like to go, even if it is just a diner. </p>
<p>And in terms of bad areas, Columbia borders Harlem but that doesn’t stop anyone from going to school there either.</p>
<p>^ Harlem is gentrified and is considered a highly desirable location these days…</p>
<p>Columbia borders Morningside Heights, which in turn borders Harlem. I grew up on the border of Morningside Heights and Harlem, so I know :). The area around Columbia/Barnard was quite safe even in the bad old 70’s when you could still get an apartment in Harlem for under a hundred grand.</p>
<p>…and yes. Harlem has changed a TON since then.</p>
<p>Okay, forget Columbia - how about Fordham? That’s in a real shaky area of the Bronx and kids still go there! ;)</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins isn’t is the greatest neighborhood either.</p>
<p>Son, yes son is looking for a BSN program in NJ, eastern PA, lower NY</p>
<p>Seton Hall, liked school a lot, made list and got a positive early acceptance.</p>
<p>William Patterson, like the school a lot, but not the nursing program. Applied anyway.</p>
<p>Bloomfield College, way to small a school</p>
<p>NYIT, despite the fact that it is Mom and Dads almma mater… Did not go because nursing program is not accredited.</p>
<p>Temple, horrible nursing presentation at open house, rough part of Philly, as well as the fact that Jr.s and Sr.s have to find their own housing!! Did not make the list.</p>
<p>Villa nova, good nursing program, beautiful campus but all the nursing students all seemed to be the same suburban kid (wearing Ugg boots and a North Face brand fleece jacket). Not diverse enough… Did not make the list.</p>
<p>FDU. We parked the car and made our way to the info session… As we walked over a footbridge we passed a HUGE poison Ivy plant… Not a good start… Presentation went ok until we got to the dorms… Then they show is a room painted a dark and gloomy brown and a bedroom with no window. Did not make the list.</p>
<p>University of Scranton, nice school. Son hated the town of Scranton. Did not make the list.</p>
<p>TCNJ, nice campus. Nursing program inthe basement of “Loser Hall”. The open house, particularly the nursing progam was very poorly run. Admin. was supprised by large turn out. Somehow did not make the list. I think son did not like the drive to this school.</p>
<p>U Delaware, good program. In a nice college town. Made the list</p>
<p>Rutgers, New Brunswick campus…huge and intimidating university with a tiny nursing program. Staff recommended that we apply to the Newark campus… No way… If I want my son to be involved with combat wounds I would send him to Afganistan where it is safer!!! Did not make the list.</p>
<p>Kbshark, Isn’t NJIT right next to the Newark Rutgers campus? Wasn’t Newark bad then?</p>
<p>Pretty much anything “big”. </p>
<p>Didn’t tour but visited a high school friend at Iowa State but it was too big (BEAUTIFUL campus though)</p>
<p>Most big 10 schools, too big
Anything over about 10,000 students, too big.</p>
<p>Are you sensing a theme here :).</p>
<p>About Gustavus–the campus was not leveled by the tornado but all of the trees were destroyed. The town itself has changed completely since then. Campus never really had a lot of trees. It is a pretty plain campus but it’s a good school.</p>
<p>Of the schools we have officially toured they haven’t crossed anything off the list yet.</p>
<p>After reading another thread I just remembered one we did cross off the list, University of Evansville. I don’t want to publicly go into the why’s though.</p>
<p>You will need to remove all Big Ten schools. NU has about 14,000 students on the Evanston campus when you include grad students.</p>
<p>Evansville also got crossed my D’s list. The students in the class she sat in were not particularly engaged.
Mary Washington-- felt too much like high school and then the parents in the Q&A session were ridiculously annoying</p>
<p>Purdue is a “possible” because of their actuary program (not that the rest don’t have them and that Madison’s isn’t better but it’s his choice) so that is why I said “most”. He won’t go there though, it is too big for his comfort but for whatever reason he still has it on his list.</p>
<p>What a great thread. S visited 14 schools. He is a science/math type. </p>
<p>Disliked:</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd: We went with high expectations, but it looked like a dump. The only really cruddy dorms of all the places we visited. A total turn-off.
Princeton: Didn’t like the atmosphere. No life going on here.
Washington U in St. Louis: Too bland. No personality
Swarthmore: Mother and dad liked but S didn’t like the atmosphere. </p>
<p>Liked:</p>
<p>Wesleyan: Clearly feels itself second fiddle to Amherst and Williams. Town a downscale version of Brunswick (see below) but pleasant.
Williams: Obsessed with rivalry with Amherst. Beautiful campus and hilly forested area but a long way from anywhere.
Amherst: Somewhat less obsessed with rivalry with Williams. Great town, area.<br>
Bowdoin: Very pleasant campus in very small town Maine. Brunswick is very nice town, however.
CMU: S really liked Oakland area of Pittsburgh. Liked long curved corridor in main building, which students ride chairs down.
Haverford: Initially very high on this. His mother went to Bryn Mawr. Less so after he saw some of the others above and below. Students appear obsessed with their honor code.
William and Mary: S liked the colonial environment but was his safety school. </p>
<p>Really Liked:</p>
<p>Reed: Great campus. Portland is fabulous. Surrounding area even better. Coast. Mt Hood. Seems like a quirky place. The one down note is a lot of the female students seemed to smoke. Cigarettes, that is.<br>
MIT: Relatively ugly campus but absolutely bustling with people. Really felt that something was going on here. Great location down from Harvard and just across the river from Boston.<br>
Caltech: We all had same reaction after tour and info session. Absolutely fabulous. Beautiful campus. Extremely well maintained. Pasadena very upscale community tucked up against the mountains. Great weather. House system seemed great. Some real tradition going on. S was accepted early action and will probably attend.</p>
<p>^^ Great report. My son is a science/math type as well. Feel like we can skip Harvey Mudd!</p>
<p>I went to Bryn Mawr and it’s true, Haverfordians are obsessed with the school honor code LOL.</p>
<p>jmgradon, Congrats!!!</p>
<p>Son had the same reaction and very happy he chose Caltech for UG. It was easy to get involved in ECs, the Houses supplied a social life at beginning, lots of research opportunities, summer jobs,…
PM me if u want more info…</p>