<p>mathmom, that is so cool.</p>
<p>Well sally305, I totally get where your son is coming from, I think. Iām not big on American Colonial either, and honestly, it <em>would</em> affect how I felt about a school. Might not be my most important criteria (if there were a special program, for example), but as you say, it helps narrow the field. Some people are visually sensitive to their environment.</p>
<p>As for architecture, it isnāt usually extremely well-paying, and it isnāt thriving right now in many regions. But there are ātransferable skillsā that your son might be able to use in equally satisfying fields. 3D visualization is most important, and work in sciences and engineering can certainly be enhanced by this ability. Structural engineers can incorporate esthetic design into their work too.</p>
<p>And many people make a ton of money in finance or whatever, then concentrate on architecture in their personal lives, designing their own home!</p>
<p>OK, back to reasons kids cross colleges off their lists! (This thread is fun!)</p>
<p>My D was opposed to colleges with red brick buildings and also hated the Gothic look of schools like Duke. Really? I donāt even know. </p>
<p>The only thing that I donāt react well to are schools with an āinstitutionalā type feel or that feel like high school buildings.</p>
<p>My elder D hated collegiate Gothic architecture for reasons I have never understood. But it was a firmly held hatred that bled over into an intense dislike for any campus that featured a significant number of grey stone buildings regardless of architectural style. William and Mary personified the perfect college campus to her, and while she did not attend W&M she recently graduated from a school that features a lot of brick, colonial revival buildings.</p>
<p>vandygrad: What did she like? Modern buildings?</p>
<p>In retrospect, I really think we concentrated too much on architecture when we viewed colleges. The faculty, programs and other students make a college.</p>
<p>However, weāre lucky. It all worked out. Kids ended up at right places.</p>
<p>I just find it so fascinating about what turns on or off a particular individual. It is so awesome we have such choice.</p>
<p>My son was completely obsessed with architecture and quads. He decided early on that he wanted an LAC, beyond that he wanted the buildings to be harmonious in design, and the requirements for the quad were very specific: it had to be in the central part of campus, not too small, but not too big; it needed loads of foot traffic and activity; and well maintained grass. If the quad wasnāt up to snuff the school immediately came off the list. I was getting a little testy about all this quad assessing, luckily however, he found the place with the perfect mix of all the right things, including the quad. I now see his point. The library, freshman dorms and two major academic buildings ring the quad so itās a major hub, in good weather āeveryoneā hangs out there and plays games, in bad weather itās the place to build a snowman. The quad is the heart of the campus and probably one reason the students are such a close-knit group</p>
<p>
Tell us what it is, for the sake of other quad-obsessed students!</p>
<p><utter nonsense=""></utter></p>
<p>I can relate to the āQuadā desire. I went to a school where the student union was at one end of the lawn in the center of school with the library to one side and classrooms and gyms to the other. Everybody came to the student union for one reason or another to eat or buy books and supplies so it was a real hub of activity.</p>
<p>
</utter></p>
<p>Really? More so than relying on the USNWR rankings?</p>
<p>
[quote]
In retrospect, I really think we concentrated too much on architecture when we viewed colleges. The faculty, programs and other students make a college[/quote[ I also thought this for awhile and that backed off the thought. When we bought our houses the architecture of the houses and the of the surrounding neighborhood both were incredibly important to us. It seems pretty reasonable that given a choice my kids would pick a place to live for the next four years that they like the feel of the place better. In both cases their short list schools tended to have pretty similar architecture/campus/town feels to them.</p>
<p>3togo: Maybe I should have said we didnāt concentrate on other things enough, like meet kids, taste food and spend overnights.</p>
<p>Both kids stepped one foot on the campus they ended attending and were convinced that was the place for them, not that we didnāt have suitable back-ups; of course we did.</p>
<p>And Iām not sure it was the architecture. It was some ineffable ālove at first sight.ā Come to think of it, everyone Iāve ever been in love with has been at first sight. It wasnāt looks or lust as some have suggested. It was some āpingā that went off.</p>
<p>My kids said it was like that with their colleges.</p>
<p>Both loved the architecture of their schools and the environment in general, but it probably wasnāt that.</p>
<p>And we had done a lot of research on the schools and made many trips.</p>
<p>barrons, I love the way you never sugar coat your opinion, lol. </p>
<p>Quads donāt come up a lot as major requirements in college selection, so I thought Iād share my sonās perspective. I did think it a bit whacky at the time but, in retrospect, isnāt much of urban planning based on creating vibrant public spaces where people want to congregate? I love all the Spanish and Mexican towns that are built around the town squares.</p>
<p>Hunt, the perfect place for this kid, turned out to be Whitman College and Iām referring to Ankeny Field. I doubt anyone, even my son, would pick a college solely for itās quad, but after the other requirements are met, social vibrancy is a real plus.</p>
<p>There are a number of books that discuss the importance of public spacesā¦2 favorites</p>
<p>Great Good Place
[Reference</a> Articles | Project for Public Spaces](<a href=āhttp://www.pps.org/reference/]Referenceā>Home ā Project for Public Spaces)
[Campuses</a> | Project for Public Spaces](<a href=āhttp://www.pps.org/reference-categories/campuses-articles/]Campusesā>Campuses | Category ā Project for Public Spaces)</p>
<p>A Pattern language
[A</a> Pattern Language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=āhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language]Aā>A Pattern Language - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>I think we all have a mental image of what ācollegeā looks likeāI was really struck by that when we took my D to Kenyon for a summer programāTHIS is what ācollegeā is supposed to look like.</p>
<p>Haystack, thanks!</p>
<p>Whitman IS beautiful, bopambo. I loved it.</p>
<p>I am still curious about the kids who didnāt like gothic or colonial architecture. Do they love very modern architecture?</p>
<p>I am not snide ā I really want to know. Itās just so interesting where we feel comfortable.</p>
<p>DD finds Gothic architecture scary.</p>
<p>DS didnāt like a school that most find beautiful because the brick buildings were just too uniform ā it felt too much like legos to him.</p>
<p>And the very things some people like some people hate. I donāt want to be specific because folks do get their feelings hurt. We are protective of our offspringsā taste.</p>
<p>I just got college handed to me. It was a crisis situation and I had to get away from home, and it was August, and I hadnāt had a senior year, so I went to a good state U, close to home that made an exception and took me in.</p>
<p>No senior anything.</p>
<p>It was a great luxury to tour these colleges with my kids, and if their criteria are silly it times, itās okay. There are a lot of schools out there.</p>
<p>I am in higher ed. Schools should inspire. That inspiration comes from all sorts of places. Itās no wonder that there are pictures of the most beautiful college libraries.</p>
<p>My daughter has never fully explained her āphobiaā for Gothic architecture. I have a suspicion, however. After we toured Yale back in 2006 or 7 my daughter ended up in the bookstore while my wife and I enjoyed a cup of coffee. Apparently a busload of junior girls from an unnamed private school were dropped off while D was there and many of these girls behaved in an obnoxious manner and several made rude comments to the middle-aged clerk. This really affected my daughterās impression of Yale. That along with what she perceived to be self-imposed segregation between the āpreppiesā and groups of Asian students we observed as we walked back to our car through several quads really turned her off to Yale. </p>
<p>The rational reaction might have been to express disgust at the behavior of a relative handful of privileged visitors and disapproval of the perceived segregation. But my D was 16 so her reaction? A professed horror for the architecture that reminded her of Yale.</p>