<p>Sounds pretty saintfan.</p>
<p>Are we hiding school names for a reason? It would be a great way to build up knowledge of colleges and architecture.</p>
<p>My university was new. There was mud instead of grass everywhere. The buildings were beyond ugly. I had to walk forever to get to classes. It was bare bones state u.</p>
<p>I had a great time. It was a center of political foment, along with Berkeley and Columbia. I immediately got involved with SDS (which I had joined in high school) and spent four/five years protesting the war and really organizing against the Vietnam War, the exploitation of farm workers, and the exploitation of women at the end of my tenure.</p>
<p>I became a feminist.</p>
<p>I found a mentor who shooed me into grad school (couldnât go right away, but she gave me the confidence) and nominated me for the only honors received in my department that year.</p>
<p>I met my wonderful first husband and achieving women I still know.</p>
<p>The architecture really was atrocious, though.</p>
<p>Oh, it was also fully funded, even room and board for reasons that had to do with my eligibility for OVR because of a serious illness. That was bliss. No need for parents. Those were the days of âDonât Trust Anyone Over 30.â</p>
<p>mythmom, the school is St.Olaf
[St</a>. Olaf College | About St. Olaf](<a href=âAbout St. Olaf â St. Olaf Collegeâ>St. Olaf College â Webcams)</p>
<p>click on the east quad cam - gothic on left, modern science (canât see copper in this view) on right and haunted schoolhouse Old Main in center. TO the left of Old Main one can see the roof of the little mini Monticello
The remaining campus blends with the gothic and science on material and look</p>
<p><a href=âhttp://www.stolaf.edu/regentshall/[/url]â>http://www.stolaf.edu/regentshall/</a></p>
<p>This is the huge draw for D and we found it to be like it sounds - the âDiscoverâ video on the lower right is great</p>
<p><a href=âhttp://www.stolaf.edu/regentshall/overview/vision.html[/url]â>http://www.stolaf.edu/regentshall/overview/vision.html</a></p>
<p>When we wer there we found all those spaces filled with people working on the chalkboards, plugged into the floor charger outlets which are embedded around for laptops, studying, working etc. It is a real, communal space and as the last link says way down at the bottom it is filled with light and openness including the lab spaces where possible.</p>
<p>saintfan, thanks for the visuals! St Olaf has done a great job with itâs webcams and videos, they show the campus off very well. Whitman has a gorgeous campus but has placed itâs webcams in really dumb locations, maybe I should point this out to them.</p>
<p>I had a close friend who had the same experience as annasdad. Mount Holyoke looked like what she had always imagined a college should be, but she was miserable and transferred to an urban Ivy after the first year.</p>
<p>I looked for a place that had a sense of excitement and things happening al the time. I was most impressed by the posters around campus announcing things that were happening soon.</p>
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<p>Exact words from DD when we visited University of Delaware (probably the 10th college she visited). She just finished sophomore year there.</p>
<p>DS, on the other hand, was bothered by the quad at Penn. Said it only had three sides. (Really? I didnât notice.) Anyway, urban is not for him so he would not consider.</p>
<p>I went to Northwestern because of the beach on campus (we had north beach and south beach when I attended). I live right near the Atlantic Ocean and loved the idea of being able to have the water right there. Well, I admit it, there were other reasons, but this certainly counted!</p>
<p>Not exactly true about the quad at Penn but ok. (Felt the need to stick up for its greater than 3 sides):</p>
<p>[Penn</a> Quadrangle Room Diagrams](<a href=âhttp://www.business-services.upenn.edu/housing/layouts/quadrooms/]Pennâ>Home | Penn Residential Services)</p>
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<p>wth? Why would anyone (except the bigoted) be uncomfortable?</p>
<p>quakerstate: Iâm sure youâre right. No argument here! Wasnât worth arguing the point at the time, thatâs for sure!</p>
<p>Evitaperon - was the school Middlebury?</p>
<p>saintfan: I loved the pictures. I love the Hall of Light and the last photo, but all are great. I can see what an eclectic campus it is, and now I understand your screen name!!!</p>
<p>Letâs not call people bigoted, especially when theyâre kids. Pushing a global focus is fine, and of course international students enliven the mix, the student may just not have liked what the school stressed. Letâs give kids the benefit of the doubt. They have a lot to learn.</p>
<p>^ agree 100% and anyone who thinks all kids are completely evolved at 17 or 18 - no. My own is going to be stepping way out of her experience and comfort zone this fall. It will be a huge growth opportunity.</p>
<p>I think calling a kid a bigot is a perhaps a bit harsh, but any 17 or 18 year old in our world needs to recognize that he/she is a global citizen, and to resist or rail against that is not a matter of not being evolved, imo itâs a tad xenophobic, which might not serve him well. Just having attended an IHS/IB graduation ceremony-- the extent to which the good olâ American seniors I saw understand their place in the world and their desire to make it a better place-- they can understand the importance of that stuff just fine. I was proud of them.</p>
<p>Not saying no. My kid, for example, didnât like that Tufts leaning on the fact that theyâre âglobal citizens.â He knows this well enough. He is empathize, very left leaning, has strong political ideas and is well aware of Americaâs flaws and the importance of the rest of the world.</p>
<p>However, he didnât think this was the best choice for him in terms of college. He wanted to learn traditional things, like Ancient Greek and major in Classics. Heâs just a more inward looking person and didnât feel the emphasis on being a global citizen fit what he was looking for in college.</p>
<p>He certainly isnât a bigot in any way.</p>
<p>He did include Tufts on his list because there was a lot to like and admire about it, even its strongly emphasized internationalism. Itâs just not exactly what he wanted to hear at an info session.</p>
<p>Between study abroad, international students, diversity courses, any good school will demonstrate that we are not in our little America first bubble. State Uâs that are not prestigious will probably have less of an international presence but have this attitude too.</p>
<p>I should say that my S would have been happy with as many international students as they school could accommodate, he just wasnât happy with that as the major selling point.</p>
<p>Calling kids bigots without knowing the child is just more offensive to me than the original attitude discussing.</p>
<p>I should say that my kid as been out of the country in a small orchestra and is very committed to world issues.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago Step-D visited the West Coast with her Dad. LOVED San Diego State and will definitely apply. Did not like LMU, said the campus was pretty but it didnât feel right and it was âtoo Catholic.â Itâs funny because sheâs liked other Jesuit schools sheâs visited, but something about the saints at LMU turned her off. Ah well. 50% âapprovalâ on a California visit isnât too badâŠ</p>
<p>laurendog, your stepD might want to look at Univ San Diego; my D is going there this fall-- medium sized private LAC, gorgeous sun-drenched campus, not too Catholic I donât think (weâre not Catholic). Kids from all three SD schools-- USD, SDS, UCSD-- end up at the beach together from what I hear, lol!</p>
<p>
And THIS is why you go to visit a campus. Astute observation! What is happening on campus? Are they things I would be interested in? Do the students seem interested in them? Just because a club or activity is listed on the collegeâs website doesnât mean they still exist or are an active, robust group. Looking at bulletin boards and picking up a copy of the campus newspaper are excellent ideas when touring a college.</p>
<p>I really donât think it is âbigotedâ to not want a large percentage of international students at a college. It wouldnât bother me, but I can see how a studentâs preference might be otherwise. It was a big issue with boarding schools. A number of international students from one particular country really kept to themselves and did not like to integrate into the rest of the school community and it was a big problem for the administration. </p>
<p>My daughter rejected a school after a visit because if was filled almost entirely with students from Wisconsin and Michigan and she simply found it too regional. Is that bad?</p>
