<p>NewHaven, any particular reasons?</p>
<p>Agree totally, laurendog. And I love Wisconsin madly. Iād take issue with the āalmost Amishā description, but I know what you/they mean.</p>
<p>If there is one thing small town WI are not it is almost Amish. Most start drinking at around 14-15 and have sex shortly after. They might not be super sophisticated but they know fun.</p>
<p>I liked this conversation better when we were talking about architecture. :)</p>
<p>How about tour guides or overnight hosts? Anyone change their mind after spending time with someone who just really rubbed them the wrong way?</p>
<p>My opinion of Grinnell fell several notches because of our tour, although my son was more forgiving. Our guide seemed more interested in sharing the details of the sports programs and party scene than anything elseāhe spoke not at all about his classes, professors or intellectual pursuits. We didnāt get to see the inside of the āfantasticā theater because āas usualā it was locked. (We encountered another guide outside the locked doors who complained about the same thing.) Other colleges we visited gave the tour guides janitor-style sets of keys to all the buildings. Also, at Grinnell we also were not shown the inside of any dormsānot even the common areas. Needless to say all the parents in our group were underwhelmed.</p>
<p>Most people who love Grinnell, and there are many, know immediately.</p>
<p>We could also include dumb reasons our kids chose their schools. My S saw Amherst and Williams the same day. They are traditional rivals and hold their open houses the same day. Amherst gave us directions to Williams.</p>
<p>After meeting at the Admissions Office Amherst held its info session a walk away in a gorgeous room ā red shag carpeting, tiered seating, rotating barrel leather chairs.</p>
<p>Williams held their info session a few steps away in a room in the Jewish Studies Center in a plain room with a wood floor and folding chairs. We had to walk through prayer shawls with the fringe in our faces to reach our seats.</p>
<p>Match point? To Williams. S liked how quirky it was and found Amherst pretentious. I can imagine other students feeling exactly opposite. And as different as these experiences were, I think the experience of attending the schools would have been similar.</p>
<p>Laurendog-
My sonās athletic trainer works in a private physical therapy clinic that specializes in sports medicine. It is one of the best in the state He got his undergrad from Azusa Pacific U, and said it was a very good program, and his dorm was right on the beach. He has since gotten his PHD at University of Oregon and is an instructor at the Community College along with working at the clinic. He is awesome.</p>
<p>wrldtravlr: I find it hard to believe that Azusa Pacific University has a dorm on the beach considering it is about 45 miles from the closest beach.</p>
<p>^^^LOL, perhaps he was spending nights at Pepperdine?</p>
<p>Ha! Now thatās funny in light of the student body at both institutions. ;)</p>
<p>@mythmom: I know, re Grinnell. I honestly think with a better tour experience it might have stayed at the top of the list. I have several friends who went there and loved it. By all accounts it is a great school. (In its defense, we were there at a very busy time and I donāt think my son was placed in the best tour group for him. Plus, itās in Iowa and he has spent his whole life in the Midwest.)</p>
<p>To your point about Amherst/Williams: my son wouldnāt even get out of the car to walk around Amherst because of the aforementioned red-brick colonial buildings. We were on our way to see Hampshire anyway. (And on that tour he was able to look past the brutalist architecture and appreciate the school because of our AMAZING tour guide. He was just a fantastic kidāsmart, funny, earnest and real.)</p>
<p>@BOPAMBO-- I think they both lacked any character/flavorā¦ she said UCONN lacked characterā¦too big, and she went on a visit in Feb. so I think the cold threw her off as well. I wish she would have fallen in love with it. But even though this would be an instate safety for her, there are no guaranteesā¦ I know several kids who got inā¦ but not given admittance to the Storrs siteā¦ only to their commuter sites(in Stamford & Waterbury). Which is very unfortumate for these kids because they are are bright motivated kids.</p>
<p>Villanova lacked diversityā¦ the day we were there all the frats/sororās were out for a canned food dayā¦ I think we saw 1 black student in the 3 hours that were thereā¦ she is definitely looking for herself on college campuses. The buildings also were very modern/drabā¦for the most part. The food was horribleā¦ massed produced slopā¦ we were told b/c its all you can eatā¦</p>
<p>We went to Princeton the day before and though that campus was absolutely amazing, she didnāt appreciate the lack of diversityā¦ whats ironic is that it was far more diverse than Villanovaā¦I though Pton was perfectā¦ far nicer than Yaleā¦canāt hold a candle to this school as far as aestheticsā¦the food here was Great!</p>
<p>Maybe Pton campus was so amazing that Villnova just couldnāt compare?</p>
<p>wldtrvlr - Thanks so much for the info re: Azuza Pacific. Step-D is not a huge fan of the beach as it is, so it not being on the beach may actually be more attractive to her. Iāll have her read about it and see if it sounds like a good fit! </p>
<p>NewHavenMom- we drove through UCONN (Storrs) last summer and Step-D liked it. Granted it was 85 degrees that day without a cloud in the sky. Donāt know if sheāll apply, but may have her visit in the winter if she applies and is accepted. Thatās one hilly and rural campus!</p>
<p>@laurendogāmost local kids apply to UCONNā¦ and if one doesnāt, you are considered nuts. LOL Few kids apply to HYPS. Many have never heard of Wesleyan which is odd. She fell in love with that school when we visited back in November.</p>
<p>laurendog-</p>
<p>Oooppps, I got it mixed up, Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego has an athletic training major and is on the beach, Azusa Pacific also has a well-regarded program, and is not on the beach. He went to Point Loma, which is pretty religious. I have known very good athletic trainers from Azusa Pacific, also. I think the Zās in the names had me discombobulated. The one issue with athletic training is that many work in high schools, and the hours are very different and variable; after school, evenings, etc. In our state they have to be at all home games for all sports. Just to keep in mind depending on what area of athletic training she wants to go into.</p>
<p>sally305: I love your son. I think heās cool. I am not a big fan of Amherstās campus either. I keep thinking Iām missing something when I go. However, some kids are immediately drawn to it.</p>
<p>Hampshire has one of the oddest campuses Iāve seen, but I also thought the info session was amazing. Neither kid would consider it.</p>
<p>I donāt know anything about Amherst except that a friend of my older sonās was completely turned off by the info session when someone asked what their strengths were, and they basically couldnāt say more than āWeāre Amherstā like it was self-explanatory.</p>
<p>Regarding NewHavenCTmom observation: āVillanova lacked diversityā. Villanova white student body was 74 % last year.</p>
<p>As a comparison the white student body of the following sampling of schools are: Boston College 68% ,Georgetown 65%, Notre Dame 72%,Delaware 77%,Penn State 75%,Loyola Md. 79% ,TCNJ 66%, Lehigh 72%, Bucknell 77%,Wake Forest 78%, Providence 76%.</p>
<p>Last year there were 350 āBlack or African American, non-Hispanicā and 500 "Hispanic " students as defined by the Common Data Set enrolled as full time students at Villanova out of a total undergraduate enrollment of 6500.</p>
<p>Villanova combined Black & Hispanic Enrollment is 12% of the student body (And those kids are great!) and compares favorably with peer private , northeast universities.</p>
<p>Maybe the black kids were studying , participating in charitable endeavour or playing sports on the day you visited , too bad you spotted only 1!</p>
<p>Regarding NewHavenCTmom observation:āwhats ironic is that it (Princeton)was far more diverse than Villanova.ā</p>
<p>Princeton Combined Black & Hispanic Enrollment is 15% of the student body compared with 12% for Villanova. Princeton has 388 āBlack or African American, non-Hispanicā students as defined by the Common Data Set enrolled as full time students compared with 350 for Villanova.</p>
<p>Sometimes reputations can cloud what you want to see. </p>
<p>Iām not disparaging Princeton or comparing Villanova to Princeton in any academic sense.</p>
<p>As for āThe food was horrible,massed produced slopā most university cafeteria foods will fall into this category , but if the kids know how to eat healthy there are good options , fresh vegetables & fruit ,yogurt , cereal , waffles , deli style sandwiches and decent stir fry and pastas. And there is Filet Mignon and Lobster dinner at the end of the semester. The menu does get tiring , though.</p>
<p>My son is not a fan of brutalist architecture at all. Loved Hampshire on paper until he saw pics of the buildings, except the yurt and barnā¦loved the yurt. He wonāt even consider it now. Too much concrete. Heās looking for more tranquil settings.</p>
<p>reeinaz: Bard, Bennington and Marlboro come to mind as having Hampshire-like academics in tranquil rural settings. Bennington and Marlboro are tiny, however, but Bard is about the same size and the campus is very different from Hampshireās.</p>