<p>^LOL Our DD was accepted to U of Richmond. There were other considerations that led her elsewhere, but the spider mascot did NOT help! :D</p>
<p><re the="" conga="" line.="" no="" way="" would="" we="" have="" participated-="" h,="" s="" or="" me.="" independent="" thinkers,="" not="" followers.=""></re></p>
<p>Weâre not followers, either, I can assure you. (Weâre more bohemian-intellectual-rabidly-independent-artist-scientist types, with a strong feral bent and no tv.)
But DS decided in the moment that it wasnât worth disrupting the tour to throw a hissy fit. He is gracious and dignified (yesâthis was tested that day)âwith a ginormous sense of humor. He was nearly taken ill by the conga line, yes, but we split our guts laughing when it was over. DS is strong and was mature enough to take it for what it was, LOL. It wasnât the end of the world, after all. </p>
<p>Afterwards, he said âIf this is what art school is like, Iâm going to an LAC or university.â And that was that. </p>
<p>I also donât think that the rest of the kids were sheep or followers. This is Cal Arts, after allâthese were future experimental artists and animators. They were high caliber kids and independent thinkers. CalArts is referred to as the MIT of animationâŠwhich only makes it more of a shame that this tour was soooo bad.</p>
<p>âCalArts is referred to as the MIT of animationâ</p>
<p>If this was true, then an anvil marked âAcme Anvil Co.â should have fallen on Mr. Conga LineâŠas in, âHey folks! Wouldnât it be FUN if we all formed one big Conga Liââ ZONK</p>
<p>ZONK!
Yes. Anvil Justice would have set things right.</p>
<p>We went to visit Pomona and there was practically no one on campus at 10 am. We had recently gone to USC and UCLA where there were tons of people and lots of energy. My D thought Pomona was like a ghost town and, although it was lovely, it seemed way too quiet to her.</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman: 9 AM program start, and only college that didnât offer continental breakfast. No coffee, soda. No water until after the tour in summer heat. Lots of âweâre bestâ chest-beating from a lackluster group of admissions officers, as if we had crashed a Toastmasters Meeting. Despite high tuition, easily the least sophisticated or updated science buildings of any college we visited. Tour included an unexpected visit to dorm basementâs two âman cavesâ housing its janitor and his purloined (student abandoned) furniture and consumer items. House parents of that particular dorm also gave-off a weird vibe. No lunch either, and Iâm sure many people drove more than 3+ hours to Terre Haute that day for this Open House.</p>
<p>Seriously wanted to âloveâ Earlham, and had flagged it years ago for consideration. DH and DS drove to Richmond Indiana, arriving at night, drove through town and called me to express âconcernâ about rundown red-neck atmosphere. Rural Midwest has a number of LACs located in down-at-the-heels small towns and declining small Rust Belt cities with âall the drawbacks of small town living and all the problems of big citiesâ. Real estate disinvestment, high unemployment, obvious property vacancies and abandonment, and often true âurban crimeâ problems are quickly evident. Often thereâs also poor âtown-gownâ relations, where townies and students are not on friendly terms.</p>
<p>OK, I give up, why would any college take you on a tour to the janitorâs basement man cave?</p>
<p>Charlie: exactly. For a 45-minute tour, apparently it was important to tour us past the laundry facilities in basement, but not student commons or library beyond the lobby entry, etc. Rose-Hulman fumbled this particular Open House from start to finish, and the school was dropped from the list altogether for a collective number of reasons revealed during that day. No, lack of food wasnât a major reason, but it was reflective of the admissions crewâs overall tone-deafness.</p>
<p>Very interesting about Earlham, higgins, I have thought about it for my son. Never been. Although I will say that town-gown problems are everywhere.</p>
<p>D and I just did a tour of Barnard last week. The tour guide was very informative but I didnât care for the âtourâ program. She led us to an area outside a building or in a hallway then stood and spoke for 10+ minutes, then another area and so on. We only got to see like 3 areas of campus and only one was actually inside a building. It was more of an info session than a tour, and the âtourâ was followed by a sit-down info session (which we skipped - D is a sophomore). </p>
<p>When Iâm on a tour I like to actually walk through most of the campus, see inside a dorm room, a classroom, a library, a dining hall, lab, a student lounge. We saw none of those things on this tour. We did stand around in a dorm lobby, stand around in an academic building hallway, stand outside of a gym with a closed door ad stand just outside the student center. I think one point of a tour should be that the guide can get you into places you canât walk into on your own.</p>
<p>On the plus side, we did learn a lot about the school from our guide, I just wish she could have done the backwards walk-and-talk thing, or save the detailed info for the sit-down session afterward.</p>
<p>Barnard is not coming off the list for various reasons, but the tour was a disappointment.</p>
<p>PS: Since Barnard is college of Columbia U, a walk through of Columbia would have also been nice. Barnard students will often live, eat, study and play there, and itâs just across the street.</p>
<p>âsee inside a dorm room, a classroom, a library, a dining hall, lab, a student lounge.â</p>
<p>Thatâs perfectly fair. Unfortunately, youâre less likely to see them on tours at highly trafficked and selective urban schools. A combination of factors play into this: security concerns, precious real estate meaning that every single dorm room is in use, and current students not wanting to feel like they are on display for big groups of strangers when they are trying to work/eat/relax. Youâre much more likely to see these spaces at smaller schools and those in small towns.</p>
<p>Good point Hanna. Sheâd do an overnight with a student at some point and see all that anyway, we have a few friendsâ kids there. As I said, it is no way turned me off of the school, I just wished the tour was more of a tour :)</p>
<p>Sâ12 (college '16âŠweird to say that) looked at LACs in smaller towns almost exclusively so I may have been spoiledâŠwe often got our own tour guide just for us, there was often an empty âmodelâ dorm room to see, and tour guide swiped us into most buildings. D is looking at different schools and so Iâm sure the tour experiences will be different.</p>
<p>Iowa State: my son liked the information session but he said he didnât like the food, the dorms were too far from the cafeteria (dorms on east side cafeteria on west side), and the campus was overall âtoo forestyâ.</p>
<p>Barnard was our daughterâs top choiceâŠuntil we visited there. Though D comes from a private school and knows attitude, Barnard seemed arrogant. Took themselves right off the list.</p>
<p>Fordham LC was an amazing oasis in the middle of the city.</p>
<p>NYU wwas exciting but completely urban sprawling-no sense of being on a campus.</p>
<p>Va Tech-out in the middle of nowhere-but a beautiful campus/buildings/dining options (the kids note the latter!).</p>
<p>Hofstra⊠We visited from out of state. Everyone else on the tour seemed to be from the surrounding area; there was no sense of diversity. The cafeteria felt institutional. We didnât bother finishing the tour. We were amazed to see one of the Obama/Romney debates was held there.</p>
<p>uC Santa CruzâŠstill felt like 60ies
pitzer - too Birkenstock for d
University of the PavificâŠStockton is just too depressing,
sMUâŠtoo preppy for her
occidentalâŠtoo small for her ( cute campus)</p>
<p>ptoxen - We didnât like Hofstra either, even though everyone in our tour group (even our guide) was from out of state. My comments about it can be found much earlier in this thread so I wonât repeat them. One thing I will say for Hofstra is that it has an incredible broadcast media program. The TV studio they showed us on campus was very much state of the art. I am surprised you were surprised about the debate! They hosted one in 2008 and one this time around. Itâs very prominent in most of the schoolâs literature and obviously on the website, etc.</p>
<p>We did U of Pacific preview day, and my D came away thinking it is her top school. Unfortunately the potential financial aid package will most likely not be enough.</p>
<p>She didnât seem to mind what was around the campus, just thought the overall feel was very good. As a parent, though, I know what Stockton is all about, so it certainly gives us pause.</p>
<p>She applied to UCSC, but still has yet to visit. I would imagine it will be the same feel (very 60s).</p>
<p>Crizello,</p>
<p>Your daughter definitely needs to visit UCSC, it has a very different feel than UOP. First, the campus is spread out so there is a shuttle service to get students across campus. Or you can hike up and down the hills and get in great shape. Second, the design is such that there is no central quad or gathering space. That was intentional to discourage protests (1960s and all). Lots of trees and wildlife. The day we were there deer and bunnies were out and about all over. </p>
<p>UOP has more of an East Coast college feel. Very pretty and distinctive. It will just depend on what suits your daughterâs personality. My daughter liked USCS the first visit. After seeing several other campuses, a few of them much smaller she went back to get a second look. She decided she wanted a college that looked like a college and didnât feel like summer camp.</p>
<p>There is also the semester versus quarter calendar, if that matters at all.</p>
<p>The kids I know at UCSC are happy. They wish it didnât have itâs drug and hippy reputation as there are many, many serious students who donât fit that mold.</p>
<p>@dodgersmomâŠgot messageâŠcanât reply, havenât been prolific enough posterâŠthanks for sharing your memoriesâŠ
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