<p>“Disgustingness is not necessarily gender-linked, as I can attest from the co-ed bathroom I shared in college. I’d still rather have mixed disgustingness that gets cleaned up every once in a while, than single-sex disgustingness that gets cleaned once or twice a semester. Also, having the bathroom cleaned by staff reduces conflict with that one suitemate who won’t clean.”</p>
<p>Ssssooooooo true, Hunt.</p>
<p>Georgia Southern, Wofford, Stetson, and Emory are off the list after having visited. I was very surprised that neither myself, husband, or rising senior loved Emory, because I was so sure we would. This is why college visits are so crucial. I am surprised at how many of my child’s friends are not touring colleges this summer and instead are going to just apply blindly in the fall. I know that money is tight for many families, but we just turned our college trips into our summer vacation this year.</p>
<p>sseamom: That’s a bit snap judgemental. New College is a public school, and the kids tend to be from middle income homes, or less. No one, not one, person at that school came from priviledge. I think they vacuumed the rooms and bathrooms because of the nature of the rooms. All rooms have a door to the outside, it’s Florida, there are lots of bugs, roaches, even mice. Tropical living. For everyone’s sake, they made sure the floors were clean. They didn’t wash our dishes in the sink or make our beds.</p>
<p>The school provides a service. That doesn’t make the students “entitled,” that’s a loaded word. I am bristling at the word choice.</p>
<p>Shrug. At my public northeast U we had a problem with silverfish in the winter and ants in the summer. We didn’t get maids. I think kids should know how to vacuum a room and clean a toilet. It’s not rocket science. One of the “tuition-free” colleges, College of the Ozarks, requires students to work 15 hours a week for the school. Janitorial work is one option. That would be my preference over having maids clean up after my kid, who has been vacuuming and doing household chores since she was 9 or 10.</p>
<p>Again. Snap judgements based on one thing, condemning all. So frustrating.</p>
<p>I’ll toss one in that is that opposite of being crossed off the list. </p>
<p>I took my son on a tour of a large state flagship school. There were about 15 prospective students and the same number of parents in our group. The tour guide was taking us through one of the nice rec centers that had 3 swimming pools. As we went out to the first one there was a lone cute coed sunbathing with her top undone. (Yes she was on her stomach.) The tour guide walked by her to the gate to the next pool. The gate was locked so we ended up surrounding this poor coed as the tour guide was deciding what to do next. He looked at my son and said, “This is awkward.” We then moved to the other side of the pool. The tour guide continued his talk by saying “You can sit out here and do homework, relax, read a book or study anatomy” as he looked at the coed.</p>
<p>This school immediately went up a notch on my son’s list!</p>
<p>I can’t decide it it’s more entitled to have a staff person come in and vacuum floors, or to expect college students to have a vacuum cleaner.</p>
<p>We took a trip up the west coast from LA to Oregon to look at U of Oregon and everything in between. It was the 1st time we have spent extended time with our youngest son. He is the youngest if 4 with an age span of 12 years so he has always had older kids surrounding him. We had a great time with him and it was so nice to have some one on one time with him. We noticed that in general he looked bored on most tours, and didn’t offer much of an opinion on any school we looked at. Everything was “OK”. Only when we got home and he had thought about it for a few days did he offer very definite opinions about each school. Loved U of Oregon but no men’s soccer team, didn’t like any of the smaller schools, Chico was too isolated, Berkeley not friendly and hated the area, Stanford too quiet. Ended up at UCSD which is where he wanted to go all along. I think our trip just cemented that decision.</p>
<p>Visited 8 colleges so far with D14, and crossed off 3. </p>
<p>**Dorms and food were strong criteria along with the programs, because as she said, “even if the school has a great rep, if I can’t sleep or get decent food, the rest doesn’t matter”. Truer words…</p>
<p>In no particular order:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Occidental (CA) - No. Campus tour so-so, students didn’t seem engaged. Dorms bleh. Seems like too much $$ for lackluster experience.</p></li>
<li><p>Pepperdine (CA) - Yes. Of course campus is bee-YOO-tif-ful, but more inmportant was how friendly and engaged students were. We went twice-once on our own, once with tour, and students great in both settings. Food and dorms great. Warning - empty on weekends, good amount of rich kids with cars. Lots of Church of Christ members, but other religions welcome.</p></li>
<li><p>Pomona (CA) - No, but we wish she’d said yes. She thought too liberal, but I think she just didn’t feel it for some reason. We parents thought it’s an amazing school, top to bottom. A gem that many don’t even know about, but that will all change now that it’s on top of the rankings. If you have a student who wants a small LAC with top-notch profs and really driven students, this is it. Food was pretty good, and dorms were OK.</p></li>
<li><p>Univ. of VA - Yes. Take a tour if you can-you won’t regret it. They post a huge list of classes that you can jsut drop in on. This is a top-nothc school. It’s a little large, but feels doable. Very smart students. Love the honor code and secret societies (lots of other schools have added this from UVa). Charlottesville is nearby town and very quaint. Food very good, dorms varied and all frosh are in the same quad/bldgs.</p></li>
<li><p>Univ of Richmond (VA) - No that turned into a yes. Full disclosure-my hubby went there, so he was hoping she’d love it. She was prepared not to. Small LAC, small classes, nice enough students that stopped and talked to our group. Much made out of how pretty the campus is, and it is very pretty. Millions of $$ devoted to pumping up the Business program. Sciences look weak for what kind of $$ ths school has. Food is OK, dorms OK. Very friendly southern VA staff. At first she wasn’t sure that the $$ was worth it, but they do give out a lot of FA.</p></li>
<li><p>James Madison Univ. (VA) - No. Lots of school spirit, campus is quite large to navigate. Lots of good programs to explore, but the town is in the middle of VA, nowhere to go on weekends. Charter bus goes to/from DC for weekend, $40. Tour was very nice, we had 3 boys leading ours! Dorms very nice. Food was disappointing given that we were told it was a former Disney chef designed the new buffet. Yes, we’re from Vegas, land of buffets, but trust me–it was not great.</p></li>
<li><p>American U (DC) - No. Much too urban, and the campus layout seemed so hectic and disjointed, compared with JMU, the other large school we saw. Campus overall did not seem safe, esepcially for girls. Card entry for dorms, but people just let anyone in. Very smart students, and strong programs if interested in govt. or intl. anything.</p></li>
<li><p>George Mason U (VA) - No. Too urban felling (it’s in leafy Fairfax, VA) and a real suitcase school. Mostly commuters. The law school has a greaet rep, though. Entire campus is under construction, so hard to tell what it will look like in a year. Didn’t get to see dorms. Food was good.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Fwiw, Pomona accepted around 13% of applicants this year. It seems that many do know about the school and the incredible opportunities it provides.</p>
<p>Also, the vast majority of dorms use a card entry system.</p>
<p>Vegasmom: Isn’t it funny how we all have different experiences? The tour was the best part of Occcidental for Spygirl. We went in February when school was in session and our guide literally radiated excitement.</p>
<p>Nice job posting your reviews vegasmom23 :)</p>
<p>I’m curious - a number of people have written that they didn’t like the area around Berkeley. Why? I haven’t been there, but I’ve always wanted to visit.</p>
<p>It’s somewhat grimy and there are homeless people everywhere. Last year, my friend and I were walking to a restaurant just outside of the school and took a wrong turn. Within seconds a guy who looked like he had meth mouth started walking to us, asking if we had a lighter (neither of us were smoking). We high tailed it out of there and didn’t have any problems after that incident, but just the fact that it happened makes me think that I wouldn’t want to be walking around Berkeley late at night.</p>
<p>However, it is a very exciting city, and one that I think most students who go there love.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting Vegasmom! I enjoy this thread and reading various thoughts about schools.</p>
<p>When I was touring colleges for myself 30 years ago, I loved Berkeley and the funky vibe it emanated. When D visited this year, she had the same reaction. Something about the intellectual atmosphere, the tons of coffeehouses, the unique people of the town and the role it played in the 60’s. Guess it’s either your taste or it isn’t. I know some rabidly enthusiastic alumni. D very reluctantly took it off her apply list since it doesn’t offer the kind of music program she’s looking for.</p>
<p>I fully agree that Berkeley is a great vibrant city. However, it did seem, at least during my visits, that there are parts of it that are a bit sketchy. No different from any urban area really.</p>
<p>UVA.</p>
<p>Not my style, bad dorms, in the middle of nowhere. The campus really lets it down.</p>
<p>Re: Pomona
Ummm, Pomona was near the top of the ratings in 1996 when I first started looking at college rankings and I suspect it had held that place long before. Wonderful school.</p>
<p>Most first year dorms at UVa are brand new and have a great deal of amenities. Another set is 20 to 30 years old and are in a scenic setting. A third set is 60 years old, but are loved by many of the students who live there because they are set up to be sociable and because they are close to classes. The U. is planning to add central air to the oldest dorms.</p>
<p>Cville is a very cosmopolitan city for its size. You are only 1.5 hours from the No. Va. megalopolis, and one hour from Richmond.</p>