<p>Lafalum-
Re: your post # 1766–
Good memory!! It was in the infamous “meta thread” that we plotted strategies to sabotage an overnight. Discussion started earlier but got rolling around post # 1080 or so <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/501191-meta-thread-save-us-all-time-28.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/501191-meta-thread-save-us-all-time-28.html</a></p>
<p>haha it wasn’t -20 in September, it was actually 60 during midday (not bad although rainy) but our tour guide said it can get that cold. Sorry, not my kinda weather.</p>
<p>If it were Dartmouth or Yale…then I’d be able to endure</p>
<p>DougBetsy and Classof2015 - thanks, I’ll mention both your comments! </p>
<p>Re -20 weather - just came back from Chicago meeting with friends and our friend from Minnesota left a little early because they just got about a foot of snow overnight/this morning. Cross Minnesota colleges off our list!</p>
<p>Truth is, there are 50 great colleges for each kid and any reason to cross a school off the list could be helpful!</p>
<p>Ok, here are some tidbits from our visits which took place from Jan-October 2010- hopefully someone can glean some helpful info. I just love this thread.</p>
<p>First we went to Stanford. Got there late afternoon, but we gained three hours by coming from the east coast, so let’s tool around - my idea, not my Ds’s. We get on a bus, try and navigate with a map, get off at some random area and become quickly lost. Aha! Lights ahead! It’s a hospital! We can get directions inside, except inside looks like the scene from “Something’s Gotta Give” where Jack Nicholson is all doped up on sedatives attached to an IV pole as he goes loop-dee-loop through the halls with gown tied loosely in back - buttocks fully exposed! Ha! No one can help us and, gratefully, the same bus driver picks us up on the side of a deserted road and we get back to the motel exhausted.</p>
<p>Next day, Ds sits in on a class and we eat lunch. I remark how everyone is so clean. I teach at a university where it is not uncommon to see students in pajamas and poorly-covered sports bras. But it’s not until the information session - very nice - 20 people around a table for an hour with an Adcom and the tour, that my Ds can finally see himself there. The guide is warm, wonderful, down to earth, from nearby Oakland and sells the school, totally.</p>
<p>Next it’s George Washington University. Kudos to all students who become school reps and tour guides, but after 10 minutes of the info session I am kicking myself that we did not sit near the back to quietly slink out because no one has bothered to help the student correct the nervous tic of saying “um” a thousand times, and I just can’t listen to what he is saying. Although he does come out to us, which I think is very brave considering some parents might have a don’t ask, don’t tell perspective.</p>
<p>When we go visit the dorms, our lovely female tour guide tells us that we’re about to see a “boys” room and a “girls” room, by which she means the “girls’” room has heels in the closet and a poster of Zac Efron up on the wall and the “boys’” room has a poster of Jennifer Aniston and baseball caps lining the bookcase. I try not to influence my Ds, but this archaic gender stereotyping drives me bananas - and I let him know it. He tells me to chill, he loves the place, and from henceforth will not consider a school not in a city.</p>
<p>We hightail it up to American U because I learned on CC that AU, like GWU, likes “demonstrated interest” (which GWU even tells you in the info session). We sign in at admissions, take a quick run around, and Ds says he’d be happy there.</p>
<p>Princeton is next. I want Ds to love it. I want to love it too, even though I have some reservations with the fact that they were the last college on the eastern seaboard to admit African Americans (1940). But hey, look at alums Michelle Obama and Sonia Sotomayor -such success stories (even though I have never heard them say they “loved” P). Ds sits in on a class. It’s very nice, but campus is quiet and seems . . . lonely. Only one guy playing hackey-sac with himself on the quad (and what a a beautiful quad). Students in the union building are spread out watching a big screen tv with laptops open, but no one is talking to each other (or themselves for that matter). Not a good fit for Ds.</p>
<p>Next up, Brown. We’re ambivalent about the school but, hey, who doesn’t want to go to school with Hermoine Granger? Again, the info session and tour guide sell it. The info session was all about the life of the mind and our nice guide was a home-schooled classics major who had a wry sense of humor that my Ds identified with immediately.</p>
<p>Last, a regional info session for WUSTL. We go to “demonstrate interest,” but leave feeling any student who goes there must be very lucky indeed.</p>
<p>As with everyone else playing the lottery, who knows where Ds will end up, but we wish all CCers much success in their admission endeavors.</p>
<p>We’re finished with the college trips for our Senior, but just wanted to put in my two cents that these trips have been so much fun for our family surprisingly. We started a year ago, saw 8 colleges across the country. A few my husband did with him but most the three of us went together. Who knows where he’ll end up (applying EA to two, RD to one) but after all of our friends with older kids warning us of how horrendous the college app process is we were pleasantly surprised. Time well spent just with him (our daughter stayed at home) and we really have great memories and VERY funny stories at the end of it all.</p>
<p>D and I have enjoyed college visiting so much that we’ve talked about keeping it up even after she’s settled in someplace! It’s a great way to travel, and just to think about life together. We’ve both learned so much.</p>
<p>Cliffylove: I love those long, juicy posts. My DD’s BF is a WashU graduate, and he did have an awesome time and landed a very interesting well paid internship at the CDC right out of school. It’s a two year internship and he’s going to psych grad school next year.</p>
<p>About Hermione – it seems the early reports that she was to attend Brown were incorrect. I later read that she’s at Columbia, which is think is correct. My D is a Barnard grad and they have seen Hermione on the Upper West Side, and the papers report her doing the NYC scene scene (costume ball at Met for example) all the time. There’s still time to apply to the uber-urban (though not as urban as GW) Columbia, LOL, if Hermione is a draw. No worries. I know you were kidding.</p>
<p>She’s at Brown, mythmom-- D has a friend there who sees her a lot, nearly ran her over on a bicycle a while back. Sounds like the best place to spot her might be the Acela express to NYC, though!</p>
<p>PS-- under ‘craziest reason not to visit a college’, D refused to look at Brown because she doesn’t want to ruin the magic of Harry Potter by seeing Emma Watson as a real person. (Also because everyone she knows who goes there is so relentlessly academic.)</p>
<p>I happily concede. Brown? Relentlessly academic? Hm. My DS has not been allowed to take one class Pass/Fail at Williams let alone Pass/No Credit. With his ADD I wanted him to consider Brown, but he thought it too “loosy goosy.” Probably kicking himself now. He wouldn’t consider Swat as too demanding, but Williams comes in as number two on the Boalt scale and has the same level of grade deflation. Brown does not.</p>
<p>Hm. And he could have met Hermione. LOL.</p>
<p>Emma Watson definitely at Brown. There was an interview with her in Parade magazine last weekend that she dated a classmate who had never read nor heard of Harry Potter. My friend’s daughter saw her last fall when she was touring the campus and said it took all her self-control to not run up to her for an autograph. (She’s cut her hair, so she’s not easily recognizable).</p>
<p>“Brown? Relentlessly academic?”</p>
<p>Exactly. I thought it was common knowledge that once there kids don’t do much work.</p>
<p>I think the secret truth about Brown is that the kids don’t *have *to do much work, but they do it anyway.</p>
<p>skyeview, interesting about Dickinson. Maybe they’ve changed their policy from a year ago, because we were turned off by the school for the opposite reason – because for a school that touted its emphasis on global learning, it was TOO easy to place out of the foreign language requirement! Our tour guide was able to skip taking a language based on either three or four years of HS language (i can’t remember which, but I know it wasn’t AP).</p>
<p>Since Deathly Hallows Part 1 is coming out Emma has been in a lot of press and has mentioned and been asked about her experience at Brown. She really likes it and convinced her professors to allow her to miss class so she could do the press tour. She has also said she has run into people who had no clue who she was and then she has had people who’ve tried hard not to mention fame, filming, acting, or anything that would make her feel awkward. </p>
<p>There is a story going around about how Emma correctly answered a question in one of her classes and someone yelled ‘10 points for Gryffindor.’ It’s funny in the context but dealing with it everyday seems like such a hassle.</p>
<p>^^^ I actually rather like the idea that her classmates would treat her like one of their own (i.e. subject to some mild teasing) rather than as an untouchable.</p>
<p>Hey Mythmom - </p>
<p>You’re right - my son would have absolutely LOVED Columbia - Emma Watson, or no, but with his ADD that 2-year classics core would have buried him. It was a very hard decision to make not to apply, and we initially felt the same way about Brown - what? no structure? how will he survive? But as I said, the Brownies sold it for him, and it’s now on his list.</p>
<p>In my heart, I believe WashU will be the best place for him academically (he plans to major in psych), but I’m still a little queasy about how he will adjust socially, based on what other sites have said about the lack of racial cross-pollination - but that’s a topic for another thread. After the WashU info session video Ds said, “everybody sure does look happy to be there!” and I believe that to be true.</p>
<p>Mythmom: you’ve stumped me. What is the Boalt scale? 1st time I’ve heard it!</p>
<p>Mythmom, Williams now has a very limited pass-fail option; it has a silly name that I’m forgetting now. I think it’s a very good idea and I’m glad they decided to offer it.</p>
<p>Regarding the Boalt Scale, or the Boalt Hall Study:</p>
<p>This is the Boalt Hall study. Colleges at the top have less grade inflation than those at the bottom. Keep in mind that these numbers are somewhat outdated (the study was done in the 90’s)…</p>
<p>The following is UC Berkeley’s rankings of
the toughest schools to get an “A”</p>
<p>Swarthmore 89.5
Williams 89.0
Duke 88.5
Carleton 88.0
Colgate 88.0
J. Hopkins 87.5
Chicago 87.0
Dartmouth 87.0
Wesleyan 87.0
Cornell 86.5
Harvard 86.5
Middlebury 86.0
Princeton 86.0
Bates 85.5
MIT 85.5
Haverford 85.0
Pomona 85.0
Virginia 85.0
Amherst 84.5
Reed 84.5
Vanderbilt 84.5
Wm & Mary 84.5
Bowdoin 83.5
Tufts 83.5
Vassar 83.5
Bryn Mawr 83.0
Hamilton 83.0
Oberlin 83.0
Rice 83.0
U. Pennsylvania 83.0
Clrmt. McK. 82.5
Yale 82.5
Brandeis 82.0
Northwestern 82.0
Colby 81.5
Michigan 81.5
Notre Dame 81.5
Wash. U. 81.0
Barnard 80.5
Columbia 80.5
Stanford 80.5
Brown 80.0
Georgetown 80.0
Smith 80.0
Wellesley 80.0
Emory 79.5
U. North Carolina 79.5
Whitman C. 79.5
Rochester 79.0
UC Berkeley 78.5
UC San Diego 78.5
Illinois 78.0
SUNY Bing 78.0
Texas 78.0
Trinity U. 77.5
Boston College 77.0
UC S. Barbara 77.0
Wisconsin 77.0
Florida 76.5
U. Washington 76.5
Santa Clara 76.0
Geo. Wash. 75.5
UC Davis 75.5
UCLA 75.5
Colorado 75.0
Michigan State 75.0
Boston University 74.5
Cal Poly SLO 74.5
Massachusetts 74.0
Penn State 74.0
Iowa 73.5
Purdue 73.5
SMU 73.5
SUNY Albany 73.5
BYU 73.0
Minnesota 73.0
Ohio State 73.0
Oregon 73.0
UC Irvine 73.0
Indiana 72.5
NYU 72.0
SUNY Buff 72.0
SUNY Stony 72.0
Mills 71.5
American 71.0
Arizona 71.0
Loyola Mary. 71.0
Maryland 71.0
Fordham 70.5
Kansas 70.0
Syracuse 70.0
USC 70.0
Arizona St. 69.5
CS San Diego 69.5
Catholic U. 69.5
Oklahoma 69.5
Pacific 69.5
Hofstra 69.0
UC Riverside 68.5
Utah 68.5
CS Chico 68.5
Miami 68.0
New Mexico 68.0
San Diego 68.0
CS Northridge 67.0
Pepperdine 67.0
CS San Fran. 66.0
CS Sacramento 65.0
Hawaii 64.5
Denver 63.5
CS Fullerton 63.0
CS Hayward 63.0
CS Long Beach 63.0
CS San Jose 63.0
CS Fresno 62.5
St. Mary’s 61.5
CCNY 59.0
CS LA 58.5
Howard 57.5
San Francisco 57.5</p>
<p>NOTE: I realize this is a LONG list, for that I apologize. I didn’t feel it right to make an editorial decision of where to cut the list.</p>