<p>I must admit that a pet peeve of mine is the use of the term “grade deflation.” This term should mean a reduction in overall grades; instead, it is used to describe situations in which grades are stagnant or simply not rising as quickly as other schools’ grades. Take Williams for example. Here is the average GPA at Willliams for selected years in the last 20. </p>
<p>The data come from the above-mentioned site. (Scroll down to the bottom and click on the link.) It looks like inflation (albeit modest) to me. I know, I know, many other schools are worse …</p>
<p>Re: Brown and the “relentlessly academic” quote. Perhaps what the person was referring to is the fact that Brown attracts independent, passionate learners – kids who demonstrate that they love learning just for the sake of learning. One of my husband’s Brown roommates’ son is a sophomore at Brown now. She recently visited her son during family weekend and reported that he’s exhausted by his course load but incredibly happy with his experience. She took him to dinner w/ some of his friends and said they had a really fun, interesting conversation. It ranged from physics to politics to philosophy. That’s to be expected, I believe, from a typical Brown student. And having been married to a Brown grad for 25 years, I can attest that the mindset doesn’t change. He and his friends continue to be passionate learners throughout their lives and our dinner table benefits. One night he’s reading about black holes, the next he’s reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez.</p>
<p>I wonder if grade inflation could be attributed to an increase in student quality and/or teaching methods? After all, many former Williams students admit they wouldn’t have been admitted if they had applied today.</p>
<p>Hello! First post! My DS graduates from a great IB program in 2012</p>
<p>He wants to study dramatic or creative writing and acting.</p>
<p>UVA, just felt too traditional for him, not very good tour guides.
SUNY Purchase, but to be fair, it was summer and nothing was going on
Columbia, I have no idea why, he just didn’t like.</p>
<p>Clark (didn’t like surrounding neighborhood)
Goucher (“felt like a community college”)
Hobart & William Smith (didn’t care for it)
Trinity (CT) (same as Clark)</p>
<p>Having lived a block from Trinity for years, some time ago-- I concur! Yikes, I’ll never understand how anyone goes there. And yet people do, and they love it.</p>
<p>D10 crossed off Swarthmore because “everyone here seems really smart and weirdly good at some one thing.” Ironically a perfect description of D10! Oh well.</p>
<p>You just never know how your child will react to a school! With the 4 of them, we visited, we toured, we asked “dumb questions” of the tour guide & we were probably “lame” or “geeky” like most parents! But H & I never really said if we liked a school or not, we kept our opinions to ourselves & waited for child’s opinion. </p>
<p>S kept saying he did want to go to school in Massachusetts, well he is! LOL…</p>
<p>Having a DS spend a LOT of time in the hospital at UW-Madison, we didn’t need to visit. Crossed off due to emotional reasons for all of us. BUT - wonderful campus atmosphere, very sports focused.
DD spent some time at GWU - really liked it
Also at Lipscomb - Crossed off (she REFUSES to stay in TN-lol)
Vandy/UT - same reason ^^
UPitt - emotional reasons (DS hospital as well)
Carnegie Mellon - too ‘tech’ (and for me - too close to UPitt)
PennState - too big
Bennington - Loved at first. Crossed off - too small
Dartmouth - If you really want someone to pay app fee/tuition, perhaps parking provisions would be in order. Crossed off without going any further than a 30 minute search for a parking spot.
Brown - Liked campus/school. Crossed off - tour guide issue (knew nothing). I loved it because EVERYTHING happens ON campus
BC - fantastic fit, but DD crossed it off due to HS GC issues (in retrospect, it was a brilliant move)
Duke - DD first choice. Crossed off - allergic reactions to environment. Sad as she wanted to go to Duke since freshman year…was offered Robertson Scholar program - twice</p>
<p>Started off with over 30 schools on her ‘apply’ list. Had only visited the above schools and sent two applications when she received her first acceptance (never visited that school). Went to the accepted school on an open house weekend. She fell in love and made her decision on the way home. Saved $$ in app fees!!! She DID have very particular goals/ideas and weighed all the positive/negative issues.</p>
<p>^^^^^ Oh, I’m so curious. What was the school? Sounds like a very determined young woman who knows herself. Condolences for your S’s health issues.</p>
<p>“D10 crossed off Swarthmore because “everyone here seems really smart and weirdly good at some one thing.” Ironically a perfect description of D10! Oh well.”</p>
<p>Same thing with D. She said it was full of “quirky intellectuals” of which she admitted she was one.</p>
<p>Stated it ‘felt like home’ when she walked onto campus. FULLY subscribes to the ‘Prestige does not make Me’ philosophy. I believe that, in part, comes from her health issues at Duke and compensation thereof. Her HS health issues made her question BC. She wants to go to grad school there (law) and felt her undergrad app would limit her chances if she was rejected due to those issues. Also worried about going to the same school for undergrad AND grad.</p>
<p>Thank you mythmom…13 years at UWM hospital mixed with 4 at UPitt…DS passed away 5 years ago and DD didn’t want me to struggle to come see her.</p>
<p>Incidentally, she was impressed with her interview with Beloit College, not so much with Lawrence.</p>
<p>alwaysbelieve: I am truly so very, very sorry for your loss of your precious son. Congratulations on raising such a considerate daughter, and I’m delighted she met her perfect “fit”.</p>
<p>My S2 crossed off SUNY Geneseo when they made his grilled cheese sandwhich wrong!</p>
<p>Honestly - I tried to tell him the cafeteria staff would not be his fellow students or professors, but he was so annoyed he was beyond reason.</p>
<p>Later he claimed it was other things too - but the lunch ‘experience’ just left a sour taste in his mouth (no pun intended - or maybe just a little :))</p>
<p>Regarding the comment about Southern accents from the Indiana parent (a ways back- catching up)- the Hoosier accent is more Southern than Midwestern, probably the reason he liked it more than that of the Northeast.</p>
