Two college visits in Worcester, MA this weekend –
Clark University – DOWN and OFF for D26, SAME for me. The campus seemed really nice, not pretentious, and our two tour guides were lovely and personable. The info session covered a lot of different ways in which students get individual attention – it does seem like students don’t slip through the cracks at this school. Lots of opportunities for research early on. It’s hard to get an impression of the student body in the summer, unfortunately – campus was pretty empty. I did ask about what kind of students attended, even giving the example that my older kid is at Rice, and they very much describe students as “happy nerds” (which is accurate, lol). But we weren’t able to get a sense of what kind of kid attends Clark.
My D26 is interested in an interactive media and game design major, and Clark boasts the #3 program for this in the U.S. – which is kind of weird for a small LAC. But we learned that there was another school – Becker – that closed its doors during the pandemic, and Becker had this top program, which Clark absorbed. There is now a brand new building which houses it on campus.
Despite that, my kid is very much not looking for an LAC – she wants something bigger. So although the program itself seemed great, the overall vibe of the school didn’t resonate with her. And then, there was no pep band, and no one could really tell us anything about other bands – or whether students could play with Holy Cross’s marching band, as we’d heard. D26 will not apply.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) – SAME or slightly UP for D26, WAY UP for me. Wow, what a beautiful campus! I think I was expecting some kind of industrial tech school look, and it’s not that at all – WPI’s campus is green and gorgeous and interesting. It was a really nice mix of old and modern buildings. The size, about 5K undergrad, seemed to be okay for D26. We were initially skeptical about the short 7-week quarters (two in the fall, two in the spring), but after hearing the full description of how they worked, D26 was okay with it. Lots of projects and study-abroad opportunities, which was a huge plus.
The school also emphasizes its humanities curriculum because it’s full of engineering majors who might not take humanities classes otherwise, lol. And we didn’t have to ask about what kind of kids attended – it was clear from our tour guide, lol. He unabashedly told us about reserving meeting rooms to host his D&D campaigns, about his sci-fi club, and about the store he frequents to buy Pokemon and Magic the Gathering cards. 
My D26 was highly amused and thought she’d have no trouble finding her people here.
Still, I think I liked it more than she did – it could be we’ve just toured too many schools, and she’s kind of over it. She didn’t have that “wow” reaction that she had with RIT. (I kind of did, though.) Still, I think it’s likely she’ll apply. Oh, one more note – the dorms were meh and not air-conditioned, which gave our southern hearts pause.