Last up for the summer as school is about to start, with one more visit planned for the fall.
Babson: DOWN and off. We had lunch at a place in Wellesley - probably a locale that college kids only frequent on parents’ weekend. I had never been to Wellesley, and it certainly is a lovely Boston suburb, but I didn’t get the sense from the part we saw that there was much connection between the downtown area and the colleges. That being said, it may be different from the Wellesley campus, which we did not see. The info session was divided between an AO presentation and some insight from a student, who mostly discussed their experience with the Babson equivalent of a first-year seminar, which groups students together for the year to create a product and launch it from scratch using seed money from the college. If the business they start makes money, it is donated to an area non-profit; if it does not bring in a profit, the college takes the loss. It sounded challenging, a great way to learn to take risks in a relatively low-risk environment, and an opportunity to explore the many different options for concentrations within a business degree. I personally thought it was really cool. But my 27 was stuck on the idea that the AO had started the presentation with the pitch that Babson really has only one major and a host of concentrations (full disclosure - he knew going in that it’s a business school). I see this as an attempt to distinguish the school, but to me, it’s really that they confer one degree and have a host of majors or concentrations - but maybe this is just semantics. It didn’t matter when I tried to tease out this distinction to S27. With the info session done, we headed out on a tour with our two assigned guides. It’s a lovely and peaceful campus with good green spaces and well-kept facilities. Perhaps its most distinguishing feature is the massive rotating globe in the center of campus, apparently the second largest of its kind in the world. Our tour had a sit-down moment in one of the academic buildings during which our guides addressed the issue of campus safety. Now, we’re used to guides pointing out blue light systems, discussing shuttles or the equivalent of uber services (Colby and Bates both have something like this), or speaking in positive overall terms about how campus safety operates, but this totally threw us for a loop. Wellesley and the area in which Babson is situated is not exactly what I would call a rough town (there’s a country club right across the street), but our guides spoke about how well policed the campus is, that the response times were short, and that they had sniffer dogs as well. It was strange and confusing, and after our tour we spent a reasonable amount of time googling if there had been any recent safety-related issues to merit this part of the tour instead of talking about the programs and if the place should stay on his list. Ultimately, it raised more questions for us than it answered. The athletics facilities were nice, and the maker space was cool too. We did not see dorms, but we did get to see the student center, as well as their finance/trading room which was packed with Bloomberg terminals for student use. Our guides really emphasized the value of alumni connections, and many big names were dropped throughout the tour. Clubs sounded as if they’re competitive at Babson, which also doesn’t work for my 27 (I don’t think he could hit the ground running as well as he might need to in that environment), but I will say from what our guides described as their lived experiences, the school does seem to somehow balance a supportive and collaborative environment while also focusing on what is inherently a very competitive field. While it was a long shot fit for my 27 way back when we were discussing which schools to visit, I’m still glad we made the trip because I think it helped him really accept that he didn’t want to specialize in business (similar to ruling out engineering after our visit to Clarkson this spring). I’d also say that if you have a kid who is set on an undergrad business degree, it seemed like it would be an exciting and dynamic place to spend four years.
Holy Cross: UP. We arrived in Worcester at a perfect time for lunch, and I had already planned to visit the Worcester Public Market before heading to campus. It was fun, and while not within walking distance, it gave us a chance to see a tiny smidgeon of the area. After some great momo dumplings, Jamaican goat curry, and a few Jamaican patties, as well as boba tea, we rolled up the hill to admissions. Parking that day was a bit of a mess, and our email from admissions didn’t indicate that there was a parking garage available. After multiple loops, a friendly, if frustrated, campus safety officer pointed us in the right direction. Needless to say, we were not the only hapless admissions visitors looking for a spot, but I probably could have done a tad more research too.
The info session here was pretty standard. The one major takeaway for us was that they strongly recommend that applicants do the optional interview, which the AO described as an informal conversation. In the summer, these are conducted by AOs, but during the school year the virtual ones are usually scheduled with an upperclassman.
There was only one tour guide available that day, but our group was a manageable size, so it was OK. S27 loved this campus. And no, I did not mind all the steps and climbing here because it felt more spread out than Tufts. He especially liked the science center and the newer student recreation facility, which was full of natural light and very inviting. The library was the most dramatic of any of the libraries we have toured together with a classic, imposing reading room. I don’t know much at all about architecture, but it was the kind of space that oozed quiet study. We asked if the library had spaces for group study, or if the quiet levels were determined by floor like at other campuses, and he indicated that most, if not all, spaces in the library were pretty quiet. Apparently, in the quietest of the quiet sections, there are QR codes on the tables from which students can anonymously “report” loud or disruptive behavior and a librarian will come to address the situation - that is intense, but my 27 was not turned off by it at all. We followed up with the question about whether there are spaces for more casual study or group project work, and he said absolutely, that he often uses the music library, and just going through some of the buildings, there were certainly ample areas for group study. The newer arts center is stunning from the outside as well as the inside. We also checked out “Easy Street” - the flattest part of campus - where we could see the outside of dorms, but we did not get to see a dorm room. Not a concern for my 27. The newer senior housing looked great from the outside. Finally, we wrapped the tour at the chapel, which was unfortunately already locked for the day. What struck my kiddo the most during the “why did I choose Holy Cross” part at the end of the tour was that our guide said what he has come to love the most in his time there is the community’s commitment to dialogue and listening to/engaging with other viewpoints. It was a really thoughtful answer and not one we have heard from students elsewhere. My 27 loved the campus, both the buildings and the green spaces, and there was something about that answer from our tour guide that really struck him, so Holy Cross moved up his list.