<p>I’d scratch my head over someone who applying to both UCLA and Oregon unless Oregon was the in-state Safety or something like that.</p>
<p>TheDad,</p>
<p>That wouldn’t be such an uncommon situation. It might also be a student who has simply narrowed his or her search or large universities on the West Coast.</p>
<p>“Sure there are people who are obsessed by the Ivy League; you may even be one of them, Mini.”</p>
<p>Mini is a brilliant guy, a wonderful writer and a great contributor to this forum. Obsessed with the Ivy League? Couldn’t be further from the truth.</p>
<p>Today Columbia and Dartmouth are covered with snow.</p>
<p>At Columbia, the snow is a gray-brown and a real pain in the a**, at dartmouth they might hit the slopes today.</p>
<p>My S loves the snow at Columbia. He’s been “traying” on the library steps and in Central Park. I guess you purists wouldn’t count that, though.</p>
<p>Yes, Central Park as they begin to dismantle “The Gates.” With the snow on the trees all around…sounds good to me!</p>
<p>“The Gates” was dismantled already this weekend. It was great while it lasted…loved it.</p>
<p>They actually started dismantling the gates yesterday as sunday was the last day to see them</p>
<p>Hey, everything is going to be recycled ** no more sea of orange **</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/nyregion/01gates.html?[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/nyregion/01gates.html?</a></p>
<p>This weekend? I saw them Saturday and know people who saw them Sunday. Yesterday they were supposed to start dismantling, but folks living on the park said it wouldn’t all be done in one day…or was it, sybbie?</p>
<p>ok, then I was wrong. My office has moved 8 blocks from there, so I only went to see it once week before last and once last week while going somewhere else. I don’t know the state it is in now.</p>
<p>I think the intention was to take it down in one day but at that time no one planned on a Nor’easter, but they got it done. From Today’s NY TImes</p>
<p>Yesterday morning, under gray skies, about 20 teams of workers fanned out across the park’s northern border, near the Harlem Meers, to begin dismantling the 7,500 gates that together composed the artwork. They moved quickly and smoothly, loosening the bolts that held each frame to its steel base, easing the gates down toward the ground, and wrapping the nylon-thread curtains around the crossbars.</p>
<p>Wow, I did not know it was going to be a traveling exhibit.</p>
<p>I guess contemporary art is whatever you make of it. At times it felt like I was walking through a Buddhist temple or an Indian temple, when walking under the gates. The saffron color reinforced the feeling.</p>
<p>I really loved it: the best part was that it was really a communal event (there was a nice article which made that same point in the Times yesterday.)</p>
<p>My D and I went to see it a week ago, and while standing on an outcrop of rock, enjoying the whole scene, I happened to look down and saw, my S! Small world…</p>
<p>Achat,</p>
<p>Obsession takes different forms. The anorexic is as obsessed with food as the glutton. Mini assailed the OP because he wants to go to Dartmouth, and has parents who work for Columbia who’d like him to take advantange of the tuition break he would get for staying at home. The OP didn’t say “I really want to go to Columbia or Dartmouth.” He said he’d like to go to Dartmouth, and that his parents wanted him to go to Columbia for financial reasons that he hadn’t discounted. Mini reacted by accusing the OP of an Ivy obsession. This struck me as a projection of an obsession, in its “anorexic” manifestation rather than the “gluttonous” alternative.</p>
<p>“Mini assailed the OP because he wants to go to Dartmouth.”</p>
<p>I did WHAT? I STRONGLY urged the OP TO GO TO DARTMOUTH (for Zagat’s benefit: lower Pell Grant rates and all)!</p>
<p>In Post #19: "It was a mistake to apply to Columbia at all. You need to trust your parents to tell you what they feel they can afford and what they can’t, and act accordingly.</p>
<p>Give them both a big kiss."</p>
<p>In Post #23: “I actually like Columbia, and, for different reasons, I like Dartmouth. And I think you can get a GREAT education at both.”</p>
<p>In Post #25, I noted I had compared Dartmouth to Whitman, which, where I live, is a HUGE compliment, and was meant to be.</p>
<p>“But I really did think I was being complimentary. I compared Dartmouth to Whitman, which is a wonderful school, with much greater name recognition and alumni networking where I live, and higher Ph.D. productivity rates than Dartmouth; I compared Columbia with the U.Chicago, which I attended, respect highly, and which also has higher Ph.D. productivity rates than Columbia. Four GREAT schools!”</p>
<p>To repeat, I think the OP should go to Dartmouth if he gets in, because he feels like he fits there better. It was not a comment on a comparison between the two schools, because (as I wrote in Post #19), I don’t think it makes any sense to compare the two. Put the two in different parts of the country, and in different football conferences, and I doubt there would be much overlap. They are both terrific schools, and the fact that they both happen to be members of the Ivy League doesn’t have anything to do with it.</p>
<p>I think everyone should go to a school where they feel comfortable, and will do well.</p>
<p>Mini,</p>
<p>If you’re going to quote me out of context, do me the courtesy of using an ellipsis to indicate that you’re truncating one of my sentences: “Mini assailed the OP because he wants to go to Dartmouth…”</p>
<p>If I had intended to state that you were assailing the OP merely for wanting to go to Dartmouth, I would have said so. My point is that you were accusing him of having an Ivy obsession for having applied to one school he wanted to attend (Dartmouth), plus one his parents wanted him to attend (Columbia) where he was eligible for a tuition discount.</p>
<p>This is not a situation that would suggest any Ivy obsession to one who is not Ivy obsessed.</p>
<p>I accused no one of ANY obsession. I just noted that the schools are not comparable, and that if they weren’t in the same conference, few folks would compare them. (Don’t understand why being part of the Ivy League should matter either way, unless you are competing in sports.)</p>
<p>What I DID say is that it was a mistake for the OP to apply to Columbia if he really doesn’t want to go there. But I well understand why he did (if I was dad or mom, I probably would have encouraged such an application, too, which doesn’t necessarily speak well for me.) Someone else asked if he had applied anywhere else (an answer to which I have yet to hear.)</p>
<p>Agree Greybeard.</p>
<p>Mini, your constant need to tear down certain schools and kid’s reasons for wanting to go to them qualifies as a potential obsession in my book.</p>
<p>I have to say, that on the whole, many parents on this board do not allow the kids to appreciate and enjoy their own approaches without feeling free to tell them why they’re wrong and you’re right. Some kids want an intellectual environment and others want a spirited community. Ssome may even enjoy large classes!</p>
<p>Mini, you went to Williams as did I. Yet you constantly tear it down. Not enough Pell Grants! Too elite!! Yet they took you and gave you a great education . If your daughter feels more comfortable among Pell grant recipients at Smith than she would have at Williams or an ivy, we should all be very glad that she found a good fit. However, it simply is not the criteria most of us use.</p>
<p>Mini,</p>
<p>You accused him of considering the two schools only because they’re members of the Ivy League: “If it wasn’t for the existence of a second-rate football conference, you wouldn’t even be comparing these two schools, other than the fact that lots of folks in the northeast make it a sport to apply to multiple members of said conference.”</p>
<p>He was comparing the schools because one was his first choice, and his parents wanted him to consider another for financial reasons. You brought up the football league, gratuitously, in my view.</p>
<p>So let me see: in the course of this particular forum, I praised Columbia, I praised Dartmouth, I praised Whitman, I praised the University of Chicago, I (even) praised Harvard. I recommended a school with low Pell Grant rates. I commented very favorably upon my Williams experience. I praised Princeton and MIT (in comparison with LACs). I noted my agreement with Marite on the basic irrelevance of class size, and noted good experiences in large classes, and bad experiences in small ones. I praised the better state universities.</p>
<p>Can’t please all comers (don’t feel I’m obligated to try.)</p>