<p>I can say there are a lot of midwesterners who still have that old taking-of-Pelham-123 mentality about New York. I think it’s laughable; NYC is one of the safest big cities I can imagine, and I wander around there with very little fear or concern at all (besides “normal” urban precautions).</p>
<p>^^^^^Pizzagirl, when I was a little girl, I thought NYC was the same New York seen in West Side Story. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would WANT to live there.</p>
<p>Both of my kids went from semi rural areas to large cities for college. They had to rememer they were in a CITY. Urban colleges do a very good job (we thought) of helping students learn what they needed to do while living in on an urban college campus. Honestly, we were very happy that they chose their schools. </p>
<p>You know…I gotta say…I can’t think of any school that I would have absolutely refused to send my kids to…if my KID had wanted to go there. My mantra was “the kid is going to college…not me”.</p>
<p>I agree with you, thumper, up to a point. But the choice does matter, and the view going in as a freshman is different than that leaving as a senior. My school in the 1980s. Had zero career counseling. They had some interest in helping kids with graduate school, but that’s it. I told my advisor I wanted to get an internship and she advised me NOT to do it, that I would basically be getting people coffee. Worst advice I never took, the internship lead me to my first real job. Now I’m not forcing any preprofessional ideas down my kids’s throats, but I do expect a college to open a students eyes toward the practicalities of their major.</p>
<p>redpoint, I’m not sure I understand your point as it relates to this thread. You are discussing the practicalities of majors…not the specific college choices. Again I say…if my kids had a particular college in mind, and that is where they wanted to attend, I can’t think why I would have said NO to them. </p>
<p>Re: majors…nice to think what you want about those, but remember that once a kid is IN college, they can and do switch majors more often than not. At the end of the day, your kid might NOT end up in such a practical field OR they could get a degree in a practical field and NOT pursue it as a career in the end. </p>
<p>My kids were going to college when they enrolled. Any notions I had about some of the schools from my OWN college days many years prior was…well…obsolete.</p>
<p>By the way, Columbia does not offer a course on the Occupy movement, although it may do so in the future:
[Committee</a> on Instruction denies approval for spring ?Occupy? class](<a href=“http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2012/01/17/committee-denies-approval-spring-occupy-class]Committee”>http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2012/01/17/committee-denies-approval-spring-occupy-class)</p>
<p>Sorry if I wasn’t being clear, thumper. Im not talking about choosing majors at all. I’m just saying I don’t want my child at a school that doesn’t have decent career advising, whatever their major. (I am absolutely not one of those people who want their kid to only pursue a “practical” major. I have a degree in art history myself, and am proud of it).</p>
<p>Thank you for the clarification, Redpoint. Good career advising is important…but <em>I</em> would not use that as the acid test for letting my kiddos select a college. That’s just me.</p>
<p>I would not have sent my kids to any school that accepted me as an undergrad.</p>
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<p>I almost spit on my computer when I read this…wins the “quote of the day” on CC award from me!!</p>
<p>But why??? If it worked for you AND it was a place that your kiddo would enjoy…why NOT want them to go there?</p>
<p>“Any school that has a Quidditch team.”
LurkerDad, that made me laugh out loud! When my son was starting to put together his list of schools to apply to he actually said that he would not go to any school that had a Quidditch team. The funny thing is that he just recently found out this his school DOES have a Quidditch team. He talked to one of the players and was absolutley impressed to find out that they play “full on contact” Quidditch. So it goes to show…ya never know :)</p>
<p>The Quidditch thing did sound like a turn off, but when I looked at it on YouTube it actually looked like a blast.</p>
<p>There are LOTS of schools I wouldn’t want my offspring to attend. That doesn’t mean I’d impose my choice on them; it does mean I’d be upset if they enrolled. </p>
<p>Add me to the list of folks who would not want my child to go to a school at which more than 20% of the student body belonged to frats or sororities.</p>
<p>I would not want my child to attend any school which charged more for better housing except single v. double v. triple. I don’t like schools where the dorms tend to segregate people by family income. </p>
<p>I dislike dorms with racially/ethnically based housing. </p>
<p>I would not want my child to attend any college at which the college newspaper, TV station or radio station had an academic or faculty "adviser, " especially one who could veto certain stories. </p>
<p>I would not want my child to attend any college at which on campus housing wasn’t available all four years. </p>
<p>I would not want my child to attend any college which didn’t have a Catholic chaplain in residence and mass available on campus or a short walk from it.</p>
<p>I would not want my child to attend any college at which chapel attendance was mandatory. </p>
<p>I would not want my child to attend any college that lacks a strong performing arts scene. </p>
<p>I would not want my child to attend any college at which more than 20% of students had cars on campus. </p>
<p>I would not want my child to attend any college that isn’t need blind.</p>
<p>Schools that hand out wrong ED admission results and uneven male/female ration like Vassar. :D</p>
<p>jonri, you would have liked MY kid’s college!!</p>
<p>I was the one who originally mentioned Columbia, (in the concept of safety), but obviously Columbia now is not like Columbia when I was in school in the dark ages (as I found out when we toured it in 2007). I do think safety is an approriate topic to think about.
To the OP–there is definitely a difference between schools we wouldn’t actively encourage and schools we would say NO WAY, but as I said previously, sometimes a little bit of fact-finding helps to clarify questions about the former category. As for the latter, fortunately my daughter didn’t even think about applying to any of those. I do think it’s interesting that there is quite a divergence of opinion on this thread about what is a deal-breaker and what isn’t. In particular, I’m struck by those who pointed out that they didn’t want their child to go to a school that wouldn’t academically challenge them, and I think that is a really good point.</p>
<p>jonri, I hope you understand that your criteria exclude a LOT of colleges.</p>
<p>For example, my daughter’s alma mater flunks three (possibly four – I don’t know about the car count) of your criteria. My son’s alma mater flunks one of them (possibly two – again, I’m uncertain about the car issue).</p>
<p>The schools in question are Cornell and the University of Maryland at College Park, respectively. Quite a lot of kids have good experiences at these schools, and quite a lot of people on this board have reasonably high opinions of them.</p>
<p>Forgive me for not finishing the entire thread, but why come down so hard on Greek life? Greeks at my school, and many others like it, have for many years had a higher GPA on campus than those students who are not affiliated with a fraternity or sorority. Also, over 60% of leadership positions on campus are held by those affiliated. Greeks have required study hours, required community service, and an organization wide philanthropy. The “Animal House” view of Greek life is simply over the top. My parents were not affiliated, but both agree that my decision to join a sorority was the best one possible, and has led to my leadership and emotional development in a positive way.</p>
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<p>Actually, there is research that shows there is a negative impact on grades from fraternities, although the statistical significance of it diminishes after freshman year.</p>
<p>Have done this a few times, no school within 250 miles of my house:) Need to break to cord. </p>
<p>Want a school where they can make a good argument as to why they want to go there. </p>
<p>Strong preference for a school without a preponderance of very well off kids.</p>