<p>I havent had a chance to do a single college visit other than to ones near me but I’m not applying to Columbia, NYU, NYc schools. I might be applying to Case Western, RPI, Lehigh, UMD, and possibly BU. I’ve already sent in my SUNYs(Bing, Stony Brook). Can you guys/gals just comment on what it’s like at these places(students life, facilities, weather, faculty, classes if youve been there, dorms/housing, groupies, general social life(i dont really care about bars), the community around the area(most concerned about violence,even though i live in the city), and whatever else you can come up with. Thank you for your replies.</p>
<p>I can comment on Case Western. There is a 2 to 1 ratio of guys to girls. The majority of people are engineering majors (the guys) or premed (the other guys and the girls). What I like about this school is that it’s what I call a “techie” school. The people there are computer geeks and gamers and such, instead of typical party college students. I read on Campus Dirt that it’s common for roommates to IM each other instead of talk in person. I think this was probably an exaggeration.</p>
<p>The academics are great. Anyone who is smart enough to have heard of the school will tell you that They were ranked #37 overall in 2004, and #4 in Biomedical Engineering. When I toured the place, every student I met said the academics are tough. But from reading their brochures and stuff, students who graduate from here definitely go places.</p>
<p>Some other things to mention… this university is BIG on research. Last year they offered 20 incoming freshman research positions. They’re financial aid is pretty decent. Especially if you have a high SAT score. If you don’t get any merit aid, the breakdown of your aid will probably be: $9000 in loans, $3500 work study, your EFC, and the rest in grants.</p>
<p>Some not so great things. Ohio is a pretty cold place (II have lived in sunny Las Vegas all my life). I went there in early November and it was already snowing! Plus, I’ve heard that Cleveland was voted the worst city to live in. Case Western however is in Univeristy Circle which is the better intellectual part of Cleveland. When you get your Student ID, you can ride the city bus for free.</p>
<p>The campus is kind of drab looking. Nothing that you might expect from some Pepperdine. </p>
<p>I hear Greek life is big there, but I didn’t see any evidence when I went there.</p>
<p>If you go here, you can be assured that the other students are serious about learning as well since there’s no glitz or glammer attached to attending this school. Though one thing I’ve read is that a lot of kids who had aspirations for Ivies have to settle for this school since it offered better aid…</p>
<p>I would have definitely attended this school last year had I thought I could have weathered an Ohio winter and could do with the $9000 loans for just that year.</p>
<p>Hope this helps some. I might be able to answer, if you have any other questions.</p>
<p>I can’t comment, but I’d say check campusdirt and princetonreview</p>
<p>I hope I can help - I visited, applied to, and seriously considered Lehigh.</p>
<p>Beautiful, beautiful campus. Almost like a smaller Ivy. Stone buildings, very New England-esque, ivy covered walls, just beautiful. Dorm rooms seemed very small when I visited. I mean, smaller than the typical rooms for freshmen where I am, and I’m at a public university.</p>
<p>I didn’t eat in the dining halls, but walked through them and there seemed to be a big variety of food. Also, in the main student common area on campus, above the dining hall was an area with Burger King, etc. (aka eat and run type places). I ate at the bagel place, and it was good. When I revisited in the spring, I ate at a little coffee/sandwich joint on the edge of campus, which was also good.</p>
<p>The greek scene is HUGE there. Case in point: Lehigh’s campus is essentially on a mountain, and guess what’s at the top? Yup… frat houses. I got the typical “you don’t have to go Greek to have fun or fit in here” schpiel, but I wasn’t so sure that in a school of 4000, I wanted to be someplace where a majority of the kids pledged. I wanted more variety in my party scene.</p>
<p>Also - Bethlehem, as a town, SUCKS. Very depressing area, as its a dead steel town. I drove around town after I revisited and basically you’ve got a bunch of little food shops, CVS, and nada. I mean, campus is life.</p>
<p>Overall, it kind of depends what you want from a school. I ended up at Penn State and after a little bit of a rocky patch, I couldn’t be happier. Let me know if you have any other questions about Lehigh, I can try and help as much as possible!</p>
<p>I live really close to SUNY Stony Brook. From what I’ve heard, the science programs are very strong, and I know that there is a lot of research going on both on the campus and just next door at the hospital. As for campus life, it is mostly a commuter school, although I’ve heard that on-campus life is improving, especially since they have a student center that is only a few years old. There are also a lot of film festivals in a really big nice theater, i used to LOVE going to those when I lived in the area. The town is very pretty but not overly exciting. Not much crime to speak of in the surrounding area. It has kind of a quaint, small town feel to it. It is nice being close to the beach, although for a lot of the school year this is not really very useful. There is a train station on campus which will bring you to NYC in about 1.5 hours. The people that I know at Stony Brook are mostly happy with it. And hey, my parents met there, so it can’t be too bad!</p>
<p>my d. and I visited Lehigh and she didn’t like it at all. I felt like any school that needed a Robert Wood Johnson funded grant to deal with their campus drinking problem must indeed have a problem! </p>
<p>BU is very large and very urban. Boston is a great city with a lot of students but since my d. definitely decided on preference for a small LAC, she never looked seriously at BU or any of the other schools in the city. Weather here is . . . COLD! We had 4" of snow on Saturday and it probably won’t be warm again until . . . late April or May!</p>
<p>Actually, most of the people I knew at Stony Brook transferred out! It’s a good school, but apparently the TA’s are mostly foreign and VERY difficult to understand. They were falling behind because their Linguistics TA couldn’t pronounce words correctly, in a syntax class!</p>
<p>I too have heard complaints about the TA’s being difficult to understand. That’s terrible that the LING TA couldn’t pronounce words! </p>
<p>I’m not sure though whether or not this is a problem unique to SB…this might be similar at lots of schools.</p>
<p>I know a lot about RPI, what do u want to know?</p>
<p>The weather at Binghamton is not great. It rains alot, and then it snows.
Everyone who goes there seems to love it though.
They have new dorms that looked really nice on my visit</p>
<p>Can I major in something else other than a science or engineering and still get a good education at RPI in that field? What Sat2s are required? All stats are misleading so inform me on the campus life there. I heard the course is very rigorous. I’m a procrastinator should I be applying there? I take my work seriously but it takes me a while to get it done. But it always gets done. and Yeah hows the weather. thanks=)</p>
<p>Can’t really comment either, but I recommend studentsreview.com</p>
<p>I love that students review site. Check out how former students rip into Pensacola Christian College. The stuff is classic I tell you!</p>
<p>I’ve read all of their comments but I cant trust everything there. Even the comments are a little ambiguous when it comes to explaining reasons for their comments. thats why Im posting here.</p>