Indeed, there were postings elsewhere about how competitive it is to get onto The Daily Bruin at UCLA. UCLA is a big school, and a student newspaper needs only so many writers and editors no matter how big the school is.
A smaller school may be less competitive to get onto a club where the size does not scale with the school size (e.g. the main student newspaper), although some care must be taken to ensure that the school is not so small that the desired club does not exist or is too small to be effective at what it wants to do.
Us old folks think of “the school paper” as the only game in town. But a college campus today will have an alternative publication (the news website which publishes the stuff the administration doesn’t want to see); the city or town will have a muckraking publication which usually welcomes student journalists; there will be specialized blogs and vlogs and sites (sports, feature stories, local and regional politics) all of which will give a student terrific experience and lots of clips and work samples for their portfolio. If the main, campus sponsored publication is a dead end, many more places to write than in our day!
This is a great idea for a number of reasons! One of which is it gives an opportunity to see if there is a “place” for you at this school doing exactly what you want. Also, you get to talk to actual students to hear what the school is like, and maybe make a friend before you arrive on campus. And on top of that, when you apply for transfer, instead of saying I don’t like x at my school, you can say “when I talked to the Editor of x, I learned that this school will give me the opportunity to …” The new school is much more likely to admit someone who knows how they will fit in when they get there.
In reality, our kiddos should be doing this work up front on the way into college, but if your son is like mine … he’s not a fan of cold-calling college students to ask about clubs. (Note that this is what athletic recruits do on the way in … talk to the coach, the captian, learn how they fit in, etc. And that’s why athletic recruits walk into school on day 1 with a built in community, because they found their place in that community before they got there.)
Northwestern University should be high on his list based on his interest in law and journalism. Easy to double major or triple major at Northwestern, but the academics are demanding and fast paced (quarter system). Northwestern has the best journalism school in the world at the undergraduate level and also offers a major and minor in Legal Studies.
Another point to consider is that if he is not feeling intellectually challenged, he might want to enroll in different classes next semester. Aspiring lawyers can major in literally anything that captures their attention.
Agree. The same wise person who told me “wherever you go, there you are” pointed out that my freshman year, first semester class schedule was- in essence- high school. Take the next level in foreign language- check. Take a history class- check. He suggested spending the second semester taking “if I could study anything, what would it be” classes and it completely changed the paradigm. It wasn’t that I hadn’t been challenged first semester- the work was HARD and it took a lot not to fall behind. The issue was that I wasn’t taking advantage of what a university has- seminars in medieval poetry, a class in Byzantine architecture, a course on Anarchy, a class on the development of orchestral music with each era defined by historically appropriate instruments-- etc. Once I stopped trying to “balance” my schedule and focused on “Hey this sounds really cool”, my academic life took off.
And MANY more social opportunities if you are sitting in a class with other people who also find the same stuff interesting!!!
Clearly in this case, the apple falls not far from the tree. In addition to being well-written, I’ve found your responses to be refreshingly gracious and grateful.
I don’t really have anything else to add – as usual, the team here has given a lot of excellent advice and provided helpful supporting information.
What’s interesting here is that many assume “top” schools have higher rigor and I don’t think that’s the case. I remember in MBA school, my Cornell roommate bff was at Wharton - and it was cake vs. we busted tail.
But I do think rigor is there if students seek it out - and that might include meeting with the prof to ask ways they can go deeper, even if on own.
My kid at Bama (granted engineering) - top HS kid - had his a$$ handed to him and my daughter works tirelessly at C of Charleston -
so I’m not sure you can correlate rigor to school choice if you are using selectivity or rank as that barometer - although many want to (i.e. my kid goes to Harvard and therefore it has better rigor just because it’s Harvard, as an example).
You can maybe correlate it to major (for some, not all).
Hi! You have gotten so much feedback, I almost did not reply, but I will offer my perspective b/c I have a different thought. I have 2 kids who both love to learn, be involved and seek diverse perspectives. My oldest is a Junior at Vandy, my youngest is a first year at Pomona College in California. My youngest started with Tufts high on the list and ended up not applying, because interactions with students and former students gave the impression that it would not be a good “fit” - for reasons that your kid seems to be experiencing. As kids who love learning, both of my kids wanted schools where they would not have a slew of large lecture courses, but classes that would focus on discussion and writing, with professors who want to engage with undergraduates. Both wanted a city accessible, and a lot of opportunities for undergraduates to explore academic and artistic interests, They both found schools that offer them just what they hoped, but I honestly cannot say enough wonderful things about Pomona. It is a very small school, but the consortium of the 5C’s means the undergraduate enrollment is similar to Tufts. I am so impressed with the opportunities available, and the campus culture. There are many international students - my kid has made friends from all over the world, as well as friends from all of the 5C’s. Pomona is need blind, and meets full need, and although there is a lot of wealth there, there are many students getting a lot of FA - students are focused on learning, and my kid, who is a theater and politics major, has been impressed with the level of discourse and creativitity among the students. There are also many opportunities to get off campus and explore, As someone who attended large universities for undergraduate and grad school, and loved them, I will say that the attention and opportunities that my kids are getting at their prospective schools is very impressive, and although large, public schools do offer great education and opportunity, it is not the same. Your kid may find that a different LAC has a very different feel than Tufts, so worth talking to students about the culture.
I was going to suggest Vanderbilt as all of the kids I know who have gone there have a strong sense of social justice and an interest in creating societal change. I’m curious if that is what your oldest experienced as well.
Hi! My kid really loves Vandy - she has found the student body to be very diverse. The community is not as political as some schools, and is not as focused on “giving back” as some of the faith based schools we visited, but there are definitely contingents of students who are working to create social change, and lots of opportunities to work on issues that matter to students. Vandy has a greek community and a bigger party scene than some of the LAC’s that do not have greek life. My kid is not involved in greek life, and is not a ‘partier’ but still has an active and balanced social life.
If academic rigor is needed then may I suggest Hopkins, UNC, or Swarthmore? @KarenKaren
But be careful what you wish for.
My UNC 25 daughter’s observation upon visiting Bama was…these kids look so happy. Not that she is unhappy or anything like that but let’s just say she has to study pretty damn hard almost every night and there is a lot of competition for everything.
These are all great points and I agree. They have been things we’ve discussed.
My response to the poster was based on multiple posts in response to my earnest asks for help, and for my gratitude when others shared their experiences to give me a new perspective, and heaven help us all if we cannot be open minded on a platform like this.
I believe I shared that he was comfortable with a very large university but was fine with medium. Just not too small. I think in retrospect, for him, larger might be better.
I don’t want to bash Tufts. It’s a great university and he’s had some great opportunities, in large part because he sought them out himself and worked hard to open some doors. But he has also had great support from some professors. I’m hoping he may grow to love Tufts, but even if he does not, I would absolutely not discourage others from seeking out an education there.
Thank you for sharing. I truly appreciate all the feedback!
I would not have expected so much competition in Alabama. I hope things are better. It is very hard to really get a handle on a place with just a quick visit. I suggested he spend a week in a new place before accepting a spot. he loves Boston. So, that’s not the issue. But it’s hard to get to know the actual experience before spending time
Every student is different. I have told him it will become more intense. But what is rigorous for one may not be rigorous for another.
He gets top grades at everything and he’s even had a professor tell him he should not be in their class as he needs more of a challenge. If they meant that more rigor is ahead, that would have been great for them to share. But getting messaging from professors that he needs more than he is getting is one reason he has had a concern.
Hmmm. Two that come to mind immediately are UChicago and Columbia, but I don’t think they have more undergrad students than Tufts.
ETA: Also, there may be distribution requirement headaches and an additional semester or two of classes because both schools have core curricula. UChicago’s is more flexible than Columbia’s. If you are considering those two schools, I would try to find out if some of the courses taken at Tufts would satisfy core requirements.
We toured Pomona and he liked it. Still on his list. He is hot natured and was in a tank top when we visited in winter. I wondered about the weather during the hot months and I wondered about how robust the social scene was. I know the colleges have an amazing reputation. It’s not the CA we know, so I may have influenced that a little.
I was also concerned that the athletes might get the dorms with a/c and preferential treatment. he’s not an athlete and he’d be out off by that I think another visit to Pomona would make sense. Do you know anything about their transfer program? Thanks so much for sharing.