We had the same reaction to Mount Holyoke. I loved it and my daughter was pretty neutral.
We were there is the summer and the place was locked up like a tomb. Every door was locked. Our visit felt very incomplete.
With some schools, you get the sense that they are really trying to put their best foot forward. Others not so much.
Mount Holyoke easily has one of my favorite campuses I have ever seen, but I do get that it is maybe not exactly the setting some kids are looking for.
Shouldn’t this post be in the main thread?
Yep, my bad.
No idea how to move it. That said, I did just get a survey from Amherst College and I let them know how silly that info session was. I thought I was just being whiny, but on the drive home my daughter complained about it and then so did our exchange student and then so did my mother who was with us for the ride. Lol.
I remember it from about 25 years ago when I would compete against them in equestrian. It was beautiful then and it’s probably actually more beautiful now.
Thankfully, we couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was warm and sun was shining and breeze was blowing, and it was just perfection for tours.
I actually think I might’ve gotten a sunburn lol
I visited as a college debater. It was, um, more than 25 years ago.
Anyway, I obviously couldn’t put any women’s colleges on the visit list for my S24 (although I actually made a point of doing a quick drive over to Bryn Mawr since he was looking at Haverford). But I would love to visit with my D30 when the time comes–except she is currently talking engineering. Sigh.
We were underwhelmed by Amherst when we toured several years ago. My husband, D, and I went on separate tours since there were a lot of people and at least 6 groups. We compared notes and none of us loved it. It’s funny because it was one of my husband’s favorite schools when he applied, but he wasn’t admitted. I had planned on applying, but after an overnight, I took it off my list. Before we visited, I thought my D would apply, but she didn’t bother.
I really can’t put my finger on why none of us really fell in love with the school. On paper it’s perfection lol. But it was just so so for us. It checks so many boxes and I have a friend whose son is applying. It’s his number one choice. But I think my kid is looking for less preppy, more quirky. The dinosaur museum was amazing though. We all loved that. My daughter wants to go back sometime and really peruse it.
I loved Amherst but I didn’t go on an official tour. My daughter was looking at Smith and I was just driving around to the other schools. Neither of us liked Smith but I told her if she was accepted to Amherst we’d be having a different conversation because I really liked it.
My daughter felt similarly about the students she met and saw at Amherst. Funnily enough, she ended up at Williams, which I wouldn’t have expected, but she’s found the artsy and quirky. Kids!
Engineering! So impressive that a 7th grader knows what that is! FYI, in terms of engineering and historical women’s colleges, Wellesley has great engineering classes and students can also take classes at Olin and MIT
and Smith is the first (I believe) women’s college to have an abet accredited (engineering science) program.
For folks interested in women’s colleges and engineering, there are even more options:
And though the 3/2 programs aren’t popular with everyone, the women’s colleges have some options that might be more attractive than others:
Spelman: 3/2 arrangements with Auburn, Cal Tech, Columbia, Dartmouth, Georgia Tech, IUPUI, Missouri S&T, North Carolina A&T, RPI, RIT, UMich, and Notre Dame. Students who continue their 3/2 at Georgia Tech are only a few miles away from their “home” institution (source). It appears as though students need to apply as transfer students, but that the dual degree students are considered separately from “regular” transfer students (source).
Agnes Scott: 3/2 arrangement with Georgia Tech, and students who meet the requirements are guaranteed a transfer to Georgia Tech (source) which, again, is just a few miles away.
Funny enough, it is sort of the “fault” of College Confidential!
It started with her wanting to be an architect, but then there was a conversation here about architectural engineering. To the extent this even makes sense for a 7th grader, architectural engineering sounded more like her thing to me–she really likes math, she likes actually designing and making things, and so on. So I told her about the discussion here, and now she wants to be an architectural engineer.
As it happens, Penn State has what appears to be an excellent undergraduate architectural engineering program and we are in-state, so that would be a great fit. But the idea is killing NiceUnparticularMom, who is uncharacteristically particular about not liking Penn State (I don’t think educationally, it is just a very old antipathy dating back to her own HS/college days).
“Fortunately” for her, there is also a program at USC which looks great, and D30 is currently into the idea of going to California for college. Meanwhile I am thinking that is really far away, but no one much cares what I think on such subjects.
But I am already trying to slip WPI into the conversation, which is a third school with what looks like a really good undergrad archictectural engineering program, and is much closer for us.
Anyway, that is still so far off I can’t take any of this too seriously. On the other hand . . . D30 can be a pretty determined person, and I actually do think on some fundamental level all this really fits her. So we’ll see.
I’m a current WPI parent (not ArchE, but MechE/CivE) and would be happy to answer any questions if/when you/she have any. That said, I don’t know if I can imagine schools more different then Penn State and WPI, so I’m guessing that as she gets closer to ready to think about this stuff seriously, the whole size/vibe thing might push one way or the other…
That’s what I am thinking. Even if she sticks with Engineering, it might not be Architectural Engineering. And then there are so many different types of undergrad institutions with Engineering.
So we would do visits and make sure she could see herself really enjoying the overall college experience, not just whatever she ends up thinking in terms of major.
My kid was the same, but with Skidmore. LOL eyeroll
Skidmore is in my D25’s top two, and indeed the name keeps coming up because her friends (who have no familiarity with the school) cannot let it be, sigh.
Is it me or does it not feel a bit cheeky on the part of the Times editors in including this snapshot with a piece on Black enrollment at Amherst?
In all fairmess, this could just as well have been taken at Wesleyan on any sunny day, too.
They picked that picture on purpose you can be sure.
