that is cool!
RIT has a cosplay chess club - kids dress up (in whatever, I think?) and play chess - very appealing to a certain set too!
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I can’t believe there are 2 of those! but I googled and there are a lot, apparently?
Syracuse, Umass, and more. huh. Though some have competitive eating contents, which makes more sense to me, weirdly.
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Oh dude. My D26 would have loved that – she loves both cosplay and chess. Although she’s fantastic at the former and barely mediocre at the latter, LOL, but combining the two sounds super fun!
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Maybe she can start this at her new school:) And googling, I think it is a cosplay troupe that sometimes does chess, versus a pure chess club? I saw it listed on parents weekend so not 100% sure but that it was hilarious!
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UW has lettuce eating club too
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Dang - i have salad every day (spring mix) - and when i go to a bowl place, i get Kale.
I’m not in school but feel like a member of the lettuce eating club!!
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Three kids and 25 college tours later we are done as our daughter committed to Syracuse right after our admitted students visit this past Friday. Probably half of those visits were Northeast LACs but outside of the Southwest, we were pretty much all over the map. UCSD was our first and we closed with Syracuse.
Our S20 started at Richmond and transferred to Northwestern, our Syracuse bound twin brother is heading to Elon. Thank God for merit and successful grandparents. The two schools that suprised me the most in terms of howm I liked them were Pitt and Susquehanna.
To me Pitt just combined the real campus experience with the real city experience. You always felt like you were in a city but you always felt like you are in the campus. Great school spirit and somehow under rated academically. They must not play the rating game. BU on the other hand was the opposite where you felt like you were in a city not on a campus. Nothing wrong with it not just my cup of tea.
Susquehanna, we looked at as a safety but ended up liking it as much if not more than any of the other LACs we visited. The enrollment is small 2300 but the campus isn’t. It’s a beautiful well maintained campus with both a communications and business school that punches above it’s weight. What else stood out was the student body, never felt cliquey. It felt very inclusive, maybe it was the lacrosse player who gave us our tour who was minoring in theater arts. Also for a private LAC the COA is just over 30K a year net.
Probably the other two schools that were not my cup of tea, Skidmore and Muhlenberg. Skidmore awesome town but the campus a little too eclectic and the vibe a little too artsy. Nothing wrong with Muhlenberg except that it really felt too small to spend four years.
All and all there are a lot of great schools out there. If you have the time and the means try to visit as much as possible. Go when the school is in session if possible. Get the vibe try to talk to students outside your guide. Drive around the surrounding area. Maybe the lesson we learned
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It send to quick. Lesson learned that sometimes the beauty of the campus is only skin deep.
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For @UTmeritseeker - families with current W&M students can chime in, but back in the stone ages (I graduated in '97), the main off campus hang out area was the space with the three bars - aka “delis” b/c originally Williamsburg required alcohol purchases be less than 50% of revenue - that are basically across the street from the football stadium. Other than that, there wasn’t much in walking distance, although I understand this has improved some (although still not close walking distance) down Richmond road. There also used to be a student run coffee shop just off campus that served as a hang out place for your more artsy theater/coffee house type folk, I think that’s still there, although renamed.
As someone who lived right at the edge of Colonial Williamsburg for three out of four years, it’s funny how much some people take advantage of CW. I used to run through the streets there when i was training, and students can get into the houses for free, so on nice weather days I’d take my books and work in the gardens of various houses. Of course, now that books are generally online who knows if that’s doable, but you can make CW part of your life if you want.
While the greek life isn’t as present as the other schools you visited, fraternity parties were a common source of weekend social life. There are enough of them that you can always find one that has people and music you vibe with (back in the day it was Psi U for my friends and I - had the guys who were sort of your ultimate frisbee guys who tended to play excellent 80’s music at their parties).
After four years of college, I refused to consider applying to their law school, even though as an in state student it would’ve been a great deal. I was done with Williamsburg. I do think many (most?) kids start feeling the small town-ness of it pretty significantly by the end of their time, but that forced togetherness really was a great experience for me, and I think for many others. Good luck to your daughter as she checks things out!
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Adding very brief JMU James Madison University drive-by (not a tour so didn’t want to put on the main thread). Over our years of college tours, we have developed a love of campuses without many roads / cars that pass through the center of campus. Those that are bifurcated or interwoven with streets tend to sink low on our list. (Looking at you UW-Madison and Lawrence University). But James Madison was the only one we have seen with an actual freeway bifurcating campus. It was very odd to see them walking under the freeway on an underpass and seeing students out on the practice field as we drove past at 70 mph.
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Stop on the way back and check out the campus. You may be surprised.
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My daughter nixed it for the same reason. That said, the quad is beautiful and others said you don’t go on the other side - or few do. I was more intrigued by the power plant on the walk to the garage we parked which if I recall was south of campus.
But I-81 is what led my daughter to remove JHU as well - worthy reason or otherwise. Beautiful campus tho.
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It depends on the major. After the first year, my S never had another class on the quad side. I’m not sure FDIL2 - health sciences ever had one on that new side.
I thought it was ugly at first. It grew on me as time went on.
What? Hopkins is near but not ON I-83 and in a lovely suburban neighborhood.
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It’s the split. Kids are weird. My daughter didn’t want a campus with roads through it - and yet chose to go to a school in a downtown with many roads.
That JMU wasn’t urban would have been her next reason to nix it 
After a 10 hour ride to get to school, when you can’t wait to get off the highway, having the highway exit 100 yards from the campus entrance seems like the best thing ever. LOL!
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Very few schools that have grown with time passing have no roads through them. DU put a pedestrian bridge over the city street (not a highway) but students wouldn’t use it so they now have a major crosswalk (plus the bridge) with blinking lights and is more a hassle for the cars than the students.
I grew up in a town with a college with regular streets through the college. At 10 mins to the hour, it was just a steady stream of students crossing, so locals learned not to go that way at 10 min to the hour unless they wanted to wait 10 minutes for students to cross. Traffic just stopped. Honestly, I developed a bad habit of just walking in front of cars because I knew they would stop - until they didn’t in other places!
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@Utmeritseeker - Current W&M parent and alumna here - the delis are still popular places for hang outs. There are new restaurants close by that students enjoy on Prince George Street and South Henry - my favorite is Precarious - it’s huge with long Oktoberfest style seating and smash burgers and tacos (and margaritas on draft in addition to really good craft beer). Lots of cool coffee shops within easy walk.
OctoberKate is right in the blend of CW and college - it’s not easily apparent especially when tourists are crowding the CW streets, but in mornings and evenings, students take over for really beautiful walks (and baby animals).
The party scene is as active as students want it to be - house parties, bands, Greek life, all of it - but it will be on a smaller scale, obviously, than a big state school.
Further afield, there is a Trader Joe’s, lots of chain restaurants, and riverfront beaches.
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If you are chasing merit, take a look at University of Mary Washington. It is a hidden gem of a campus. In the city of Fredericksburg and close-ish to DC. Student body is less Greek and more quirky/academic. If they had engineering, my DD would have applied. CNU and Longwood are other good publics that give merit. Roanoke College and Randolph Macon are other strong private schools that give merit.
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Also, wanted to add that Richmond is a great city in a wonderful location. We live here and love it. Close to beach, mountains and DC. Lots to explore. My DD’s best friend attends U of R for track and absolutely loves it.
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