One thing to keep in mind is that a school can look very different in summertime, without students around. D15 ended up at a small LAC where she had initially done a summer tour and didn’t like it much. Later on she attended an overnight with students, and it became her first choice. Just something to think about.
@CA1543 DS’15 is in the COE at Cornell and hasn’t found it too stressful. He’s enjoying working collaboratively and he liked his classes a lot, got >4.0 GPA freshman year even with working and some extracurriculars, and with a firm Sabbath on Sundays. He says sophomore year will be harder though so he’s cutting back on the ECs. For background he is a very focused and organized kid though not in the tippy top of test takers.
On the other hand, DD’14 is also at Cornell and her roommate is also an engineer, but she has found it more stressful. Doesn’t get much sleep and worries about her grades a lot (which are superlative as well). Different kids, different experiences. In general, though, the kids say that the engineers work very hard but they work hard together.
And yes, I’d say the mile estimate from North Campus to Engineering is about right.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek My kids have never had someone other than a professor as a overall instructor, except for the freshman writing seminars. Those are small, quirky writing classes that every freshman has to take and because there are so many of them, grad students teach many of the classes. But like many have said here they do run labs and discussion sections.
Not caught up on this thread just yet, but I’m working on an admissions requirement spreadsheet for my D. I’m noting that the scholarship requirements for most are updated. So fyi, UGA’s top scholarship now requires 1470 (rSAT) for consideration. I’ll post more that haven’t been mentioned yet on this thread as I come across them.
Welcome Dustypig:
Amherst (no)
Boston college (yes)
Boston U (Yes)
Brown (Yes)
Duke (Yes)
Georgetown (Yes)
Harvard (no)
MIT (depends on the week)
Northeastern (no)
Tufts (no)
UNC -CH (No but Yes)
Wesleyan (yes)
Yale (yes)
@dfbdfb Thank you for the outstanding school report - very detailed.
We are a bit worried about the heat and humidity at UA and it is nice that it did not impact your visit too much. We were there in the spring and it was beautiful weather which just enhanced D’s opinion of the school. We were overwhelmed by the helpfulness while at UA and even more so since visiting other campuses. There were so many friendly and helpful people all around campus helping us to navigate (important since it is so huge).
@dfbdfb Great report and thanks for the Neuro insight. I too thought the heat would be more of a story.
@mamaedefamilia Has D looked at Grinnell? I’ve heard it’s like Oberlin-lite. We may visit in the fall.
Reminded me of 2 other visits we did:
- Oberlin (no)
- CWRU of course (yes)
** Visits **
Binghamton (yes)
Geneseo (no)
St. Bonaventure (no)
Buffalo (yes)
Stony Brook (yes)
A short list but they’ve been very helpful in clarifying what DS wants and what he doesn’t want.
@dustypig Welcome!
Here are the schools that D has visited:
Illinois Institute of Technology (no)
Notre Dame (no)
University of North Texas (no)
University of Tulsa (no)
Hendrix (no)
University of Alabama (loved, not applying)
University of Texas (loved, applying)
University of Oklahoma (liked, applying)
Oklahoma State (loved, not applying)
(only counting formal tours. D has seen a number of others through summer programs over the years)
Visits for my DD:
Cal Poly SLO (no)
UC Santa Barbara (yes)
UCLA (yes)
Claremont McKenna (no, too small)
USC (yes, loved it)
UC San Diego (no)
Columbia (yes, loved it and NYC)
Georgetown (yes, loved it)
UPenn (probably yes)
I like the easy questions!
Rhodes (no)
WashU (yes)
Vanderbilt (no)
Emory (yes)
U of Colorado-Boulder (yes)
U of Denver (no)
Colorado State U (no)
Boston U (yes)
Tufts (no)
Dartmouth (yes)
I’m intrigued by nearly everyone’s interest in UA. I’m an Auburn alum so the intense rivalry kept it off “our” list. After I became aware of their automatic scholarships, I dug deep to encourage DD to take a look but she is vehemently opposed to southern state schools (and she has a special scholarship that makes that possible!). But, I wish I could change her mind to save that scholarship for graduate school.
@BlueAFMom D had the same attitude to southern schools, which is why we made the long drive to Bama. She loved it and is kind of sad that they don’t have enough Arabic to make it a good option. That also made her realize that other deep south schools could be a good fit. We are going to Ole Miss next month.
@dustypig
S is a recruited athlete with high academic stats who wants a good balance between academics and athletics. For that reason, he focused his search to the Ivy League and DIV III as he felt for him these schools were the best to meet his goals. He also knew he didn’t want a core curriculum, so that also narrowed down his list. Here are the schools he visited.
Amherst (yes)
Brown (no - as a homeschooling mom, I love the open curriculum as it mirrors our homeschooling philosophy, but S didn’t think he “fit” there.)
Dartmouth (no)
Harvard (no)
Princeton (yes)
UPenn (yes)
Williams (yes)
Suites and socializing: In the suites my daughter stayed in last summer at George Mason, the front door was positioned to let people slide directly into their bedrooms. The ones at Alabama (and the ones I stayed in at Maryland for a summer program back in the day, when suites were a newish idea), you have to interact with the common area to get to your bedroom—and the common hang-out area was better positioned to actually get used. In a traditional-style dorm, if you keep your door open while you’re in it you have a couple dozen people to interact with, more than you would in a suite.
Colleges she’s visited: Now that we’re done with them, the list of visits in the order we went to them (including the first three, which were colleges we visited before her sophomore year because there was a family reunion at the Utah national parks that summer, and hey, why not?), along with whether they remain on her list or not; all were visited in the summer with the exception of Alaska, which was visited as part of a junior class trip:
[ul][]Utah (no)
[]Westminster—Utah (no)
[]BYU (no)
[]Penn (no)
[]Georgetown (no)
[]Drake (no)
[]Minnesota—Twin Cities (no)
[]St Thomas—Minnesota (yes)
[]Macalester (yes)
[]Kansas (yes)
[]Earlham (yes)
[]Miami—Ohio (no)
[]Ohio State (no)
[]George Mason (yes)
[]Muhlenberg (yes)
[]Mt Holyoke (yes)
[]Colgate (yes, technically)
[]Alaska Anchorage (no)
[li]Alabama (yes)[/ul][/li]In addition, she hasn’t visited Smith or Kenyon, but they’re on her list. I went up to Fairbanks for work this last spring, and so went on a tour of Alaska Fairbanks then on her behalf and took copious notes on stuff I knew by then was important to her, since that’s her if-Armageddon-happens safety.
The heat at Alabama: Well, it was an issue, yes, but since we’ve been doing all of our lower-48 touring in the summer, it’s been an issue pretty much everywhere, so it’s a wash. And, of course, the dorms and classrooms at Alabama are all air conditioned, while the dorms at many colder places that are still hot (for Alaskans, at least!) at the beginning and end of the year aren’t (e.g., Mt Holyoke).
My school schedule this fall means that I may be unable to take all the necessary college trips with S. H said he’s willing to do it, so no problem. I admitted to H that I worry about the two of them alone on a college tour, as the two of them could easily make it through a day without asking a single question (or even saying a word unless it was necessary to order food).
H did not deny. sigh
@dfbdfb the heat at Alabama shouldnt be much of a factor for us since S is already surviving the heat of Kansas. Not sure what KU dorms are like, but the ancient KSU dorms are pretty awful for AC. I’m betting those shiny UA buildings have functional cooling. 
@eandesmom we were DVC until last year (Wilderness Lodge), just sold it to possibly buy a smaller contract at Boardwalk once the girls are both in college. Didn’t like the huts they built over the water at WL (I know, we can stay wherever, but it was a big contract and a good time to sell it). I agree that it’s a good way to save money, although sometimes I was like “it’s not a vacation if I’m cooking!” and didn’t use the kitchen much :).
@srk2017 I’m not following that thread because it’s so huge, and I’m not sure I want to read what other people can’t say to people’s faces.
@CA1543 how does Cornell do co-ops when it’s in the middle of nowhere? Do the kids live off campus for that semester? It’s not on D’s list because of its location and lack of family nearby, but I thought coops had to be urban.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek the only non-profs I’ve ever had in all my ten colleges/unis were an introduction to computers at CMU in 1988 (two very young ta’s), a intro to graphic design class last semester at my current uni, and a math class at Miami Dade Community College back in the early 90s.
That one was a potential nightmare because the teacher turned out to actually be a student that my H was overseeing at UM-she was not supposed to be teaching at MDCC. The first test I took I should have gotten an A, but she incorrectly marked it as a 78. When I brought the test home and showed it to H, he was like your teacher is wrong, who is this? Then I said “her name is X” and he’s like, you’ve got to be kidding me.
I brought the test back in and said “my husband thinks you need to look at this again and correct your mistakes.” She said “I’m not wrong”. I said “X (my husband’s name) thinks you need to take another look at the test.” She got pale. I got an A for the rest of the semester. (I earned it).
@dfbdfb that was an amazing report. Thank you. I’m still trying to figure out the difference between the computer-based (I agree, terrible name, it’s not just for computers) and fellows stuff for D. Our current plan is to go visit at the end of September.
@BlueAFMom we are in the same boat with regards to Auburn-I can’t get D to consider it because it’s too far from an urban center and it’s “too southern”. Here in Atlanta a CS degree from Auburn is considered more valuable than a CS degree from UA, but the other intangibles at UA (honors college is much more geographically heterogeneous), plus the fact that her terminal degree will probably be from another college, keep UA on the list but knocked Auburn off of it.
As to the heat down here-there are a TON of trees. It’s insanely lush and green here in the south, so while it may be hotter than the devil’s underpants, there is always shade to be had and all the buildings have a/c. We cope well with the heat. My front yard looks kind of sad, because it’s too hot to go out and garden once the sun’s up. When it’s 104 and 99% humidity, nobody out frolicking around for an extended period of time-it’s like what winter is like for some northern areas-not a lot of outside stuff going on right now.
So far she hasn’t taken any colleges off her list that she’s seen (she’s seen 4-Northeastern, MIT, WPI, and Olin).
I just realized Boston University has a big scholarship for NMF kids, I’m kind of kicking myself for not having her check that one as well just in case she makes the cutoff, but eh, I think she’ll be back up in MA over winter break for one reason or another, if it goes on the list she can visit it then. We know she likes Boston and Cambridge in terms of how the city feels (they walked, drove, and took the subway all over).
Whoever coined the term Big MAC-I love it. We are big mac’ers, too. With the exception of MIT. If she gets into that one, a lot of consideration and weighing will have to be made. That’s the only one, though. The rest (if she gets accepted) should reasonably offer some good aid.
I’ve been lurking on this thread for several months. We are in Southern California (LA County) and will most likely apply for west coast schools. We have only visited CA schools so far.
Schools visited:
UC Merced - no
UC Davis - yes
UC Berkeley - no
Stanford - yes (put isn’t a possibility)
Santa Clara - yes
UC Santa Cruz - no
UC Santa Barbara - yes
Cal Poly SLO - yes
Chapman - no
Pomona/CM/Scripps - no
Cal Poly Pomona - no
USD - yes
UCSD - yes
SDSU - borderline
Interestingly, the only UC that is sending mail (both e-mails and snail mail) is UCLA. Maybe it is because it is too close to home and we haven’t visited (officially) yet.
@BlueAFMom Auburn alum here as well and my DD15 goes to UA and loves it. She never considered AU nor will DD17. The money is just not the same and for DD15, she just didn’t like it from when she attended basketball camp there. I think DD17 would if the money was the same as UA as she considers them comparable
Visits
UNC Chapel Hill (no)
High Point (no)
Elon (maybe)
Alabama (yes)
Stetson (no)
Utah (yes)
Texas Tech (yes)
GA Tech (yes)
Cornell (yes)
Syracuse (no)
Princeton (absolutely no)
Also toured Purdue when her sister looked and hated it. Touring OU and OK State next month.
She really wishes she could find a school with the feel of Elon with a stronger Microbiology program or concentration. She did love Utah, though, and they have birthday cake day in the dining hall. What could beat that. Haha
Honors programs at Alabama: What we were told is that Computer-Based Honors is really intense about the research focus right from the outset, while University Fellows includes more of an outreach and social change* component.
- People hear that in association with colleges, and they—even left-wingers—often immediately think left-wing anarchism. We were told about a few things being done through that program right now, though, and they spanned the political spectrum.
^^Ah, sounds like CBH fits my D better-she is obsessed lately with making and doing wrt CS.
@disshar My D17 really liked Elon as well. Only Neuro minor, and microbiology would work. Have you looked at Furman? Stronger in the sciences overall, I think. Pretty campus. Pretty preppy too, but my GDI daughter could deal with it. Lots of geeks in the Science building. Greenville area is beautiful. More expensive without top awards though. Not sure if D will try for it or not.