I am hopeless at trip reports. Am impressed by those who can record all this detailed info, but at this point, it really all sounds the same. I recorded notes for each school on the 4 x 6 notecards I stole from the desk in the hotel. Each school’s notes fit on one card.
Chicago was WONDERFUL but hotter than blazes, or perhaps it just felt that way because we covered so much ground. Two days of nearly 27,000 steps, per the trusty FitBit. I did not realize there was a beach in Chicago and I have been a couple of times before. Trekked over to Navy Pier, to something beyond Grant Park, took Wendella Architecture boat ride, went down to the beach…wandered a vertical shopping mall on Michigan, which is so not my boys.
Northwestern The campus was lovely. We took the El out from the city, taking first the red line and then the purple. Clean, well-marked trains with audible announcements. Nothing like Manhattan!
The water was a surprise with sailboats, kayaks & SUPs available on campus.
Half the class admitted via ED, so 1000 of 2000. Another 3000 admitted via RD to fill the remaining 1000 seats. Very impressive-looking financial aid (no loans, which is not the case at all Ivies or MIT). 17% of students on PELL. 60% of students receive some FA from total annual FA budget of $160 million.
University consists of six U/G colleges, and applicants apply to one college. Much integration across colleges. Students can taken any of the 4000 courses, 100+ majors & minors offered, plus something they call a certificate which is something less than a minor. Major = 11-16 courses, minor = 6-9 & certificate = 4-6. Quarter system allows students additional class slots if they decide to take four courses/quarter instead of three.
And, I say quarter but it is really trimesters for the students’ purposes (like Dartmouth and Stanford).
The ‘Garage’ is a new entrepreneurship incubator, similar to something I have seen/read about on other campuses.
Son’s verdict: too generic. Now this is not a slam on Northwestern because I thought it was lovely but it didn’t do anything for this CS applicant. Reading about NW and UC before we toured, he thought NW held promise and that he would hate UC. Did not work out that way.
University of Chicago --we were both pleasantly surprised. Son was opposed to what he considers their contrived quirkiness, just based on his reading of the essay prompts and the ‘Where fun goes to die’ slogan, but the students we met were passionate, articulate, and energetic. When we checked in, the student working the computer commented on our hometown as she is from somewhere nearby, and then proceeded to tell us why she loved the school.
The info session was led by a rising Sr and he did an amazing job. No video, no power point, just talking in front of large group. Tour guide was equally impressive. Son stayed for an interview after the hot tour, and found it easy and underwhelming. I think he expected to be grilled about obscure topics. Interviewer was a rising Sr. I did not meet her, but son thought she was nice. This was son’s first interview, so am happy for him that it was not grueling.
Now, the irony of son objecting to a school’s quirkiness appears to be lost on him.
Random things I scribbled: One undergrad college with 5700 U/Gs. Eight components of the core. 50 majors & 35 minors. Only 20% of students double major, probably b/c of constraints of core. (Am not sure why this is not troubling him the way it did at Columbia.) LOR—can submit a third optional one from coach or non-teacher, but only one optional LOR. App fee waived it student indicates that he will be applying for FA. Some merit aid available. (10% of students maybe, but I did not hear.)
We did not wander the Hyde Park area as I have read it can be questionable in spots, but this is something we will need to drill down on more if he were to attend school here. Am now a committed Uber user.
Son REALLY liked Chicago, perhaps more than NYC, but then again, he has never stayed in a nice hotel in NYC, so perhaps he just likes nice hotels and eating every meal out!
On to Pittsburgh, which was even hotter. While we never got downtown (I don’t think???), we did cover a couple of neighborhoods on foot. Had a decent meal at The Porch in Schenley Park and wandered away from the universities looking for a (closed) record store across from Katie’s Kandy (North Oakland maybe?) Walked back past Schenley Park, wandered through the library and the Carnegie Art Museum gift shop. Then drove over to a shopping area that seemed more suburban—Walnut Street.
Hotel was in an area called Southside Works. (They really love naming these little neighborhoods.) We decided to walk to The Milk Shake Factory, all the way down Carson Street. Every third store front offered tattoos or hookah pipes. Excellent ice cream and chocolate but not a walk I would take on my own. It appears that the area on the other side of Milk Shake Factory may be more gentrified. Older son is convinced the area will be great in ten years!
CMU: most annoying info session & tour. Just too long, but I think I was mostly cranky about the heat. I realize why the info session had to be long as they are trying to cover all six schools and I give them credit for that, but the tour went on for an hour & 20 minutes in unbearable heat, and we were not really learning anything new after the hour & 15 minute info session.
The thread of tech runs through every program on campus, even Fine Arts and Liberal Arts. There are only three required courses: two freshmen writing seminars and a CS course—for all majors. Even in the college of Fine Arts, the students are using programming to design and build things. CMU is tech. Son was surprised at how MIT-like it was. I think he loves it more than he thought he would, however, he is not fond of the parts of Pittsburgh we saw.
Very collaborative, interdisciplinary.
The campus is very compact. Just shy of 6000 U/Gs and same # of grads on perhaps 150 acres +/-. I am concerned about campus culture. No centralized dining halls but instead, 30 places on campus to buy meals on this system similar to other schools’ meal swipes but the feel of it seems more a la carte. My concern is that the students will be immersed in their work and just grab food at the nearest eatery, never really coming up for air to take a true break. This is just my own perception based on nothing since the students were not on campus in August. Must make a point of chatting with friend’s son who attends CMU.
CMU essay prompts will be up on CA as of Aug 15th. Students who apply RD can apply to up to three different colleges and receive up to three admission decisions. Those who apply ED can only apply to one college. CMU tosses out 9th grade transcript and recalculates GPA using their own unweighted scale, excluding PE. Supplemental info may be uploaded via Slideroom or that Maker thing MIT also mentions.
They want to see student taking Calc in Sr year, even if he has exhausted the Calc offered at his school. Suggestion was to take online or DE or CC class…anything to show that applicant is still studying Calc.
W section of ACT or SAT not needed. As others, superstore across old or new SAT but not across both. Highest composite ACT, so no superscore.
Overall, a great week. Spent far too much time sitting in airports b/c there were NO lines at check-in or security in NY, Chicago or Pittsburgh. Amazing! We flew at slightly off times. In my pursuit of cheaper fares, we avoided crowds. Each flight departed and landed on time. All transit worked as it should. The forecasted rain never appeared. All good.
