We toured Bucknell and Lehigh in the same weekend back in October. My son really liked Bucknell until we learned about the heavy presence of Greek life. My Uncle was a professor at Lehigh, economics. Felt obligated to see the school. Plus I grew up in Trenton, NJ so I’m very familiar with that whole area of PA so again felt like we should look at Lehigh. My son liked Lehigh because of the research lab on the Hill. He liked that people rode bikes… which again was surprising because it’s not as if he rides a bike on a regular basis. But he was so impressed with the hills and the mountain top research center. We took his best friend with us that weekend and they were gushing about riding their bikes to class and up the mountain to the research labs. Then they wanted to go see the ropes course, I’m thinking this is not outward bound guys, it’s College! So that’s the last time we went on a college visit with the best friend. Lehigh was very hilly and I didn’t like the town around the school, The freshman dorms we walked through looked like my dorms at Rowan and that was many many years ago.
My son wants a low key Greek school and for that reason Bucknell and Wake Forest came off his list. Wake Forest was kind of saddening since he really loved the school and so did we. Then we learned so many things about it that S has said emphatically No!
We lived in N.C. for eight years when I was first married - Chapel Hill to begin and then we moved to Raleigh. I went to N.C. State for grad school. If anyone has any questions about those areas or school I know quite a bit. S currently has N.C. State and Chapel Hill on his list. We are kicking ourselves for moving to Maryland - LOL.
I’m thinking of doing a college weekend on May 5th. I have a tour set up at Binghamton but now I’m thinking of doing a PA circuit. Starting at my parents home in NJ then going to Davidson, Muhlenberg, Dickinson and Haverford. I can sign up for an official tour at Davidson and then drive to the other schools for a look around. I figured I could recruit my mom and little sister (14) to come with us since my husband will be on a business trip.
@Kona2012 S19’s list is all LACs (LOVED Davidson so I’ll be interested in hearing what you guys think.) He also really liked William and Mary, though, and there’s 6000 undergrads there. The campus didn’t seem overwhelming big and that was a positive. We also took Wake off of the list because of the heavy Greek presence and a few other reasons too.
I’ve gotten some feedback from friends who say he may want to have a few other types of options on his list. If I think about quality of life and all of the things he wants in a college, I do wonder if UNC could work. After our trip south, I’ve been trying to think of schools in NC or VA that could check most of his boxes: attention from professors, strong programs across the board since he’s undecided, a campus near a town where kids hang out. I’m not so concerned about 80 percent of the kids being from NC. It seems like the students are super happy there and that’s important. Also seems like Greek life isn’t too big and there are tons of options for other kinds of entertainment. It’s also listed in the top pubkic schools for undergraduate education meaning the university really does pay attention to the undergrads even though there are grad students on campus.
Thoughts? Could you see your S equally at a big school like UNC or at some of those LACs you’re going to see? What do you see as the positives about choosing UNC over a smaller school? I also just read that they don’t take the Common App! Have to look into that. He would apply EA which is also something he needs on his list - more EA schools.
We visited UBC with D16 - it was before her junior year, so things are a little fuzzy at this point, but it definitely left a very positive impression.
The campus is a little ways from downtown Vancouver (with frequent buses/shuttles) and on a peninsula surrounded by water, which makes for beautiful views at the edge of campus. It’s quite large, but all the classroom buildings are on one giant flat quad. The dorm they showed us had the largest, nicest common areas I ever saw (although the rooms were more average). There’s a Japanese garden on campus (with WiFi) and a ropes course. They have a football team and stadium but the guide noted that “not too many people go to games” so maybe not the place for a kid looking for that experience. The staff were super friendly and down to earth. We visited in the summer so there weren’t tons of students around.
I believe that class sizes there are likely large, the recreation facilities are not as nice as what you might find at U.S. colleges. Ultimately, D16 decided she didn’t want to go THAT far west and there was some uncertainty about what stats you actually needed to get in.
@Kona2012 LOL. I must have the Sunday morning fuzzies too. I don’t know where I read that UNC doesn’t take Common App. They do. I just looked it up on their website.
@homerdog I’m now wondering about the other reasons you crossed off Wake Forest… curious if its the same reasons we crossed it off.
Our sons school tastes sound similar.
Regarding UNC Chapel Hill – it is extremely difficult to get into out of state. Chapel Hill is gorgeous and the town is very nice. We lived down the road from the school in an apartment that had tons of grad students when we first got married because we had just graduated from college and moved from NJ and weren’t ready to “grow up” all the way. It was a great transition home for beginning our married life. I have heard that there is a greek presence at Chapel Hill and can be exclusive but the town and the school are big enough that if that isn’t your scene, no worries. My son’s TKD competition team coach went to UNC Wilmington and he said he knew students at Chapel Hill and would go to hang out there and wasn’t allowed in to the frat parties because he wasn’t in a fraternity. But he also said that it didn’t bother him because there were plenty of other things going on on campus for the weekends.
My son is planning to apply EA there and NC State. The apps have to be in by 10/15!! My son is apprehensive about his chances with Chapel Hill but I told him all you can do is complete the application and show who you are and then see what happens. We are going down for another tour in July.
My son has said he wants a school south of Maryland and not overly big - he said no bigger than 15,000 students. But he also didn’t want too small and had said no smaller than 5,000. But he’s becoming more open minded and exploring smaller schools with his major and undergrad research opportunities. He is also opening his mind to NY and PA because of their programs. So he is looking for his fit in different areas. I’ll do a different post of the schools we have visited and our thoughts.
@RightCoaster Those were the 4 he liked best. I would not put them in the category of “considering”. I can’t see him applying to Harvard given the odds. Top students from his school don’t get in there. They’ve gotten into Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown and surprisingly Stanford. But odds are still poor for the top students, 1 in 5 apps to 1 in 10 (Stanford). Applying to UCSD is iffy given the cost (and poor odds), but if he decides to try for the Sr Nat team in his sport (a big, big IF), then that’s the best place for him.
I too found it odd that he liked Harvard given that he prefers rural, but he also liked Boston and loved being close to a big river (Charles River) with many rowing clubs. Keep in mind, that touring Harvard was less about the school and more about figuring out what he was attracted to in a school. This was one of our ‘college tourism’ tours—given the extremely poor odds of getting in and given that I was not sure he’d even find that kind of school appealing. My other kids did not find those kind of schools appealing.
@homerdog “what about all of the schools in between the Harvards and the big publics?” Hmm, I am making an educated guess as to what S19 is drawn to based on our ‘you only get into A vs B, which do you choose’ games. I feel like S is now in a very different place in terms of his search. He feels like he knows much more what he wants and what to look for in a school for himself. He’s also definitely realistic about odds of getting into selective schools. And I am factoring in cost.
We started visiting colleges when our son was a Freshman because like many of children he had lofty goals and I needed to bring some reality to his thinking… He started saying in middle school that he wanted to go to Harvard and be a brain surgeon! Since we grew up in NJ we figured Princeton would be a good place to start…
Princeton (spring 2016) - son loved the school and so did we. But then again we grew up right outside of Princeton and hanging downtown was just part of my high school social life. My Dad and my in-laws came with us and they were all impressed by the presentation. However, it is no longer on our list now that we have seen more school and son has decided that is not the school for him. My in-laws are heartbroken - lol!
Wake Forest (spring 2017) - Loved it!! Was sons first choice up until this year when we learned a few things and it is now crossed off. Loved the school and the town. Still heartbroken over this school and the reality.
Duke - Loved it. It’s still on the list as an RD application. According to our IEC it is a lottery chance and the chance is very slim for our son. But he still has it on his list and we’ve decided why not…
UNC - CH - Love everything about this school but I’m also a little biased. We did a tour and son liked the school. Going back for a second tour this July.
Elon - a big nope from our son! He knew right away!
NC State - wasn’t a fan when we toured it but he has since changed his mind. We are going back for a second tour this July
University of Miami (July 2017) - I knew 10 mins in to the tour that it wasn’t the school for my son. After the tour son said it was nice… LOL - but not 72k nice… off the list.
Bucknell (Oct 2017) - Liked it. Nice campus feel. Very green, nice buildings. They put on a great open house, even gave us passes to eat in the dining center. But have since learned of the greek life and preppy status so off this list.
Lehigh - Already talked about it above… it was ok but it isn’t on the list anymore
Villanova - Did a drive by, parked and walked around the campus for about 15 mins… Son said he might go back for another tour but we haven’t discussed it again
UVA (December 2017) Nice campus and liked the things we saw but son said it wasn’t for him. Don’t know why but he just didn’t feel it.
James Madison - Shocked by how much we liked the school. LOL. My sister-in-law went there and loved it so she was thrilled we went to see it There is no official Neuroscience program there but there is a way to customize a major so it could work. It’s still on the list.
William & Mary(March 2018) - Interesting this was on the list and then off after our son met with the area rep at his high school. He said the school sounded boring and he wasn’t interested. When our trip to Virginia Tech got cancelled due to snow we last minute threw in a tour to W&M. I am so glad we did… we all loved it. Several times my son said - I see my people here. I can go here. Loved the school and the science buildings and research was very evident.
Univ of Delaware - sat in on a class (Clinical Neuroscience) and went on a tour. Son liked the school and said if he got in to the Honors program he would consider it. He said he wanted to find out more about the research opportunities for undergrads. He like the campus and the feel of it. It was definitely more of a city-town feel and he was fine with that. However, I think he favors a suburban campus more.
Tours planned
Binghamton (May or this summer)
Lafayette, Dickinson, Muhlenberg - (May or this summer)
Davidson, Chapel Hill, Nc State (beginning of July)
Tulane (2nd week in July)
Virginia Tech (end of August)
College of Wooster and Miami-Ohio (May take the trip out there in mid-August - still thinking this one through)
Colgate (Just added so we may need to figure out that trip)
That has been our long list of college visits… My husband says I’m nuts but honestly how can you pick without seeing the school and seeing if you fit in.
@Kona2012 and @homerdog Can you guys say what turned you off to Wake Forest? The only things I have really heard were that it is a big greek school. The website says something like 50% but then I read on here that for girls at least it s more like 80%. What were some other things you didn’t like? It wasn’t on our list because of the price and it would be a reach, but when D liked NC and the mid size schools I thought maybe I would check it out a little bit more.
D isn’t against greek life but not super into it either so that would be something we would need to find out about for sure. Also, the girl we know at Elon (which D did like) said her best friend from home goes to Wake and when she visited she didn’t think the kids were every friendly -so two things to think about already I guess!
@momtogkc I can PM you why it turned us off… Just don’t want to get people upset with me by posting it publicly because everyone has their own opinions.
@momtogc. Go to the Wake threads. I started one there a while ago with my questions about the murder on campus. My biggest issues were the monied student body, the Greek system, the parties mostly off campus, the troubled relationship between the local police and the URMs on campus and the seemingly self-segregation between the white kids and URMs on campus. The two kids we know who go there told us that many kids have cars and social life is off campus since the college authorities crack down on drinking. The kids have to go through a security gate to get back into campus at 11:00 pm. (I think that’s the time.)
Anyway, it’s too country club for S19 and the lack of community between all students was disheartening. The murder was the last straw. There are a lot of schools out there and we felt he could find a better fit.
@Kona2012 and @homerdog Thank you! That is good information that I had not read much about. I only started to look the other day since D liked the 6,000 person size schools and those are not as easy to find. I guess I forgot some of the original reasons I had taken it off the list too - very greek, conservative and $70,000.
@momtogkc that size is hard to find. Many of the Jesuit schools are that size. That doesn’t work for S19. And then there are the mid-sized schools that all of the top students apply to at our high school - Duke, Wash U, Vanderbilt, Chicago, Tufts, Emory. All very difficult admits.
We will be visiting some schools this week and hope to either add or remove them from son19’s unofficial " list". It’s not much of a list, because we have no idea what he wants to do, or where he wants go now, and we don’t have any idea in terms of him being accepted anywhere. He basically says that every place is fine, lol.
@homerdog That is exactly the problem - most of the schools of that size are reaches or not even possibles for D. She also isn’t interested in schools that have any sort of religious background. Well, at least we have Elon which she did like and I think can be considered a safety (I’m still never sure exactly what makes one a safety and after reading the 2018 thread I’m almost afraid to call anything a safety!)
@RightCoaster Hah - your S sound like my D. No real list yet, no idea what she wants to do, says she doesn’t think she wants the really cold states then says that she still might like Hobart & UVM??!! The only good thing is that she hasn’t really hated anyplace. The other day we talked little and she said she definitely don’t see herself doing ED anywhere because she doesn’t think she will even have one clear favorite that she knows she would pick above all other schools. I told her that might be good - hopefully it means she can be happy lots of places!
Interestingly when we started working with the Independent Counselor back in January she cautioned us to label any school a safety. She said her goal is to get my son to come up with a list of 10 schools that he would be happy to attend if accepted. That way he is happy and not going to a safety thinking - oh great I have to go to my safety school. Her approach has worked for my son because he has that perfection attitude and so we are just trying to find that right mix of 10 schools to target. Knowing that one or two may be a huge reach but the others he falls within the 50% range. I hope that makes sense. I am going back an forth between progress report writing and keeping up with this thread.
@Kona2012 I never call anything a safety but, certainly, S19 knows which schools are easier to get into. In his brain, they are schools where kids go from his school who maybe don’t work as hard as he does or have as rigorous of schedules. He understands that he could get a great education at these schools, though, and we are working on a list of “safeties” that give him some bonuses whether that’s merit so that he has money left over for grad school or warmer weather!
