She got the offer in the regular paper mail last night! I think it’s taking them a little time to process the financial aid.
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No–I didn’t mean racial diversity–that’s why I said that it’s unexpected. Maybe it’s the way they gathered people for their “catalog” look, as you implied with the catalog reference. I don’t see anybody blonde or anybody with blue hair or just–people who don’t look carefully curated to a certain ideal. I don’t see anybody who doesn’t look somewhat posed (even in videos). Maybe that’s the sticking point. It kind of looks like the Disney ideal of “diversity” that my producer friend told me Disney was pushing 10 years ago–everybody kind of looks “multiethnic,” but “respectable/attractive enough.” My daughter goes to a majority-black school that is also an arts magnet. There is extreme diversity of every kind there, so it will be an adjustment for her at a lot of schools.
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At my company, we were starting a new plant and bringing customers in to see it.
The issue - lots of quality issues and it wasn’t running.
But we brought customers in and there were people at each station and it looked like they were doing something…even if the entire thing wasn’t operating.
When I got to the hotel later, I saw my VP in the hallway by the room - and he asked how the day was. And I said - better than expected - I thought nothing was running.
And he said - glad the actors I hired paid off!!
Thought he was kidding but someone else in management hinted to me, he wasn’t.
So now I always think of that. Not sure what the truth was.
Yes, their pictures are certainly “planned” - including the who - I have no doubt. 
Good luck whatever you decide - and now that it’s affordable, hopefully you can get there - maybe they’ll change your mind Or not.
But either way, it sounds like, with Mac and others, there’s wonderful opportunities either way.
As the parent of one, I’m super curious what this looks like?
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As there was such a robust conversation about lawyers and people’s thoughts/experiences attending different “caliber” of law schools and practice of different types of law, I’d hate for the information to get lost in this thread (as the search function often works poorly after the first 2k messages or so in a thread).
Would it be possible for a mod to move the law-related posts into a separate thread in the law school forum or a different location you’d advise? Law School - College Confidential Forums
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I was in 2 of my colleges (BS and MBA) marketing photos:
- for my BS, it was 65% male/mostly white, so I filled the female/Asian criteria
AND because I was there/available (I worked in Admissions for my work-study)/easy to grab for photos
For my MBA, a few students were grabbed to “stage” a small intimate “discussion group” for the marketing picture:
- once again, I was there/available.
I’m sure some colleges pay giant marketing firms for the perfect marketing material/pictures.
My 2 medium/smallish colleges went for speed/finishing in the tight timeline.
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D24’s class is getting CPR training this week in their college counseling class and she has a service dog training session this evening to attend.
My DH had a little bit of a melt down a couple of days ago. He keeps asking why we’re going to visit the 2 TX LACs a 2nd time (1st time was last April). He sees it as $$ wasted. He also keeps forgetting (because he’s distracted) that 1 main reason for these visits is for the music scholarship auditions. I swear, if I have to hear that man say “ROI” one more time with regards to this college application process, I’m going to have my own temper tantrum.
The silver lining to the cloud, though, is that D24 said, “It’s not you, Daddy, who’s going to college. I AM. Not you. It’s MY life. I’M the one who’s going to do the work and take the classes. I’m still figuring out where I really want to go.”
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Maybe they were just actors.
I know many love the school but my daughter did not, on our visit. It had nothing to do with the diversity just a feeling. I thought it was a lovely campus just didn’t love the surrounding area.
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That was my best guess before Tsbna44 reminded me of the whole catalog effect. I have never lived in the Northeast, but I’d say in general the young people I know from there are urban and sophisticated. My daughter is urban and smart, but might feel out of place in a wealthy and worldly student population. She is not ashamed of her stuffed animals.
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Also, learned yesterday that Southwestern Univ has an honor code, similar to the ones that schools like St Olaf or Hillsdale have. They cover it in the 1st week of freshman year fall semester’s first year experience class. None of Southwestern’s tests are proctored. You take tests on the honor system. And with every assignment you turn in, you basically check a box saying that you did the work on your own and you didn’t cheat or plagiarize from anybody. Forgot to mention it to D24 last night. She’s going to like that.
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My friend’s DC is choosing between Southwestern and Austin College. I am curious - since you guys have visited both - what do you see as the main differences? I have visited SW but not AC. I just don’t know as much about AC. Thanks!
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As someone from the Northeast I want to point out that you can be urban, sophisticated and have plushies (aka stuffed animals) just like one might be urban, sophisticated and have Star War action figures in their basement. I would say ask me how I know but IYKYK 
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Done!
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Thanks, @momofboiler1 for starting this thread:
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We are revisiting the schools high on S24’s list too. All involve flights, hotels, time, $. But I think the second visit can really help kids feel comfortable with their decision.
They can make sure their first impressions are still valid. They can ask more pointed questions now that they know a lot more about what different schools offer.
S24 has really appreciated that I am willing to do this with him. I did ask him to narrow it down to 3 revisits because we also have a few fist time visits coming up.
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Similarities in my opinion:
- both are small colleges, ~1500 students or slightly less.
- both guarantee that you graduate in 4 yr otherwise they’ll pay your tuition for year #5.
- both guarantee you have opportunities to do ‘enhanced learning opportunities’ like research w/faculty, internships, study abroad, community-based learning.
- both have excellent connections w/the local community.
- both appear to have good pre-health advising (D24 is a pre-health student)
- both appear to have a really solid faculty mentoring program where you get connected up with a mentor right when you start at the beginning of freshman year.
- both are about an hour’s drive from a major airport.
- both appear to have a lot of campus events & programming to foster a sense of community amongst the students there.
- both schools have cool adirondack chairs outside for you to lounge in. I think both of them also have hammocks.
- both have all in-person classes with small class sizes.
- both campuses are really friendly. Students seem genuinely happy there. Students wave to each other and say hi in passing. Professors wave & say hi, too.
- both have good opportunities for genuine interdisciplinary liberal arts & sciences study & learning.
- both colleges require completion of a senior capstone project in your major.
- both are about 45-60 min drive to an IKEA (which D24 equates to ‘civilization’).
- both are residential colleges, so you’re kind of required to live on campus for all 4 yr. Both have a mix of types of living accommodations, where juniors and seniors tend to move into college-run apartments.
- both colleges focus a lot on prepping you for internships, applying for jobs, how to interview, even how to handle yourself at a work dinner. Both schools do free head shots that you can use for something like LinkedIn. 1 of the schools (maybe both? I can’t remember) even has some interview clothes in different sizes that you can borrow if you don’t have a suit to wear for the head shot or for your internship interviews.
- both campuses have walkways lined with these big gigantic oak trees that are just gorgeous. I’m a plant person, so I really dig that sort of thing.
Differences:
- Southwestern has more ‘fun stuff’ w/in walking distance of campus than AC does. At AC, you need a bike or preferably a car. But both colleges have very minimal parking fees (like $100 for the entire school year) and both places will definitely have students there w/cars, so D24 not having a car there for the 1st 2 yr won’t be a big deal.
- Southwestern has a Zip car that you can rent by the hour (even 18 yr olds).
- Southwestern has a weekly ‘sweet retreat’ thing for an hour and a half every Wednesday afternoon. It’s usually a food truck and it provides a free dessert to all faculty and staff. It’s very popular. AC doesn’t have this.
- I’ve sort of gotten the vibe/feel that Southwestern sees itself as a little superior to AC. AC is a little cheaper than Southwestern.
- Southwestern is in a more upper middle class area. The area AC is in (Sherman, TX) feels more middle class, but there’s 2 gigantic silicon chip manufacturing plants that are being built in Sherman…those are bringing in thousands and thousands of jobs. Sherman is going to grow a LOT and I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a big revitalization of the small downtown over the next couple of years.
- Southwestern’s building architecture feels more gothic/fancy. AC buildings are all nice, too, but SW’s buildings look fancier on the outside.
- Southwestern’s landscaping (when we went last April) looked/felt like it was a little better kept up, but during our last April AC visit, the AC people said that there was going to be a big landscaping update project over the summer. I’ve seen photos on their social media of it and it does look like they redid the campus landscaping stuff at AC…will see it again in person next month!
- Southwestern’s admissions office touts its alumni network a lot. There’s a lot of info about it on their website, too. For example, undergrads can request an alumni mentor. Our tour guide used the alumni network in order to get a medical field-related summer internship the summer before her junior year.
- I’ve heard & read that AC has a really excellent reputation for doing a good job of preparing pre-health students for health professions-related grad school. Southwestern, though, appears to be good at this, too.
- AC has a whole list on their website of grad school partner programs at other universities. It’s quite extensive and covers a wide range of subject areas. Southwestern doesn’t have this listed much on their website (and I didn’t ask during our visit last year), but it does look like they have a special Master’s in Accounting program with Rice University for business & econ majors.
- I think that AC did a slightly better job than Southwestern on selling & explaining the grad school connections & opportunities. This was probably aided by the fact that we attended 1 of their “Roo Days” events and went to a 45 min session all about pre-health advising, and they went into good detail about it. For example, they have partner programs with 3 different PA grad schools (1 of which is their own, and none of the partner programs require a GRE test score), whereas SW just talked about % of kids who got accepted to med school (and D24 doesn’t want to go to med school).
- both schools have Greek life, but it doesn’t seem to be a major thing on campus like it is at a school like Ole Miss or Univ of Alabama. Southwestern does have a small # of Greek houses on campus, but they’re not large. I didn’t see any frat or sorority houses at AC.
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Wow - thank you for the detailed reply! It sounds like you guys have really done your homework. Best of luck to your DD.
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I could not agree more. S24 is heading back down to look at his top two next week. He has scheduled to sit in on classes at both schools and has made arrangements to meet up with students at each as well. He and DH are also going to sporting events at each. He saw both last April, loved both with one having a slight edge and now is back to loving both and can’t decide. They will also use the time to drive around the surrounding areas of each to get a better sense of what else is out there to so off campus. Hopefully this trip answers all his questions and he can make a decision.
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Well, la noche oscura del alma being over, I can check back in and report on how S24 is doing . . . and it turns out that College Confidential also apparently shut down his ability to work on that scholarship application he still has pending. How strange.
Little known fact: CC and the Common App are on the same server.
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