This is a discussion for the POSITIVE and fun, quirky things that you discovered about some colleges. The idea here is not to list the most prestigious for X Incredibly Popular Major or anything else that’s easily visible on school websites or college rankings. This is for the fun, somewhat hidden things that some colleges have, that make your heart swoon.
For example. Allegheny College will send a rep to the airport to pick up your child if they are traveling alone as a prospective.
St. Mary’s of CA has a cadaver class, which is really rare at an undergrad. They’ve also been known to offer $17K scholarships to anyone accepted through phone-bank calls. (year: 2015)
Does anyone else have any examples of cool, fun, or quirky things that make a school easier to love?
The College of Charleston has a program called ICAT which pairs a computer science student, a business student and a humanities student with a community mentor to develop a technological business program or idea to compete with others in a "Shark Tank "style forum for start up money and opportunities for travel. I love the collaborative nature of the program.
http://sb.cofc.edu/centers/icat/
This is great @carolinamom2boys . I started this thread because this is a time of intense competition among colleges. They need to compete to get the best students, or if they are not in the USNWR top few, they may compete for getting enough students. They seem to offer nice little perks sometimes.
These might be nice to compile.
Sweet Briar offers pink bikes for anyone to use to get around the campus.
@Dustyfeathers That’s just one example of the innovative, collaborative programs offered at the College of Charleston. Another nice touch. When my son was accepted into the William Aiken Fellows program at the Honors College , he was Skyped by the Dean of the Honors College and the Professor of the Entrepreneurial Living Learning Community to invite him into their programs. That personal connection was pervasive throughout the application process and played a huge role in his decision to attend there over some other great options.
I love hearing this. : )
There’s nothing like a personal touch at schools. Personally, that’s the sort of environment I’m looking for for my children. Watch if they don’t choose a more impersonal school! But to each their own.
Here’s another fun positive quirky thing that makes a college easy to love:
Vassar serves tea every afternoon in the Rose Parlor.
To any current Mawrters-- I assume Bryn Mawr College still has “tea” in Thomas Great Hall for students and faculty? Of course, Bryn Mawr has deep-rooted traditions, such as Lantern Night, when freshman are welcomed into the community of scholars, as well as the many May Day traditions, with strawberries and champagne, hoop race, etc.
Bates has the “puddle jump” tradition.
We are just in the college search and do not have a student at school yet but I we saw one college tradition that put the college in a positive light. Lycoming College is small LAC here in PA and they have a school wide Thanksgiving Dinner the week of Thanksgiving before this students leave. All students together on long family style tables having a family style sit down traditional meal. They are served by faculty and staff. We were told that at the dinner students who were not going home for Thanksgiving were all “adopted” by staff members or local families associated with the school for the actual holiday. Apparently this is a beloved tradition on the campus. Not sure if other schools do this but it seems like such a nice way to bring the school community together. While looking at photos of this event on fb after the tour, we then noticed many of the service projects and community building that they do at the school — it put the school in a very positive light for us as parents as well as for our child. (other things, mainly size, removed it from the list but this thread was about the extra positive things that stood out).
A friend had a daughter accepted with significant merit scholarship at Wesleyan College in Georgia. A high level administrator called her personally and they sent a dozen long stemmed roses to congratulate her. She is attending.
Other fun traditions:
Nightly milk and cookies at Mount Holyoke
Art rental program at Oberlin
My daughter was very intrigued by Scav at Chicago
UVM run free buses to the mountains for students on the weekends. Season pass for about $300, nice discount.
I think it is now widespread and not unique seeing how we saw or heard about it on multiple campuses, but the rent a dog and doggy play time during finals seems like a fun distraction that can make college more like home for those missing their furry family members.
Earlham College sends a hand written note about why they accepted you!
I also love Eckerd’s Autumn term, which is a three week orientation for new students!
The president of CofC bakes pancakes for students during finals week. They also have puppies like so many schools do now. My niece who attends Miami of Ohio said they bring in mini horses.
When understood as a convention-challenging (though counter-intuitively introverted rather than extroverted) activity, Hamilton College’s varsity streaking team exemplifies the collegiate tradition of taking exciting risks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VQyhIWlJQk
At Notre Dame, they had a “sorting ceremony” for the freshman at the end of the year. They had it in a very Hogwartsian dining hall (South), laid all of the tables end to end in 4 rows and sorted by house, served butterbeer and had Hogwarts snacks (forget what my D said they were). My D and her friends had a ball.
My son loved the Monday thru Thursday school week at one school we visited. 3 day weekends all year long really appealed to him.
@RightCoaster what school was that?? Sounds awesome.
Also, I’d love to hear about unusual but super cool classes that are offered.
Williams College’s [url=<a href=“http://wcmawalls.williams.edu/%5DWALLS%5B/url”>http://wcmawalls.williams.edu/]WALLS[/url] program.
I love that idea! Art is a wonderful way to enhance a dorm room! (Real art!)