Well, when Purdue is your point of reference . . . ;))
@Janwel, I totally get the Bowdoin studentâs comment about his high school not adequately preparing him for Bowdoinâs science program. My nephew is at an Ivy after having done well in HS and the SAT, but he said that he could never be a math major there because his classmates have too much of a head start both in terms of depth of knowledge in a particular course and number of courses. Another example, after my daughter finished 8th grade we moved to a different state. Despite a perfect grade in 8th grade Algebra 1, she flunked her new schoolâs placement exam; not her fault, she had never been taught any of those things she got wrong. So she had to take Algebra 1 again as a freshman, whereas some of her classmates were taking AP BC calculus. Luckily for her she was able to catch up some, and we are grateful that she had her HS career to undo the poor grammar school education. As an aside, a friend of mine is a college prof and she told me that government financial aid does not cover remedial courses. Thatâs a shame because itâs important to help motivated kids who want to overcome their deficiencies.
Going back to the thread, UCLA. All the students we saw had their noses in their cel phones and nobody was interacting with anyone else.
@melvin123 thanks for your response. Itâs a shame. I suppose if both of these students really wanted to pursue these majors they could have transferred to less competitive schools or looked for tutoring or summer courses. What a shame that schools accept students and then do nothing to support them.
UCLA checkâŠ
Ok one more school left and all of my daughterâs choices will have been trashed. Is there nothing bad to say about Cal Poly SLO?
The food situationâs not so great at SLO.
âIâve found that the schools we visited months ago have become an afterthought, and the schools we have most recently visited are the new favorites.â
A very common psychological pattern is the combination of the âprimacy effectâ and the ârecency effect.â
You remember the first and last thing youâve experienced, and forget everything in between.
I made my kids fill out a sheet with marks on all kind of attributes and their impressions immediately after each college visit. It was helpful in escaping the psychological pattern described above and and it also came in handy when addressing the âwhy X school?â type questions on the applications.
My son refused to get out of the car at Cal Poly SLO. A sign for a tractor pull (last spring break), too many signs/buildings with the word âagricultureâ and he said, âletâs tour UCSB insteadâ
Wow, @Old_parent, your daughter got into great schoolsâŠBerkeley, too? I donât think you should spend any more time ruminating on the LACs she wonât be attending. Sounds like she has terrific options!
@chillkitty thank you and youâre right if not for the withdrawn young woman on the couch for the past week. Sheâs coming around and College revisits start next week.
@ sfloridamom, I went to IU for a semesterâŠThe main part of campus is lush, and it feels like you are in a forest when the leaves are on the trees. The babbling brook running thru it all adds to the charm. Also some very pretty buildings . The less-attractive ones are often hidden by huge trees. Add nice lawns & red tulipsâŠBeautiful. took kids there in late spring 5 yrs ago & they still mention how pretty it was.
Caltech for me by a mile. Everything was great until we saw the inside of one of the dorms. Worse than you could imagine.
My wife was in almost in tears after seeing MIT - she found it that oppressive.
Son spent a week at a math camp at Williams and vowed never to go back.
Another thing about Cal Poly SLO that might be âbadâ (on the level of this thread) is that while I personally thought it was amazing, very few people seem to appreciate the âgum wallâ (yes itâs literally a wall of used gum) in downtown SLO.
I received my undergraduate and professional degrees from U.W.-Madison and have lived in the Madison area for most of the my adult life, and what Iâve decided is that Madison is a nice place to live but I wouldnât want to visit there.
We were surprisingly disappointed with WPI. Itâs a great school, offered my D significant merit money, and though a bit nerdy the vibe was friendly and collaborative. However everyone told us the campus would blow us awayâsorry but it just didnât. Things seemed a bit dreary and worn, as did Worcester. And the dorm situation was terrible. Not enough dorms to house those wanting to live on campus and most were triples or quads. Their project based curriculum was neat but I think nothing was going to sell my D on a tech school. I was surprised that my S did not like it either. Wonderful school buy just not for my kids.
@Old_parent Years ago while sitting down with our financial planner trying to figure out our college savings plan, my planner encouraged us to deposit significantly more money in our retirement rather than the college savings. As he pointed out, âthe government wonât really care whether or not you have enough money to retire.â Worked for me!
Carleton. DD and I both thought it was stodgy-from the admissions officer in the bow tie who just talked and didnât use any tech to the buildings themselves. DH liked it, though.
Princeton, campus was beautiful, and so were the tour guides, a little too perfect for us.
I saw MIT for the first time when I was in college and thought it was truly an ugly barren looking campus.
Duke - Had such high expectations (and unsubstantiated reverence) when we pulled in that we were almost in shock when we drove out. Lacked diversity in so many regards, snobby and uptight for no apparent reason except they seem to exist that way - saw this in the students, but the Grand Poobah of pretentiousness to the level of downright disgust was the admissions guy giving the presentation in an overpriced suit. He couldnât be any more arrogant in talking down to his audience, but we saw it a great opportunity to stand up and leave in the middle of it. âWhoa, that was nastyâ is what my S said as we left the presentation. But S had already applied, so that acceptance went in recycle bin the day it came. Too bad, they would have liked our full pay funds and donations. Money is no excuse to act that way.
I wish I could unread this.