Wow, @herewego3, that’s quite an introduction to Berkeley! That sounds VERY off-putting. How long ago/recently was all of this? Wow!
re: 678 @wis75
I was just at Humanities (for those unaware, at UW-Madison, we just call it that…) this past Saturday to watch my folks sing with Choral Union.
Back when I was a student, I had a few lectures and discussions there and went to daily Concert Choir rehearsals and sang in concerts in Mills (Auditorium).
Is it ugly? Yes. And odd. The building just looks weird, there are odd-shaped windows where you wouldn’t think there should be, etc. But sentimental sap that I am, if it goes I’ll miss it.
I walked in a good hour early and went downstairs and right to our choir practice room. I hadn’t been down there in almost 20 years, but I remembered where it was. It was pretty neat. Tons of memories came flooding back – friends, my choir sweetheart, etc. It was a Moment.
The only changes I could see, vs. 1998, was the water fountain with the bottle-fill option and a couple of stand-up laptops in the basement. (no idea what they’re there for…)
The Choral Union director is (and was) the Concert Choir director, so it was cool to catch up with her a bit too.
I still remember that we went to and really wanted to tour USCal when we visited our friend who lived about 30 minutes away from it. She drove us all around the perimeter and said it was too dangerous to set foot on the campus. She did let us tour CalTech and Loyola Marymount. Guess which school not one but BOTH my kids ended up attending and where her oldest applied? USC!
D was offended by the sexist graffiti at Caltech and I was very unhappy at both LMU and USF because they insisted they ONLY awarded merit to kids who were top 10% of rank in their HS. S decided then and there he wouldn’t apply to either U, as he was “merely 50%” in class rank.
Oh yea, also at USF, when I prodded the tour guide about whether or not they did anything to help the students get to know one another and get to know SF, he paused for a long while and said, “Well, you know SF has TONS of opportunities, and the university doesn’t get in the way of students discovering them.” That wasn’t the answer I was looking for and gamely tried to draw out ANYTHING they did to help kids connect with one another and anything to help introduce students to one another but either there isn’t anything or the guide wouldn’t share it.
We went to visit Carleton last year. On the campus tour, our guide told our group that health services took excellent care of students in case, “you know, when your kid catches a cold or an STD”. I had a good laugh and thanked her for her honesty. My son crossed Carleton off his list and washed his hands before he left.
@herewego3 That is really not surprising for the area around UCB. My former intern (also my friend’s daughter) went to UCB for graduate school a few years ago. Her parents drove he all the way from Michigan to there. She quit after 1 semester as she found it is not safe in the area she lived near campus. She hates it so much not even considering moving to another apartment.
Laughing at the STD thing @Shrmpngrtz. Pretty sure that’s a thing at the health centers for any non-monastery institution of higher education anywhere. I think the only thing about that that was significant was the guide’s frankness, which was probably ill-advised in terms of marketing.
@porcupine98 @Shrmpngrtz - Laughing too! Reminds me of Swarthmore, where the tour guide using code language said if you have pot in your room, the RA will be chill with it.
@porcupine98 @wisteria100 No, I know that’s a common problem among college students. It was just such an unexected comment. You’re right about the marketing though - Carleton: Come for the education, leave clap free - does not really have a good ring to it. But I did love the tour guide though. She had a few more unintentional one liners that made the whole trip worthwhile for me.
@wisteria100 These are my personal impressions from official tours and knowing students who went to both and their impressions- Duke feels less welcoming, very proud of itself, rich kid, fratty(they play hard), & strong emphasis on big time athletics but on the positive side clearly the opportunities and connections made there are ivy league level. Students I know who went there enjoyed the academics and connections but struggled with the competitive social scene. Wake is warmer, still quite fratty but a softer version, very preppy, & huge emphasis on community service. Every student I know who went there loved it completely and totally despite being very many different types of students. But while an elite school not quite the ivy level in terms prestige. But I think Durham is underrated and Winston-Salem sleepy.
@HImom this visit was in Feb 2016 so not too long ago. Made quite the impression on my kids though! They groan every time they hear Berkeley. Lol.
@HImom my son is attending USC as well. Fell in love on that first college trip and was thrilled to get in to the major he wanted. Perfect match for him so he is super excited. We toured LMU and USD and he just couldn’t get excited about them after USC. I guess that is how we know they made the right choice.
@herewego3, my kids were both very happy Trojans in completely different departments. USC was the only college D applied to transfer to. She and we toured quite a few campuses with S. She said no other place had the vibe she felt there. Good luck to your S.
Back to our regularly scheduled hate programming please. >:)
Re USC: Our Highschool music director is an alumnus and he helped lead last year’s jr. class tour of California colleges. He conducted the USC tour himself and was very disappointed when not a single student wanted to apply after the visit. My daughter was particularly turned off by the students greeting each other and her music director with, “fight-on”.
It’s always the little things that enhance the hateful experience.
Recently finished a Carleton visit and no mention was made of STD’s. They are slipping.
If the murder rate keeps increasing at the present rate they’ll catch up to St Louis in no time.
My son refused to get out of the car when we arrived at Cal Poly SLO. THE “tractor pull” banners, the tractors on campus and the word “agriculture” on so many buildings was a complete turn-off. He was also surprised when we were directed to the visitor parking area, that it was not a parking structure but a “field”. There was construction going on but the school was an immediate NO!
Every time the USC tour guide saw someone he knew, he used the “fight-on” greeting. That was one of the reasons my older son didn’t apply to USC.
BunnyBlue that would kill it for me and one of my dds17. The other twin is a full on school spirit kid. Yes, we are a family divided.
When I arrived at Texas A&M from New York, it was annoying that everyone says “Howdy!” to you. Everyone.
I eventually grew to like it and sometimes say “Howdy” myself, even though I’m in DC now.