@droppedit When you say, “The worst result of this event: D18 refuses to tour some of the beautiful LACs in the Northeast. The LAC ship has sailed. Swarthmore, Smith, Williams
…” you’re being sarcastic, right? It looks like the Gods have reached down and granted you a boon. Buy a lottery ticket!
@Old_parent – I wanted her to tour at least a couple of the well known LACs in the NE along with a couple of Ivys (and I wanted to see them too). We ended up canceling our Spring Break trip to the NE. Anyway, we’ll save a ton of money if she gets admitted to her current first choice (we’re full pay and they offer merit).
@droppedit wrote
LOL. That reminds me of the “Permaculture Meadow” created by Wesleyan students right in the middle of the tour route. I sort of understand the motivation (it replaces a beautiful grove of century old trees that succumbed to a disease about six years ago), but, to me, it looks as if the entire dormitory has been padlocked by the local sheriff. The topper is the very official signage posted by the college, “Permaculture Meadow - Managed By Students”, in case there was any doubt.
@droppedit I’m not sure if you need an intervention or a deprogrammer and so I’m sending both. BTW most LACs and Ivys are 70k and not 60 which if you’re a CA resident this is about double UCLA or Berkeley.
Not a visit story per se but in the spirit of flinging bile and hate, my grandmother was a proper Uptown New Orleans lady whom I was not surprised to learn hated Huey P. Long with a passion. I always thought it stemmed from Long’s progressive political agenda until I started listening to Tulane football games with her on the radio, when I was a child. She had graduated from the women’s college of Tulane (Newcomb), and so hated Long for his enthusiastic support of LSU, and especially because he would lead the LSU band on to the field at the annual LSU-Tulane game!
@Old_parent And we would be happy to pay that $30-$35 for Cal or UCLA too! At least I would be. 
@sushiritto I don’t know about happy but certainly happier than 70k or even 45k w/ merit. In the end it’s all about outcome and cost benefit.
@sushiritto I am with you - UCLA/UCB at $30k is a lottery pick for us! I’d be happier if it was less but a nice option nonetheless.
“Happy” was not quite the right word choice. How about “completely satisfied”? :))
With all their faults, the UC’s are still a pretty darn good option. I’ll be crossing my fingers early next year.
I agree, and some CSUs are also great options. I feel dirty somehow saying something positive on this thread!
I have no words to describe my state of mind after reading through all 56 pages of this thread. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
But let’s rag on a subset of the Ivies, shall we?
Yale: It’s 10 o’clock! Quick, lock the gates! Oh no, I left something at the library. [Open gate. Dash across street. Unlock gate. Wipe sweat from forehead and sigh in relief. Repeat on the way back.] Oh, before you rub Theodore Woolsey’s toe, ask yourself two questions: (1) Do I have Purell handy? (2) Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya?
Princeton: “Pardon me, but do you have some Grey Poupon?” “But of course. First let me change out of my Brooks Brothers Men’s White Country Club Prosport Supima Tennis Cable Vest. Don’t want to stain that.”
Dartmouth: These are fraternity and sorority houses. And that section of the campus over there is for sororities and fraternities. Now I’ll take you to another section of the campus we call frat row.
UPenn: Welcome to the [urban] jungle. We got fun and games [NOT]. P.S. - When you walk past Benjamin Franklin on the bench, be sure to breathe in the aroma of 30 years of…urine.
And last but not least, Harvard: The town of Cambridge grew like weeds in and around a garden of…older weeds. [Walk 20 miles this way past an ancient graveyard.] You’re in Radcliffe Quad. Yes, this is Harvard. [Walk ten miles this way across the Charles.] Yes, that stadium is still Harvard. [Walk five miles that way through a labyrinth of narrow alleys to Leverett House.] Yup, still Harvard. Wait, so is that building Harvard or non-Harvard??? [Freezing rain starts falling sideways before you finish that thought. You seek shelter as your umbrella is flipped inside out. As you make the potentially fatal error of crossing at a roundabout, a large, silver sedan speeds up in your direction.]
And I wouldn’t touch John Harvard’s shoes if I were you.
Finally, I’ll add Berkeley: Come for the name. Stay for the homeless philosophers yelling at each other about the police in front of Sproul Hall. Cherish the place for that je ne sais quoi that gives the air a scent unfamiliar to your mother. Then walk ten miles uphill to your luxury suite in Clark Kerr. Boy, were you stupid.
Thank you, @BobShaw, for bringing this thread back to first principles and firing up some good old fashioned hate.
@BobShaw I don’t know about your mother, but my 88 year old mother would know that smell as would I.
@mamalion - You have no idea. My wife and I are both non-smoking, non-drinking legacies of parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who didn’t drink or smoke, so it wasn’t until I went to college that I learned to discern the smell of weed. My kids aren’t that clueless, although that smell is one of the things that turned my daughter off to Cal.
Well, dammit, we’ve never had the pleasure of smelling weed on any of our college tours. What are we doing wrong???
…not visiting Grinnell, Reed, UW-Madison, or any school in the fabulous state of Colorado.
@BobShaw, I grew up pretty sheltered too, so when my wonderful teetotalling parents and I arrived outside my dorm room in Madison on move-in day, and it was clear that my roommate had already arrived by the smell of the place… I wasn’t sure what my mother was talking about, exactly, when she laugh-talked under her breath to my dad, “Oh Glenny, it’s the sweet smell of the '60s!” (They are UW alums too.)
The smell of weed was very strong. I was embarrassed later on, once I figured out what it was. lol at that memory. Boy did I learn a lot at UW. And there was a 20-questions phone call every Saturday morning for about the first year…
Lol, regarding being sheltered: I had no idea why people in my dorm burned incense until about my 3rd year of college.
@BobShaw - loved your descriptions. D passed on visiting Harvard and Princeton after being admitted, as your descriptions mirrored her preconceptions.
Ds biggest letdown was Yale, where she applied and was accepted SCEA. On paper, it was everything she wanted in a school with respect to programs, student body, residential colleges, etc., etc. Inside the residential colleges and in the classrooms everything was fine. New Haven, not so much. The campus had a much more urban feel than D anticipated. She took a wrong turn and ended up at the county courthouse where a local resident was screaming about his parking ticket and D had to duck for cover to avoid the verbal fire.
Locked gates and need for Purell are indeed ubiquitous and necessary. D found New Haven horribly depressing – in April – I shudder to think about how she would feel in February.
Happily, Stanford’s stunning campus and CA sunshine were warm and welcoming.
@LoveTheBard - Beautiful campus. Oh wait, I’m supposed to say something hateful. Okay, as you go around Campus Drive three times, looking for a parking spot that doesn’t exist, count how many bikes you almost run over because Stanford doesn’t teach you what S-T-O-P spells. Congratulations to your daughter!
The ability or lack thereof to follow STOP signs extends well-beyond the campus limits here.