We didn’t really start until son was 17. Ok, a couple of visits just before but no decisions made until he turned 18. He visited the school he chose twice before the decision date. A couple of schools I thought he would like he just didn’t feel happy with.
Speaking of dumping on schools, being from TX I never even heard of Skidmore until CC! Not in the geographic sphere for son. His school is dumped on here a lot! He chose Kansas State over many higher ranked schools. The have an excellent animal science program, early admit to vet school, and excellent merit (with great honors college). He didn’t want east coast or Purdue, or Ohio State. He had stats for a much “better” school but grades mean everything to get into vet school. He loved that school at once when he visited and every visit we liked it even more. He is an extremely happy freshman there. He told me tonight he has never been happier! (And he did great on his two exams today!)
Regarding colleges, I have liked every one we’ve visited, except for one (fine school, but in a metropolis, and the campus had no boundaries with the city, that I could discern, and I couldn’t see my small town Southern daughter loose in all that wonder).
Same D visited Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Lafayette in same weekend. Loved Haverford, liked BMC, did not like Lafayette. She said the students at Lafayette looked ‘too preppy.’ Her dad (I could have used Old Parent for my name as well) said, ‘They look the same as the ones at Haverford to me.’ Later I checked my guides (which D had not looked at, no more than she had ever gone to college websites, though she was a soph, OK, my bad) and maybe she was right, by intuition.
@momocarly My oldest D is a Senior at NCSU in Animal Science. Her dream has always been to go to vet school–I wonder is she will get in, with a GPA a bit below 3.5. If your son as an early admit route to vet school, he could not have made a better choice.
I was worried that my kid loved every college that we visited, for a while. The worst I heard was “It’s not quite as nice as the other colleges, but I could go here”. Then we went to St. Mary’s of Maryland. I personally thought it was an absolutely lovely campus, right on the water, nice dorms, attractive buildings, great tour guide. But kid hated it. “Mom, we drove past COWS to get here”. We drove past cows to get to Franklin & Marshall and to Gettysburg, but F&M and Gettysburg were on the favorites list. I don’t get it.
@ninakatarina, our son has liked every school he visited. If he had visited St. Mary’s, I’m pretty sure he would have had the same reaction as your kid. It was one of the schools he definitely didn’t want to visit. Driving past cows wouldn’t have been a problem (that happened on the way to McDaniel) but the school is just too isolated. For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t have wanted to go there either. I did my time in an isolated area growing up.
I haven’t been down to St. Mary’s College since I attended a soccer camp there when I was in h.s. I do remember it being a beautiful campus but forgot just how far south it is. Then Friday night my son had a game against a h.s. down that way. We live in suburban MD - it took us almost an hour and 45 mins one way. And St. Mary’s was another 15 minutes past the h.s. we went to that night. I never remember that MD goes down that far south! It’s definitely too far removed from anything for my kids to consider it, though it is a very reputable college known around here as “private college education at a public university price” due to its small size.
@ninakatarina - Maybe it’s only a certain kind of cow that your S/D finds objectionable. Given that the list needs trimming somehow, I suppose that’s as good of a criterion as any.
We’re taking S19 on his first college visit this weekend. Can’t wait to contribute to this thread on his behalf. Although, this thread brought back memories for me.
I literally laughed out loud about Hampshire and yurts. Back in 1988, my parents drove me up the Hampshire driveway, I saw a bunch of goats running all over the place, and told them to turn around immediately. Really thought that this “cool school” would be the one.
Providence College had crucifixes above the beds in the dorm rooms. And a ginormous Jesus tapestry in the cafeteria. This was “way too Catholic for me” and I got outta there as soon as possible. Really didn’t expect to have that serious of a reaction.
I ended up at a Jesuit school. Catholic but not too Catholic. LOL!
@InfiniteWaves Thank you for steering us back onto the rocks. I was starting to think this thread might serve some useful purpose, and that definitely was not my intention. You brought a tear to my eye (or is that just my contact).
For those that are new here, a useful template may be:
I thought I’d love ________________College until I:
A) Tasted the macaroni salad in the cafeteria;
B) Saw politically incorrect graffiti in the men’s room;
C) Witnessed a mugging in the student center;
D) Watched a bad black-box theater performance;
E) Saw the tour guide trip while walking backwards;
F) Understood that I could not drink in this State until I was 18, even if I was an enology major
Note: I did try to talk my daughter into minoring in enology, but only because I thought she could further the science.
Have been to about 20 schools up and down the East Coast - we try to take all 4 kids and make vacations out of it
(yes we do other things in addition to visiting campuses) . We all went to Providence College, walked around and all 6 of us were of the same opinion - yawn and yuck! Add to it that the particular part of Providence that the college is located in is very sketchy/scary. A few weeks later we hear on the news that there was a murder very close to the campus - no thanks!
When a poster says a college feels “too Catholic” it’s from their perspective. Too Catholic for them. Nothing wrong with stating that and it’s something one doesn’t get a feel for until a campus visit. No different than describing a college as too preppy, too hilly, too rural, etc.
I have to disagree. It’s more like pregnancy, either you are or you’re not. If you want a Catholic school, you’re happy with crucifixes. Those who state the colleges are too Catholic, don’t really want a Catholic community.
The Catholic colleges span from Catholic light to Catholic heavy. They’re don’t “wear” their catholicism in the same fashion. If you’ve been to a few, it’s obvious. Plus, some think they’ll be fine with it until they visit and see it, just as a prospective applicant might think they are okay with a campus in the boondocks then realize it is too rural - for them. Again, it’s a perfectly acceptable reaction based on one’s own perspective.
Georgetown is very different than Notre Dame in terms of its religious presence and rules.
Gotta side with @doschicos. There were catholic colleges where my non-catholic D would have felt perfectly comfortable, and those where she would have felt out of place.
Back to the purpose of the thread- I thought D would love Emerson in Boston - but the tour guide talked REPEATEDLY about the deliciousness of oatmeal raisin cookies… and D hates raisins… totally turned her off…
@doschicos I know what you’re saying. My daughter is an atheist and when we visited Loyola/Chicago she didn’t think it had much of a religious vibe. She had zero interest in a Catholic community, but was totally ok with the school. She was far more concerned with the uneven female/male ratio of the student body, which ended up being the deal breaker for her.
My D liked Emerson, but saw it only for film/TV/writing students, not her. She did not like Simmons because the walk from classrooms to dorms literally is thru another college. FWIW, we are not Catholic but D loved Santa Clara and could see herself there. That would not be the case at Liberty or Bob Jones, or maybe not Grove City or Gordon either.
There are super religious Catholic schools like Franciscan or Ave Maria where even some Catholics feel out of place, and there are Catholic schools where many non-catholics feel welcomed.
What I don’t agree with are descriptions of schools like Georgetown as ‘Catholic in name only.’ No, they are Catholic schools. Go, don’t go, but don’t expect them to be just another school with no religious aspect. I had someone argue with me that Villanova isn’t a Catholic school. Really? Why are all those priests sitting being the bench during March Madness?
Back to regular programing. I hated the small LACs, in the small towns, with the girls in twin sweater sets (even when it was 2000 degrees outside). I don’t think there was anything they could have done to make me not feel like I was in the Truman Show or going to be climbing the walls before fall break. My kids thought some of the schools were ‘cute’ but now realize Mom was right and they need a little life in their schools. I liked the concept of Smith, I didn’t like the execution. Did not like the town at all. Loved Amherst. Go figure.