<p>Okay, I’ll do Wes from my D’s experience, too. This was harder because after jumping there from University X, it was such a huge relief and it was hard to see any flaws at all. But, I’ll try:</p>
<p>1) sometimes, as any small school, hard to get into the major courses you needed. Not impossible, but hard. luckily, D was the extraordinarily pro-active type who met with everyone from Dean on down to get what she needed (unlike some kids of mine–see earlier post…)</p>
<p>2) the drive up I95 to get her and drop her off–jawdropping, whiteknuckle heck, the whole way.</p>
<p>The MIT administration has been slowly chipping away at MIT’s student institutions (and by extension, student culture) for some years now. This has often taken the form of restricting student choices – most egregiously with respect to changing the student residence choice system, and most recently with the recommendation that all freshmen be required to take a “freshman experience” humanities class instead of taking a class with students from all years. </p>
<p>Last school year, there was a proposal to curb MIT’s famous hacking activities by instituting a very harsh schedule of monetary and academic punishments for students determined to be hackers (–this policy was almost single-handedly prevented by CC poster jessiehl :)).</p>
<p>The MIT student body very much expects to be consulted on issues relating to student culture, and the administration’s lack of respect for student input is sometimes downright insulting. The faculty members respect the students; the administrators do not.</p>
<p>Otterbein: Predominantly draws from Ohio students, and it appears that the school has no reason/desire to change to a larger geographic base. My daughter knew this going in, but it didn’t click with either of us that this would mean a lot of kids go home on weekends. It’s not a pure suitcase school and does appear that going home is largely a freshman phenomena, but my daughter is dumbfounded at the number of kids who go home (if for no other reason than she can’t figure out how they get their work done…but she’s a music major who spends hours in the practice room, so her perspective is probably a bit skewed). She said the saving grace for her has been that a lot of her friends are out-of-staters like her, so while the dorm may feel empty at times, she usually has someone to hang out with on weekends.</p>
<p>P.S. to Cur: Otterbein draws a fair number of TX kids (particularly for theatre and music), and my daughter has been quite amused by her TX friends’ reactions to autumn. One girl has been like a kid in a candy shop, collecting leaves of various hues and types…don’t they have fall in TX?</p>
Sure we do. It’s beautiful here in the fall , too. It’s a little shorter here and the color changes aren’t as dramatic. The grass turns from a burnt yellow to a dull umber and fall usually lasts about 3 days.</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s closest friends at Beloit is from Texas. The two of them amused the “northerners” by their reaction to the first snowfall a few weeks back. They were out there whooping and hollering, trying to catch the snow on their tongues — in their pajamas! D. says her friends from Wisconsin, Alaska and New York were quite amused by the spectacle.</p>
<p>Duke- the West Campus dorms. They resemble a dim maze/tunnel. :eek: The high probability of being mugged at gunpoint on Central Campus could also be a concern. </p>
<p>UNC-Chapel Hill - What a tough one…the school has really lived up to our hopes and dreams. D does get good advising, but she gets an honors advisor and a pre-med advisor which have so far provided very specific, customized services. Some of the freshman classes are huge, but that is not our main complaint. In fact, I don’t think we have a complaint, but…</p>
<p>I would think the main issue for an oos kid at UNC-CH is being the only kid from their high school (or even their state) at the university. There is actually a huge facebook group for these kids! By state law, UNC-CH can only admit 18% from out of state. But that’s not a major negative if your child can go into the deal with an adventurous spirit knowing they’ll have to put some effort into finding a social niche. My d is the only Texas Tarheel from our humongous school district, and she only knows of one or two from neighboring school districts. (Weirdly, there are tons of kids from our district at Duke.) Nevertheless, the instate kids have been very welcoming and, for her, the transition has been pretty painless. </p>
<p>But not ALL kids find being in this situation easy…and parents of oos kids should really consider if their child is up to the task. </p>
<p>(btw…good thread idea Curmudgeon…should be very helpful to prospectives.)</p>
<p>Another gripe from the kids’ perspective: do you know that it gets miserably cold and wet in New York during times of the year that we still have sunny warm days in California? But I warned my d. about the fact that cold, cold rain is far more common in NY than fluffy white snow. </p>
<p>And Garland, I can’t help your son, unfortunately, but that advising issue is a good one for girls to consider if choosing between Columbia & Barnard. Night and day difference – my d’s advisor is the head of the department where she is a likely major, gave my d. her home phone number, and talked to my daughter about an hour every night during the first week or so while my d. was trying to work out some scheduling issues. My d. is also the pro-active type who at the outset decided she wanted to do some “never done” type of things… but her advisor was an ally and supporter when she needed permission from the Dean.</p>
<p>Well, Tulane, like Rhodes, has a siginificant drinking culture. One of the great impacts Katrina had on the campus was the elimination of the street cars. (There are two lines - one is operating again, but the one that runs by Tulane will not be operational for awhile.) So, it has been difficult for the students to get off campus for other activities if they want to avoid the drinking scene.</p>
<p>They have learned to use buses and taxis, but its not convenient to go off campus for a near-by dinner. There are restaurants that grew up around the street car line, but my D says they’re too close to call a taxi and too far to walk (especially at night). </p>
<p>This is also important because of the second negative - the food. All the on campus food services are run by the same company and she hates them all! But it is all you can eat at the main dining hall, so quantity is not the problem.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there does seem to be plenty to do on campus and we have been very happy with the advising.</p>
<p>^Noticed that issue with Elon. There are a lot of rural schools with this problem. They could arrange for some shuttles at certain times, or inexpensive taxi fares with student IDs. There are schools who do accomodate student transportation needs in this fashion. A few even have cars on loan for interviews, and internships.</p>
<p>Lawrence – another school with mandatory first term meal plan with more meals than D can possibly eat because the dining hall closes at 8pm and D isn’t finished with ensemble rehearsal until 8pm at least a couple of nights per week… And, the internet connection was down in her residence hall a couple of times for long periods… But otherwise, she’s a happy girl…</p>
<p>Carleton - yep, there’s definitely a lot of drinking there. Fortunately, there are a lot of non-alcoholic activities available. And it’s cold. So we had to spend $$$ on winter clothes. When the trees haven’t even thought about changing color around here.</p>
<p>There’s also a study abroad program D really wants to attend that is only offered every 3 years - the spring of her sophomore year - so she’s having to rush through the prerequisites for the trip. </p>
<p>The trimester calendar has its pros and cons, but I find it strange that the freshmen spend 10 weeks on campus, then come home for 7 (Thanksgiving to New Years).</p>
<p>Wash U – An irritating billing system that nickels and dimes parents to death. We get monthly bills for assorted small expenses that one would expect to be covered by the (whopping) tuition bill, but that aren’t. Besides that, it’s all good.</p>
<p>Calmom–yeah, S might have had trouble getting accepted to Barnard, LOL. And, he doesn’t think the advising is a problem; as an advisor myself, I’m the one who thinks so!</p>
<p>Swarthmore-S complains that the main dining hall has become very boring. Used to “at least” be on a four week rotating schedule. Now has moved to a three week rotation. (Hint: he’s just spoiled by my cooking!)</p>
<p>Well, Garland, I get little gripes from my daughter along the lines of “my advisor wants me to…” any time the advice is different than what she wants to hear – but so far, even though I don’t say it, I think that the advisor has been right every step of the way. So I don’t know if d. quite appreciates the value of what she is getting.</p>
By state law, UNC-CH can only admit 18% from out of state. But that’s not a major negative if your child can go into the deal with an adventurous spirit knowing they’ll have to put some effort into finding a social niche. My d is the only Texas Tarheel from our humongous school district, and she only knows of one or two from neighboring school districts. (Weirdly, there are tons of kids from our district at Duke.) Nevertheless, the instate kids have been very welcoming and, for her, the transition has been pretty painless. </p>