<p>I agree with previous posters that the dorm is substance free, not necessarily its occupants.</p>
<p>D lives in the substance free dorm; she didn’t choose it but has been very happy with living there. She’s not a “partier” and neither is her boyfriend who also lives in the same dorm. </p>
<p>D told me last week that 3 males who live on another floor in her dorm were caught with marijuana in their rooms. They’ll be getting kicked out of the dorm at semester and must find other living arrangements on campus (difficult to do since they admitted more students than they originally had space for in the dorms). So I’m happy that there seems to be some TEETH in the housing policy.</p>
<p>“Re the all-or-nothing drinking scene… I’m wondering if that is a characteristic of rural/suburban colleges vs. urban? I’m not there but I did ask my d. about drinking/partying in her dorm, and she said that there were a couple of girls on her floor who overdid it, but for the most part things are pretty quiet.”</p>
<p>Yes, and yes. There is statistically signficantly less binge/heavy drinking at urban/suburban schools, and much less at women’s colleges. Some of the former is impacted by a larger age-range of students and, though in the case of your d’s school, larger numbers of commuters. In the latter, I think it is just fewer people (read: “Y” chromosomes) to “impress”.</p>
<p>Carolyn, actually I think from my daughter’s perspective, there is not much social deliniation between Barnard & Columbia. Maybe the fact that Barnard is so small and is all-female is part of what leads her and others to do most of their socializing off campus… though the impression I get is that it is Morningside Heights (and both campuses) which is perceived as relatively dull compared the the rest of New York. I am sure there is plenty of drinking going on – my comment was really about the all-or-nothing comments that people had about some campuses, where the kids were either heavy binge drinkers or teetotalers. It seems to me that my d’s social life is not particularly tied to her campus, and that the range of options is thus much broader. </p>
<p>Again, maybe its just my daughter and that fact that she happens to have a lot of NYU friends.</p>
<p>Mini, Barnard doesn’t have many commuters, though Columbia probably does. The fact that the first-year dorms are all-female probably does contribute to a more quiet dorm life. But from a social perspective, Barnard really doesn’t fit the stereotype of a women’s college – way too many boys around for that. Academically and in terms of academic culture – yes – but when my daughter is going out socially, she is with boys. </p>
<p>I just think it comes down to the fact that everyone’s social life extends beyond the campus, and behaviors that might be typical on a college campus don’t go over that well in areas where there are more adults.</p>
<p>Vassar: The food choices leave something to be desired. So far everything else about the school has met our expectations … if the school was in Boston rather than Poughkeepsie people would be knocking down the doors. The campus is beautiful and the kids are proud of it. The professors and advisors seem to truly care.</p>
<p>Harvard: Exams after winter break … and a very short winter break it is - about ten days and then back for exams. Hardly makes for a stress free visit home. However, the upperclassmen say that no ne one studies during vacation (except freshmen) as there is a lengthy (about 11 days) reading period before exams commence. Language classes continue to meet at this time.
This is my complaint, not my daughter’s (yet!) … at this point she’d be happy to never leave the campus or Cambridge.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley- very big, yet they seem to really want to compete with the smaller top privates, so, if you are not shy, you can connect with many profs & adivsors. My D is that type & always talking to this dean or that one, but less exuberant kids might get lost in the system.</p>
<p>Dorms are extremely expensive, anywhere from $9-$14,000, and you have no choice in which one you get…living off campus is much better, and actually can be closer to classes.</p>
<p>UC Irvine- very much a commuter school, no housing guaranteed after the first year, difficult to live there without a car, to many profs do not speak fluent English- organic chem is difficult enough, couldn’t we find a prof who speaks English understandably? Too many girls with carte blanche on Daddy’s credit card, a real “OC” attitude…I cannot imagine how it is for those of you at USC!!</p>
<p>“Mini, Barnard doesn’t have many commuters, though Columbia probably does. The fact that the first-year dorms are all-female probably does contribute to a more quiet dorm life. But from a social perspective, Barnard really doesn’t fit the stereotype of a women’s college – way too many boys around for that. Academically and in terms of academic culture – yes – but when my daughter is going out socially, she is with boys.”</p>
<p>But the point is - she’s OUT. Most binge drinking happens in dorm environments. And even at fully coed schools, there’s less of it when there are separate female dorms (in the female dorms, that is.) I know that Barnard doesn’t have many commuters. But again, even at coed schools, you can compare bingeing rates at Harvard or Columbia v. Dartmouth and Cornell (or Williams) and you immediately see some substantial differences.</p>
<p>Barnard: our biggest problem is what to do with the crazy amount of STUFF our D brings to make her dorm/suite comfy during the year. Storage is EXPENSIVE and the rush to pack her things and ship them last spring was pretty stressful. </p>
<p>Also, NYC should be just a bit closer to Atlanta (we miss her!) :0</p>
<p>Other than that, it is for her the proverbial perfect school! </p>
<p>Calmom: after your d’s first year when she can move away from the “quad”, the food/expense issue gets reduced in significance by quite a bit!</p>
<p>(1) Here at the anecdotal level, in high school I thought one of the reasons that city kids drank and drugged somewhat less than suburban kids is that they often had something else to entertain them on weekend nights.</p>
<p>(2) An advantage of the way things used to be is that, when I was drinking as a teenager, I used to do it in bars. It was social, and one had to pay by the drink. So one drank a little less and danced a little more.</p>
<p>Juilliard - the administration/office folk are all “artsy” folk, which leads to somewhat random, disorganized communication, and bewildering, touchy-feely programs. But hey, we’ve been dealing with musicians for a long time now.</p>
<p>Penn - hated dealing with the financial aid dept. Very little patience with us parent peons trying to interpret their financial-eze. (S says it’s because they’re all Wharton grads.) </p>
<p>If only I could combine the two schools and get some personable organization.</p>
<p>Thanks for this thread. We’re working on #3, and there’s some useful (and surprising) info here.</p>
<p>Tufts: I am sure it is not perfect, but D sure thinks it is. She is beyond thrilled. I asked her to help me with this and we both had a hard time coming up with anything really negative. The problems seem trivial. But, given the desire to provide honest info…here goes…</p>
<p>Looking over all the previous posts, we have no complaints about advising (excellent; kids are actually scheduled in a course with their advisor the first semester), dorms(clean and warm), food (food service is open all the time and they even have a “to go” option for late classes; great vegie options…maybe too much good food so the Freshman 15 is a factor!!) Food was rated among the nation’s best for colleges. Minimal greek system(only 10 frats and 2 sororities), not a huge drinking problem/party scene. Kids also rated as some of the “happiest.” </p>
<p>If anything, I think Tufts may suffer from an inferiority complex with the big “H” down the hill in Cambridge, so there is the drive to compete. There is a modest distance from the “T” station to campus and the shuttle is totally unreliable, so in bad weather the walk will be miserable. Virtually no competitive sports, though they have the usual teams, there is a tongue-in-cheek attitude; Tufts is almost 30% Jewish, which for us is great, but may be an issue for others. Of course, the cost is an issue, but no more so than all the other small private LAC’s. Dorm price is moderate; the freshman food plan is required, but as I said before, the food is good, easily available and ample. Well that’s the best we can do, but I will keep thinking.</p>
<p>UCLA and UCSD - The billing system. It’s online only and the emails indicating a bill is due rarely actually are received. I think they engineered this system to maximize late fees.</p>
<p>UCLA - They make it as difficult as possible to waive out of USHIP (health insurance) by narrowing the waive window, having a poor website that won’t work with IE, and having no recourse once the date’s passed. I think this is also engineered this way on purpose to maximize income.</p>
<p>(Two colleges so I get another rant )
Inflated prices on dorms - this on public land that’s no cost to the Uni.</p>
<p>Penn…Son (a junior) hates the weather. He insists on wearing shorts, short sleeved collared shirts, and flip flops as long as possible. He eventually adds a sweatshirt as winter approaches. He recalls last winter being a lot milder than the winter before.</p>
<p>U of Colorado at Boulder…Daughter (a freshman) loves it. Hardcore snowboarders are already hitting the slopes. The only negatives she’s mentioned so far…the TA she can’t understand due to a thick accent and the dorm food.</p>
<p>S2 is at Earlham. They scheduled the one and only work-study meeting while he was also scheduled to meet with his advisor. By the time he checked again (yes, it was a week later) there were no more work-study jobs left. I think there should be at least enough jobs to accommodate all those who have to do it. </p>
<p>S1 at Brown never really complains about anything, but does like it when his schedule allows him to go to lunch late . . .says the dining hall, which they spent a gazillion dollars to renovate, is now loud and way too bright. And I can vouch that the food is yucky. </p>
<p>DD had zero negative to say about Swarthmore all four years. She’s a grad student at Penn now, and is disappointed by the lack of fellowship with other grad students, but that might be as much her as the school.</p>
<p>That reminded me- Penn-waiving the university’s health insurance. You better have your company’s HR person sitting beside you when you get on the website. Fortunately, a CC friend warned me in advance and I had everything short of the actual policy in my hands.</p>
<p>It is too far away for me to have a sense of its faults; both children and schools gain luster when they are far from home (although I think they both are reasonably lustrous anyway). This thread reminds me of the classic scene in Charade when Audry Hepburn looks at Cary Grant and says, “Do you kow what’s wrong with you?” And after a moment, she anwers her own question. “Nothing.”</p>
<p>Somemom–So far at USC, S has not asked us for any additional $$. There seems to be a lot to do & see in LA & S has the money he got from prior bdays & as grad gifts & some of his summer wages. He hasn’t mentioned any shortage of funds & was always pretty thrifty. The meal plan he has gives him 10 meals/week + $500/semester in dining dollars that he can spend at many places on campus. I believe there are pockets of big spenders at USC, but so far, it doesn’t appear to have affected my S & his friends.</p>
<p>Since S doesn’t tell me much, I’m assuming whatever drinking culture there is on campus isn’t bugging him much & he finds plenty to do that interests him. All I can tell is he’s busy & so happy that he rarely calls (unless he needs info or his sister IMs him that we’re expecting him to call).</p>
<p>With USC, it was fairly straightforward to getting health insurance waived–just fax the needed docs to the appropriate office & it was waived for the entire year. The cost of the insurance was fairly reasonable (which is a good thing because it looks like we’ll have to buy it for sr year, when S ages out of our family health plan).</p>
<p>HImom: my oldest considered 'SC and my close friend’s DD is there now, she is definitely finding the “NEED” (please mooooomm) for $200 jeans etc., especially being in a sorority. I would say I really noticed UCB has a more humble blue collar (kind of a Pacific Northwest attitude with the need for cool weather clothes and vests & no one wants a car!) feel and UCLA & USC have a yuppy (SoCal- more obvious statusy clothes & cars) feel. I am glad for the budget to have the lack of prentention at Cal! It may be more of a girl thing, needing your wardrobe to blend with that of your friends!</p>
<p>Is that “not nice” enough garland?</p>
<p>Having lived in both all the places mentioned and having kids or family members having attended , it’s not suppoed to sound snide, but more of a “reality” comment.</p>
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