<p>I would assume most of us are loyal to our alma maters, but do you have another favorite? Perhaps you love the dream school of your schooldays. Maybe you love Brown and USC because Emma Watson and Lily Collins [briefly] attended those institutions. (Just me…?) </p>
<p>Maybe Deep Springs College appeals to the Clint Eastwood in you. Alternatively, maybe you hate the schools that rejected you. Maybe you hate a rival sports school. Maybe you just don’t fancy the CC boosterism of powerhouses like UMich and NYU. </p>
<p>It can be as frivolous a reason as liking how Vanderbilt’s name rolls off the tongue, or as serious a reason as getting sued by a lawyer from UT law. (Just me again?)</p>
<p>So which schools are your personal pets and which do you want to take a Reed-like rankings-dive?</p>
<p>I have a soft spot for Kenyon, I think because of the beautiful campus and because they love books so much. I don’t really loathe any school (someone’s kids are happy at almost every school, I assume, so it makes it hard to truly hate them) – although my true-blue Wolverine pedigree (I was 3rd generation) means I rarely have sympathy for Buckeyes when they lose at anything. Interesting that the two are physically less than 100 miles apart…</p>
<p>I do feel like my kid “dodged a bullet” on two highly ranked schools where she was admitted this year, but chose not to attend. I won’t name them specifically, but I think they would have been horrible for her… based on our experience at accepted students days, some recent events on campus, and discussing the schools with current students, maybe they do not deserve the glory they currently enjoy in the rankings.</p>
<p>I am partial toward Haverford. I loved the size of the school (very small). Loved the peacefulness I felt when we visited the school (many times). Loved the surrounding area. Child liked the school well enough just never felt the love for the place. </p>
<p>I LOATHE Boston College. Not a sour grapes type of thing as I was accepted to BC back in my day. I happen to think it is an over rated school that has not done a whole lot to improve their academics…they have just become a very popular school in the last 25 years. I have a banquet room sized list of relatives (yup… I could fill a decent size banquet room) who are BC alum. I would send a kid to Providence College or Holy Cross over BC any day as the education and experience would be much better and you would be minus the incredibly obnoxious alumi.</p>
<p>That’s intriguing, Fenway. I nearly applied to Haverford (until I saw its campus speed-limit), and was admitted to BC’s honor’s program. I ended up not committing because I had not visited. So how do you think BC’s academics compare to Virginia’s?</p>
<p>Junior Mint - In my opinion the academics at Virginia are better than the academics at BC. I have never been impressed with BC in any way. Being popular does not make something better… or improved.</p>
<p>I have a soft spot for Swarthmore. The older sister of a friend in HS went there, and my friend and I visited her one weekend. I always thought I should have applied, but my GC didn’t think I was a candidate. Tough nuggies to her – I wound up getting accepted to the school she swore I wouldn’t be (Northwestern). Anyway, always a tiny regret about Swarthmore.</p>
<p>I LOVE Notre Dame, just every single thing about it. It was never really on my radar until D randomly decided to apply and eventually enroll there. It’s been an amazing experience for her and I’ve been totally reeled in!</p>
<p>Also have a soft spot for Baylor. Such a pretty, clean campus and they seem to genuinely care about their students. The kids I know who go there are really happy.</p>
<p>Can’t say I loathe any schools (not even ND’s rivals). Some of the extreme boosterism for certain schools can get a little old, but hey, if a school generates that much love, it must be a pretty good place!</p>
<p>Growing up in Michigan, the chant was “Oh How I Hate Ohio State” but that’s kid’s stuff.</p>
<p>And then there’s Harvard. I remember before one football game, Harvard’s band was set up in their big red H formation and the announcer said, “And now the Yale band will stem the ride tide” and they came out of the tunnel as a giant tampon and passed through the H. But that’s silly too. (And the bands had obviously worked out this bit beforehand.) In this regard, we were watching the band’s typical idiocies - as opposed to the obscene*, and a UConn fan behind us said in complete seriousness, “And to think those are the future leaders of this country.” </p>
<p>But hate? I’d have to say Yale because of their endless greedy fundraising letters. They have so bleeping much and they always want more while many, many schools are scraping by. And they surrender academic principles to locate campuses in autocratic and even dictatorial states that don’t respect the rights of women or free religion, etc. So it’s kind of a love/hate thing.</p>
<p>*For the censorious minded: a salute to Amtrak consisted of making a train and a tunnel and repeatedly driving in and out of the tunnel … or the weirdest of all, they made a giant woman and then brought out an enormous pretend chainsaw - labeled “Yale Longhorn” of course - and cut her in half vertically from the bottom up. The chant “chainsaw, chainsaw” became standard for a few years with aged, drunken alumni screaming it (in ignorance of the reason, I assume).</p>
<p>Which campus is this? I’m Singaporean and I’ve heard lots of things about my country, but a lack of respect for women or a lack of free religion is not one of them.</p>
<p>I will never forgive the schools that reject Mr PMKjr! I loathe every last one of them. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the schools that accepted Mr PMKjr.</p>
<p>I also like Princeton. Growing up in New Jersey we used to walk around the campus and no matter the season, it was beautiful. Visting Oxford in England gave me the same feeling as an adult.</p>
<p>Wellesley College. I couldn’t go there as UG because it cost 2x as much as a flagship, and I couldn’t impose that on parents. I hated my UG experience, graduated in less than 3 years. So happy to be offered a job at Wellesley later on. I loved he library and the pond and the ducks and my colleagues.</p>
<p>I have a soft spot for Caltech. DH was a grad student there, and I worked briefly in a professor’s private library and loved the job. Love the architecture, love the quirkiness, love the pranks, love the passion. </p>
<p>I don’t have a soft spot for Harvard (my alma mater) at all. I think they’ve been overly dominated by investment banking/pre-meds. It was bad enough when I was there, but it’s much worse now. </p>
<p>I was very impressed by Carnegie Mellon when my son was there. Nice city, pretty campus for the most part, liked the neighborhood. While I don’t think the pre-professional approach to education is right for everyone, but I think it’s right for some kids.</p>
<p>I fell in love with William and Mary when my daughter visited it. </p>
<p>It was intellectual without being intimidating, nicely medium-sized, and not a party school. Instead, it was nerdy and moderately academic. Like me.</p>
<p>My daughter didn’t think it was a particularly good fit for her, and although she applied, it was something like fifth on her list, and she would have been disappointed if she had ended up there.</p>
<p>But if I had known about William and Mary when I was applying to colleges, it would have been my first choice. However, at the time when I applied, I lived in Connecticut, and Virginia schools were not on my radar screen.</p>
<p>I loved the idea of attending the College of William and Mary when I was young
(attended Rutgers and NYU Film; lovely experiences both. And I’ll defend Rutgers
College’s academics to my dying day. Amazing Philosophy, English, Poli Sci courses and profs I’ll never forget.). </p>
<p>Got to visit W&M with daughter during her search. Just confirmed why I loved it so much. The sense of history that permeates the place, beautiful campus, great undergrad academics. It seemed to have an esteemed reputation back then (70’s/ 80’s) that it lacks now, for some reason (could be dead wrong). Daughter ended up choosing Tufts, to her (and my) delight. But still wonder, “what if”.</p>
<p>And add me, too, to the ranks of Haverford lovers. Feels like a world unto itself.</p>
<p>(OMG, amazing to see someone else posted a valentine to W&M in the time I was writing this post!)</p>
<p>Wellesley was always my dream school. I always say that if I could do it over again, I would be there. </p>
<p>I also grew up loving Notre Dame, and I will forever regret turning it down because my boyfriend didn’t get in. Knowing what I do now, I would probably been miserable there ( I was way too liberal for the school even back then) but I still root for the school. </p>
<p>Although I don’t really hate any school, I will forever root against Purdue and Stanford in athletic events. I was raised in an IU household and lived in Berkeley for so many years that rivalries are too ingrained. As a Wabash parent, I now will ridicule DePauw.</p>
<p>Of course I love my Alma Mater, UMichigan. But I also have a soft spot for Northwestern. I admire that they are highly selective and intellectual, but also hold their own at Big Ten sports and are located on Lake Michigan! From my research for D, I have also grown to admire Stanford and Yale a great deal. I loathe Ohio State, Notre Dame, and to a somewhat lesser degree, the Michigan State Spartans. (It has to be a lesser degree, because I married one!) I throw away all of their mail sent to D.</p>
<p>I don’t get the concept of “disliking” a school that I have no personal experience with.</p>
<p>OTOH - I have no personal experience with Northwestern other than visiting with both of my kids (and I grew up in Illinois), but I absolutely love that school.</p>
<p>I am not a fan of either Baylor or SMU. I wouldn’t use the word “loathe” though. I lived in Dallas almost 30 years and neither school impresses me academically or socially.</p>
<p>I love Vanderbilt and am a rabid sports fan. I love my daughter’s alma mater, Rice, and like my son’s/parents’ alma mater, Penn, but wouldn’t say I’m passionate about it.</p>
<p>I am pretty passionate about Sewanee and like hanging out there.</p>
Your last comment reminds me of NYU…</p>