<p>^^^^^^^:eek:</p>
<p>elnamo, you should post your chance question about Columbia in the chances forum. Although why you would even bother applying to a school whose teaching philosophy annoys you (let alone still consider it a top choice) is beyond me.</p>
<p>Love Maryland (my, my wife’s, and son’s alma mater)</p>
<p>Soft spots: Pitt (my parents alma mater; dad played football there in the late 40’s-early 50’s) Clemson, Tennessee</p>
<p>Loathe: WVU, Duke and Notre Dame</p>
<p>Love love love Oberlin. Nice, interesting, smart kids. Musical, smart and did I say nice? I always wanted a kid to go to Tufts. Hate their admission exclusivity, love their campus, city and mission. Have acquired a soft spot for Wisconsin. Want to acquire one for Vandy. Love the Oregon Ducks. And Willamette University holds a special place in my heart. And, since it’s been added to CTCL, am hoping more students check it out.</p>
<p>’ Although why you would even bother applying to a school whose teaching philosophy annoys you (let alone still consider it a top choice) is beyond me."</p>
<p>I’m no fan of the Columbia core (I once taught in the Chicago core, and don’t think it any better. The only core program I like is at Scripps.) But then I don’t like the junior high school-like distribution requirements at many schools either. I agree - if you don’t like their approach to education, they should be at the bottom of the list.</p>
<p>I’ve been to Penn a lot and spoken to lots of students there. What you’ve described, which is certainly a valid way of looking at it, has a flip side - the push towards pre-professionalism, which is stronger at Penn than any other school I know, including NYU. </p>
<p>That said, I have a soft spot for Penn, though I could never see myself there. I’m definitely more of an NYU person.</p>
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<p>That is an impressive graduating class…</p>
<p>Stuy in the late 60s. I was 112th in my class.</p>
<p>I should have added: 60 Columbias, many Cornells, 18 Harvards, 12 Yales, and O Princetons.</p>
<p>SJTH–can you say why Willamette holds a special place in your heart? My kid is looking at it, but I’m having trouble getting a sense of it.</p>
<p>Redpoint, when I visited Willamette, I decided to go to a science building since I had two hours to kill before the tour started. When I was there, I saw a professor run up to a student and begin discussing his concern about her lack of understanding of one concept he covered and suggested they meet for lunch. I’ve never seen such an interaction at ANY other school, which makes me think Willamette truly cares about molding relatively average scoring B students into top scholars.</p>
<p>I have a soft spot for my local community college. It allowed my grandma to go back to school after more than 50 years, and manages to provide a low cost, quality education, to 30,000 students, who range from middle school aged to 80 years old and fully retired. </p>
<p>I also LOVE University of Puget Sound. I sat in on a class there, and was amazed at the level of discussion I heard. Its campus is gorgeous, the people seemed friendly, and the food was outstanding. Truly an underrated school.</p>
<p>I loathe Evergreen State College and St. John’s College. I don’t believe in either of their educational philosophies, which are btw EXTREMELY different, and in talking to an alum of St. John’s found him to be extremely pompous about his knowledge of culture. </p>
<p>Of the mid tier UCs, I love UCSC partially because of the high research expenditures and low graduate: undergrad ration, but mainly because of how beautiful the campus and surrounding city are. It’s located in a forest! They have a rope swing! Also the residential colleges are awesome. </p>
<p>Loathe UC Davis. I’ve lived there for about two weeks in total and hated the city, the ugly buildings, and the dorming system. </p>
<p>Other random schools:
Loathe UGA. People claim that Athens is some amazing college town, but from my visits, it’s only good if you’re 21 and love alcohol but hate food. My friends and I had to search for a place to eat that wasn’t actually a bar. Along the way, two people screamed racial epithets at my Pakistani friend for holding hands with a white girl. TWO! In a fifteen minute span! Also saw a number of Confederate flags hanging outside of bars and house windows.</p>
<p>Also loathe posters who continually post about how one school is an obvious choice because it’s highly ranked at this or that grad program and considering any other institution is just foolish. I’m almost positive that had I gone to a larger school my freshman year, I would have dropped out or had an abysmally low GPA. For myself and many others, a large school would have been disastrous, so it makes sense to apply to some LACs or mid sized schools which have a stronger support structure in place. Also grad program rankings do indicate that the school can attract the best professors in the field but say nothing about the level of interaction students enjoy with their professors. In some instances it may actually mean that it’s harder for a student to sit down with a professor because he’s so occupied by other things (sorry for the mini rant)</p>
<p>I have a strong negative reaction to Miami Ohio, in part because of a poster on this forum and in part because of reports from parents who live here in my community. Irrational maybe, but some definite flaws there.</p>
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<p>Seems like this would be an example for a “worst college towns” thread…</p>
<p>To be honest, I dislike Notre Dame in particular and most religiously-affiliated schools in general. Except for the Quaker schools: they’re fine. I also dislike Stanford, which looks like a Taco Bell to me, and has too much of a pre-professional vibe. Not a fan of Duke or Northwestern or WUSTL for more or less the same reason (except Taco Bell). I’m still ticked off at Yale because they screwed up and didn’t count my S as a legacy. :D</p>
<p>I love the U of C, despite my less than ideal experience with their monumentally sexist English Dept circa 1980. (Presumably they have changed for the better since then.)</p>
<p>LOL, MOWC. I started to feel the same way about Fordham at one point. :D</p>
<p>I have a soft spot for Middlebury because I got accepted there but my parents would not let me go that far away back in the day and it was my favorite. I also have a soft spot for Chicago because I spent many weekends there visiting my BF at the time. Right now, I’m not fond of Bucknell because they turned my S3 down…not even the courtesy of a waitlist…and he would have been great there, and it was his #1 and was accepted at “better schools.” My mantra now is that it’s a freaking small school in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania and thank goodness he took it more gracefully than I. I’m also not terribly fond of Michigan, I turned them down and was the only family member not to matriculate, but it’s simply too big and the North campus Central campus thing gives me huge pause and I agree it’s one of those “rear view mirror” type of unis.</p>
<p>Redpoint, re: Willamette. Well, the first, most honest answer is that I went there and met my husband. Having recently re-connected with it, however, it is a lovely, historic campus with a very nice, engaged student body. I think its perfect for the B/B+ kid who didn’t live up to their potential in high school OR the A- kid who worked really hard to get to that gpa (this is also after throwing out grade inflation). It is a very friendly campus with a very engaged faculty who will do things like described above. If a student wants to disappear into the masses, this isn’t the place. Diversity means a lot to them. It has really bad dorm rooms and a below par athletic facility that fortunately is being renovated this year. WU gives very generous merit aid. It’s far enough away from Portland to be its own mini-city, but close enough (45 mins) to let students reasonably go to concerts, shopping etc. on a Saturday. For my purposes, it was literally across the street from the State Capital buildings, and internships abounded. I think too many kids use it as a safety school, when they can get a very fine education there. Is drawing a LOT of students from California and elsewhere in the South. Like any small liberal arts college, you should visit, spend the night and see what you think. Not a fit for everyone, and not as easy to get in as one might think.</p>
<p>A general comment. I don’t think you will necessarily get the most accurate impression of schools on the West Coast on CC because the forum is dominated by participants in the Northeast. Our schools are not as well known to people on the East Coast (or should I say eastern shore? 
), and there’s not the incentive to talk them up for people on the East Coast. The West Coast is not prestige oriented in the same way. I also don’t think kids or parents on the West Coast as a whole are as obsessed with the whole test taking scene. It doesn’t mean the kids aren’t smart because they’re not interested in spending as much time focused on the hoops or taking admissions tests multiple times; it’s just a different culture. I think schools on the West Coast and the students attending them are frequently underestimated and described inaccurately here.</p>
<p>Love UNC, but that is my undergrad alma mater.</p>
<p>Hate Duke. See above.</p>
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<p>LOL. Me, too. Back in the Stone Age or so.</p>
<p>whenhen, I think St. Johns’ educational philosophy is cuckoo, but my nephew who graduated from there is the nicest, most laid back, guy you could meet. It looks like his youngest sister will be attending as well.</p>
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I have a strong negative reaction to Miami Ohio, in part because of a poster on this forum and in part because of reports from parents who live here in my community. Irrational maybe, but some definite flaws there.
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<p>MOWC, quote of the day! 
and hope I FINALLY figured out quotes (but knowing I probably didn’t lol)</p>
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A sample size of one alum who graduated 30+ years ago is hardly representative of the students. I’m sure your nephew and niece are great people.</p>
<p>Also, I love Cal Maritime. For the right student, it’s a brilliant, and fairly low cost choice. I love the mandatory semester at sea, the small size, and trade school like emphasis on applying things learned in the classroom to real world problems graduates will face. Again, great for a certain type of student, horrible for others.</p>