For those of you familiar with the Worcester colleges, I am just wondering your thoughts on which might be better campus settings (thinking of safety and ease of getting around and look of campus)? Specifically, Does anyone have insight on Clark or WPI? I hear Assumption is very self contained but that is not currently on our list to check out and Holy Cross is not either (just because they do not give merit aid).
Holy Cross would likely be the most defined campus, and it is on a hill top. None on the Worcester colleges have the urban college feel of say BU.
If you go to Google maps and search each college you can get a good feel for each campus. If you go down to street view you can get an armchair drive around of each school.
Most colleges have campus maps online and that can help to give you a sense of if the school has a defined campus or not.
My son attends WPI. Campus is pretty self contained.
@FrozenMaineMom does HC not give Merit Aid across the board? I’ve been wanting DS to add this to his list, but I didn’t know that. Thx and good luck with the decision…we didn’t make it to Worcester to visit.
Holy Cross did give out some merit last year, in addition to the limited merit scholarships they always had
@wisteria100 sorry, I guess I should have clarified that of the few merit scholarships that they advertise on their website, we do not qualify in those groups. I know they are great with financial aid but am looking for merit specifically. Does anyone have first hand experience/knowledge of Clark?
@FrozenMaineMom Last year they did offer merit beyond those awards shown on their website
HI! I’m from Maine too, but I’m not frozen! May I suggest some old fashioned wood heat.
In the latest data I could locate (2016-2017), WPI did award over $23,000,000 in “merit” awards that were not used to meet the demonstrated financial need of students. This is a division III university with no athletic scholarships.
WPI appears to be in the process of changing their Common Data Set (CDS) format. The above data was found in section H1 of the CDS @ https://www.wpi.edu/offices/institutional-research/data-dashboards
At another location, the admissions office reported an average unweighted GPA for the current freshman class of 3.89. Competition for a “merit” awards, where need is not demonstrated, will be very competitive, BUT this should not discourage application if you are highly motivated toward this heavily project based program. Just for fun, I hunted up some reports on project activity relating to eyesight issues. If you have some very interesting project work, this could be your “hook.” And yes, they still want more women in the STEM world and a better female to male ratio at WPI.
See
https://www.wpi.edu/search/google/project%20work%20blindness#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=project%20work%20blindness&gsc.sort= for some project activities
The seven week terms carry a normal workload equivalent of 9 semester hours or 18 semester hours per half year. Although students take fewer courses at a time, they move very fast through the subject material so there is little time to play “catch up” if you slide behind. They are in a hurry to get on with using the classroom subject tools on projects.
WPI works very hard to create a teamwork environment and to build a sense of community. This is your support group.
WPI '67
Clark is a very interesting University which may also have merit awards. They have a great sense of community and very solid programs. Explore https://www.clarku.edu/
My son and I just visited Clark and we were very impressed with ALL the people we encountered from faculty, staff and students. We did an all day tour and met with key people. We’re from CA so it was very different experiencing a small college on the east coast. The campus is nicely contained but open to the community. We toured on a Friday and it was relatively quiet and saw only students walking about. Nice grounds, buildings and dining commons (great food too). My son got to stay overnight in a dorm and said it was fine.
We arrived to campus in the evening via greyhound from Logan airport so we did see some sketchy areas as we took a Lyft from the bus station to campus but once at Clark we felt at ease (even walking at night).
Anyway, we liked the overall feel of the school, the resources and the fact that he will not fall through the cracks but thrive there. It also helps that they have their fifth year tuition free masters program and four different merit scholarships. We came home from the visit and applied EA.
Just in case anyone else is reading a few months later and wondering the same. I went to Clark. It’s a fabulous school. The campus is small but nice and has expanded since I graduated a number of years ago. Highly regarded for it’s academics and students are liberal and open minded. The downside is the area where Clark is located in Worcester, which is probably one of the worst sections of Worcester. Clark does it’s best to try and clean it up and the school gets along well with the community, who they genuinely try to help in meaningful ways. It’s just not in a great area. It wasn’t when I attended in the 80s and it’s still not. Even with that being said, it’s a wonderful school and if your student can look past that it’s a great education and college experience. WPI and Holy Cross are in better sections of Worcester, both nice campuses, both great schools, all 3 a bit different but with all the students in Worcester lots to do.
Clark is embedded and does a great job of using this to its advantage in creating opportunities that teach community involvement. The area is not so bad as its reputation due to strong commitment by Clark. WPI is another great example of being embedded in the city and a great additon. The proximity to the art museum and concerts is great.