OT: Connecticut College

[HuskyHawk]

I'm getting into this process (gulp) now. As I see it I have 18 months to sell her on the benefits of the California university system. For the people that have gone through it, or are going through it, is there a benefit to seeing these places during the summer? Or do you not get a useful sense of the school when you visit outside of the academic calendar? We had been trying to line up a few trips this summer.

One, you've got a great state U system the rest of us would envy. As for summer visits, I would say yes, there is a benefit. But that depends on your kid and what they are looking for. My daughter visited Storrs and knew for sure she didn't want that, even without the visit. I'd say that if he/she is thinking about U Colorado for example, visiting Boulder even out of session will help narrow things down. The Berkeley campus is certainly a lot different than Davis, and UCSC is frankly an outlier to every campus I've ever seen. I think you can use summer to narrow things down based on campus size, feel, urban/rural/suburban. Then you can go back to the possible choices in the fall.

 

[TRest]

Go during the school year. When I spent a week on Cal San Diego's campus, I thought it was the most fantastic campus I'd ever seen. Loved it. But all the students walking around in that beautiful sunshine were sullen. Student bodies have their own vibe despite some beautiful surroundings.

A co-worker who attended Holy Cross told me he never would have gone if he toured it in winter. Weather matters, at least around here.

 

[Fishy]

I'm getting into this process (gulp) now. As I see it I have 18 months to sell her on the benefits of the California university system. For the people that have gone through it, or are going through it, is there a benefit to seeing these places during the summer? Or do you not get a useful sense of the school when you visit outside of the academic calendar? We had been trying to line up a few trips this summer.

My advice is….start early. The pandemic really killed us there. Definitely go in the summer to get a look at the campuses - you will be going back in the fall or spring to see again the ones she is interested in.

Make a point to demonstrate interest to her top schools - tours, online sessions, interviews, etc. That matters.

The Cal system is excellent, so I am sure no issue there. But again, start early, start early, start early….the time freaking flies.

 

[superjohn]

I'm so out of touch with college process today but 1500 used to be a great score, no clue if still is ... so how can that be possible? Was he applying to Oxford, naval academy and West Point etc?

The SAT's are different than they were back in the day. 1500 is still a really great score but the test is considered easier now and the scale is different. My brother who is 50 now got a 1500 back in the day (800 on math and 700 on verbal) the first and only time he took the test. His score was so uncommon he was advised not to take it again for fear he would get a perfect score. That was a ridiculously high score back then and got him into the Ivy League schools he applied to without him ever really applying himself in school or doing any extracurriculars. They felt that if he got a perfect score it would show he doesn't apply himself at all.

 

[Fishy]

Fishy, I am in the same situation with my son. Tough year to be a high school senior going to a competitive school. He scored 1500 on SAT, was president of National Honor Society at his school, earned varsity letters in 4 sports, went to Boys' State, etc. He got rejected from almost every school he applied to. Good news for me is he is going to go to UCONN!

It was an absolutely brutal year.

Test optional kids flooded the system and just took seats away. Your son’s application likely got three seconds of review.

My daughter got waitlisted at G’town, American(!) and either got waitlisted or rejected by Tufts. Normal year…she likely gets into all three and maybe has a puncher’s chance at one of the lesser Ivys. This year….we did not even bother because we saw the crazy application numbers last year.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Your kid would be crazy not to go to one of the UC or CSU schools if they can get in. They're fantastic. I doubt money is tight if you're sitting in floor seats at MSG, but the community colleges in Cali are also stellar and guarantee admissions to a bunch of the CS schools.

Trust me I've been dropping subliminal hints about how great Berkeley is for months, but in a teenager's mind the Bay Area might as well be a suburb of Los Angeles - she thinks her mother is going to be popping in on weekends. She's got NYU on the brain but my hope is we go for a visit and she backs off the idea of going to school in NY. I'm tempted to take her to St. Johns and pay some student to tell her it's NYU and the west village isn't as nice as it seems.

 

[Fishy]

Good to hear about Marist, thanks. We did the Walkway over the Hudson (after grabbing a bite at Lola's) because I wanted her get a sense of how freaking massive it is. She thought it was pretty cool. We stayed in Poughkeepsie several years ago on one of our visits to Levon Helm's barn and I remember enjoying a couple good meals at a restaurant named Crew, which I see is still in business; as well as the Half Time craft beer store where I spent several hundred dollars, back when I was a hop head.

I also dig all those other cool towns nearby. I think it's a neat area to explore, and not a bad home base for four years, assuming you take advantage of the NYC access and study abroad.


They are decent on merit aid, but they also start from a much lower sticker price than most. It would have ended up in the same ballpark as UConn would have been for us, which was our measuring stick then. Hoping for the same outcome this time...

Crew and Halftime are both still there.

There are a bunch of good restaurants in the area. A ton of bad ones, too.

What I love about Lola’s is that periodically, the owners scrap what they’re doing and just completely change the restaurant. New name, new menu.

 

[8893]

What I love about Lola’s is that periodically, the owners scrap what they’re doing and just completely change the restaurant. New name, new menu.

Yeah, I figured that the Lolita’s Pizza part was an experiment of theirs; we stuck with the wraps, sandwiches and fries. All solid, but we hadn’t eaten all day and can’t say we were the most discriminating diners at that point.

It was nice to walk it off immediately afterwards on the Walkway.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Trust me I've been dropping subliminal hints about how great Berkeley is for months, but in a teenager's mind the Bay Area might as well be a suburb of Los Angeles - she thinks her mother is going to be popping in on weekends. She's got NYU on the brain but my hope is we go for a visit and she backs off the idea of going to school in NY. I'm tempted to take her to St. Johns and pay some student to tell her it's NYU and the west village isn't as nice as it seems.

If you're lucky, maybe you'll get mugged. Take her to UC Santa Cruz, I guarantee her mom could pop in on weekends and still never find her. Seems she wants a city experience like mine did. I discovered none of them are cheap, at least not on the east coast. UDub maybe? It's kind of funky and cool, cheaper than NYU.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

UDub maybe? It's kind of funky and cool, cheaper than NYU.

I've been suggesting we take a trip up to check it out.

 

[Guapo]

Send your kids to UConn.

Y’all need Jesus. UConn Jesus.

Good lord.

 

[pepband99]

It was an absolutely brutal year.

Test optional kids flooded the system and just took seats away. Your son’s application likely got three seconds of review.

My daughter got waitlisted at G’town, American(!) and either got waitlisted or rejected by Tufts. Normal year…she likely gets into all three and maybe has a puncher’s chance at one of the lesser Ivys. This year….we did not even bother because we saw the crazy application numbers last year.

Yep. I'm in same boat with my oldest. Kid's an eagle scout, HM all conf in Football, and on a robotics team that's going to the world championships next week.

Test-optional and the common app is the admissions comparison to the transfer portal. Just a flood.

Wait-listed at WPI and Lehigh (latter somewhat expected), but got into Virginia Tech, UConn, RPI and RIT. He's going to be a hokie, which is hilarious when you consider he wanted a small school, close to home, and cheap. He picked the opposite of all 3. LOL the 18 yo brain.

 

[Northbound]

People who have gone to Marist never have a bad thing to say about it - universally “it was great, I loved it”.

 

[beerfan]

We went to accepted students day at Conn, Syracuse, Nova and Holy Cross; cancelled out on Union’s which is in a few days.

All the schools, save Nova, do a really nice job and seem to be genuinely enthusiastic about the kids they’ve admitted. At the end of it, though, she just loved all the people she met at Connecticut College - it’s nice to talk to the associate dean of whatever at some schools, but at Conn, she met and spoke to the president, dean of admissions, etc., etc.

She loves the people, the campus and the fact that it’s close, but not too close, so that‘s where she’s going. Her mom likes that she has grandparents and uncles relatively close by and her father likes the scholarship.

Schools that we really enjoyed - Conn, Union, Syracuse, Vermont, Georgetown. All really nice people everywhere.

Schools that we could take or leave - Binghamton, American.

Schools that we actively disliked dealing with - Villanova and Providence. I think Nova is just overwhelmed with the number of applications they are getting these days and everything is just kinda rushed. Providence is just a disorganized mess; even the normal campus visit was a dumpster fire - first school she tossed out.

Congrats. As I said earlier my daughter is a Sophomore there and has really done well, and I have no complaints so far. I can hook her up with your daughter if she has any questions, the dorms, class registration, clubs, or anything else. You also might want to join the Conn College Parents and Families Facebook group, it is a good resource, and it is fun to see the super uber-helicopter parents freak out when their kid complains about the type of fish in the sushi-bowls.

 

[8893]

Trust me I've been dropping subliminal hints about how great Berkeley is for months, but in a teenager's mind the Bay Area might as well be a suburb of Los Angeles - she thinks her mother is going to be popping in on weekends. She's got NYU on the brain but my hope is we go for a visit and she backs off the idea of going to school in NY. I'm tempted to take her to St. Johns and pay some student to tell her it's NYU and the west village isn't as nice as it seems.

We did a family trip to CA several summers ago and did an overnight in SLO. I woke up the next day and tried to sell our oldest on studying urban planning at Cal Poly.

 

[CL82]

I purposely didn't do the UConn visit with our oldest because I wanted her to experience it free from my influence. She and my wife did the accepted student visit and were both pretty impressed with the presentations and campus, etc. It was another of her final three.

They also really liked UMD.

That’s good to hear. It is funny how relatively inconsequential things can impact the college selection process. Go on a rainy day and the chance that the prospective student will pick the college decreases. In our case, the student guides weren’t as polished or as enthusiastic as most of the other schools we visited.

 

[CL82]

People who have gone to Marist never have a bad thing to say about it - universally “it was great, I loved it”.

I know they have a relatively good working relationship with IBM for internships in graduate placement. The views of the Hudson are gorgeous as well.

 

[CL82]

Trust me I've been dropping subliminal hints about how great Berkeley is for months, but in a teenager's mind the Bay Area might as well be a suburb of Los Angeles - she thinks her mother is going to be popping in on weekends. She's got NYU on the brain but my hope is we go for a visit and she backs off the idea of going to school in NY. I'm tempted to take her to St. Johns and pay some student to tell her it's NYU and the west village isn't as nice as it seems.

This made me laugh because with my son I heard just the opposite. NYU is a good school, certainly worthy of her consideration. I would point that out to her and let her know that it’s an option, but I’d also remind her that if she goes in school in state and needs some thing from you, or wants to come home for a weekend, you can be there. If she doesn’t, you’ve got no reason to be there. Don’t hit it too heavy, but definitely mention it. In the end, my kids decided being someplace that I could get to if they needed me had value to them. That ended up occasionally going up and buying meals for them and their friends and bringing them stuff from home.

 

[Chuck]

I'm about to start the process. Not looking forward to it. I'm impressed with how my kids have done in school, and I hope it gets them into a school that will make them happy during their 4 years and beyond. I've seen how difficult this year is by watching friends and neighbors stress over their 4.0+gpa kids not getting into their choice of schools, and some getting waitlisted by their safety schools.

I was the first in my family to go away to college and my father went to school at night. They nudged me and my sister to do well and we wound up at schools that made them proud because going away to school wasn't an option for them.

With that being said, I've noticed something about the school conversations on this board. Has college for our kids become another version of "each generation does better than the last?" UConn gets mentioned as an option and choice for some. But you rarely see other big State Us mentioned and there are a ton of you who's kids are going (or looking at) more prestigious private universities. Just thought it was interesting.

Good luck to all of you! I hope things revert to the mean before we apply in a couple years! Gotta get my kids into better schools than I went to!

 

[Deepster]

Our process was a dream. Visited 6 colleges in May-Sept. She was set on the 1st one we visited the entire time. She's playing field hockey for them so we were in touch with the coach the entire time. She met 2 other girls locally who were also interested and the 3 of them committed Early Decision in the fall. Accepted first week of December. One application only, one fee and we were done.

 

[8893]

All that being said, I've noticed something about the school conversations on this board. Has college for our kids become another version of "each generation does better than the last?" UConn gets mentioned as an option and choice for some. But you rarely see other big State Us mentioned and there are a ton of you who's kids are going (or looking at) more prestigious private universities. Just thought it was interesting.

I disagree. Big state universities are as popular as ever for people from all walks. As @husky429 noted, a lot of kids in these parts seem to be attracted to UMD. Our oldest definitely was and one of my best friends has a daughter who is a freshman there now and loves it. I also know a bunch at Penn State and Pitt who also love them. In our town the southern state schools are also drawing a lot of kids now, especially Clemson, UGA, USC.

The thing you will find out is that many of the private universities are very generous with merit aid, which they use to woo the kids most desirable to them based on a variety of factors (frequently geographical diversity is one of them). That often makes them very price-competitive with, if not less expensive than, the big state schools, which are usually not as generous with merit aid for out of state kids. And many of the private schools do a good job of selling, and providing, customer service; whereas many of the state schools, in my experience, are more self-serve.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I disagree. Big state universities are as popular as ever for people from all walks. As @husky429 noted, a lot of kids in these parts seem to be attracted to UMD. Our oldest definitely was and one of my best friends has a daughter who is a freshman there now and loves it. I also know a bunch at Penn State and Pitt who also love them. In our town the southern state schools are also drawing a lot of kids now, especially Clemson, UGA, USC.

The thing you will find out is that many of the private universities are very generous with merit aid, which they use to woo the kids most desirable to them based on a variety of factors (frequently geographical diversity is one of them). That often makes them very price-competitive with, if not less expensive than, the big state schools, which are usually not as generous with merit aid for out of state kids. And many of the private schools do a good job of selling, and providing, customer service; whereas many of the state schools, in my experience, are more self-serve.

More popular than ever. I'm amazed by it. My daughter's class had kids going to Auburn, Clemson, Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia Tech, Florida, Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, and many more, along with the usual suspects. The popularity of the public schools in the south is really trending up. Have seen the same from friends in CT and other MA towns. Good value I suppose.

One thing to remember, the more competitive private schools want a geographically diverse student body. So if you're a kid in NY/NE, your odds at NYU, BC, BU are probably not as good as at Vanderbilt, Rice, Tulane etc.

 

[August_West]

Trust me I've been dropping subliminal hints about how great Berkeley is for months, but in a teenager's mind the Bay Area might as well be a suburb of Los Angeles - she thinks her mother is going to be popping in on weekends. She's got NYU on the brain but my hope is we go for a visit and she backs off the idea of going to school in NY. I'm tempted to take her to St. Johns and pay some student to tell her it's NYU and the west village isn't as nice as it seems.

LOL. I went to NYU (for one of my multi school round the country 17 year to degree college choices which includes 2 different UConn campuses, and Cal State Northridge haha) If she is wired that way you stand no chance in this. Just enjoy that it is a great school and if you have a kid who can handle NYC at 18 you have no worries. I would never hesitate to send a kid there who wants it (if they want it badly) It uniquely prepares one for life.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

LOL. I went to NYU (for one of my multi school round the country 17 year to degree college choices which includes 2 different UConn campuses, and Cal State Northridge haha) If she is wired that way you stand no chance in this. Just enjoy that it is a great school and if you have a kid who can handle NYC at 18 you have no worries. I would never hesitate to send a kid there who wants it (if they want it badly) It uniquely prepares one for life.

We'll see. At this point it's hard to know if it's the school itself or the idea of it. She is at this point dead set on an urban campus but that can change. As long as she's happy, although I would not be mad at Berkeley or UCSB or something instate.

 

[superjohn]

LOL. I went to NYU (for one of my multi school round the country 17 year to degree college choices which includes 2 different UConn campuses, Eastern, and Cal State Northridge haha) If she is wired that way you stand no chance in this. Just enjoy that it is a great school and if you have a kid who can handle NYC at 18 you have no worries. I would never hesitate to send a kid there who wants it (if they want it badly) It uniquely prepares one for life.

I took summer classes there while living on 31st and Lex, that was a fun summer.