Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

You had me with this

But redeemed yourself with this:

lol.... I definitely didn't mean to sound so harsh. I am just a very strong proponent of a strong liberal arts education that leaves the professional stuff to grad school.

[KSig RC]

UI is only a party school if you want to party - certainly no more so than Ann Arbor. Iowa City is a very cool place to live, as well. The CW program isn't very large, but she'll have multiple opportunities to enter at different stages. If she's serious, she should definitely visit, and possibly consider a workshop - it's definitely worth seeing the campus and campus life.

Tulane is doing very well post-Katrina - two friends were in law school during Katrina, and to hear them tell it, the campus has come out amazingly well. My impression has never been that it's particularly "capital-S Southern", but that's because it draws from all over the south (and nation).

From my limited experience there, I've always felt WashU was similar in many ways to U of Chicago - the differences being primarily the differences between STL and Chicago.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

lol.... I definitely didn't mean to sound so harsh. I am just a very strong proponent of a strong liberal arts education that leaves the professional stuff to grad school.

This quote describes my life. I got an English degree and have a more professional M. Ed, as do several of my friends.

[KSig RC]

Also, if she's dead-set on an "urban" campus life (like, she actually wants to experience city life in that city), Northwestern and UChicago are notoriously NOT that, at least not in the way you might expect. Northwestern is very suburban and well over an hour away from Chicago proper via public transportation - it's very self-contained, although the campus is neat (almost to the point of "cute" honestly). U of Chicago has a long and storied reputation as a "marriage factory," with an insular campus lifestyle based around itself/students rather than going out into the city.

Obviously, undergrad is what you make it, but from friends who have attended both, that's sort of the vibe.

Similarly, Emerson is probably the least 'urban' of the Boston schools. It's a fine school, but it's very much the stereotype of "Liberal Arts" school. Again, considered to be insular* to an extent - it's a smaller campus, although it isn't far at all from Boston landmarks etc. BU, Suffolk, and even MIT/Harvard/BC (even in the suburbs) have a much more "Boston" feel. Maybe even Tufts. That doesn't mean Emerson is a bad choice - she just needs to know it's very much a small LA school, even in Boston.

With that said, if she wants an urban, liberal-arts atmosphere, she should seriously consider the Boston and Philadelphia schools - there are some fine ones that can offer her what she wants, while still having options if those wants change later.

*By way of example ... we mixed with an Emerson sorority, and they were astonished at essentially every portion of our mixer, from having a sound system to having officers with 'jobs' to perform/set times to perform them to everything being paid for. The campuses are a 20 minute walk apart, but that walk was across the Collegiate Sea, apparently. It was a fun mixer though.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I am just a very strong proponent of a strong liberal arts education that leaves the professional stuff to grad school.

As am I.

I think every college, except super-duper conservative Bible colleges and the service academies, can be a "party school;" party schools aren't necessarily filled with Animal House antics all the time.

I had friends in college who took every class pass/fail and partied like it was 1999 every night (to their credit, it was!). On the same token, some of my friends at UF and FSU kept their nose to the grindstone harder than any Ivy League student I knew. Columbia doesn't have Friday classes for undergrads (with the exception of discussion sections and seminars); imagine what Thursday nights are like!

[groovypq]

My husband (a journalist) would tell her not to major in journalism. Newspapers are struggling right now. He gets furloughed 5 days a quarter.

I read some good advice (in Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann's book "The Big Show," no less - from back in their Sportscenter days): If you want to go into communications, don't major in that alone. Double major or minor. They said political science is a good major. The important thing is to get experience, so as was suggested earlier, get on the campus newspaper or literary magazine staff.

I was a mass communications major in college, meaning I got to pick and choose between journalism, PR and broadcasting courses. That turned out to be SO helpful, because in my career I've gone from newspapers to web to public relations. It's helped me be adaptable in writing style.

BTW, if she's interested in creative writing, Susquehanna has an excellent program. :-) (but we're a small school in the middle of nowhere, so I guess she wouldn't dig that.)

ETA: On the other hand, we're an hour from Harrisburg, 3 from Philadelphia, 4 from Pittsburgh, 5 from NYC and you can make Baltimore or DC in about 2.5-3, depending which side and on traffic.

[AGDee]

She decided to create an account herself so she can have this conversation with y'all. Stay tuned.

*she has to wait an hour to post so we're getting dinner first*

[hypoallergenic]

Hi guys, daughter-in-question here. I felt like there were a few things my mom didn’t express very well in the initial post, so…I’m gonna clear things up.

1. A major concern is academics. My main priority isn’t to get prepared for a job, it’s to learn and explore things I enjoy or couldn’t in high school (which, granted, is probably naïve, but with the job market requiring college for even below average students, I don’t want to be shoved into a group of kids who are just going out of obligation. I’m nerdy, learning is fun.) That’s part of the reason I’m looking at Ivies and sub-Ivies, because I want a college where people are driven and passionate.

2. I don’t necessarily want an ‘urban’ campus life. Mainly, I want diversity. Coming from a tiny, everybody-knows-everybody kind of town, I want to meet new people with lots of different interests and personalities. That’s why I’m primarily looking at universities with strong liberal arts programs, rather than just liberal arts schools. I also like the idea of research universities with strong liberal arts programs, although I don’t really know what’d I’d research…it’s just intriguing. :P

3. I’m not concerned about prestige in the typical way. I would like a college that is well-known to potential employers and grad schools, but I’m not looking for a college that makes me look “smarter” when I casually mention it to friends and family.

4. Iowa was mainly a safety that I kept because I couldn’t figure out anywhere else. I would like to pursue creative writing in college to some extent, but there are so many things I’m also interested in, I’d rather not go to one college for a great writing program. Having said that, any suggestions for safety schools (that fit the above requirements to some extent)?? I feel like it’s impossible to find one where I’ll fit in, but my test scores are low (1870 on the SAT, retaking in October, but I got a 2010 on my PSAT so I know I can do better). I’m scared I’ll get rejected from all of these schools I’ve invested so much time in, and I won’t have a SOLID safety school to fall back on.

5. I don’t really want to go into traditional journalism. If I did choose journalism, it would be either writing for magazines or some kind of editorial work. I would really enjoy going into editing and publishing, though, or…well, my dream at the moment is to somehow work for the UN. Dunno how that’d happen, but we’ll see. So, another question, what would be my best bet for majors? I’m pretty sure what my mom said was on par, I just want to make sure I’m not going for the wrong things.

I think that’s all. :P

[XAntoftheSkyX]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Similarly, Emerson is probably the least 'urban' of the Boston schools. It's a fine school, but it's very much the stereotype of "Liberal Arts" school. Again, considered to be insular* to an extent - it's a smaller campus, although it isn't far at all from Boston landmarks etc. BU, Suffolk, and even MIT/Harvard/BC (even in the suburbs) have a much more "Boston" feel. Maybe even Tufts. That doesn't mean Emerson is a bad choice - she just needs to know it's very much a small LA school, even in Boston.

Yeah, I'm personally familiar with the BU, MIT and Harvard campuses, but I wasn't sure on Emerson. It also isn't that hard to use the T to get around the city to visit places, assuming you know where to go.

[agzg]

ZOMG yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaay! This thread makes me 80,000x happier now!

S I'm excited for you and your mom to come visit me in Chicago. Seriously.

[KSUViolet06]

All this 2nd generation greekchatter business is making me feel old.

[AGDee]

In all fairness, it's not like we were on GC as collegians

[XAntoftheSkyX]

Originally Posted by AGDee

In all fairness, it's not like we were on GC as collegians

[BuckeyeTriDelta]

Originally Posted by hypoallergenic

Hi guys, daughter-in-question here. I felt like there were a few things my mom didn’t express very well in the initial post, so…I’m gonna clear things up.

1. A major concern is academics. My main priority isn’t to get prepared for a job, it’s to learn and explore things I enjoy or couldn’t in high school (which, granted, is probably naïve, but with the job market requiring college for even below average students, I don’t want to be shoved into a group of kids who are just going out of obligation. I’m nerdy, learning is fun.) That’s part of the reason I’m looking at Ivies and sub-Ivies, because I want a college where people are driven and passionate.

Any college/university you attend will have students who are driven and passionate; not just Ivies or sub-Ivies. There are kids going out of obligation to those schools as well. Not trying to be snarky, just trying to get a point across.

[wareagle93]

UT-Austin, UGA, UNC-Chapel Hill and UVA. All are fantastic schools.