OT: Pick a school!
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clarinetnut
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I don't have personal experience with any of those colleges, but with a quick search of the music department webpages, the only clarinet professor I recognize is Larry Guy at Vassar. I have no idea if your daughter intends to continue clarinet, but I've heard a lot about him and understand he is pretty good.
Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self- consciousness.
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
I've got hundreds of miles of forest east, north and south, Mt Hood a short ways east, and the ever so wonderful northwest rocky beaches west, all of which I like more than fieldsReally? Sounds like heaven to me... but then, I'm surrounded by thousands of square miles of tundra and snow and love it.
You can't go play in a corn field, all the roads are straight lines, there aren't even many hills. Much too bland for my tastes, though I might like tundra (it'd be interesting at least for a while, I might want to see green before too long though)
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Penguin_Whistler
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I just sent in applications to Swarthmore and St. Mary's both, haven't made a choice yet but I'm leaning towards St. Mary's. Gotta love the river view, and the people I met there were great. Plus Swarthmore seems like toooooooooooooooooooo much work.
I am the dew beading on the grass
I am the grass swaying in the wind
I am the wind rustling the leaves
I am the leaves reaching for the sun
I am the sun providing for the life
I am the life everlasting eternal
I am the grass swaying in the wind
I am the wind rustling the leaves
I am the leaves reaching for the sun
I am the sun providing for the life
I am the life everlasting eternal
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emmline
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She needs to get her apps out now! If she picks St. M's, Penguin, I'll try to get her in touch with you.Penguin_Whistler wrote:I just sent in applications to Swarthmore and St. Mary's both, haven't made a choice yet but I'm leaning towards St. Mary's. Gotta love the river view, and the people I met there were great. Plus Swarthmore seems like toooooooooooooooooooo much work.
She's planning to major in bio/environment, not music.
As for the corn & soybeans...not a turn-off to this particular kid, but Reed was ruled out due to distance, which is one reason I'm pulling for Swarthmore or St. Mary's!
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i don't know anything about the choices you listed, but i agree with the suggestion to go and visit the schools. i think you can really get a feel for what you think of a place just by walking around campus. and your overall happiness level is going to affect how hard you're willing to work on the boring stuff like coursework.
of course, that being said, i picked my graduate school sight unseen, based on descriptions of the type of clinical experience the students would get (i'm in the field of clinical psychology). and i loved every minute of being there, even though it was far from home. the friends i made were great, and i worked my tail off. ultimately, i'm a firm believer in the idea that any situation is what you make of it.
of course, that being said, i picked my graduate school sight unseen, based on descriptions of the type of clinical experience the students would get (i'm in the field of clinical psychology). and i loved every minute of being there, even though it was far from home. the friends i made were great, and i worked my tail off. ultimately, i'm a firm believer in the idea that any situation is what you make of it.
I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance
Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance. ~~Ogden Nash
Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance. ~~Ogden Nash
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ChrisLaughlin
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Steven
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Well, I can give you some info about Swarthmore. I didn't go there myself, but my wife and a lot of our friends did. It is indeed a very good school, and people tend to get a good education there. However, it really isn't suited to everyone. Some people love it, and some hate it. Basically, it really helps to be very driven, especially in an academic sense. A lot of people get very burned out there. Also, her idea of a social life should be more along the lines of hanging out with friends and less along the lines of parties.
Some other positives are that it's in a very safe area, it's a beautiful campus (the entire campus is actually an arboretum), and there's a commuter train station right off campus that will take you to center city Philadelphia in about a half hour.
It is a liberal arts school, so it's really not necessary for her to know ahead of time what she wants to study, but there are some things it's not good for. For instance, if she wants to go to medical school, it's probably not the place for her, because I hear the biology department strongly discourages pre-med.
Hope that helps some!
Steven
Some other positives are that it's in a very safe area, it's a beautiful campus (the entire campus is actually an arboretum), and there's a commuter train station right off campus that will take you to center city Philadelphia in about a half hour.
It is a liberal arts school, so it's really not necessary for her to know ahead of time what she wants to study, but there are some things it's not good for. For instance, if she wants to go to medical school, it's probably not the place for her, because I hear the biology department strongly discourages pre-med.
Hope that helps some!
Steven
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Wombat
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As an academic, I find most of these comments a bit funny. Schools aren't good or bad, departments are. Princeton as a whole doesn't have a reputation amongst professionals .. different departments have reputations. Yes, I know that a school is good if it has lots of good departments, but that's no consolation if the area you want to study isn't one of them.
That advice only holds if you are focussed primarily on the choice of the institution at which she'll get the best education. Research departments and find out what the academic world thinks of them. If you're more concerned about other factors you'd have to say what they are.
There are guides in Australia and the UK that rank departments. I'd be amazed if you couldn't find something similar for the US. These guides have to be up to date and should be peer rather than student rankings. I'd suggest you try to find some.
That advice only holds if you are focussed primarily on the choice of the institution at which she'll get the best education. Research departments and find out what the academic world thinks of them. If you're more concerned about other factors you'd have to say what they are.
There are guides in Australia and the UK that rank departments. I'd be amazed if you couldn't find something similar for the US. These guides have to be up to date and should be peer rather than student rankings. I'd suggest you try to find some.
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atarango
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What's wrong with "no boys?!" I went to an all-women's college (Wellesley College) and just loved it! I was skeptical about the "no boys" thing myself but it was awesome- I would do it again in a hearbeat and if I have a daughter I would strongly urge her to a woman's college.....
anyway as for that list Swartmore is by far the most academically prestigious of the bunch. I've had some friends who went there and they loved it, but I also caution that it can be academically very challenging to go to a top-tier liberal arts college. Wellesley is also academically rough, and my first year I just about drowned in work. I worked, worked, worked my rear end off and found that I (having come from a regular public school) was actually a bit behind many of my peers who had come from fancy public and private schools and were from wealthy communities.
So my first year was hard, and my grades were not as good as I wanted them to be- but you know what- by the second year I figured it out, and by the end I graduated with overall honors and honors in my major and got into Harvard for a masters, and now I am working on a PhD at Duke.
What I am trying to say is going someplace that can really push you is worth all the blood sweat, tears and sleepless nights if you make something really positive out of it- if you work hard, and are determined.
Your daughter could visit (if she can afford too- I went to Wellesley sight unseen) should look into the major programs (because what she starts as, is likely what she will not graduate as- I started as pre-law and now I am training to be a professor of Church History- go figure) and talk or e-mail with students. Ultimatly it is her choice.
-Angela
anyway as for that list Swartmore is by far the most academically prestigious of the bunch. I've had some friends who went there and they loved it, but I also caution that it can be academically very challenging to go to a top-tier liberal arts college. Wellesley is also academically rough, and my first year I just about drowned in work. I worked, worked, worked my rear end off and found that I (having come from a regular public school) was actually a bit behind many of my peers who had come from fancy public and private schools and were from wealthy communities.
So my first year was hard, and my grades were not as good as I wanted them to be- but you know what- by the second year I figured it out, and by the end I graduated with overall honors and honors in my major and got into Harvard for a masters, and now I am working on a PhD at Duke.
What I am trying to say is going someplace that can really push you is worth all the blood sweat, tears and sleepless nights if you make something really positive out of it- if you work hard, and are determined.
Your daughter could visit (if she can afford too- I went to Wellesley sight unseen) should look into the major programs (because what she starts as, is likely what she will not graduate as- I started as pre-law and now I am training to be a professor of Church History- go figure) and talk or e-mail with students. Ultimatly it is her choice.
-Angela
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Steven
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Wombat, that is more true in a place where you specialize as soon as you get into college, or here in the US when you get to graduate school. In those cases, I completely agree with you. As an undergraduate, though, the focus is more on getting a broader education, so the school as a whole is more important than individual departments. The department is important once you pick a major, but most US students don't know what that will be when they enter college. They don't need to. In fact, probably most of the people who know going in what they will major in end up in something else that they get exposed to in college and never really knew about before that.Wombat wrote:As an academic, I find most of these comments a bit funny. Schools aren't good or bad, departments are. Princeton as a whole doesn't have a reputation amongst professionals .. different departments have reputations. Yes, I know that a school is good if it has lots of good departments, but that's no consolation if the area you want to study isn't one of them.
That advice only holds if you are focussed primarily on the choice of the institution at which she'll get the best education. Research departments and find out what the academic world thinks of them. If you're more concerned about other factors you'd have to say what they are.
There are guides in Australia and the UK that rank departments. I'd be amazed if you couldn't find something similar for the US. These guides have to be up to date and should be peer rather than student rankings. I'd suggest you try to find some.
Steven
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Steven
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By the way, there has been a lot of talk here about Bryn Mawr, and I also have a lot of friends who have gone there, so I can offer some insight there as well. Frankly, I think the all-female aspect is less important in determining whether that's the right school for your daughter. Haverford, with both men and women, is about a mile down the road, and the two schools have a very close relationship. There's a frequent shuttle bus between the campuses, people can take classes at either school, and some people from one school actually live in a dorm at the other (so yes, there are men living at Bryn Mawr).
However, Bryn Mawr is also a place where a person should really visit and talk to people before deciding to go there, because it has a lot of aspects that are different than most schools I've come across. The students there have a huge number of traditions and rituals that they take very seriously and that are a big part of life. This (and other aspects) leads to a very particular sort of culture in the school, which some people really get into and some people just wouldn't like at all. It does lead to a lot of bonding, but I can see it not being for everybody. It's kind of interesting that Bryn Mawr and Haverford, even though they're so closely linked, have very different student cultures.
OK, enough from me on this.
Steven
However, Bryn Mawr is also a place where a person should really visit and talk to people before deciding to go there, because it has a lot of aspects that are different than most schools I've come across. The students there have a huge number of traditions and rituals that they take very seriously and that are a big part of life. This (and other aspects) leads to a very particular sort of culture in the school, which some people really get into and some people just wouldn't like at all. It does lead to a lot of bonding, but I can see it not being for everybody. It's kind of interesting that Bryn Mawr and Haverford, even though they're so closely linked, have very different student cultures.
OK, enough from me on this.
Steven
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emmline
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Funny the interest this topic has generated. Whenever I've posted something whistle-related it's sunk like cement shoes. C&F-ers seem fond of the OT's.
We have, in fact, visited all these schools, it's just that when the accept/reject letters come back (I expect accepts...Swarthmore being the iffiest...) I know this particular child will go crazy from her internal deliberations...just because of how she is, and that she has no overwhelming fave going into the decision. So comments such as Swarthmore's social life being more about hanging out w/friends, less about parties are very helpful. (She would consider the above a very good thing.)
I made the case for women's schools, and pointed out the consortium among Bryn Mawr, Haverford, & Swat, (ie, there will be guys around,) but I evidently was not sufficiently convincing...and this ultimately(as far as I'm concerned,) is not my pick, but it's good to be able to pass along the comments!
We have, in fact, visited all these schools, it's just that when the accept/reject letters come back (I expect accepts...Swarthmore being the iffiest...) I know this particular child will go crazy from her internal deliberations...just because of how she is, and that she has no overwhelming fave going into the decision. So comments such as Swarthmore's social life being more about hanging out w/friends, less about parties are very helpful. (She would consider the above a very good thing.)
I made the case for women's schools, and pointed out the consortium among Bryn Mawr, Haverford, & Swat, (ie, there will be guys around,) but I evidently was not sufficiently convincing...and this ultimately(as far as I'm concerned,) is not my pick, but it's good to be able to pass along the comments!
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emmline
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Wow. A jumper like me. I went to three colleges. (U. of DE, Kenyon, grad from U. of MD) Liked Kenyon best, but was too busy "trying to find myself" that I didn't realize a change of geography wouldn't help with that process.JessieK wrote:Of those mentioned, the only one I have visited is Vassar. I had friends who went there and everyone liked it. They have a phemonenal library.
Bard was my favorite college, of the four I attended before finally getting my degree.
Daughter #2, presently a HS sophomore (that's her trying to look like she has a glandular problem in my avatar) loved Vassar, especially the Libe, so I'm sure we'll head that way again.