Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[psusue]

I think a DC school could be exactly what you're looking for. Especially if you are interested in politics because as they say, you would be right in the thick of it. I agree with Senusret I on this one, although you'll know pretty quickly while visiting.

I'd plug Penn State here out of obligation but I really don't think it's what you're looking for. Research opportunities abound, but our English program isn't well known for much (although we do have a number of good relationships with different companies for internships) and we lack diversity. Seriously. It's gotten better but it is such a small town kind of feel, and despite there being 40,000 students, it is very much a two degrees of separation type place. But some of your other choices look great. Best of luck to you in your search!

[als463]

Originally Posted by psusue

I think a DC school could be exactly what you're looking for. Especially if you are interested in politics because as they say, you would be right in the thick of it. I agree with Senusret I on this one, although you'll know pretty quickly while visiting.

I'd plug Penn State here out of obligation but I really don't think it's what you're looking for. Research opportunities abound, but our English program isn't well known for much (although we do have a number of good relationships with different companies for internships) and we lack diversity. Seriously. It's gotten better but it is such a small town kind of feel, and despite there being 40,000 students, it is very much a two degrees of separation type place. But some of your other choices look great. Best of luck to you in your search!

I'm (obviously) gonna' plug Penn State because if you are looking for opportunities, it has a lot to offer. It's well-ranked and there was an article a while back that said, of all (non-New York school) college graduates represented in New York City, Penn State was the MOST represented Alumni Association. I'm partial to the blue and white--especially for THON (Penn State's Dance Marathon--The Largest Student-Run Philanthropy in the WORLD)...

If your daughter is looking for more of an urban feel, Penn State will not be her cup of tea. Once again, I'm going to plug (obviously) another school I'm well acquainted with---Syracuse University. Actually, if you check it out on the Best Colleges site, it is ranked well and students who look at SU also look at PSU. The added benefit of Syracuse University: It is the home of 3 Alpha Chapters, to include AGD!!! Gotta' love the Syracuse Triad....Just a thought!

[ISUKappa]

If you want to get into editing or publishing, internships, networking and on-campus or on-job experience will most likely be of more help than being a journalism major (coming from a Journalism major who's emphasis was in magazines). Studying Communications, English, or PR would all give you the basics. You could also take some additional Journalism classes (if the college allows it) to gain that knowledge as well.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Out of curiosity Dee junior, (I know, not your name, but still) why didn't you like the Village? I know a lot of NYU who love living there.

[IrishLake]

It was known as that back in my day . It started with the Pharmacy program (a one of a kind 6 year PharmD, the only of it's kind in the US), and has continued with the engineering school and biology pre-med programs. It had the high admissions standards (and high tuition to go along with it) long before all the other small schools did. I expect there to be graduate programs within 10 years (aside form the law school).

[AnotherKD]

I have to chime in and second DC schools. If you want a school with a good reputation, Georgetown and George Washington can't be beat. They also have fantastic grad schools and internship programs that you will be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. Especially since you want to work for the UN!

I would agree that American could be a safety school for you. However, even though I may get flamed for this, I don't see George Mason as a good choice for you. It is still coming off of the *perception* that it is only a commuter school, and while I will agree that it has come leaps and bounds from where it was, say, 15-20 years ago, it just doesn't have the type of fantastic programs and notariety that other DC-area schools have.

[Munchkin03]

http://www.usnews.com/education/arti...reaks?PageNr=1

This article discusses the regional agreements that can reduce tuition for students if they go to public schools in the region. There are only a few states that opt out (Florida, Texas, NC, NY, NJ, PA), and the District of Columbia. The Midwest program appears to be very lenient in that you don't have to be in a specific major to take advantage of it.

DC schools are great--and I'm also suggesting Emory and Stanford.

[groovypq]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

http://www.usnews.com/education/arti...reaks?PageNr=1

This article discusses the regional agreements that can reduce tuition for students if they go to public schools in the region. There are only a few states that opt out (Florida, Texas, NC, NY, NJ, PA, DC). The Midwest program appears to be very lenient in that you don't have to be in a specific major to take advantage of it.

DC schools are great--and I'm also suggesting Emory and Stanford.

Pardon the slight hijack, but... grrrr. Way to go, PA.

[AnotherKD]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

http://www.usnews.com/education/arti...reaks?PageNr=1

This article discusses the regional agreements that can reduce tuition for students if they go to public schools in the region. There are only a few states that opt out (Florida, Texas, NC, NY, NJ, PA, DC). The Midwest program appears to be very lenient in that you don't have to be in a specific major to take advantage of it.

DC schools are great--and I'm also suggesting Emory and Stanford.

I WISH! (See bolded.)

/rant over

[MaggieXi]

My co-worker and her daughter are looking at schools and your situations sound similar, except she is planning on majoring in psychology with a minor in communications. She wants a location either in the city or close to the city, diverse population, solid study abroad opportunities, and well enough known to help her get into grad school.

So far, in their trips, they have really liked Fordham, American, George Washington, Villanova, Saint Joseph's, and Northeastern.

A few schools that she thought she would like and didn't: Hopkins, Univ. Maryland, Penn State, Univ. Delaware, Syracuse, Cornell and Drexel.

[als463]

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

My co-worker and her daughter are looking at schools and your situations sound similar, except she is planning on majoring in psychology with a minor in communications. She wants a location either in the city or close to the city, diverse population, solid study abroad opportunities, and well enough known to help her get into grad school.

So far, in their trips, they have really liked Fordham, American, George Washington, Villanova, Saint Joseph's, and Northeastern.

A few schools that she thought she would like and didn't: Hopkins, Univ. Maryland, Penn State, Univ. Delaware, Syracuse, Cornell and Drexel.

What? How could you not LOVE Penn State or Syracuse? Obviously a little bias...

[hypoallergenic]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Out of curiosity Dee junior, (I know, not your name, but still) why didn't you like the Village? I know a lot of NYU who love living there.

I just didn't like the lack of a campus. I can't do city 24/7. It sounds like I'm a Barnard/Columbia representative when I say this, but it honestly feels like you're not even in NYC when you're inside either campus. Both of them have this quaint, quiet feeling, and they were both gorgeous. NYU was just too much for me.

To everyone else who's giving suggestions, thank you so much. All of this means a lot.

And to the people suggesting Georgetown and American, those were both on my list but I crossed them off. I honestly couldn't tell you why, but it was probably just because I got sick of having such a big list to narrow down. (A few days ago, I was at 27 school possibilities. Pretty overwhelming.) But I'm going to add both back, they sound wonderful, and the possibility of an internship at the Smithsonian (or just going there all the time, since, ya know, I don't plan on doing anything with museums for my career) is very intriguing. ;D

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by hypoallergenic

And to the people suggesting Georgetown and American, those were both on my list but I crossed them off. I honestly couldn't tell you why, but it was probably just because I got sick of having such a big list to narrow down. (A few days ago, I was at 27 school possibilities. Pretty overwhelming.) But I'm going to add both back, they sound wonderful, and the possibility of an internship at the Smithsonian (or just going there all the time, since, ya know, I don't plan on doing anything with museums for my career) is very intriguing. ;D

Yayyyy *fingers crossed for Georgetown*

[Gusteau]

P.S. Apologies for the messy post, I'm typing from my iPad, which makes editing difficult. I'll clean it up when I get to a computer!

[AGDee]

Updating: I talked about this in the Random thread but this is the thread that I should have posted in.

We visited Brown last weekend and loved Providence. It was really hot when we were first walking around campus and we both got kind of cranky which was affecting our perception. It was move-in weekend so it was tough to get around campus. We took her picture with the Brown Bear and looked around in the student center.. loved the gaming room in there! We stopped in S. Stephens church because it was open, they were serving lemonade and cookies to welcome students back and well, I love old churches. We talked to the pastor there who told us the history and took lots of pictures. We did some shopping along Thayer Street and then went for a long air conditioned drive around Warwick. We had lunch and went to a small but very New Englandy art festival in East Greenwich. Then we went back to drive around campus and explore downtown Providence a bit. She liked the campus a lot better the second time we went. We parked and walked around by the memorial park at the bottom of the hill along the river where they do Waterfire. We were disappointed that it wasn't a WaterFire weekend. She loved that park. She's into photography so she was taking a lot of pictures of that area. We loved the historical yet artsy feel of that area. She said "If I go here, this will be my spot". Then we went to the mall nearby because we weren't quite ready for dinner but wanted to eat at WaterPlace. She was thrilled with the mall (she's a shopper) and liked that there was one so close.

She feels like she liked the Barnard and Columbia campuses better but did end the visit with "I could see myself here" so Brown is still on the application list.

The biggest irony is that for a long time I was encouraging her to give Barnard a shot. As of this moment, it is her first choice school but she also really enjoyed Columbia and Brown a lot and could see herself at either. The obstacle to Barnard before was that she didn't want to go to an all girls school. The biggest appeal of Barnard now is that there is such a focus on developing independent women.

It is marching season now so our next college visits won't be until mid-October when we head to Chicago. We probably won't get to visit Wash U or any DC schools before early acceptance/decision deadlines but she doesn't think she is going to apply anywhere early decision right now. Early acceptance isn't binding so she is going to apply to the schools who offer that option.

She's taking the SAT again on October 1st and hoping to raise her math score. With 3 of her 5 classes being AP and it being marching season.. plus her babysitting jobs, I don't know how much time she'll be able to put in to preparing. Calc is a lot review right now though so hopefully that will help. Geometry is the subject she really needs to review. It's been 3 years since her Geometry class. She was working on her essays over the summer some.