Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[Senusret I]

Gotcha.

So here is my advice:

English is a good major nearly everywhere. Journalism is a stupid major. As an undergraduate, it will be far better to focus in English and join the staff of the campus newspaper to see if she wants to do print journalism, while also contributing to the campus literary magazine and taking as many creative writing classes as possible.

Do not go to Iowa. There are many good creative writing programs on the MFA level. But as an MFA drop-out, I must say if she's any good, she won't really need an MFA to be published or make connections. Just my opinion.

She needs more safety schools -- consider one or two safeties in a few cities in which she'd want to live. If she's considering Tulane (which is a great choice, though New Orleans doesn't have quite as many internship opportunities as a larger city) also consider Loyola University of New Orleans.

Also consider the higher tier and/or well known private liberal arts colleges: Swarthmore and Sarah Lawrence come to mind quickly, especially for English/writing.

As a Georgetown grad, I must say it's a great place for writers, but like many well-known universities with large English departments, a creative writer struggles to be heard and seen among the MANY people who major in English only to go on to law school or med school. That's one thing to watch out for at nearly all of the schools she's considering -- is the English department a true community of writers and literature lovers, or is it a means to grad school.

Of all the schools she's listed, Wash U would be my number one pick.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by agzg

I don't have thoughts about many of the schools except I'm very excited for this thread!

You need to be... you might have to teach us how to get to Northwestern on the el.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by AGDee

You need to be... you might have to teach us how to get to Northwestern on the el.

You can do that? LOL

I guess it would be the purple line, huh?

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by agzg

You can do that? LOL

I guess it would be the purple line, huh?

I know my friend used to do it when she was at Northwestern...

[ISUKappa]

You had me with this

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Journalism is a stupid major.

But redeemed yourself with this:

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Do not go to Iowa.

[deadbear80]

I thought as a Wash U alum I should pipe up.

Wash U is an INCREDIBLE school. I loved it a lot as an undergrad (as well as when I was there for grad school).

It has become a very popular school over the past couple of years. If Northwestern is a stretch for her, Wash U will be too and your daughter should be prepared for that. Northwestern actually has a higher acceptance rate. The way to let Wash U know you're interested is to actually visit the school in the Fall; don't wait until she gets accepted. They notice who comes to visit.

Wash U has a good English department, but no real journalism curriculum and no journalism major at all. However, it is strong in PoliSci as well as Psych and they have a couple of interesting interdisciplinary majors like Social Thought and Analysis that may be of interest to your daughter.

Wash U is outside of the St. Louis City limits and the school is a bit of a bubble, but there are fun things to do right near campus and now that the Metrolink goes there, it's easy to do things like go to a Cardinals game.

PM me if she has more specific questions. Although it's been a while since my undergrad days, I wasn't out of grad school there all that long ago...

[alum]

^^^Go Bears!

[KDCat]

The neighborhood around University of Chicago is very tough. I worked at the U of C hospital there one summer. The neighborhood problems do sometimes flow over on to campus. In the summer while I was there, some teenage girls stole a car and crashed it by my building; certain patients were gang affiliated and brought weapons into the hospital; someone was mugged for a backpack and a bike; stuff like that. Any campus in a big city is going to have problems, but U of C campus seemed a little dicier to me than most.

The campus is beautiful, though. The faculty is top notch. It's a very academic school. The students are very smart and very serious.

[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.

[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.

[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!