Drew University.
‘nuf said.
But if you want to know why- without going into boring detail it was just a weird Open House. Got some good general hints on how college admits work (same rep who talked at the HS to junior parents a couple months ago- I was glad Andy got to hear her, too, because she had some great advice) but other than that it was pretty useless. The tour being the worst part. We wandered the campus (in the rain, stepping numerous times through mud because the student ambassador wanted to take a short cut) and went into only two buildings- a dorm with a typical freshman boxes layout, and the new arts building- but even there we couldn’t actually look into the theater or music hall because they were set up for perfomances so we just saw photos set up outside the closed doors. The upperclass dorms were alluded to but not visited. No academic buildings, no library, no student center… the kid giving the tour told us more about his friends who plan to study abroad than anything else.
Academics weren’t even mentioned, other than the fact that the kids can’t choose a major right away, they all go in undecided. And there was definitely a “rich spoiled kids partying while we look the other way” kind of vibe, and that was from the head of security, the head of health services, and the head of student activities! Parent’s concerns about security and safety were pretty much brushed off. At least in comparison to the other schools we visited- Drew didn’t impress.
And never mind my opinions… Andy didn’t get that warm fuzzy feeling at all. So off the list it goes!
Visited so far:
Kean University- Ramapo College
- The College of New Jersey
- Rider University
Drew University
Tomorrow we head to Montclair State, then a break until late summer when we have a few more in NJ, and schools in PA and NY to visit.
I was amazed what a difference the student tour guides make. I think we learned more from them than anyone in admissions–good and bad. Colleges should a) be much more particular in their choice of guides and b) more thorough in the training of the guides. In my humble opinion.