Beloit College

Submitted by: Jon S.

My son, Alex S., has been at Beloit College in southern Wisconsin for nearly six months. The sense I get from him is that it is everything he hoped for in a small college. The teaching staff and students are friendly and accepting, the academics is challenging (possibly more than he expected), and there is plenty to do on the weekends. The food – well, not so good. When I commented to him that the snowfall seemed to be the worst in a decade, he responded: “no, in a century – more than six feet.”

So, if you are looking for solid academics, a student body more along the lines of the GW Community School, and aren’t afraid of a bit of cold weather, take a look at Beloit College.

Ten Visited by One Family!

My family (wife, son, and myself) have completed our college visitations. I’ll share my memories thereof below, though some are over a year old.

We visited ten colleges in all. We were looking for a small college, to continue the GW-like experience. Within the broad category of “small” we noted three sub-categories: “very small” (under 1000 undergrads), “reasonably small” (1000-2000), and “not all that small” (over 2000). The “very small” colleges in some cases were recently-converted community colleges, and they still had some of the community-college “feel” – limited number of majors, and a “vocational” slant (such as, for example, a degree program in radiological technology) — but they definitely had a “homey” atmosphere, not the feel of transience for which community colleges can be known.

I think all of the colleges were good. There was a definite difference in the quality of the “presentation.” All the admissions personnel showed a genuine interest in students, and emphasized student success. Some tour guides and some tours were better than others, but it’s probably best to try to look past that, and figure out what the real story is. Not easy to do, and it would be different for every prospective student. Having said that, I’ll give my own impressions. I’ll review them in chronological order:

Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, VA

Submitted by: Scott Pace and Carrie Pace

We attended an open house on February 15 and 16th at Virginia Intermont College (http://www.vic.edu/) in Bristol, VA. It was overcast and a long drive from Northern, Virginia – about 6 hours. The school has national championship equestrian team, one of the few four-year programs in equine studies and a well-regarded photography program. The first evening was a reception and talk by the director of the equestrian program who gave a long, but very comprehensive talk on what the equine studies program, it’s practical aspects, career paths, internships, course loads, etc. In particular, they encourage double majors, such as pre-Vet and business to ensure students have future options. The mayor of Bristol, TN made a welcome speech to highlight community support and the college president was on hand to answer questions.

We took a tour of the campus the morning and in the afternoon Carrie did an evaluation ride at their equestrian training center which is a few miles away. The school has been having financial difficulties and while this doesn’t seem to have affected the education, it does show in the building maintenance. The buildings are old with peeling paint and broken concrete in many parts. On the other hand, renovations of the main building look to be underway and they seem to be on a path to working this out. The photography program as a modern equipment and a full complement of Macintosh graphics computers. The evaluation ride portion included 18 girls and Carrie did well such that if a senior she would have qualified to be on the college team at an intermediate/advanced level. The barn facilities and training areas were good with a wide range of well-cared for horses.

If one is really focused on equine studies and top-level competitive riding, then Virginia Intermont is the place. On the other hand, the academic offerings in other areas are limited (e.g., not much in science, engineering, and mathematics). The small size gives it a good community feel and students would have a hard time getting lost. While a co-ed school, we saw only a few male applicants.

Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA

Submitted by: Carrie Pace and Dana Johnson
We took a tour of Wilson College (http://www.wilson.edu/) on February 5 and it was rainy, cloudy, and windy. But thankfully it didn’t rain during the tour. Its a really nice place (campus) and I would fit in well here. The admissions lady told us a lot about other girls who had switched to Wilson from their previous schools because they wanted more of that at home feeling and for the equestrian center to be on campus. It’s a women’s college and has many traditions and everyone-liking-everyone look. We met the equestrian program director, Dr. Tukey and he was super calm and they said he’s always like this to the point its weird. The barn was nice and the jumping arena was great. Also the dorm rooms are huge! The best part about them is your allowed certain pets and they have GUINEA PIG PARTIES!. Everyone gets together with theirs and has races down the hallways! Oh also with the SAT… They don’t look into it that much if you have above a 3.0 GPA, has taken college prep courses, and are involved in many other activities. The admissions lady recommended a site that tells about many scholarships that I might be accepted into that we haven’t heard of before. Wilson offers learning resource center with tutoring and other support like a writing lab that can teach and edit your essays. Anyway, Wilson was great and had a good campus with most of the buildings being old (established in 1869) but well-built.

GMU and Washington & Lee

Submitted by: Chris and Pam H.

We took Chris to visit GMU as well as Washington and Lee (near VMI in
Lexington, VA –about a 3 hour drive from Alexandria). Bottom line: GMU
was just too big and Washington and Lee was just right. We were very
impressed with the historical campus of W&L. It’s a 1700 student, 4 year
school — Chris was able to have one-on-one time with the person
providing the information session, and he asked TONS of great questions
then and during the tour. One thing that I thought exceptionally
interesting was W&L’s focus on high school extra curricular. When I
asked more, they said they wanted to see students who were passionate
about their interests and they wanted to see that reflected in their
extra curricular activities. For example, if you’re passionate about
helping the homeless, the entrance essay and the majority of your
“non-academic” stuff should probably be centered around that. They want
to see a complete package and are especially interested in whether or
not kids buckle down in their junior and senior years.They also want to
get a sense of leadership and whether or not you’ve been a leader in
your area of “passion”. They warned not to “just pad up” your
application your senior year with a bunch of random extra curricular
stuff — they were looking for focus and kids who basically know what
they like.

Mr. P and Alexa were right about the essays — they’ll spend 5 minutes
on each application- MAX, especially if it comes in right at the
deadline. Essays should be concise, single spaced and no more than one
page.And again, everything should tie together.

Chris is more than likely destined for a small, liberal arts college.
We’ll be touring more of those over the next several months.

Another thing Chris liked was the ‘honor system’ at W&L. There is a
student elected executive committee that takes care of all honor code
violations - - basically, you lie, cheat or steal and you’re out. No
dorm rooms are locked (swipe cards for external door); all facilities
are open 24X7; there is a true sense of freedom and safety on the
campus. Chris felt as though he truly belonged.

Lastly, the college allowed Chris to sit in on a class. He sat in on an
English class, so now his nerves about “attending a college class” are
pretty well under control —- he got that part out of the way.
Freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus the first year;
guaranteed housing and 80% of the students get a single room if they
want/need it. The campus is small enough that there isn’t even a need
for a bicycle — we were able to walk easily around the campus.

Entrance requirements are SAT/ACT as well as an admittance essay. There
are two additional “subject area” SAT tests required as well. There
tends to be a generous amount of scholarship money available; all these
require additional essays. The school was the first accredited
journalism school in the nation, so if you go to this school, you will
definitely be a good writer. I believe that’s probably the reason for
all the essays.

The weather was great and we truly had a nice visit — I recommend at
least a tour if your son/daughter is interested in a small liberal arts
college.

George Mason University (Feb 2008)

Submitted by: Gretchen and son, Stefan G.

We were the only ones who showed up for a 1:30 scheduled tour at George Mason U so we got a private meeting with one of the admissions officers and a campus tour by 2 wonderful students, one a junior from Richmond, VA majoring in government and a freshman from NY majoring in Russian studies. These boys could not say enough good things about GMU and said they loved the diversity of GMU and the fact that it was so close to DC. They mentioned a free shuttle to the metro, free laundry in the dorms and some amazing technologies such as being able to tell from your computer that a washing machine was free so you wouldn’t have to haul your dirty laundry across the campus only to find there were no washing machines available (only a mother would remember this).

Both Stefan and I were really impressed with GMU and we learned that dorms are guaranteed when you are accepted and that they are building more on the ~700 acre campus as well as a new science and engineering building. Stefan got to see the dorms, the wonderful main student union called Johnson Center and a lot of the other buildings on campus. There was a campus feeling, which Stefan noticed in comparison to NOVA and he really liked it.

The Director said total enrollment is now 30,000 including graduate students and other campuses and that they didn’t intend to grow any more. There are about 2300 freshman accepted every year. Of freshmen that apply about 52% were accepted last year with an average grade of “B” –which he carefully explained– means that some were lower and some were higher. They will accept activities statements and an extra essay in lieu of SATS or ACTS. He said their essay is easy in comparison to some of the strange ones other schools ask for.

A self-guided tour of NOVA Community College at Annandale. (Feb 2008)

Submitted by: Gretchen and son, Stefan G.

I remembered what Alexa and Mr. Pereira said about community colleges when queried by some of the parents at the junior parent meeting–I was glad to hear what they said because I too had wanted to ask if it would be a good fit for students who didn’t seem ready to seriously tackle the academics. (Alexa and Mr. Pereira said that they thought community colleges required a mature student who could handle all the red tape and lack of community at a 2-year school, that community colleges could feel kind of lonely and that you had to be an organized person to make sure you got all your classes in the right sequence/ that not all the classes were offered both semesters, etc.)

Stefan and I both kind of felt like you were really on your own at NOVA. The facilities seemed fine, but you could really sense–especially after our visit to George Mason the second day–that people came there to get credits and move on somewhere else. There is an agreement with NOVA and about 20 state schools in Virginia that you are guaranteed a transfer to a 4-year college once you get your AA, but if you read the fine print you see that most require at least a “B” average if not a 3.4 at some schools so the guarantee is only for a strong student.

Drew University

Drew is a beautiful campus located in Madison, New Jersey, about 30 miles from New York City. Enrollment is approximately 2,700. Class sizes of 20 or fewer. Entering students receive a personal IBM laptop.

Everyone seemed friendly though Goucher seemed much more so. Our guide showed us a dorm room that the residents volunteer to be shown. A student was working on his laptop at the time. There are a few residential “houses” students can apply to live in that focus on a common interest, the Earth House, for example, for the enviro conscious. This is not a “Greek” school but there are many student organizations.

The campus is small, not much parking space, students are not permitted to have cars until Jr year. Our guide said many students don’t really feel the need for one because Drew has a very active campus life, a train station to NYC is only a mile away, and shuttle buses to local spots are available.

Goucher College

We visited Goucher, near Baltimore. Beautiful campus! 1,450 undergraduate students, 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio, small class sizes. Friendly staff and students. Groups were yelling “Come to Goucher!” among other friendly things. One student swiped her meal plan card to pay for our lunch in the cafeteria! I thought the food was decent, certainly a variety, several healthy options. Goucher has three different eateries, one a deli type, one a health food type and the main cafeteria. Goucher includes a more than adequate laundry stipend with the living expenses so you don’t have to worry about having change!

It is an environmentally conscious school with barrels for compost throughout the campus that you can toss food in and spin. A “green” building is currently under construction.

Goucher is a notable school of the arts but students who are not majoring in the arts can take private lessons and classes in singing, an instrument, dance, and such. It is also an Equestrian school, non equestrian students can take horseback riding lessons if they wish! Anyone can apply to produce their own radio show, even if they are not majoring in Communications. There are several clubs including a Pirate Club (go GW!)! All of these features greatly appealed to Bridget.

All Goucher students are required to complete a three week study abroad program. There are around 22 such programs to choose from.

Our guide showed us his room, where his roommate was napping

I think this school is well worth a visit!