[We (my parents and I) went to Yale on Labor Day. I don't know why I didn't blog immediately about it, but I guess I got caught up with work. Anyway. This is what I remember now.]
We left pretty late, I don't remember exactly when, but it was definitely late (because I remember eating brunch). The drive to New Haven was not too bad, although it wasn't too exciting either. We had already been there once, during winter (maybe it was the holiday break?), and needless to say, a New England winter is not the prettiest thing in the world, not when the snow is day old and half-molten and icky black. Since it was so cold, we did not get to explore the campus either.
This time, we came (more) prepared. At least it was a nice day, not too cold but not too hot, and we had plenty of time to explore. There were no info sessions, but as we arrived on campus, there were lots of students everywhere. Walking. Chatting. Going to class.
They had classes on Labor Day. I was surprised, because I thought everyone (within reason) took the day off. But it was also a good thing, because we were able to see what the school was like when there are actual people there (yes, they were normal people, doing normal-people-things except for that one person with the banners condemning animal cruelty, but I don't think you can do normal things when you're advocating for a cause). We also slipped into one of their dining halls, where we got a glimpse of the food (average). My dad complained, but he doesn't like anything except Chinese food (and only some regions of Chinese food at that) so I am not surprised he was complaining. I thought it was okay—if you go by our school's cafeteria food standards.
When we left the dining hall (Hogwarts-style, I'd say, except that is overrated among colleges, it seems), I paused and tried to figure out where I wanted to go. Some friendly (albeit somewhat creepy, I have to admit) man in his mid-50s to 60s came up to us and asked, "Are you applying to Yale?"
After some introductions and explanations, I learned that this man lives around New Haven and has a Chinese wife (and stepson), so somehow this means that he stops and questions any Chinese person he sees. His stepson also went to Columbia (graduated a few years ago) and now works on Wall Street. He is an ardent fan of the Ivy League, and not so much of UConn, the state school. He believes all Chinese people are smart (my mom later said to us, "that's because it's so hard to get a visa here and usually only the smart people can come"). He also gave me some advice about schools (who knew fencing would be a good way to get into the Ivies? Now if only I wasn't so inept at all sports...) and, uh, he talked for almost two hours.
My parents eventually got his number, although they haven't called him yet.
Then we went to see the engineering and science buildings, but we detoured into the MBA building instead. There wasn't much there, just empty rooms with comfy-looking chairs, so we left. I led my parents up a hill, where we saw a floating lily/other-plants pond, which was really cool, and we even saw some fish. The rest I don't remember much. I think by this time I was tired and I wanted to leave because we couldn't get into the biology tower anyway. On our way back we saw a professor and his class sitting outside, on the grass, discussing something. Reminded me of after the AP test, when Mrs. James took us outside and we sat on the pavement while we talked about crazy things and I just tried to finish my homework (that I didn't do at home any longer). We also went into one of those buildings that is probably a residential hall, because it is really, really tall (or so the old-fashioned elevator with the iron gates that you can pull claims), and not exactly in the best condition in terms of paint. It really needs a fresh coat of paint.
So, anyway, my summary:
Overall, it's a beautiful school, if you're into antique buildings and everything (this also means possible lack of central A/C in some buildings, but hey, this is in New England, if you're not staying over the summer then it doesn't matter too much). Outdoor space is good (above Columbia, on par with Cornell when you're nowhere near a river), although it's not extremely big. City campus, after all. There are plenty of trees. Busy campus, lots of people, centralized—everything's close together. Definitely urban setting, and part of the campus is integrated into New Haven.
I liked it. I wouldn't go as far as to say I loved it—I didn't come home with a "wow, that's where I want to go" feeling—but it wasn't anything bad or even average. Maybe the peeling paint killed the mood.
Showing posts with label college visit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college visit. Show all posts
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
I saw xkcd at Cornell
This one. We were inside the electric and computer engineering building, which was sort of surprising, because usually these doors are locked and only students and faculty can enter. Anyway, they had these huge TVs (sort of like the ones at Paperclip, except larger), and they also had these really cool devices, such as a semiconductor wafer designed by Cornell students (my dad works for a company that manufactures the devices used to make such wafers, so of course he used this opportunity to brag).
We went upstairs afterwards, where we saw numerous computer labs, actual labs (although I suppose a computer lab is also a lab), and the xkcd strip on one of the doors. Then we went across an indoor bridge with lots of red chairs facing away from the center, and two floors below us, there was a study hall with a few people typing away on their laptops.
I have only been inside one other non-library, non-huge-lecture-hall-for-info-sessions academic building, and that was Huntsman at Penn (which I have written about, in part, but it is still in draft mode because I need to add two more schools to it), so I was still fairly surprised that we were allowed inside. There were lots of cool equipment rooms, and my dad even talked to one of the professors there (while my mom and I were outside, so we didn't get to hear what they talked about), and he got a booklet on Cornell engineering projects.
Some other highlights:
Besides, didn't my dad say he was going to move back to China once I get into college, and never, ever come back again?
People are fickle these days.
Also, completely unrelated, but I had a dream that I was driving last night. There was something special to it than just driving, though (and it's not the "I crashed into a wall" kind of special), but I don't remember what it was. I was going to write it down but then I forgot.
So... time to finish up that Penn/Princeton (again)/Swarthmore post.
We went upstairs afterwards, where we saw numerous computer labs, actual labs (although I suppose a computer lab is also a lab), and the xkcd strip on one of the doors. Then we went across an indoor bridge with lots of red chairs facing away from the center, and two floors below us, there was a study hall with a few people typing away on their laptops.
I have only been inside one other non-library, non-huge-lecture-hall-for-info-sessions academic building, and that was Huntsman at Penn (which I have written about, in part, but it is still in draft mode because I need to add two more schools to it), so I was still fairly surprised that we were allowed inside. There were lots of cool equipment rooms, and my dad even talked to one of the professors there (while my mom and I were outside, so we didn't get to hear what they talked about), and he got a booklet on Cornell engineering projects.
Some other highlights:
- Really helpful people, or at least the ones I've met. So even though it's a predominantly science and engineering school, it's not in any way unsociable.
- Buildings could use some better planning. There are some gorgeous (I still can't stop thinking about the "Ithaca is Gorges" pun whenever I use "gorgeous") buildings, such as the Baker dorms and the really fancy all-glass building, but they're this awkward mix of Gothic-old to contemporary-new that really doesn't mesh well.
- They sell bubble tea in downtown Ithaca. Taro-flavored bubble tea. Definitely a good point. Plus Ithaca's got a small-town feel but pretty busy, yet it's far away from Cornell (which has many of the pretty gorges) that there's no problem with noise or chaos.
- My tour group people are really, really unprepared. This isn't actually a highlight, but I found it shocking when someone asked, "Does Cornell have its own supplement to the Common App?" I mean, really? Just add the school to your list and you'll see. It's not that hard.
- Lake Caguya is really close by, and it's a pretty neat lake. Not Lake Ontario or Lake Michigan nice (I'm pretty biased in that aspect), but the ducks are friendly and don't run away from you. Neither do the squirrels in Cornell. I suppose that reflects on how nice the people there are towards the animals.
Besides, didn't my dad say he was going to move back to China once I get into college, and never, ever come back again?
People are fickle these days.
Also, completely unrelated, but I had a dream that I was driving last night. There was something special to it than just driving, though (and it's not the "I crashed into a wall" kind of special), but I don't remember what it was. I was going to write it down but then I forgot.
So... time to finish up that Penn/Princeton (again)/Swarthmore post.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
PPS: Perhaps This Is The (Perfect) One
[The much awaited "proof post" about my immense, often irrational love for Penn.]
Continuing on my analogy on love: I think I've mentioned this before plenty of times, but I can't say it enough. Penn is my first love. I come from a college-conscious family; my parents come from an era in China where college graduates were considered "the only future," and the government fully funded all such education. My second aunt on my dad's side bought books on the Chinese "Harvard Girl," hoping my cousin would follow in those footsteps. If you asked any of my family's friends about which colleges were "good," they would answer, in a similar order, "MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Cornell." Harvard. Yale. Big names. I knew about the prestige, but not much about where I really wanted to attend.
Falling in love with Penn is much similar to the usual way I fall in love. Something catches my curiosity, and slowly, I become so entangled in its mysteries that I find myself irrevocably in love. Maybe it's not love, but rather an enormous interest, bordering on obsession, but I like to compare it to love.
(Ironically, Owen's going to Penn.)
The first time I'd heard of Penn was in a newspaper crossword. The clue was, "How do University of Pennsylvania students usually refer to their school?" The word was five letters long, so I guessed, "UPenn."
It was the answer, but it wasn't true, although I did not learn that until much later.
Sometime after that, I had the notion that I wanted to learn more about this school. It was in Philadelphia, one of my favorite cities (aside from Toronto, obviously, and Boston, and Chicago), and I was definitely a city girl. My parents talked with me about business, about a math career, and they brought up Wharton. It was like Penn was the perfect, perfect school.
Well, my parents and I went on a one-day trip to Philadelphia some Saturday prior (more like, an eternity ago), and our main destination was, of course, Penn. My first impression of Penn (physically) and of University City was the huge metal bridge with Penn's crest printed upon it. That, and it was raining. It was raining so hard that when I got out of the car, there was a small, gushing river between the edge of the car and the curb.
The actual information session I did not remember much. I do remember it was in a huge room, and there were many, many people, from all sorts of places. Some aspects of the admissions process was talked about, mostly on what Penn was looking for, and I remember lots of mention on the dual-degree programs.
The tour, on the other hand, was quite a spectacular event. It was still raining, and we went around with umbrellas, but I could catch glimpses of lush green leaves and beautiful, castle-like buildings. It was not as exquisite as Princeton, but it had its own charm. And when I walked into Huntsman Hall, I think I really stopped breathing for a moment.
I think, at that moment, I decided that I would start wooing Penn with my love letters (i.e. application material).
We went to downtown Philadelphia next, where my mom said I would have no problem finding adequate Chinese food in case I craved some, and we saw the Liberty Bell. We also saw numerous Chinese school-kids (elementary to middle school) who were here as part of a summer camp program.
The rain had cleared up by now, and we set out for Swarthmore, as suggested by Reese. I do not understand why Reese is so excited by the possibility (which, by the way, is very unlikely, if anything) that I may be attending Swat. We drove behind a trolley car for half an hour, into what was definitely a small town, and there was Swarthmore, tucked away.
I realize most of my readers have never been to Swarthmore. If I had only two words to describe it, I would use "botanical paradise." Literally, the campus is a huge garden, from Parrish Beach to all the labeled plants (and there are a lot of them) to the outdoor amphitheater that's cloaked in an ambient green. It's amazing. I understand why Reese likes it so much.
Now if they only were less stingy about their financial aid to foreign students. I guess that's the price I've got to pay for an outdoor wonderland like Swat (come to think of it, Stanford, which is also gorgeous, is also not need-blind toward foreign students).
When the mosquitoes started biting, we left. My parents wanted to see Princeton anyway, so we went there next. I've talked about Princeton before, in which I said Princeton was absolutely stunning and perfect. It still is. I love Penn, but I've got to be honest. Princeton is amazing. Its buildings, its campus, everything. There is a sense of wholeness at Princeton, a majestic entity bestowed upon this world.
Well. Anyway. Time for my summaries of the three schools, then.
Penn:
Despite the rain, we got to see a lot, including above decent architecture (better than Dartmouth, Cornell, and Columbia, on par with inner-Brown and parts of Yale, which I will need to talk about later), great Locust Walk, and a small enough campus that I won't worry too much about transportation (although if you're talking small you can't beat Columbia). Close to downtown, which by the way is gorgeous—even NYC's got nothing on Philly. Also close to not-so-decent areas (run-down houses), and of course my parents are concerned about campus safety.
Swarthmore:
Half an hour away from Philly, it's relaxing and has a soothing beauty to it. Buildings—average. Admissions office is the only great building. Decent size, lots of cool plants, and bunnies! Always a plus. When you leave campus, there's a plaza right outside, so it's not too inconvenient. Not for me, though. I hate isolated places, and although Swat's not as bad as, say, Middlebury, it's still too quiet for me.
Princeton:
I've done this before, so I won't do it again, except to say that we also went to this fountain place (on the engineering and more science/tech side of campus) and it's really nice. The buildings are more modern, not as nice as the main part of campus, but it's integrated nicely, unlike Cornell (that place is a planning disaster).
As for my perfect school?
I think you know already.
Continuing on my analogy on love: I think I've mentioned this before plenty of times, but I can't say it enough. Penn is my first love. I come from a college-conscious family; my parents come from an era in China where college graduates were considered "the only future," and the government fully funded all such education. My second aunt on my dad's side bought books on the Chinese "Harvard Girl," hoping my cousin would follow in those footsteps. If you asked any of my family's friends about which colleges were "good," they would answer, in a similar order, "MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Cornell." Harvard. Yale. Big names. I knew about the prestige, but not much about where I really wanted to attend.
Falling in love with Penn is much similar to the usual way I fall in love. Something catches my curiosity, and slowly, I become so entangled in its mysteries that I find myself irrevocably in love. Maybe it's not love, but rather an enormous interest, bordering on obsession, but I like to compare it to love.
(Ironically, Owen's going to Penn.)
The first time I'd heard of Penn was in a newspaper crossword. The clue was, "How do University of Pennsylvania students usually refer to their school?" The word was five letters long, so I guessed, "UPenn."
It was the answer, but it wasn't true, although I did not learn that until much later.
Sometime after that, I had the notion that I wanted to learn more about this school. It was in Philadelphia, one of my favorite cities (aside from Toronto, obviously, and Boston, and Chicago), and I was definitely a city girl. My parents talked with me about business, about a math career, and they brought up Wharton. It was like Penn was the perfect, perfect school.
Well, my parents and I went on a one-day trip to Philadelphia some Saturday prior (more like, an eternity ago), and our main destination was, of course, Penn. My first impression of Penn (physically) and of University City was the huge metal bridge with Penn's crest printed upon it. That, and it was raining. It was raining so hard that when I got out of the car, there was a small, gushing river between the edge of the car and the curb.
The actual information session I did not remember much. I do remember it was in a huge room, and there were many, many people, from all sorts of places. Some aspects of the admissions process was talked about, mostly on what Penn was looking for, and I remember lots of mention on the dual-degree programs.
The tour, on the other hand, was quite a spectacular event. It was still raining, and we went around with umbrellas, but I could catch glimpses of lush green leaves and beautiful, castle-like buildings. It was not as exquisite as Princeton, but it had its own charm. And when I walked into Huntsman Hall, I think I really stopped breathing for a moment.
I think, at that moment, I decided that I would start wooing Penn with my love letters (i.e. application material).
We went to downtown Philadelphia next, where my mom said I would have no problem finding adequate Chinese food in case I craved some, and we saw the Liberty Bell. We also saw numerous Chinese school-kids (elementary to middle school) who were here as part of a summer camp program.
The rain had cleared up by now, and we set out for Swarthmore, as suggested by Reese. I do not understand why Reese is so excited by the possibility (which, by the way, is very unlikely, if anything) that I may be attending Swat. We drove behind a trolley car for half an hour, into what was definitely a small town, and there was Swarthmore, tucked away.
I realize most of my readers have never been to Swarthmore. If I had only two words to describe it, I would use "botanical paradise." Literally, the campus is a huge garden, from Parrish Beach to all the labeled plants (and there are a lot of them) to the outdoor amphitheater that's cloaked in an ambient green. It's amazing. I understand why Reese likes it so much.
Now if they only were less stingy about their financial aid to foreign students. I guess that's the price I've got to pay for an outdoor wonderland like Swat (come to think of it, Stanford, which is also gorgeous, is also not need-blind toward foreign students).
When the mosquitoes started biting, we left. My parents wanted to see Princeton anyway, so we went there next. I've talked about Princeton before, in which I said Princeton was absolutely stunning and perfect. It still is. I love Penn, but I've got to be honest. Princeton is amazing. Its buildings, its campus, everything. There is a sense of wholeness at Princeton, a majestic entity bestowed upon this world.
Well. Anyway. Time for my summaries of the three schools, then.
Penn:
Despite the rain, we got to see a lot, including above decent architecture (better than Dartmouth, Cornell, and Columbia, on par with inner-Brown and parts of Yale, which I will need to talk about later), great Locust Walk, and a small enough campus that I won't worry too much about transportation (although if you're talking small you can't beat Columbia). Close to downtown, which by the way is gorgeous—even NYC's got nothing on Philly. Also close to not-so-decent areas (run-down houses), and of course my parents are concerned about campus safety.
Swarthmore:
Half an hour away from Philly, it's relaxing and has a soothing beauty to it. Buildings—average. Admissions office is the only great building. Decent size, lots of cool plants, and bunnies! Always a plus. When you leave campus, there's a plaza right outside, so it's not too inconvenient. Not for me, though. I hate isolated places, and although Swat's not as bad as, say, Middlebury, it's still too quiet for me.
Princeton:
I've done this before, so I won't do it again, except to say that we also went to this fountain place (on the engineering and more science/tech side of campus) and it's really nice. The buildings are more modern, not as nice as the main part of campus, but it's integrated nicely, unlike Cornell (that place is a planning disaster).
As for my perfect school?
I think you know already.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Brown: We Can't All Be Odysseus
Although I would like to be him, to an extent.
On Saturday my parents decided we should go to Brown, because it's not moderately far away like Penn (which is where I'd like to go, even if I get accepted everywhere else, except maybe MIT if everyone else is also there), or really, really far away like WashU, which I don't know if I even want to go in the first place.
I had already heard stories about Brown, both good and bad, so I wasn't sure what to expect. (I never considered it one of the schools on my "list" though, those selectively few that meet my slew of criteria.)
My first opinion of Brown as we drove into campus to find MacMillan Hall was that it was in the middle of Providence, and therefore very crowded and frantic. Providence isn't by far the most frantic city I've been to, and being a city girl myself, I don't mind cities at all (and in fact, I like them better), but something about the way Brown was structured (maybe the buildings themselves, I wasn't sure) put me off. The buildings I saw were mostly brick red, relatively tall, and I was reminded a lot of Williams by the way it spilled into the city.
Then we found the "auditorium," which was really just a large lecture room (and, coincidentally, a chemistry room). We listened in on the hour-long information session (really just 45 minutes, with a 15-minute Starbucks break—at least there's coffee readily available), which included an Odysseus analogy, and how Brown students are explorers who are motivated by curiosity rather than material goods. Then we went outside, where we saw the huge, huge group of people and the small, small group of tour guides.
So instead of shuffling along in the tour, we got a map of campus and walked around ourselves.
Inside Brown, it's really different from the red-brick-hectic side I had seen earlier. This Brown was, in a way, like Princeton, with its greens and wrought-iron gates and pretty stone and brick buildings. It was secluded, maybe even meditative, and it was really nice in general.
Well, in general, I'm unlikely to consider Brown, since it's more stringent towards international students who apply for financial aid, which is what I am. But it's a nice place, I have to admit, even if it's probably not the place for me.
On a separate note, Newport, RI, where we went next as a side trip (as all of these college visits apparently require side trips to make up for their faraway distance and the effort we made to go there), is filled with huge houses and this one school (Salve? Regina? I can't remember) that overlooks the ocean. We didn't investigate further, but my parents concluded that "you can't possibly learn there with so many distractions."
Also, I have finally collected my letter of ineligibility from the SSA, and two different forms of ID. Now just for the mail addressed to me and to actually know the rules of driving.
(Extra mention to Allison Saint-Cross because he's making my taglist look icky, and I won't be talking about him for a while, at least not that I think so.)
On Saturday my parents decided we should go to Brown, because it's not moderately far away like Penn (which is where I'd like to go, even if I get accepted everywhere else, except maybe MIT if everyone else is also there), or really, really far away like WashU, which I don't know if I even want to go in the first place.
I had already heard stories about Brown, both good and bad, so I wasn't sure what to expect. (I never considered it one of the schools on my "list" though, those selectively few that meet my slew of criteria.)
My first opinion of Brown as we drove into campus to find MacMillan Hall was that it was in the middle of Providence, and therefore very crowded and frantic. Providence isn't by far the most frantic city I've been to, and being a city girl myself, I don't mind cities at all (and in fact, I like them better), but something about the way Brown was structured (maybe the buildings themselves, I wasn't sure) put me off. The buildings I saw were mostly brick red, relatively tall, and I was reminded a lot of Williams by the way it spilled into the city.
Then we found the "auditorium," which was really just a large lecture room (and, coincidentally, a chemistry room). We listened in on the hour-long information session (really just 45 minutes, with a 15-minute Starbucks break—at least there's coffee readily available), which included an Odysseus analogy, and how Brown students are explorers who are motivated by curiosity rather than material goods. Then we went outside, where we saw the huge, huge group of people and the small, small group of tour guides.
So instead of shuffling along in the tour, we got a map of campus and walked around ourselves.
Inside Brown, it's really different from the red-brick-hectic side I had seen earlier. This Brown was, in a way, like Princeton, with its greens and wrought-iron gates and pretty stone and brick buildings. It was secluded, maybe even meditative, and it was really nice in general.
Well, in general, I'm unlikely to consider Brown, since it's more stringent towards international students who apply for financial aid, which is what I am. But it's a nice place, I have to admit, even if it's probably not the place for me.
On a separate note, Newport, RI, where we went next as a side trip (as all of these college visits apparently require side trips to make up for their faraway distance and the effort we made to go there), is filled with huge houses and this one school (Salve? Regina? I can't remember) that overlooks the ocean. We didn't investigate further, but my parents concluded that "you can't possibly learn there with so many distractions."
Also, I have finally collected my letter of ineligibility from the SSA, and two different forms of ID. Now just for the mail addressed to me and to actually know the rules of driving.
(Extra mention to Allison Saint-Cross because he's making my taglist look icky, and I won't be talking about him for a while, at least not that I think so.)
Monday, May 31, 2010
McGill: Metropolitan; Middlebury: Many Dorms?
Remember in year 12905120348BC I once said that I would do almost anything (taking out huge student loans not included) to go to a school in the US, and not in Canada? Well, my parents and I went up to Montreal to visit McGill this weekend (after an hour-long wait in customs), and now I can sufficiently say I have changed my mind. I wouldn't mind going to McGill either, even if it's not very high on my list of priorities.
(The really cute red-haired guy with those dark green-blue eyes that reminded me of Brent Tarleton may have something to do with it. Maybe.)
Before this college-visit-and-all-around-trip thing, I'd been to Princeton (with Tea and Avon), Dartmouth, and Amherst. All three of them are pretty secluded schools, in small towns that are a good distance away from the nearest city. McGill—not so much the case. While it's not located in the heart of Montreal (which, judging from where a lot of the souvenir shops are located, would be in Old Montreal), it's pretty much downtown. A blown-up map of the downtown section has the campus at the edge, and when you look out the gates, you see tall skyscrapers, bustling streets, and lots of people.
Another thing that's different. McGill (like many, if not most, other Canadian schools) has a lot of students. While University of Toronto probably claims the most-populated-school title (to my knowledge, anyway), McGill has some 30,000 people, more or less. That's a lot of people, in a campus that is not particularly big. So the buildings, although not taking up a lot of space, are pretty high.
We were going to go to the Welcome Centre, where we could pick up self-guided tours, but the doors were locked. So I asked around a bit, and finally, whom I shall call Brent from now on told me that the bookstore might have some information, and he pointed us towards what we later found out was a library (the bookstore was behind the library). I got a map of the campus, and thus, we began our self-guided tour (because real tours won't start until June, and we're impatient).
On the right of the campus (if you look in from the front gates) are the science buildings—chemistry, physics, geoscience, environmental, and an anatomy/dentistry building. We mostly walked along there (skipping all the art/music/English buildings, because I only had five minutes to copy down which building was what, and so I skipped them). When we were walking away from the chemistry building, a couple of fire trucks came along, sirens blaring, and stopped in front of said building. We watched for a while, trying to figure out if a lab was on fire, but we couldn't figure anything out, so we went to the medical "wing." This was an oddly shaped (it resembles a drumstick) building, tucked behind the biology block, with mostly glass walls. Really pretty.
I don't think we ever figured out where the math department was, which was a pity. Our self-guided tour of McGill ended somewhere after the med/bio sector. The next day, we drove up Mont-Royal (much less exciting because I'd been there once before), then we wanted to go to the Jardin Botanique, but we couldn't stay for long, so we left for Williams, which was our next destination.
Since we wanted to see the islands between New York and Vermont, on our way to Williams we took Route 2 (and the ferry) across to Grand Isle, then onto the bridge and down Route 7 in Vermont, which leads straight to Williamstown. I got a map of Vermont on the island, and it was because of the map that we discovered that Middlebury was along the route as well, and so we made a detour there first.
(Somewhere here, we passed by this motorcycle parade filled with hundreds of motorcycles—and motorcyclists—whirring past us. It was really spectacular.)
Middlebury is probably the stark opposite of McGill. Whereas McGill was in the middle of a busy cosmopolitan city, with tall, modern buildings and the vibe of a city, Middlebury was calm, quiet, and sombre, with its grey stone buildings protruding from the ground in a neat pattern. We got a self-guide brochure from the admissions office, and followed along the route they told us to go.
The entire conversation of the tour basically went like this (all additional commentary are removed):
"Hey, what's this?"—"Dorms."—"Another dorm."—"Another dorm."—"Dining hall."—"Dorm."—"Dorm."—"That's a pretty building."—"It's another dorm."—"Oh! Science building!"—"What's that?"—"Another dorm."
(I can't type "dorm" now without thinking that it looks weird.)
We did find the academic buildings near the end of the tour (and we ended with the library, but it closed half an hour ago), and then we saw the athletic fields, including a small paddle-tennis court and a golf course. I thought the stone buildings were a bit drab, but they were very elegant, even if more than half of them were dorm buildings.
After Middlebury, we went (on track) to Williams. Compared to Middlebury, most of Williams' buildings are made of red brick, and instead of Middlebury's near-complete seclusion, the structure of the campus just flows into the town itself, with two major roads cutting through the middle of campus. It was somewhat difficult to navigate through campus and figure out what each building was supposed to be (we had a map, but it was not very informative), and after walking through two campuses, I was a bit tired. Nonetheless, I did like the small-town feel of Williams, even if it's not my favorite.
(We also saw two Memorial Day parades, and they were really fascinating to watch. I'm sad I missed our town's parade though. I got an email from Mrs. MacDonald asking for people to hold some banner of some sort? Does any of you know who did it?)
We went mountain-climbing as well, up Mt. Greylock, and up the tower on the summit. It was very fun, mostly because we rode the car up the mountain, as opposed to hiking up the side, so it was much less tiring on such a hot, sunny day. I also collected a lot of maps and brochures, which will be fun to read.
Which reminds me, I still have to read two acts of Othello for tomorrow. I was going to read it over the weekend, but as you can see, I was very distracted.
Also, my visited campuses ranking list thus far:
1. Princeton (what a surprise...)
2. Amherst
3. Middlebury
4. McGill
5. Williams
6. Dartmouth
(The really cute red-haired guy with those dark green-blue eyes that reminded me of Brent Tarleton may have something to do with it. Maybe.)
Before this college-visit-and-all-around-trip thing, I'd been to Princeton (with Tea and Avon), Dartmouth, and Amherst. All three of them are pretty secluded schools, in small towns that are a good distance away from the nearest city. McGill—not so much the case. While it's not located in the heart of Montreal (which, judging from where a lot of the souvenir shops are located, would be in Old Montreal), it's pretty much downtown. A blown-up map of the downtown section has the campus at the edge, and when you look out the gates, you see tall skyscrapers, bustling streets, and lots of people.
Another thing that's different. McGill (like many, if not most, other Canadian schools) has a lot of students. While University of Toronto probably claims the most-populated-school title (to my knowledge, anyway), McGill has some 30,000 people, more or less. That's a lot of people, in a campus that is not particularly big. So the buildings, although not taking up a lot of space, are pretty high.
We were going to go to the Welcome Centre, where we could pick up self-guided tours, but the doors were locked. So I asked around a bit, and finally, whom I shall call Brent from now on told me that the bookstore might have some information, and he pointed us towards what we later found out was a library (the bookstore was behind the library). I got a map of the campus, and thus, we began our self-guided tour (because real tours won't start until June, and we're impatient).
On the right of the campus (if you look in from the front gates) are the science buildings—chemistry, physics, geoscience, environmental, and an anatomy/dentistry building. We mostly walked along there (skipping all the art/music/English buildings, because I only had five minutes to copy down which building was what, and so I skipped them). When we were walking away from the chemistry building, a couple of fire trucks came along, sirens blaring, and stopped in front of said building. We watched for a while, trying to figure out if a lab was on fire, but we couldn't figure anything out, so we went to the medical "wing." This was an oddly shaped (it resembles a drumstick) building, tucked behind the biology block, with mostly glass walls. Really pretty.
I don't think we ever figured out where the math department was, which was a pity. Our self-guided tour of McGill ended somewhere after the med/bio sector. The next day, we drove up Mont-Royal (much less exciting because I'd been there once before), then we wanted to go to the Jardin Botanique, but we couldn't stay for long, so we left for Williams, which was our next destination.
Since we wanted to see the islands between New York and Vermont, on our way to Williams we took Route 2 (and the ferry) across to Grand Isle, then onto the bridge and down Route 7 in Vermont, which leads straight to Williamstown. I got a map of Vermont on the island, and it was because of the map that we discovered that Middlebury was along the route as well, and so we made a detour there first.
(Somewhere here, we passed by this motorcycle parade filled with hundreds of motorcycles—and motorcyclists—whirring past us. It was really spectacular.)
Middlebury is probably the stark opposite of McGill. Whereas McGill was in the middle of a busy cosmopolitan city, with tall, modern buildings and the vibe of a city, Middlebury was calm, quiet, and sombre, with its grey stone buildings protruding from the ground in a neat pattern. We got a self-guide brochure from the admissions office, and followed along the route they told us to go.
The entire conversation of the tour basically went like this (all additional commentary are removed):
"Hey, what's this?"—"Dorms."—"Another dorm."—"Another dorm."—"Dining hall."—"Dorm."—"Dorm."—"That's a pretty building."—"It's another dorm."—"Oh! Science building!"—"What's that?"—"Another dorm."
(I can't type "dorm" now without thinking that it looks weird.)
We did find the academic buildings near the end of the tour (and we ended with the library, but it closed half an hour ago), and then we saw the athletic fields, including a small paddle-tennis court and a golf course. I thought the stone buildings were a bit drab, but they were very elegant, even if more than half of them were dorm buildings.
After Middlebury, we went (on track) to Williams. Compared to Middlebury, most of Williams' buildings are made of red brick, and instead of Middlebury's near-complete seclusion, the structure of the campus just flows into the town itself, with two major roads cutting through the middle of campus. It was somewhat difficult to navigate through campus and figure out what each building was supposed to be (we had a map, but it was not very informative), and after walking through two campuses, I was a bit tired. Nonetheless, I did like the small-town feel of Williams, even if it's not my favorite.
(We also saw two Memorial Day parades, and they were really fascinating to watch. I'm sad I missed our town's parade though. I got an email from Mrs. MacDonald asking for people to hold some banner of some sort? Does any of you know who did it?)
We went mountain-climbing as well, up Mt. Greylock, and up the tower on the summit. It was very fun, mostly because we rode the car up the mountain, as opposed to hiking up the side, so it was much less tiring on such a hot, sunny day. I also collected a lot of maps and brochures, which will be fun to read.
Which reminds me, I still have to read two acts of Othello for tomorrow. I was going to read it over the weekend, but as you can see, I was very distracted.
Also, my visited campuses ranking list thus far:
1. Princeton (what a surprise...)
2. Amherst
3. Middlebury
4. McGill
5. Williams
6. Dartmouth
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wherefore Art Thou, Japan?
I am on a school computer right now, and the screen is flickering. I don't know why, but it has happened before, and when I told the librarian and she came over, it stopped. Then, when she left, it started again. It is most annoying.
Anyway, I had this wonderful post yesterday about how Japan might as well be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, because we're not getting anywhere, when I realized, no, we're in the Pacific Ocean right now, and technically Japan is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, if not directly in the middle, so it's not as... argumentative. I didn't get to finish that post though, so here I am today, barely finishing my English essay (because of a lot of due date delays, I had plenty of time to work and read GWTW), beginning the first part of the voyage (which is us on the plane) because I can't bear the trip on hiatus anymore.
Besides, I will be gone tomorrow and over the weekend to visit colleges, namely Williams and McGill (and really just McGill, but Williams is along the way), and I won't have access to the Internet, so I might as well write something now.
Several hours later, on my home computer, with no flashing screen.
First of all, I need to ask Julie (and any other reader here): do you want to come on the trip as well? I still need to draw pictures as well (especially of Bruney, I'll get around to that one day).
Secondly, this will be a pictureless post because I have lots of random work to do.
So, to recap, Gretchen and Tea and I are on a plane headed for Japan, our next destination. We had just recently left Chile, and if you wish to read about our adventures there, you can click the "Round The World Trip" log, featured as a link above. There, I've archived all the links to the relevant posts we have written on the subject. Right now, however, we're aboard the plane, and despite what you may have heard about no viable source of communication on planes, there's some strange source of WiFi on here, and so we're not questioning it as all of us relax and check our random sites that we always check online.
Bruney is coming straight from home and meeting us at Japan, where we will have a great time. I'm sure of it. I mean, just the food itself sounds great, and if the food is good, nothing else can go wrong, right? But since we will be on the plane for a whilesince just as it's got WiFi, it's also got the ability to indefinitely suspend in midair until we declare it not to do so, we decided to catch up on some news.
Here's what I found out (not sure about Gretch or Tea):
1) Matt and I are interviewing/surveying our people next week during period 7. Here's some of the classes we may be dropping by (we will be, but I'm not sure which dates)—AP English, Latin 2, three western humanities classes, and numerous others. Yes, these are ournot so randomly chosen classes. There are a lot of freshmen and sophomores. Hmm. I wonder why?
2) Reese can be quite adamant when he wants something. Or annoying. I suppose it depends on how you look at the situation. Also, he's quite savvy with Naviance (not sure if it's a good thing), and Argon has never heard of it before. Never? I guess people surprise you all the time. Or maybe he'll just fall into its evil clutches by the time junior year runs along.
3) This. Today. During physics. It looks painful.
MID—
Rhett: 2
Scarlett: 2.5
Anyway, I had this wonderful post yesterday about how Japan might as well be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, because we're not getting anywhere, when I realized, no, we're in the Pacific Ocean right now, and technically Japan is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, if not directly in the middle, so it's not as... argumentative. I didn't get to finish that post though, so here I am today, barely finishing my English essay (because of a lot of due date delays, I had plenty of time to work and read GWTW), beginning the first part of the voyage (which is us on the plane) because I can't bear the trip on hiatus anymore.
Besides, I will be gone tomorrow and over the weekend to visit colleges, namely Williams and McGill (and really just McGill, but Williams is along the way), and I won't have access to the Internet, so I might as well write something now.
Several hours later, on my home computer, with no flashing screen.
First of all, I need to ask Julie (and any other reader here): do you want to come on the trip as well? I still need to draw pictures as well (especially of Bruney, I'll get around to that one day).
Secondly, this will be a pictureless post because I have lots of random work to do.
So, to recap, Gretchen and Tea and I are on a plane headed for Japan, our next destination. We had just recently left Chile, and if you wish to read about our adventures there, you can click the "Round The World Trip" log, featured as a link above. There, I've archived all the links to the relevant posts we have written on the subject. Right now, however, we're aboard the plane, and despite what you may have heard about no viable source of communication on planes, there's some strange source of WiFi on here, and so we're not questioning it as all of us relax and check our random sites that we always check online.
Bruney is coming straight from home and meeting us at Japan, where we will have a great time. I'm sure of it. I mean, just the food itself sounds great, and if the food is good, nothing else can go wrong, right? But since we will be on the plane for a while
Here's what I found out (not sure about Gretch or Tea):
1) Matt and I are interviewing/surveying our people next week during period 7. Here's some of the classes we may be dropping by (we will be, but I'm not sure which dates)—AP English, Latin 2, three western humanities classes, and numerous others. Yes, these are our
2) Reese can be quite adamant when he wants something. Or annoying. I suppose it depends on how you look at the situation. Also, he's quite savvy with Naviance (not sure if it's a good thing), and Argon has never heard of it before. Never? I guess people surprise you all the time. Or maybe he'll just fall into its evil clutches by the time junior year runs along.
3) This. Today. During physics. It looks painful.
MID—
Rhett: 2
Scarlett: 2.5
Friday, April 23, 2010
Dartmouth and Amherst: Different by All Means
After deciding that college visits are nice, my parents decided to take me to Dartmouth on Wednesday (also because, as my dad said, "we can go hike some mountains over there as well"). We left at seven in the morning, and drove all the way to Dartmouth just in time for their info session.
The person in charge of the info session emphasized the fact that Dartmouth is a college, rather than an university, and as such, specializes in undergrad education. This apparently amounts to the strange quarter-system schedule, study-abroad programs in the Caribbeans (and elsewhere), and no TAs at all. I don't think I would mind any of those things.
There was also talk of how "Dartmouth gets thousands of qualified applicants every year, so we can choose which ones we want to accept." That usually means bad news for me (and everyone else in general).
After our info session (spent mostly on "what is a liberal arts education and what does it do for you?" and "how do we choose which students to accept?"), our tour guides arrived and split us up into five groups. My parents and I followed this girl who was in her senior year and was majoring in Spanish and planned to become a lawyer.
We went around the school, noting all the different buildings (including the first building on campus that originally housed all the classes, teachers, and students into one tiny space) and the different things to do. The campus sort of spills into the town (Hanover), and the buildings were clustered in a cozy but cluttered way. We saw the Hogwarts-esque library (wooden paneled walls, ancient-looking books, comfy green chairs), went by some of the frat houses around campus, and saw a room that housed two large TVs (very important during the Yankees vs. Red Sox baseball games, where fans of one team screams at fans of the other team during intermission times). Our guide told us that the food at Dartmouth was very good (yay), and the alumni network is very strong. People seem to also make lots of close friends with other people on campus (and I did see a lot of students talking with each other, so they're not all loners, which is good).
After our tour of campus, we checked out one of the eight eating places on campus. This particular place had soup, salad, and this stir-fry thing that was so popular the line was very, very long. The food was generally okay though (not exactly my favorite, but with much more manageable portion sizes).
Of course, a major portion of this trip was supposed to be "hiking," so we went to nearby Quechee Gorge (in Vermont) and hiked along a two-mile trail. The gorge was really pretty, but the water was too chilly to go barefoot in the river, so we just played with the water with our hands and hiked to a dam and then came back. My mom pointed out the strange wooden boards on top of the dam, and my dad made up some semi-plausible reason as to why they were there, and my mom decided that you could only know if you were an engineer specializing in that field ("that's another possible career path there").
Anyway, we started heading home at around five, and on our way back we saw the sign for Amherst, Massachusetts. My dad asked, "Is that the same Amherst as the college?"
According to the atlas we had brought, it was, so we took the next exit and came to Amherst (the town is also home to four other colleges, including UMass, Smith, and two other ones I can't remember). I found the campus and buildings to be much more gorgeously outstanding, with a line of red brick buildings sitting atop a grassy hill, and other white, classical or Victorian buildings spilling to the side. (My impression, anyway.) To the right of the campus is a war memorial that overlooks the baseball and soccer fields, but it's on top of the hill and so you can see really, really far (according to their website, you can see 1000 acres). We missed the tour times (it was by seven now), but there were students milling about, and they seemed to be happy and generally friendly.
I personally think that Amherst is a much prettier place than Dartmouth, and if schools were only decided upon by their campuses, I would even have a hard time deciding between Amherst and Princeton. Amherst is that pretty.
In other news, I received a letter from the Advantage Testing Foundation for a Math Prize competition, which is bound to be very exciting (albeit all the way in November, so there's still a very long time to go), and also info session mail from the Claremont Colleges (not happening, because they're in California, as my mother puts it) and the Duke-Georgetown-Harvard-Penn-Stanford groupie (I don't know why those particular schools chose to be together). I also got a letter from Yale with no real information (that I didn't know already).
And SATs next Saturday. APs next next week and next next next week. This whole college thing is coming a tad bit too fast for me, I reckon.
The person in charge of the info session emphasized the fact that Dartmouth is a college, rather than an university, and as such, specializes in undergrad education. This apparently amounts to the strange quarter-system schedule, study-abroad programs in the Caribbeans (and elsewhere), and no TAs at all. I don't think I would mind any of those things.
There was also talk of how "Dartmouth gets thousands of qualified applicants every year, so we can choose which ones we want to accept." That usually means bad news for me (and everyone else in general).
After our info session (spent mostly on "what is a liberal arts education and what does it do for you?" and "how do we choose which students to accept?"), our tour guides arrived and split us up into five groups. My parents and I followed this girl who was in her senior year and was majoring in Spanish and planned to become a lawyer.
We went around the school, noting all the different buildings (including the first building on campus that originally housed all the classes, teachers, and students into one tiny space) and the different things to do. The campus sort of spills into the town (Hanover), and the buildings were clustered in a cozy but cluttered way. We saw the Hogwarts-esque library (wooden paneled walls, ancient-looking books, comfy green chairs), went by some of the frat houses around campus, and saw a room that housed two large TVs (very important during the Yankees vs. Red Sox baseball games, where fans of one team screams at fans of the other team during intermission times). Our guide told us that the food at Dartmouth was very good (yay), and the alumni network is very strong. People seem to also make lots of close friends with other people on campus (and I did see a lot of students talking with each other, so they're not all loners, which is good).
After our tour of campus, we checked out one of the eight eating places on campus. This particular place had soup, salad, and this stir-fry thing that was so popular the line was very, very long. The food was generally okay though (not exactly my favorite, but with much more manageable portion sizes).
Of course, a major portion of this trip was supposed to be "hiking," so we went to nearby Quechee Gorge (in Vermont) and hiked along a two-mile trail. The gorge was really pretty, but the water was too chilly to go barefoot in the river, so we just played with the water with our hands and hiked to a dam and then came back. My mom pointed out the strange wooden boards on top of the dam, and my dad made up some semi-plausible reason as to why they were there, and my mom decided that you could only know if you were an engineer specializing in that field ("that's another possible career path there").
Anyway, we started heading home at around five, and on our way back we saw the sign for Amherst, Massachusetts. My dad asked, "Is that the same Amherst as the college?"
According to the atlas we had brought, it was, so we took the next exit and came to Amherst (the town is also home to four other colleges, including UMass, Smith, and two other ones I can't remember). I found the campus and buildings to be much more gorgeously outstanding, with a line of red brick buildings sitting atop a grassy hill, and other white, classical or Victorian buildings spilling to the side. (My impression, anyway.) To the right of the campus is a war memorial that overlooks the baseball and soccer fields, but it's on top of the hill and so you can see really, really far (according to their website, you can see 1000 acres). We missed the tour times (it was by seven now), but there were students milling about, and they seemed to be happy and generally friendly.
I personally think that Amherst is a much prettier place than Dartmouth, and if schools were only decided upon by their campuses, I would even have a hard time deciding between Amherst and Princeton. Amherst is that pretty.
In other news, I received a letter from the Advantage Testing Foundation for a Math Prize competition, which is bound to be very exciting (albeit all the way in November, so there's still a very long time to go), and also info session mail from the Claremont Colleges (not happening, because they're in California, as my mother puts it) and the Duke-Georgetown-Harvard-Penn-Stanford groupie (I don't know why those particular schools chose to be together). I also got a letter from Yale with no real information (that I didn't know already).
And SATs next Saturday. APs next next week and next next next week. This whole college thing is coming a tad bit too fast for me, I reckon.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Princeton: Just Another "Perfect"
Tea and Avon and I visited Princeton yesterday, as part of Tea's fourth (fifth?) college visit, and Avon's and my first. Tea's mom drove us, and on the way there, we were confused by the GPS directions, which stubbornly refused to comply with our wishes, so we spent quite some time on the road.
Nevertheless, we got there successfully (albeit after the info session had already started). Avon had brought a notebook with her ("This is going to be my college visit notebook from now on!"), and among some of the first things she had jotted down was "pretty town." This was absolutely true. Princeton (the town) was gorgeous to look at, especially since we visited in the spring and on a beautifully sunny day. The town wasn't too large, but there were plenty of small shops and parks.
We spent a while trying to find a parking lot, when Tea said, "Hey, look, a student!"
We all stared at the student, who looked fairly normal. "They're not aliens," Avon said. "Just normal people."
After our first spotted student, we saw several more who looked just as normal. They seemed really sociable as well, which was something Avon liked. We found our parking lot and rode the shuttle bus to Clio Hall, where the tour was supposed to start.
Inside Clio Hall, there were two floors (that we could see), one for graduate students, and one for undergrads. We went upstairs to the undergrad area, signed our names on the sheet, took a booklet that introduced the school, and sat down on the couches. The booklet gave us some basic information, such as academics, admissions, and room and board (including a very fancy flowchart to explain the junior/senior boarding/eating plans). Tea had also taken a diversity booklet, but there weren't any specific numbers or percentages, just general comments on how Princeton is a very, very diverse place.
Soon, a bunch of other people entered the room, so we figured that the info session that we had missed was over. We followed everyone downstairs, where our tour guides were already waiting. Thus began our tour of Princeton, which, judging from what we had seen already, was bound to be breath-taking.
Our tour guide was a freshman, planning to major in French, and believed walking backwards was a form of exercise (which, according to Crabtree, is much easier than jogging forwards, but I haven't experienced that myself), so she didn't talk much about the science departments (which was what we were most interested in, since all of us are science-oriented people) or the athletic facilities (not much of a loss here for us). However, she did mention lots of interesting bits about the history of the school, such as how the Yale architect carved his face into the chapel on campus or the numerous Woodrow Wilson residencies while he was at Princeton. She also did a splendid job pointing out the gardens and buildings, including the campus library, which is mostly underground and resembles an iceberg.
We finished the tour around noon, so we decided to eat at one of the dining areas on campus to see what the food was like. The cafeteria was pretty much similar to our school's cafeteria (except with a few more selections and bigger), but the main difference was portion size. People in Princeton must eat A LOT (is this proof that they're aliens in disguise after all?), because the meals we bought were humongous.
So, my opinion of the school overall?
It's in a pretty town (as Avon noted), decent size and not too isolated, and it's not too far north or too far south, so the location is nice. Buildings looks gorgeous (stone walls and copper roofs). Academics are definitely great, but there's also a lot to do around campus, and there are plenty of choices in general. I am not looking forward to the 80+ pages senior thesis (but I suppose it isn't that bad, if countless Princeton alums have survived it thus far), but I definitely wouldn't mind spending a lot of time in that library.
And, of course, the most important factor.
Can I get in?
Nevertheless, we got there successfully (albeit after the info session had already started). Avon had brought a notebook with her ("This is going to be my college visit notebook from now on!"), and among some of the first things she had jotted down was "pretty town." This was absolutely true. Princeton (the town) was gorgeous to look at, especially since we visited in the spring and on a beautifully sunny day. The town wasn't too large, but there were plenty of small shops and parks.
We spent a while trying to find a parking lot, when Tea said, "Hey, look, a student!"
We all stared at the student, who looked fairly normal. "They're not aliens," Avon said. "Just normal people."
After our first spotted student, we saw several more who looked just as normal. They seemed really sociable as well, which was something Avon liked. We found our parking lot and rode the shuttle bus to Clio Hall, where the tour was supposed to start.
Inside Clio Hall, there were two floors (that we could see), one for graduate students, and one for undergrads. We went upstairs to the undergrad area, signed our names on the sheet, took a booklet that introduced the school, and sat down on the couches. The booklet gave us some basic information, such as academics, admissions, and room and board (including a very fancy flowchart to explain the junior/senior boarding/eating plans). Tea had also taken a diversity booklet, but there weren't any specific numbers or percentages, just general comments on how Princeton is a very, very diverse place.
Soon, a bunch of other people entered the room, so we figured that the info session that we had missed was over. We followed everyone downstairs, where our tour guides were already waiting. Thus began our tour of Princeton, which, judging from what we had seen already, was bound to be breath-taking.
Our tour guide was a freshman, planning to major in French, and believed walking backwards was a form of exercise (which, according to Crabtree, is much easier than jogging forwards, but I haven't experienced that myself), so she didn't talk much about the science departments (which was what we were most interested in, since all of us are science-oriented people) or the athletic facilities (not much of a loss here for us). However, she did mention lots of interesting bits about the history of the school, such as how the Yale architect carved his face into the chapel on campus or the numerous Woodrow Wilson residencies while he was at Princeton. She also did a splendid job pointing out the gardens and buildings, including the campus library, which is mostly underground and resembles an iceberg.
We finished the tour around noon, so we decided to eat at one of the dining areas on campus to see what the food was like. The cafeteria was pretty much similar to our school's cafeteria (except with a few more selections and bigger), but the main difference was portion size. People in Princeton must eat A LOT (is this proof that they're aliens in disguise after all?), because the meals we bought were humongous.
So, my opinion of the school overall?
It's in a pretty town (as Avon noted), decent size and not too isolated, and it's not too far north or too far south, so the location is nice. Buildings looks gorgeous (stone walls and copper roofs). Academics are definitely great, but there's also a lot to do around campus, and there are plenty of choices in general. I am not looking forward to the 80+ pages senior thesis (but I suppose it isn't that bad, if countless Princeton alums have survived it thus far), but I definitely wouldn't mind spending a lot of time in that library.
And, of course, the most important factor.
Can I get in?
