Hey there,
Grammar time. I would never claim to be well versed in the minutiae of grammar and only learned about things like 'past pluperfect' when learning Spanish, but there is something that everyone does that I recall being taught, and was admonished for for getting it wrong, and that is saying "me and Betty" instead of "Betty and I". I hear it said "me and..." by so many people that are highly educated and should know how to say it right, that I think that I must be wrong. As the English language changes over time, and sometimes in a short period of it, perhaps this is one aspect that has. Making a note to talk to the English teachers at school, but if you know, please don't hesitate.
Won't bore you with the filth, but Taiwan remains stupid hot morning and night. Was saddened to see a typhoon veer south this week and so won't get the minor relief that a catastrophic natural disaster can bring. I feel physically ill all the time. And something is different about the UV rays here. This summer, was outside a ton and got a lot of sun and was tan to the point of several people mentioning it and saying that it was a good color. For obvious reason, don't look too closely in the mirror, but took a closer look after these comments and had to admit that I was bronzed to perfection. Am outside a lot here too and looked at myself today and my skin was a color of red that didn't seem natural or attractive. It's like I am being sunburned from the inside out. In the States, my tan was like a perfectly crunchy and delicious baguette. Here, I look like a baboon's ass. Note to self: Sunscreen.
Our two months of summer in the States started with a two week run with Babydoll on the eastern seaboard. She's a rising Junior and wanted to show her a sampling of different schools so she can consider her options wisely when the time comes. As we have friends in Atlanta, which has Emory University that is a favorite of her peers, and in DC, that was our route. Not for nothing, we learned recently that University of South Carolina is the only one that offers in state tuition to Taiwanese so that clinched our itinerary. The rest of today's installment will be a listing of impressions from the 11 schools we saw together this summer, which includes a couple on the west coast.
Our daily plan for the east coast leg of the trip was to see a college in the AM and drive to the next town afterwards where we would scope out the vibe in the area/city of the next school. Wake up next day and repeat.
Emory- Atlanta, GA. 6,700 undergrads. Private.
An inordinate amount of kids that go to the kids school matriculate to Emory. Not sure exactly why, but has to be a combo of the weather being similar to here, direct flights via Delta, and a tendency to 'follow the leader'. Was in a nice section of town and the campus felt well maintained but small. They were proud that they have a college within a college (Oxford) where the kids in that stick together in a small nurturing environment. Sounded like High School 2.0. They pushed how they were VERY liberal arts. On the tour, they showed us a dorm room that had to be the smallest space I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot. Why would you do that?
Atlanta is a world class town with insufficient public transport, so traffic is awful and you have no choice but to drive everywhere and get frustrated doing it.
We talk through our visits in the car out of town and we gave Emory two thumbs down.
University of South Carolina - Columbia, SC. 25,000 undergrads. Public
I wanted this place to be great so bad. Weather here is superb most of the year and the tuition break is a major plus. At each of the tours, we did the information session before the walk around and while they all touch on the same things (like a holistic application process), they all differed slightly on the key aspect they would push. South Carolina's theme..."We're cheap!" Must have mentioned it in some way a half dozen times and felt like more You can tell they are cash starved as the campus has all the nice things a nice college has, but seemed dated and well worn. Might be a great education, but all the spaces felt a bit sad. Having big time sports is a bonus that Babydoll seems to value, more for the social aspect than being a fan, but having them makes for a vibrant atmosphere. We were a bit down on the place after the tour but felt it prudent to verify the tuition thing so went to the admissions office to verify if we are eligible. Looked on-line and the info on tuition is that it is in-state for Taiwanese citizens, which we are not, so wanted to know as a Taiwanese High School student if she is eligible. The dude they had us talked to seemed to not know much about anything and was not shy in demonstrating that. He called another office and we got a unconvincing thumbs-up. What I would recommend is that if you don't know something, take our contact info, find out and get back to us. First impressions matter and putting on a dumb face at a place where you want to go to get smart is unadvised. Their mascot is the Gamecock, which is a check mark in the positive as any schwag you wear has 'cock' on it.
Columbia is the state capitol and it seemed nice but quiet. You know how every town or country has a neighboring rival that they look down upon? South Carolina is the butt of jokes from all the southeastern seaboard and could not figure out who they felt they were better than. Fireworks of all kinds are available 365 days a year.
Sadly, we gave it two thumbs down.
Davidson - Charlotte, NC 2,000 undergrads. Private
Super cute campus adjacent to a small town that is also super cute. Too cute in my book. With two thousand kids, you're gonna know everyone and their student/teacher ratio is like 2:1. If you need to have a babysitter get you through your 4 years, they will offer the pacifier. Didn't see it ourselves, but heard rumors that the dining halls offer wet nurse service. We were really into the aesthetics of it, but if the small school thing isn't your bag, you'd go stir crazy. Their biggest selling point was that Steph Curry went there.
We didn't go into Charlotte cause I couldn't figure out a reason to. It is the 16th largest in the States, has major league football and basketball and is a fast growing hub for millennials, but feels like it needs more seasoning before it can become an interesting place. Davidson is 20 minutes from downtown and not a single soul said they had ever been down by choice.
M'eh on the thumbs.
Wake Forest - Winston-Salem, NC. 5,000 undergrads. Private
Spoiler...this was my favorite and think it was Babydolls too. Low student population means smaller classes and more attention with counseling and job placement, but they have all the big school sports and stuff. Campus was as nice as any we saw and they put their best foot forward on the tour. It is also a research university so they get down to business while your there. As the one footing the bill, having the kids go in with a plan and help with the end game appeals.
As for Winston-Salem, it is a town so nice they named it after a cigarette twice. Small but still big enough to have stuff. We saw in a bunch of these cities that they have taken old tobacco factories and such and turned them into something new. Wake Forest has an amazing research facility in Winston-Salem in a cool building from one of those. 15 minutes from campus and serviced by frequent buses to and fro, seemed like this one had it all.
Two thumbs up and a smack on the ass good.
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, NC, 19,000 undergrads. Public
Babydoll liked this better than I, but I liked it too. It had all the same cool attributes as Wake Forest, just with 4 times the student population, which is why I hesitated.. They had the most school pride as is evidenced by the 6 stores in their town selling UNC gear, which is all cool cause their baby blue color is exquisite. Big means they have everything but also means you have to fight a little harder for it. Not a bad thing, you just have to be the right person to deal with it.
We didn't hang in Chapel Hill much but it seemed like a typical big school city. Durham is 20 minutes away and my nephew, who recently graduated from UNC moved there with his girlfriend. Durham is the home of Duke, so we sorta saw a bit of that. Durham is the hipsterville of the region. All fancy eateries and repurposed public spaces that are gorgeous. We walked by a place and the nephew says is a new indoor minature golf place. We had a few minutes to kill before dinner so thought we'd play a round. It is as much bar as miniature golf so is a place the kids can go to get their groove on and be cool. The miniature golf was as shitty a set-up as I have ever seen and we got bilked for $7 each for 7 holes. Even the worst places have 9 holes. No way this place is gonna make it more than a year. Durham is so hip, they have an axe throwing district. Our dinner that night was at a tapas bar (my choice) that was excellent but loaded with hipster cool. We had pork belly and bone marrow. I can see why my Palo Altonian nephew and his ilk love it...all the bespoke shit they love from home without the high property values
One and a half thumbs.
University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA, 17,000 undergrads. Public
Didn't do an official tour but had the Boy take us around and show it to us from a brotherly perspective. Directly comparable to UNC, would give it the nod over Chappel Hill for aesthetics and proximity to a major metropolitan area. Their orange color is gawd awful as compared to that sweet blue of the Tar Heels.
Charlottesville is similar in feel to Chappel Hill too. To be honest, if you had to choose between them and had no prior rooting interest, it'd be a coin flip.
One and a half.
William and Mary - Williamsburg, VA 6,500 undergrads. Public
In that sweet spot of student population size and claims to be a research university, but the info we received gave us the impression that it was touchy feely liberal arts. They go out of their way to make you feel welcome to the point of awkwardness. Second oldest school in the country but didn't feel old at all and not in a good way. For a research university, they stressed electives be done all 4 years, which I guess is nice if you have the time, but what are we paying for? How come whenever one of these tour guides is touting their electives program, they all say how great their film class was. $60K a year so you can dissect the oeuvre of Sandra Bullock? All these schools have their own quirky traditions, like if you step on this thing, you will/won't graduate, streaking the lawn, etc., and they are instantly forgettable. One they have at W&M stuck in my brain and it concerned the Crim Dell (aka Lovers) Bridge. From Wikipedia...
It is rumored that if two lovers cross the bridge together and kiss at the crest of it, they will be together forever.[1][2][3] If that couple separates at any point thereafter, however, the lady must throw her ex-lover off of the bridge and into the water to break the curse of being forever single.
Tour guide told us the first part and asked the group how we thought that these lovers could break the forever spell. I offered murder/suicide as an option.
Williamsburg (Colonial) is always said to be one of those places you have to visit and even though I was in the area for several years, this was my first time down. ZZZZZZZZZZ. If cutsey-poo phoney baloney worship of smelly pilgrims flips your switch, grab your truss and small pox blankets and head here
Two thumbs down
University of Richmond - Richmond, VA. 3,000 undergrads. Private
Smaller student body population than what you would think by looking at the place, which was giant. We did not get the smothering vibe that Davidson gave off and really liked all that we heard. They didn't stress the things that Babydoll is (currently) interested in for academics, but we both really liked all that we saw.
The city of Richmond was really weird. We drove through depressed areas as sketchy as any, and then you turn a corner onto Monument Avenue with all the plantation mansions lining it. Really gorgeous but you simultaneously realize that this was the capitol of the Confederacy. It is called Monument Avenueas there are giant statues of all your Confederate heroes like Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, etc. They did put one up of Arthur Ashe at the end of block in hope of balancing it out? Richmond was a joke to us in the 80's and would have to do more research, but it sounds like it has turned a corner and is entering civilization.
We both gave this place 1/2 a thumb each.
George Washington University - Washington DC, 11,000 undergrads. Private
Why didn't I take B-doll to see my alma mater American University? We did go with the Boy 4 years previous, although I'm sure she doesn't remember. AU is definitely not the place for her as she is not interested in the things they excel at like Politics and government. We had also been to Georgetown 4 years ago and she remembered that in detail for some reason. To be honest, I have never been on the GW campus and wanted to see what it was all about myself. This was one of two schools (Stanford was the other) we saw where the post-grads outnumber the undergrads (15K-11K). Walking around, realized I had been on campus before, but it is so integrated into the city that you don't realize you are on a college campus. Their communal lawn area looked no bigger than a nice sized doggy park. I haven't mentioned Blue Lights yet cause they were at all campuses and I will assume you are familiar with them. When we did a run of schools with the Boy 4 years prior, all the schools touted their blue lights and the response times, but this go around no guide ever mentioned them. The only place that did was GW and that was to mention that they have a Blue Light App so you don't have to be next to one to call for help. Makes sense as this is in a densely populated city with its share of riff raff (both inside and outside the Oval Office), so that they would be at the forefront of Blue Light technology makes sense. No question that every school will have this App within two years.
I loved every bit of GW cause I love DC. Before our afternoon tour, we went to an amazing Indian food joint for lunch across the street. It's called Bindass and you cannot miss it if you're in the neighborhood. You can see, eat, do anything your mind can imagine in DC, which makes the town an extension of your college life. That's how it was for Betty and I 30+ years ago and is the same now. B-doll has spent most of her life in a dense urban setting and initially felt that is what she needed in a school, but has come to realize that getting that college town experience is valuable and so didn't come away wanting to apply here although she did say that it would be a great place for Grad School. Had to agree and also like the fact that doing post-graduate work is part of her mindset.
One thumb up/one thumb down
If you are keeping track, that was 9 schools in 11 days. Felt we saw a great cross-section of different schools and that she has a good starting point for when it comes to decide where to apply. We did take the opportunity to see two more when we hit the west coast later in the summer.
Stanford University - Palo Alto Ca. 7,000 undergrads Private
We go to Palo Alto for 2-3 weeks every summer so are intimate with the area, but had never taken the tour. It is the school desired for most kids ,but with an acceptance rate of 5%, going there is a pipe dream even for the most decorated student. We knew the reputation, but after the tour, we both agreed that it was well deserved. The place is stunningly beautiful in every way you can think. Second largest campus by area in the world (after Moscow U), the weather is perfect, grounds immaculately maintained and the buildings look like Junipero Serra just finished building them. That is until you get up close and realize these mission style buildings look small from afar but are deceptively giant. And they aren't relics either, but have been upgraded with the newest technologies of all sorts. With property values there some of the most absurd you can find, learned that they have on campus housing for all students entire time there and that that housing is really nice too.
The educational vibe that they stress there is also unique. Other schools will mention they do this, but Stanford values independent thinking over everything else. Having perfect SAT's and grades won't get you in there, and while they do look at those intensely, they could fill 5 Stanfords if that was the criteria alone. They take the kids with those perfect scores that also do the weird stuff...the kids that are whip smart but are outside of the box thinkers. Makes total sense that their grads are innovators and why the reputation is what it is. B-doll said after the tour that she was mad about it cause she wanted to hate the place but fell in love and knows that whatever dream she has of attending the place will ultimately be crushed.
Two thumbs up with a frowny
face.
University of British Columbia - Vancouver BC. 45,000 undergrads. Public
Several reasons for this visit. As an international student, going to school outside of the US is something that her peers consider and so she is keeping her mind open to those possibilities. A school that she wanted to attend a year or so ago is Monash in Melbourne although she has cooled to that idea somewhat. If we move back to Seattle in two years, having her in BC would be convenient for all of us. And the cost is significantly cheaper than most schools in the States even for out of country residents.
If you know Vancouver at all, you know Stanley Park and how it is on a bulbous peninsula extending into the water. UBC occupies a similarly shaped peninsula that you can see from the south side of Stanley Park and so it has that same feel. The grounds are massive with most of it left to nature. They also have a long beach walk that circles 3/4 of the campus. Stunning vistas for sure. The academic part of campus is huge too. There is no set style of architecture but that each building was made in the style of the times so it is a hodgepodge of 20th century design, for good, bad and otherwise. With 45K students (which makes the on campus population balloon to 80K during a school day), how they keep the trains running on time is a marvel. That they carve out places of intimacy is also impressive. For example, am not a huge lover of them, but they had the most beautiful and peaceful zen garden I've ever seen . The bummer is the size of the student population, which is twice as big as anything we saw. Even though we were impressed with the facilities and management of them, class size is a concern. The large lecture classes that are everywhere, are exponentially larger here, and when you get into the third and fourth years, classes that in other places that would be 10-20 kids, are 40-60 at UBC. If you have made it this far in the discussion, you'll know that I turn my nose up at the babysitting type schools but also value the job placement and counseling aspects present at those as well. While they have those at UBC, think you can drown in a sea of people and there can be no way that the school can adequately address individual needs.
Which is too bad cause the school and Vancouver is such an awesome place. They have all the food and things to do a person like B-doll could want. It's no secret that she values an Asian culture and Vancouver has a vibrant Asian population. It is such a great walking city as well and would be perfect for her (and me on a visit).
Two thumbs wanting to go up, but remained ensconced in the fist.
Well there you go. Hope that if you went to one of these places that I didn't bag on it too harshly. It is unfair to judge a place based on a few hours, but judging is a strong suit in some of us.
