Revisiting Guilford College

Recent posts describing colleges that we, or good friends, have visited have more photos than I posted for one of our favorite schools and I'm feeling that Guilford got short changed. So, even though we didn't visit again, I am adding additional photos from our first visit (April, 2011) of this beautiful school just outside of Greensboro, North Carolina.

This is the gym, in use at that moment by a seniors' (citizens) men's basketball league.

This is the fitness area.

This is the dining hall.

This is a lounge, possibly outside of the dining hall.

Student run coffee house...

Library

Art on display in the library...

Guilford!

SUNY Geneseo

We are please to post an article by guest author, Heather, mother of Lily, an accepted student at Geneseo. Congratulations, Lily!

I re-visited Geneseo this week with my daughter, Lily, and her friend, for an admitted students event. While her friend is certain she is going to attend Geneseo in the fall, Lily is still weighing her options.

Geneseo is a liberal arts college in the SUNY system, and is considered “New York’s Public Honors College”. The campus is very pretty, surrounded by views of mountains and farmland. The buildings are red brick with plenty of ivy to complete the collegiate look. Prospective students introduced themselves during the students’ lunch, and according to Lily and her friend, most were from Long Island and upstate NY.

Geneseo students: Obviously, they are hard working and intelligent. Our tour guide was a biology major and while he was active in music and theater in high school, his extracurricular involvement at Geneseo was as a tour guide and a member of a fraternity. He spends a lot of time in the library. Sports are popular: varsity, club, and intramural. Ice hockey is the most popular spectator sport. There are theater and music opportunities. Relay for Life was gearing up to start. We were hoping to her about the Outing Club, but didn’t.

During our tour, the President of the college approached and chatted with our group at length. He was very personable, and a great booster of the college and the area.

My favorite things about Geneseo:

Main Street: Downtown Geneseo, only about three or four blocks long, is on Main Street, which is directly adjacent to campus. It almost feels like part of the campus. We ate dinner at Geneseo Family Restaurant, diner food, friendly service, great prices. Main Street seems like an easy, quick break from campus.

GOLD (Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development): GOLD offers students the opportunity to attend workshops, each only an hour long, on various aspects of leadership. Students can work towards bronze, silver, and gold certificates for attending. The workshops sounded very interesting, topics include conflict resolution, ethical decisions, listening skills, communication between genders.

Price: A liberal arts college at a SUNY price. Fantastic.

Goucher College

Okay, either I'm blind, crazy or I have Alzheimer's. The school we saw this week in no way resembles the school in my mind's eye after visiting in 2009. I remember Goucher as having uniform modern red brick buildings and no trees. In actuality, Goucher is comprised of lovely new stone buildings that have uniformity in materials, but vary widely in size, shape, form and function. The campus is full of lush trees, gentle hills, and green grass. It is breathtaking!

Goucher is very different from the typical college campus, established in 18-something and having ivy covered buildings with pillars, etc. (Well, Goucher was founded in 1885, but it doesn't look like it!) Goucher is new, clean, sleek and fancy. It's like a show place. But it is also welcoming and inviting, and it looks like a comfortable place to learn and to live.

We arrived in the morning for a tour and information session. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day and the campus sparkled. The admissions office is extrmemely attractive and even has an a fireplace in the center of a sitting area. The info session, held in a cozy corner of the room with exposed brick and lots of enlarged press, photos and posters, (SO different from McDaniel's charming space but blank walls,) was led by an alum, Josh, who described the school in a very favorable manner. Of course, that is his job, but he seemed genuinely proud of the work that is done at Goucher. I especially likes his summary of what students will gain from a Goucher education. He said, "Students will leave Goucher 1. able to write, 2. able to articulate and to think on their feet, and 3. as creative thinkers."

We had a huge tour comprised entirely of juniors, mostly from the east coast. Seniors visiting that day were called into a special meeting with an admissions dean and given a seperate tour. We saw many places on the tour including an amazing theater, a student art show, the famous anthenaem (the library, workout spaces, radio station, study areas and lord knows what else!) the dining hall, a four bedroom apartment, the lecture hall, dance studios, a typical classroom and the athletic center. The campus was easily walkable, but a common mode of transport seems to be skateboards.

After the tour, we met with the men's soccer coach who was friendly and honest about what he is looking for in a player. He will see Jeremy play this summer when Jeremy attends a four day soccer camp in June.

We were invited, by admissions, to eat in the dining hall, gratis, thank you! and after our meeting with the coach, we had a lovely lunch. I had pesto pasta and the kids continued the pizza contest. I don't have all of the results, but F&M wins best pizza. I chatted with another Brooklyn family and compared school lists. Afterwards, we went back to admissions to return the meal card and to thank eveyone.

Goucher has an artsy and comsmopolitan feel. Students seem happy, but weren't as openly friendly as those at Earlham. As visitors, we felt welcome, not awkward, walking through campus.



I would be happy to have Jeremy attend Goucher, and he would be happy to be there as well.

McDaniel

McDaniel is a small LAC located in cute, historic Westminster, MD. The college is perched on a hill and offers many views in every direction. The numerous quaint and attractive buildings are clustered closely together so that walking the length of the campus can be done in a few minutes.

We toured the school after hanging out for most of the morning with nothing in particular to do. We were invited by admissions to eat in the dining hall for $7.50 each, which we did. We sat amongst students and faculty eating, and noticed a variety of seating options that we had not seen before: single tables, like desks, in long rows that swivel toward a giant TV screen, and long and round, tall bar tables and seats placed in different areas around the cheerful and new dining hall. I ate a Mongolian stir-fry, new and popular campus cuisine (it was also touted at F&M) and the kids ate pizza as part of their survey of to find which campus has the best. F&M is currently in the lead but Juniata is not in the running as we did not lunch on campus there.

After lunch, we ventured back to admissions and Jeremy was visited by the assistant soccer coach, himself a recent McDaniel graduate. They had a friendly chat that was ended by an admissions officer who was ready to begin her information session, upstairs in the quaint house that houses the admissions offices. That speech was canned and pretty void of enthusiasm and excitement. It would have been actually dull had it not been for the presence of newbies from CA on their first tour ever, expressing surprise, glee and excitement about many things she described about the whole college application process. One thing to note: there is plenty of money for merit awards at McDaniel!

The tour was, by far, the highlight of the visit as we had two very charming and entertaining tour guides. Both love the school shared their favorite aspects of McDaniel with us. It really does make a difference seeing the inside of buildings and learning the stories behind them. We each felt a greater admiration for the school afterwards. Highlights for me are: the diversity, the “red square” (the quad), the football field with lights, the library, the lone lecture hall, and the athletic center.

When I first arrived at the admissions office, I sat and read the tiny amount of literature available about the school. I picked up a new book, America’s Best Kept College Secrets. I was happy to read about McDaniel in that book because it is not included in my bible, The Fisk Guide to Colleges, at least not in the edition that I have. Many good schools are omitted. However, after reading the description of McDaniel, I have to say it was pretty thin and devoid of accolades compared to that book’s descriptions of other schools we have visited and really liked. It was hard for that author, as it is for me, to pinpoint what is is that makes McDaniel really special. It's a nice, generous little LAC in a nice area and its acceptance rates are fairly high.

Franklin and Marshall Day Three

This was my third or fourth visit to F&M as I toured with Elsa and later stopped by for a few self-guided tours with Jeremy when we were in town for soccer tournaments. The school actually quite a reach for Jeremy and perhaps should have been deleted from this tour, but Elsa and Heather both like it enough that I thought Celeste should see it.

The school is beautiful, and full of old and new, detailed red brick buildings that surround three different quads.

There is a public park in the middle of the campus, creating a whimsical effect: colorful slides and swings near classroom buildings and in view from the back of the library. F&M is a college-y college and has traditional aspects such as Greek life, (about 30% of students participate,) a football team, and a politically diverse student body. I heard a parent in admissions explaining most campuses are so liberal but that there must be some sort of “moral compass” in the school that they choose for her daughter.

One aspect of F&M that is unique is that each student is assigned to a “house” with which they are affiliated for all for years, regardless of whether or not they live in the house. The house is determined, not by a sorting hat, but by the freshman seminar that the student selects and is assigned. Each house has academic support (professors have offices on premises,) in addition to residential advisors (which are called something else.) The house has study spaces in the lobby as well as small classrooms in which the seminars are held!

Both our admissions dean, Katie, and our tour guide, Steph, emphasized the close nature of the relationships that students form with professors. Steph also sang the praises of librarians who specialize in helping students gather sources for research papers and said she was able to check out texts for her paper on Chinese Hermits which had not been touched for decades.

While I was attending the information session, Jeremy wandered over the the athletic center and found the men’s soccer coach. Although Dan was not expecting Jeremy (oops!) they had a nice chat and Jeremy was invited to observe practice later in the afternoon. To kill time, we window-shopped in lovely and very cool Lancaster, a real draw for F&M. On the weekends, Lancaster has the oldest public (farmer’s) market in the country!



F&M is a very nice little school. Based on the location and reputation, it is an excellent option for many students, but it will be a reach for Jeremy if he applies.

Juniata Day Two

Today’s drive was not nearly so far. Last night we drove from Richmond, IN to Washington, PA where we stayed in a Day’s Inn-another story.

This morning, we drove approximately 3 hours to Huntingdon, PA to Juniata College. The drive through the mountains along Route 22 and 322 was breathtaking. And, Juniata is nestled in a very charming little town as well-much more so than Richmond.

Juniata is another of the CTCL schools described in Loren Pope’s book, Colleges That Change Lives. It’s bigger than Earlham, 1600 students, but shares some important characteristics such as the absence of Greek life and a strong sense of community. Juniata prides itself on several annual ‘traditions’ that most everyone seems to love and enjoy. Like Earlham, there is no “information session” for families, but instead a one-on-one with an admissions counselor for most all student visitors. We met with a terrific counselor, Rylan, who Jeremy will see again at his school this fall.

The Juniata campus is attractive and comprised of a variety of older and newer buildings that blend together well and surround a quad of sorts that slopes down a hill. Some of the newer buildings, including a classroom building that we saw, have those awful institutional cement blocks that remind me of prison cells, but others, like one dorm we saw, have beautiful (plaster?) walls and classic wood trim and moldings. There are two dining halls, one on top of the other, which look nice enough, one with a more limited schedule, and the other open all day. We didn’t eat there, though, so we can’t comment on the food. The entrance hall to the student union is particularly unimpressive, however. But, as Jeremy noted, most students probably just pass through the entranceway and do not take much notice. Seeing it, however, reminded me how beautiful the student center at Earlham is.

Our tour guide, a junior named Rachel, was bubbly and enthusiastic about the school. She, too, spoke at length about the traditions and looks forward to the many annual events that contribute to a strong sense of community. We didn’t meet the soccer coach, but left a note and a tape in his office in the athletic center, which is very nice and includes a pool!

Celeste is especially thrilled as the school offers her major, which they call POEs, Programs of Emphasis. Original! When we first arrived and drove through the campus, Jeremy didn’t think he would like Juniata. But he left liking the school very much, which proves how important a tour and interview can be!

Earlham CollegeThe First Stop on Jeremy's Spring College Tour

Earlham College is 660 miles from just outside the Holland Tunnel, on the Jersey side, where we gassed up on our way out west. Although the trip took nearly one whole day (11 hours) of driving and two tanks of gas, the school is definitely worth the trip!

Earlham is a small college in Richmond, Indiana, minutes from Dayton, Ohio. The school was founded by Quakers in 1847, and, like Guilford, has a philosophy strongly rooted in Quaker beliefs and values. The school sits on 800 acres, some wooded, and is made up of Georgian style red brick buildings. The overall architectural theme is one of simplicity, and although the campus is not the most beautiful we have seen, it has an extremely pleasing look and is peppered with lots of old, tall trees, many smaller, colorful flowering trees and lush green lawns in between. The buildings are clustered around a quad affectionately called “The Heart,” making the walk from one to the next relatively short.

A prospective student visiting Earlham is given a schedule created by the admissions office. Celeste just signed up for a tour, but Jeremy attended a class at 9am, (computer science-artificial intelligence,) went on a tour at 10am, and was interviewed at 11.

At 12 there was a lunch tour and all of the visitors and their parents who were visiting that day walked to the dining hall and we all ate together at two big tables! It was so welcoming and, well, fun! We made many new friends and chatted with people visiting Earlham form all over. Celeste and I actually toured twice, once with Emma and once again with Mallory. Interestingly, there is no info-session. It is up to us to speak to people and gather facts and information about the school ourselves. So we chatted with almost everyone we met. It makes for a warm and very personable experience.

What makes Earlham so special, in my opinion, is that it is a little oasis in the middle of no-where. It’s a beautiful college in the middle of a lesser known little town in an area of the state that is open and flat, and lacks the beauty of mountains or rolling hills. And, Earlham is full of friendly, sophisticated, liberal, like-minded folks who seemed to have gathered in this out-of-the-way place to make a great school that does wonderful and important things. Earlham is, hands down, the most racially diverse school I have ever seen, and it has the most diverse soccer team of all. We were told that only a small percentage of students hail from the immediate area. The bulk, like 80%, come from other places, and many, maybe 18% are international students. It seems Earlahm attracts a certain caliber of student and facluty to gather in this magical place. This makes for a rich and diverse student body, and an interesting place to be.

I must mention the beauty of the buildings, both inside and out. The student center, for example, is open, bright, clean and wonderfully appealing-something that stood out especially after our next tour. There is a student art gallery inside! The living and learning areas are pleasing and comfortable-I saw no cinder blocks! I wish I had photographed the large, bright dining hall that everyone calls SAGA. There is just one, and everyone eats together at big round or rectangular tables at specific times. Students who miss a meal can use their card at a coffee shop. I've always believed that schools with one dining hall help build community that way.

Jeremy had a lovely meeting with the men’s soccer coach, who met him at lunch with other players. Afterwards, he took us around to his office and then down to the soccer fields. He spoke at length and with pride about his school and his team’s accomplishments. He has been at Earlham for 31 years, and plans to continue on for at least a while longer. He invited Jeremy to return in the fall for an overnight and to see a game.

Next time, Jeremy will be flying…