Final First Visits

Today I ostensibly finished visiting the colleges and universities on my list that I'm seriously interested in.  The only two schools that remain are Reed (which I will very likely not be visiting because of the prohibitive distances between Harrison, New York and Portland, Oregon) and Columbia (which is literally 45 minutes away so I can really decide at the drop of a hat to go).

My dad and I started the day off at Skidmore in Saratoga Springs, NY.  It's waking up at 4:30 to drive upstate that reminds me that the state I live in is actually quite large.  Three hours on the dot later, I was in the middle of opening day at the Saratoga Race Track and about 15 minutes later I was at the admissions building.  Skidmore is an incredibly welcoming campus.  It says something about a school when someone tweets back at you to welcome you at 7:26 AM in the middle of summer.  Skidmore did that.  It was nice.  They also seem dedicated to bringing you resources at Skidmore.  Of course they participate in the Interlibrary Loan System (like every college), but they also make it doable to get a non-Skidmore study abroad program vetted and approved.  Our guide was working with the administration to get a U of Chicago program approved so that he could study history in Istanbul for the fall of his Junior year.  Generally speaking, they're a very encouraging and welcoming bunch.  Facilities seemed modern and clean (by contrast Colby's labs seemed a little dingy and Bowdoin reminded me of a horror movie insane asylum in its architecture) and rooms looked comfortable. Skidmore meets basically all of my criteria for a college/university.  Is it at the top of my list? Probably not.  I think I would be very happy at Skidmore, but it seems to lack some major resources.  For example: a Middle Eastern Studies professor.  Our guide said that the college was working on getting one since it's such a popular field of study, but it strikes me as odd that there wasn't already someone with that focus on the faculty.  It's little things like that.  But like I said, I think I would be very happy there.  It's very welcoming and encouraging and seems to have a good attitude toward it's students.

My dad and I also visited Williams.  These campuses could not have been more different.  We essentially made this trip out to Williams as a favor to my mother who has not been able to join us on any tours because she heard the campus was pretty.  Which it is... kind of; the Berkshires are beautiful, Williams not quite as much.  The campus gives off a cold, competitive vibe that could not have stood in starker contrast to Skidmore. Even with no people on campus in the summer, Skidmore was a more welcoming campus.  Williams still had a bunch of students, but it seemed somewhat hostile.  While I admit it might have had something to do with our catty, preppy guide, I basically stopped listening to her after 15 minutes and still felt ill at ease.  She actually described the typical Williams student as an aggressive, over-achiever.  I consider myself an achiever, but I would not consider myself an over-achiever.  I do not achieve for the sake of achieving.  I do what I do because I like it and because I am interested.  I'm not the kind of person to join 20 clubs to put them on my college app.  That's more or less how a typical Williams student was described by our tour guide.  I think that's a little unhealthy.  There's no denying the cachet of Williams.  It's a very good school.  But it's so combative.  Most of the school's I have liked have described themselves as collaboratively excellent.  Williams is cut throat.  You can feel it in the campus.

So that's it.  18 Campuses later, I get to start filling out the common app on August 1 when it opens for the 2012-2013 season.  Fun fun...