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Clemson gave us a wonderful tour. We were also given an additional tour of the facilities for the specific major that interested our child. That tour was given by a student who was a senior in that major. The tours were impressive and covered all aspects of college life at Clemson.
I visited Clemsen many yeas ago and really liked it even though the trip was kind of dark. My brother went there to see his girlfriend from a year of being an exchange student in Germany. She was pretty cold to him and eventually it came out that she was sleeping with her English professor. Made for an uncomfortable visit since we were staying at her house. However, other than the seedy English professor sleeping with an 18 year old student who had only been in his class for a month - we actually met the guy and he was as greasy as you would expect and about 35 years old), I thought Clemson was really nice, but not substantially different from any other university.
Thing with these tours is they are all pretty much the same. If Clemsen provided enough of a tour to give a realistic glimpse into what life is like at the school, they are doing something better than most of the universities we have visited. Usually they are pretty much the same. Here is our library. here is the student center. Look! we have a taco bell right in the student center, bet you never saw that anywhere before. What they tout as something that makes them special are the exact same thing the other schools are saying makes them special. The one to two hour presentations, really all say the same thing. "We have a really amazing study abroad program" "Our Honors college is like attending a small school" "Our students get direct research opportunities with real professors unlike other schools" "We hae more diversity than other schools." "We have more clubs, or more clubs per capita, or more academic clubs, or more scientific clubs, or whatever" They should go on each other's tours. The unlike other schools" part cannot be true if they are all saying the same thing.
Usually if you are looking at Engineering or life sciences they will provide a special tour of that departments buildings classrooms labs whatever, but not for things like English or Philosophy.
For a while we called and set up to have the Trumpet professor meet our son one on one and either play with him, talk and/or do a short lesson. Eventually we quit that too, they were all pretty much the same (except Michigan State where they told him is was stupid to double major in music and anything else and the trumpet professor did not show up to meet him/us as scheduled and no one was able to find him.)
They really need to come up with something that will distinguish their university somehow. Saying the same things as everyone else showing the same things (library, stadium, student center, honors college and housing) really tells us nothing about why to choose them over the last place, especially when they are making the same claims for uniqueness that the last place made.
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They really need to come up with something that will distinguish their university somehow. Saying the same things as everyone else showing the same things (library, stadium, student center, honors college and housing) really tells us nothing about why to choose them over the last place, especially when they are making the same claims for uniqueness that the last place made.
Not sure what you're looking for from them. Those are things most people are going to be interested in. Like how well equipped and staffed the library is or what the student center provides. There are certainly major differences. Maybe not between the top universities, but definitely between reach, target, and safe schools. We saw very definite differences in the tours we attended that helped our kids make decisions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens
... Here is our library. here is the student center. Look! we have a taco bell right in the student center, bet you never saw that anywhere before. What they tout as something that makes them special are the exact same thing the other schools are saying makes them special. The one to two hour presentations, really all say the same thing. "We have a really amazing study abroad program" "Our Honors college is like attending a small school" "Our students get direct research opportunities with real professors unlike other schools" "We hae more diversity than other schools." "We have more clubs, or more clubs per capita, or more academic clubs, or more scientific clubs, or whatever" They should go on each other's tours. The unlike other schools" part cannot be true if they are all saying the same thing.
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Honest question -- what would you really like to see that they aren't showing? We got survey's from several asking how well the tours were, so they'll want to know ways to capture more of the audience.
...They really need to come up with something that will distinguish their university somehow...
Well, Clemson is one of only five universities with the degree major that interested my child. So, the school put significant emphasis on showing us why Clemson was an excellent choice for this major.
Well, Clemson is one of only five universities with the degree major that interested my child. So, the school put significant emphasis on showing us why Clemson was an excellent choice for this major.
That is great.
I do not know what they should be showing us. Maybe there is nothing. Maybe they are just all the same and there is no reason to choose one school over another, just pick the location you like or go with the one that offers the greatest net price after scholarships. the public schools all cost about the same amount which was a surprise to me. The lesser schools with no national ranking are about $21,000 while the great nationally top ten school is about $24,000. It really comes down to scholarships, unless undergraduate rankings are important for your major.
Well, Clemson is one of only five universities with the degree major that interested my child. So, the school put significant emphasis on showing us why Clemson was an excellent choice for this major.
That is great. Perhaps Clemsen has its act together more than the schools we have visited. Maybe we are just visiting too many.
I do not know what they should be showing us. Maybe there is nothing. Maybe they are just all the same and there is no reason to choose one school over another, just pick the location you like or go with the one that offers the greatest net price after scholarships. the public schools all cost about the same amount which was a surprise to me. The lesser schools with no national ranking are about $21,000 while the great nationally top ten school is about $24,000. It really comes down to scholarships, unless undergraduate rankings are important for your major.
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