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^^, I also tend not to trust college websites because they all look the same. Could someone please compare/contrast some colleges for me, that would help me a lot to get a base of information.
berkeley
chicago
columbia
brown
nwestern
rice
ANY information would be greatly appreciated. Whatever you have to offer...please post.
My major will be economics. Quality of education is most valued.
Thanks

By Reidmc (Reidmc) on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 - 11:14 pm: Edit

Go to the library and read the current editions of the Fiske Guide and Princeton Review Best 351 Colleges. They are pretty accurate and since each tends to the colleges in it's own format, things in a similar format, reading both will give you a broad general take on the schools and give you a good basis for comparison.

By Just_Forget_Me (Just_Forget_Me) on Wednesday, July 14, 2004 - 03:22 am: Edit

Runricky-The academic information you get at a campus visit really isn't much more than what you'd get from a thorough read of a guidebook/web site. If you have specific questions, you can give the admissions office a call. The most important reason for visiting a school, in my opinion, is getting a feel for a campus, and that's really a personal thing.

I've visited three of your schools, I can give you short opinions.

Berkeley-The city is a little shady, but the campus is beautiful with a surprising (to me at least) number of trees/trails/parks/etc. Buildings all look nice too. Big dorm complex is kind of a far walk from academic areas.

Chicago-Beautiful buildings (except for the new orange dorms, blech!). Hyde Park can also be a little scary. Things seem pretty close together/easy to walk around.

Northwestern-Architecture didn't impress me. Dorm I went into was sorta decripit. I didn't have a great visit, but N'western is a great school, so don't let me discourage you.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Wednesday, July 14, 2004 - 09:52 am: Edit

Counselors' offices sometimes have promotional videos made by colleges that might help you get a feel for what the school looks like. You can also buy videos of the walking tours at quite a few colleges at this site:
http://www.collegiatechoice.com/

By Montmammoth (Montmammoth) on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 12:35 pm: Edit

What I've advised my daughter to do is read the student newspapers online. Just like city newspapers, they don't always get their facts straight, and most of them do have a point of view, but they will give you a feel for what goes on around the campus, what issues the students care about, etc.

Student newspapers won't tell you everything, but it will be one more data point for you.

By Pinkearmufs (Pinkearmufs) on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 12:40 pm: Edit

check out collegeboard's site and do a side-by-side comparison for those schools, I believe you can do up to 3 at one time. hope that helps.

By Bettina (Bettina) on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 03:14 pm: Edit

Berkeley is a great place to live--a real college town with tons of coffee houses and interesting bookstores--where quality of life is high. There's so much going on, the weather is great. The food and fresh fruit and produce in this part of the country are phenomenal. We are spoiled and it will be hard for dd to move away. Transportation is good, tons of buses, and you can ride BART into San Francisco in less than 1/2 hour.