Beginning the College Hunt, Part IV

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new frontrunner in the college sweepstakes.

After touring Arizona State on Monday, David announced that it is now his favorite among the four he's now toured (W&M, U of Arizona, and in distant fourth, Berkeley, round out the list). He likes the feel of the campus and the flexibility with which ASU appears to treat its students: he can build an anthropology degree as a BA or as a BS, and he can focus it towards particular areas (like archaeology), and he can double-major or minor in Native American studies to complement it (or he can minor in Theatre Design and Production). And I think he also likes that ASU's admissions process is noncompetitive (you either meet the thresholds or you don't), and that the freshman dorm for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (read: anthro majors live here) is the brand-newly-remodeled 15-story Manzanita Hall, overlooking the football stadium on one side and campus on the other.

Manzanita Hall (rear) and Palo Verde East dorms

On the ASU bridge, looking back towards dorms and the stadiums.

Palm Walk, the main north-south pathway through campus

He doesn't seem to mind that Tempe and Phoenix are a much busier place; or, that the campus was (or felt to me) a bit crowded--although even at class change, the crowds were very reasonable, despite the size of the school. He also doesn't seem fazed about being one of 9,000+ freshmen--although perhaps that will give others pause.

He does caution, though, that he still wants to see the others on his list--UVA, Radford, and Wake Forest, and last night Texas A&M made a return to the wish list. But if he had to pick right now, my son would want to become a Sun Devil. What will his final pick be? Stay tuned…we've a long way until next fall!

Beginning the College Hunt, Part III

As previously described, David has begun looking for college options he likes, and following on the success of his conversation with a grad student at William and Mary, he had identified both the University of Arizona and Arizona State as two places he wanted to consider. This weekend is the long break between first and second quarters at school, so he and I flew westward on Halloween night.

We toured UA today. The campus reminded me a little of Berkeley, with its gated entrance and Western feel to it. We walked around much of the southern part of campus, including the residence halls, student rec center (wow), student union, and library. Here's some of what we saw:

Main Gate to the University of Arizona

The "Mall" features the single longest strip of grass in Arizona…but also this native display (and one Virginian)

The Mall, looking east

Admin building and part of the student union at left across the Mall

Found his building; lost his sense of exploration somewhere around here though :)

The boy, surveying the campus (and football stadium to the right) from the top of  Likin Hall dorm

David's conclusion: so far this is his favorite out-of-state choice, but he's not yet ready to say which is in the lead, UA or W&M. He liked the atmosphere of the place, feeling more at home than he did at Berkeley, and the people were friendly. I think he also liked that the tour guides were only a couple of years older than him--so he could kinda see himself in their place. He saw three levels of dorm, and says he'd be just as comfortable in the cheaper one (good!). He wishes he had a chance to see more of the archaeology program, but knows we may have more of an opportunity Monday in Tempe.

My takeaways? (1) Campus is d-e-a-d on a Saturday. With 35,000 students in October I had expected to get more of a sense of the atmosphere; we did not count on the fact that only 6,600 of them live on campus, mostly freshmen, who were still sleeping in much of the day. And (2) It didn't feel too large and overwhelming, or too crowded--so, a much different vibe from Berkeley. Closer to a W&M feel, without oak trees and 50 degrees warmer.

ASU, up next on Monday!