We did the Bates College fall open house on Monday and boy, has it thrown us a curve ball. Let me start by saying this is my alma mater and I absolutely loved my time there. Elizabeth has been to campus numerous times with us and is pretty familiar with it. When we first visited back in April, she was kind of 'meh' on it, and really preferred Colby. Then we saw some of the bigger universities and she started to really like those (mostly that she could start in a marine bio track right away). But - she walked away from the Bates open house absolutely loving it and is now talking about applying ED. We're telling her to slow her roll on that, just because she's been a bit wishy-washy up to this point. Even the Director of Admissions (we attended an admissions panel Q&A) said that even if you're 99% certain, DON'T do ED. You need to be 150%, even 200%, sure that that's the school you want.
Anyway, it was an early morning, as the event started at 8:00AM and we were staying in Freeport, about 30 minutes away. The open house was great, despite the drizzly weather. Everyone was so warm and welcoming. The day started off with a welcome from the VP for Enrollment/Dean of Financial Aid and the President, which was actually kicked off by one of the 5 a capella singing groups on campus (this pretty much won Elizabeth over LOL). Then the students went on a campus tour while the supporters (I loved how they didn't call us 'parents,' as we all know not all kids attend with parents) stayed for a student panel. Then that swapped. We had time at that point to visit the bookstore (I needed a new sweatshirt! plus we were given a 10% coupon LOL) and go to the 'campus life' fair, where E got to talk to students in a number of different groups (theater and singing). At noon, the students could choose from a number of mock classes to attend while the supporters went to a panel discussion/Q&A around the support systems in place at the college (multifaith chaplain, someone from the career services department, a coach from one of the teams, and a couple others). We met back up with Elizabeth for lunch in the dining hall, which was really quite good. Lots of options for GF dining and everything was clearly marked. We ate well! After lunch was the 'conversation with admissions professionals,' which was great. The 3 panelists each spoke for a bit and then opened the floor to questions, which were all asked by kids - I was impressed, even Elizabeth worked up the nerve to ask a question. Then we got to meet the rep for our territory and chat with him for a bit.
Elizabeth really ended up liking the small school feel and apparently talked to enough people to get the feeling that she could still be involved in research/field work despite it being a research university.
It's definitely a reach school for her, which I think is why she's talking about ED, as we know that gives a bit of a bump in acceptance rates. It's crazy-pricy, but they offer a ton of financial aid (need-based, not merit) and after doing the NPC/MyIntuition, the cost would likely come in around the same as the universities with their merit aid. We'll see what happens!
