BY: MR. ABSTAIN (7-2-04)

SUNY Binghamton- What a gorgeous place! Absolutely gorgeous, nice people, its the kind of place where you feel like you would fit in. Great selection in majors but hard to get into. Did you know that the average GPA was a 92? I was impressed (though I don't think it's accurate). Also you need like a 97/98 to get into honors there? I was like whoa. Anyway they have nice dorms, you can have traditional hall living (two people per room and hall bathrooms cleaned everyday but weekends... ew...) or a suite (5 or 6 people, two to a room, a common area, and a bathroom cleaned every week... (only slightly better.) But other than the rooms the university itself was absolutely gorgeous. (Have I already said that?) COSTS: approx. $15000 for in-state residents. $20000 for out-state residents. RATINGS: 4.8/5 stars for niceness, 4/5 stars for name.*

Cornell University- Very nice! I wouldn't say as nice as Binghamton but definitely more prestigious. This is the place that I want to go to. Early Decision is a small possibilty because I like so many other things as well but its possible. With seven schools spanning everything (REALLY EVERYTHING) you are sure to find what you want here. They don't show you the dorms on the tour because they are too far away... What does that say about when you get on campus? The food is known to be awesome on campus but 90% of seniors still live off campus. Something to think about when considering Cornell. They have a very popular wine tasting class that is the most failed class in the university. You don't drink wine when tasting it, you taste it and then spit it out for future reference. I think I am going to apply to Aggy (Agriculture) because of the tuition break and it is probably closest to what I want in the state which is like Earth Science-y-ish stuff. I think I may end up transferring to Hotel Administration. It sounds like such a fun school to be in and I think it would be a great experience. Very competitive to get into, hey its an Ivy! COSTS: approx. $19000 for in staters at state parts (Industrial & Labor Relations, Human Ecology (supposedly very popular and more people (internal) transfer to this school then any other--- psych majors! This is actually the school you go to for more human based interraction psychology) and Agriculture) (approx.) $37000 for out of staters (at the three) and (approx.) $40000 at the privates (Architecture, Engineering, Arts and Sciences (the basic liberal arts curriculum), and Hotel Admin (so cool!)) RATINGS: 4.6/5 stars for niceness, 4.9/5 stars for name.*

SUNY Albany- Very drab, too much concrete. It's supposedly the second biggest concrete structure after the pentagon in the world/east coast? I don't remember. Anyway, its really cold there during hte year and some of their facilities need ot be refurbished. They are currently investing 200 million some odd $ to refurbish, build, and such. So it should only get better. Gorgeous fountains and they look for over a 91 for honors which comes with $ and priority house/class registration. They also have Project Renaissance that makes a "smaller college feel" in a big university which was cool. COSTS: (approx.) $15000 for in staters and $20000 for outs. RATINGS: 3/5 stars for niceness, 3/5 stars for name.*

RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)- Probably spelt wrong. Hard to navigate with a car but Troy (where it is) is absolutely lovely as is the college itself but good luck finding admissions. Very career oriented and very science based. If you want to be in science/engineering/business (definitely) then you should go here and look. It's too intensely that for me. Also the 3-1 male/female ratio is bad for men. Females like it because apparently they get a lot of attention. Biology requirement for all students was the last straw against it. I forewent the tour but thats just for em... if you like bio and are sure of your career path then RPI could really be where to go. In fact over 700 companies recruited on campus last year, and that my friend is awesome. COSTS: (approx.) $38000 for all students. RATINGS: 4.5/5 for niceness, 4.4/5 for name (in engineering field).*

*More on numeric ranking in earlier article, click here for the article and explanation.
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BY: Mr. Abstain (7-17-04)

UD (U. of Delaware)- It was too hot to enjoy my tour today, however, I will try to not let that effect what I thought of the school for this entry. Today was a "prespective freshmen day" thingy so they laid out a continental breakfast for us in their huge athletic complex. This stadium is probably where they have their really, really big concerts, I think it goes from row B to AA. So 26 rows with at least 26 seats each, on two sides. It was very large.

They give out a lot of water on their tour along with coupons for free ice cream (don't leave it in the car like us!). On a summer day, you really need it. Many of the dorms had air conditioning, which is a nice feature for any college. The people there seemed normal, similar to my reaction of SUNY Binghamton. Smart, regular, short, tall, skinny, fat, the whole spectrum which was nice to see. (Actually, they all seemed really happy and bubbly, I think I will call it the "pixi-stik campus" based purely on the energy everyone had.)

The dorm rooms are incredibly small and their sample room was missing a desk, to make it look bigger than it really was. The bookstore/student union is gorgeous, large, and really active. All in all, it seemed like a place that the students really enjoy. (See the bottom of http://www.udel.edu/admissions/viewbook/visit/ for a real, virtual campus tour. You follow around a tour guide in a video, not like the crappy ones that many schools have.)

COSTS: (approx.) $13000 total for in staters and $23000 total for outs. (Costs include tuition, room, and board)

RATINGS: 3.5-4/5 stars for niceness, 3.5/5 stars for name. (see more on Ratings here along with all my other college articles.)