The Great College Tour Odyssey

This February break I went college touring with my mom! We flew to Montreal, wandered the city Sunday, saw McGill University Monday, flew to Detroit, rented a car, drove to Ann Arbor, spent the night, toured U-Michigan the next day, drove to Madison, Wisconsin, stayed two nights with a campus tour in between, visited lots of relatives on the long drive from Madison to Minnesota, stayed with cousins and aunt and uncle, toured U of M, chilled with a camp friend, and flew home. Whew. (That was intentionally a run-on sentence to convey the amount of relaxation found in this vacation.)

McGill/Montreal:

(View from our hotel window)

Montreal is gorgeous. I want to live there so badly. The St. Laurence was frozen over and you could go ice skating on it, or watch the big boats and dream of romantic adventure on the high seas. The buildings are a mixture of very old: gorgeous churches of tall stone, statues, cobblestones, and very new: beautiful modern architecture like the building of colored blocks like I used to play with when I was younger, glass and tall and stuck together.

Unfortunately my impression of the local food was not entirely favorable, but it's likely that I just didn't know where to look. My mother and I got the impression that a large part of native cuisine has to do with barbequed meat of some sort, and, while we aren't vegetarian by any means, we are more fond of fruits, veggies, and grains than red meat and potatoes. Everyone is bilingual, which is incredibly charming – at restaurants, they will greet you with a cheerful “Bonjour Hello! Je peux vous asseyez May I find you a table?” and continue with whichever language you answer in. Disappointingly, I only had one real conversation in French, with our “I speak small English” cab driver on the way into the city. He was very complementary about my grammatically interesting French and I was entirely pleased to discover that the things I learn at camp and in the classroom are in fact applicable to the real world. Weird! Sometimes I wonder if the words they teach us are just made up, and real French is completely different. How would I know? Well, reassuringly, I wasn't completely wrong. Everywhere else it was easier just to speak English, so I only got to practice eavesdropping in French and not speaking it.

McGill was also wonderful. The campus was quiet – I hadn't known they were on a mid-semester break. The tours had all been booked months in advance because it was President's Day, and everyone drove up for the day from New York and Boston. But I tagged along on a tour and pretended I'd been signed up all along. McGill is a great school. The few disadvantages to it in my mind (I plan to major in Undecided) are that its colleges are more separate (there is no one giant liberal arts and sciences college like at Madison, but rather separate colleges for science, art, music, medicine, etc.) and that most people seem to go in knowing what they want to do. Quebecois students come in as sophomores, having already chosen their major and done an intermediate program. You don't have to declare a major when you apply, but you have to know what college you want, and it seems to be less easy to be indecisive than in US schools.

What else struck me about McGill... it seems very independent, almost as if Canadians actually trust their kids to grow up after high school, and college for us Americans are more like in-between houses for those almost responsible enough to live on their own. There's less housing on campus, though many freshmen do live on campus, fewer people in your face telling you to go join this club and that club – there are still clubs to join, but you might have to go search them out. That could be both good and bad. I can unfortunately picture myself, hermit that I am, living in my single dorm room (very few doubles!) and not being brave enough to venture out and make friends. My mom remarked that if McGill seemed like the ideal academic environment, but less friendly than I might want in a college, perhaps I should go there for grad school.

But anyway, enough about the downsides of McGill! I really, really loved it. The people were nice, the buildings pretty, the library more impressive than any of the other three universities' libraries, the academics seemed intense but fun, and I heard from our tour guide about a lot of activities that I got really excited to go join. Apparently someone decided to take advantage of willing but broke college students, so there are lots of programs at McGill where you can go volunteer in another country (Peru is apparently popular) and they will pay your way! And there's clubs and sports and everything else you'd expect in a big university – it just seems a little bit harder to find.

I also was fortunate enough to talk with a linguistics professor. My cousin Laura went to McGill and hooked me up with her undergrad adviser. I think most of my questions were too vague for her, asking about university policy in general rather than the linguistics department (and she may have been disappointed that while I'm interested in linguistics, I don't have my heart set on majoring in it). I did, however, ask one question she really liked, and promised me she would go ask her friend the dean about it and get back to me. It was about the possibility of studying abroad in countries McGill doesn't usually send people too, such as Cameroon. My camp counselors have virtually all studied abroad in Cameroon with our camp director's program that partners with universities to do so, leaving me with a hankering to go see Africa. So the question was half about flexibility of McGill in general and half about that specific situation. The answer was the same in all four schools: we don't really know, but you could try, I guess! Hah. We shall see then.

So in conclusion, I loved McGill and Montreal, would be super excited to go there, and is currently #2 on my list (a very close and tentative runner-up especially because it is so very different from choice #1!)

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor:

Ann Arbor has been described as the perfect college town. I was not especially taken with it, maybe partly as a result of staying in a cheap motel and having the closest restaurant to us be Big Boy's. But what little town there was (and really, Ann Arbor is so dominated by U-Mich that there's hardly anything to it) had more of a trashy middle-of-the-country feel to it than I had hoped. Ah well. I'd also like to live in a town that has a little more than just a university, a motel, a gas station, and a few eateries.

That morning established a pattern for the next several days: a presentation in the morning by an admissions officer about the school, your study options, and the admission process, followed by a walking tour given by a current student. The presenter was excellent: funny, informative, proud of U-Mich but not too in-your-face about it. My favorite part might have been when she asked for a show of hands for the Michiganites, then asked where they all lived: they each pointed to a spot on their hand. Mind blown! Makes me want to go live in Michigan, so I can use my hand as a map.

Our tour guide, unfortunately, was not so charming. Pleasant enough, but a sorority girl with annoying speech habits: like, awesome, definitely, actually, and totally became words I never wanted to hear or speak again. My mom and I also exchanged appalled glances when she mentioned how nice it was that the library was mostly duplicated online, since going into actual libraries with their “scary stacks” is a traumatizing experience. What did you go to college for, girl? But she showed us some lovely places on campus. The law quad in particular looked very Hogwarts-esque with its impressive stone buildings under a blanket of white. That day was the one day during our trip when it snowed, fat, heavy flakes that covered everything in a surprisingly short time and then melted all away in the afternoon. (HEY LOOK SNOW! Also this is the last time I remembered to get out my camera... I apologize if you wanted pictures of Madison or Minneapolis.)

After our tour I met with a friend, a Homestead band alumna who's a freshman at U-Mich. She likes college well enough, in her quiet “well, now I'm here” sort of way. She didn't have too much trouble finding friends even though it's a big school, though by no means likes everyone in her dorms (she did mention a certain level of annoyance at the preponderance of sorority girls, from which I sadly conclude that our tour guide was not a one-off). She likes her classes, though says she underestimated their difficulty. In short, I'm running out of things to say, because there wasn't a whole lot that was remarkable about U-Mich. It's just a big state school that happens to have really good scores. I think I would be happy anywhere I went – I've spent a lot of energy the past few years trying to figure out how to be happy – and would find good friends and good classes and altogether have a successful experience. But U-Mich, while a good school, didn't make me fall in love with it the way the other three schools did. In conclusion: Michigan is a beautiful state, but I didn't like Ann Arbor that much, and Michigan is a good school but #4 on my list (out of the ones I visited).

University of Wisconsin-Madison:

My aunt and uncle, three cousins, my grandma and her three siblings, and my grandpa's brother all went to Madison – basically everyone on my mom's side of the family except my mom, who did the black sheep of the family thing and went to Minnesota, and her father, who didn't get a degree. So I have a lot of family history there, and I've grown up hearing my big cousins' stories about crazy Madisonian college life. I still have a cousin, a first cousin once removed (is that right? My mom's cousin?), a great-aunt, and some second cousins who live in Madison, so we crashed on several different couches to try to see them all.

Madison, let me tell you, was exceedingly convincing from the start. We stayed with my cousin Jocelyn, in her neat little studio apartment with her adorable kitty. Jocelyn is a lot of things I want to be: independent, adventurous (she's currently in France and/or Morocco, because as she put it, “I could afford a bigger place, but hey, travel!”), hard-working (as a nurse, which seems like a great job), smart funny beautiful etc. So of course when she tells me how glad she is that she went to Madison, and her pride in her school is really obvious and genuine, I assume it must be a pretty kick-ass place to warrant such praise from a girl with high-standards. In the morning I wandered around til I found the student union, sat through a reasonably entertaining presentation, and then went on my tour with a senior double-majoring in journalism and political science. She was everything a tour guide should be as well – intelligent, friendly, proud of her school, fun-loving, knowledgeable, and in general made a great impression. We walked around campus, which is gorgeous, even in the middle of a strangely snow-less winter where there are neither beautiful white drifts nor green grass and flowerbeds. The lake was frozen over and looked very tempting. I learned about Hoofers, the wilderness club, and the crazy things they do (WANT.). The Lakeshore dorms (where everyone in my family has stayed, as opposed to the more urban, party-centric Southeast dorms, which I thought were some of the only ugly buildings on campus) were lovely – a nice walk from everything, right by the lake, quieter... We walked through classrooms, talked about academics (which sound remarkably flexible for a big university), and were shown some nice museums, shops, etc. Some numbers that I like very much: 50% study abroad before they graduate – wow that's high. 60% come in undecided – Yay, it's easy to be undecided here! And the giant liberal arts and sciences college that I mentioned earlier – I wouldn't have to try transferring schools. What else. Madison itself is a beautiful little town, dominated by the university and the capitol buildings, but with more to it than Ann Arbor. The eating, shopping, and living options all looked much more favorable. A small town, a beautiful town, a friendly town, but a big enough town to not just be a school in the middle of nowhere. Far from it! Aaahh everyone's just so friendly and fun.

I could picture myself at Madison more easily than anywhere else. I know I'd live in the Lakeshore dorms, and join Hoofers, and jump in the lake in the middle of summer and maybe in the middle of winter for the Polar Plunge. I'd study abroad, that's for sure, and major in maybe three different things all at once in the nice convenient college that contains nearly all my interests. I'd go tray-sledding in winter all the time. I'd join a wind ensemble – not world-renowned, but good, and I've heard the conductors are great. I'd take serious classes and fun classes, learn about medieval weaponry, all that craziness. I'm close enough to my aunt and uncle in Minneapolis, and my great-aunt and -uncle in Viroqua, that I could have closer places to go for holidays than all the way back home. It's close(ish) to camp. It's just so easy and so pleasant to picture myself there. As I went to sleep that evening, I had a mental battle: I didn't want to pick favorite schools, I just wanted to get a flavor for all of them! So that I could apply, find out where I'm accepted, and THEN pick favorites. But I guess it didn't work that way. Cause now I really want to go to Madison. Choice #1.

University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities:

My mother's alma mater. In Minneapolis, which is another big old beautiful city, crackling with culture and things to do. But... really big. The city itself feels less friendly because it's not at all dominated by the university. On the other hand, the U, as they call it, was extremely friendly despite its vastness. As soon as I walked in the door of the welcome center I was accosted by a really cute student with a bright smile who helped me check in, gave me a folder of information, and pointed me to the information session room. The music playing in the room until the session started consisted entirely of things on my MP3 player: Vitamin String Quartet's cover of My Chemical Romance and the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song. Good first impression: check. The speaker was also entertaining and informative: they have lots of great programs though unfortunately different colleges for sciences and liberal arts. But you can make your own major! And they have lots of great clubs you can join, such as the Guys Named Mike (which might even beat U-Mich's squirrel feeding club – and holy mackerel, they have fat squirrels in Ann Arbor now). Then our tour was also nice, a very eager-to-please young man who burbled a constant stream of information about all the opportunities and activities you can join. We walked through academic buildings, dorms, sports areas, student areas/libraries, etc., all beautiful. It's a very nice campus. Just a little more urban than Madison, and though cities are nice, I think I really value greenery. After the tour we went back to the welcome center to ask yet another supremely helpful, smiling, cute young man which library we should go visit (we had made a point of visiting at least one library at every university, as a litmus test for overall academic quality). We proceeded to get happily lost in an academic library, a map library, and then a music library, before our grumbling stomachs urged us over to Annie's Parlour, which my mom has called the best place to get mushroom burgers and ice cream sundaes ever, a fact with which I now concur.

I loved the U of M, and would be extremely happy there. But it was hard to even fully appreciate the place when I'd already fallen in love with (an) other school(s). Like McGill, it seems slightly more impersonal and less warm than Madison, but slightly less impressive academically. (McGill's library could make up for a lot of faults, and I could probably ignore the whole having friends bit just by living in the stacks.) In conclusion, it was great, and choice #3 out of 4 doesn't really seem to give it the credit it deserves, but, fact is, everywhere I visited was great.

FINALLY, if you have gotten to this point, here are the big results from my trip: 1) I want to go to college! Yay, college! 2) I want to go to Madison! And McGill! And U of M! Oh god choices. 3) Wow the Midwest is full of really nice people. 4) I can't wait for this semester to be over so I can start my life. Camp, France, college... I'm so excited.