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On a campus tour at OSU today

MegaPoke

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May 29, 2001
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with my daughter. What will follow is an old man blog of observations.

First, no Wilham. Kinda sad. 22 year old tour guide never heard of it.

Second. Holy shit the Colvin Center is amazing. It was bare bones basketball and weights when I went there
 
Sad about Willham. I think it came down about 10 years ago. Lived on the 6th floor in 86/87. Have they demolished Kerr-Drummond yet?
 
Kerr Drummond still up. Not used for dorms anymore I think.

Gotta say I'm impressed with the VIP treatment they are giving my daughter today. Just bought us lunch at Joes.

Also, Preacher Bob is still a thing but Pizza Shuttle is not.
 
Kerr Drummond still up. Not used for dorms anymore I think.

Gotta say I'm impressed with the VIP treatment they are giving my daughter today. Just bought us lunch at Joes.

Also, Preacher Bob is still a thing but Pizza Shuttle is not.


Pizza Shuttle...................743-3800. Still remember that number, but not much else.
 
My senior HS daughter will be attending OSU in the fall. We toured Arkanas, OU, and OSU.
I was very disappointed in the OSU tour. Sad to say but the OU tour was so much better and I was worried that would sway her decision.

Our tour started by first going to the Classroom building. They took us to a small dingy classroom with a chalkboard. My daughter goes to a large HS and hasn't seen a classroom without a "smart board" her entire school career. She made a smarmy comment that this is how classrooms were way back when I went to OSU.
We then went to the Bellman center but only went to first floor.

Meanwhile the OU tour takes you to their journalism building with high-tech equipment. Plus you end by going into their football stadium (which HS kids find cool) and they feed you at the end.
 
Also, the tour of the dorm rooms was the worst comparison between OU and OSU. At OSU they took us through a floor in Iba and a dorm room in Iba that was occupied. Sorry but smell was not that great.
Have to admit OU displays this better. They have about 10% of a floor that is a floor model. The room is staged well and they show the different variations of the rooms.
 
Kerr Drummond still up. Not used for dorms anymore I think.

Gotta say I'm impressed with the VIP treatment they are giving my daughter today. Just bought us lunch at Joes.

Also, Preacher Bob is still a thing but Pizza Shuttle is not.


I used to work at pizza shuttle. I ended up at a lot of parties that I would have missed otherwise.
 
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Also, the tour of the dorm rooms was the worst comparison between OU and OSU. At OSU they took us through a floor in Iba and a dorm room in Iba that was occupied. Sorry but smell was not that great.
Have to admit OU displays this better. They have about 10% of a floor that is a floor model. The room is staged well and they show the different variations of the rooms.
If you haven't shared this feedback to those whom it may concern, you really should. That stuff matters, and that's embarrassing to be second-rate with simple stuff.
 
If you haven't shared this feedback to those whom it may concern, you really should. That stuff matters, and that's embarrassing to be second-rate with simple stuff.

I agree. If feedback is not shared it is just whining -- and frankly not feedback.
My wife did correspond with someone the week after the tour. She focused mostly on the issue of showing the dorm rooms. And also provided suggestion that it would be nice for prospective students to see cool research labs instead of old style classrooms.
 
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Wilham came down my second semester freshman year, spring '05.

Tours must be different. I was dead sold on Indiana and came for my visit at OSU and was instantly sold. The engineering tour was fantastic. I saw several labs with currently running studies. The dorm tours were exceptional, too.
 
Wilham came down my second semester freshman year, spring '05.

Tours must be different. I was dead sold on Indiana and came for my visit at OSU and was instantly sold. The engineering tour was fantastic. I saw several labs with currently running studies. The dorm tours were exceptional, too.
Funny you say that, IU was the one campus I've visited that just blows away OSU aesthetically. Obviously there's more to a tour than physical beauty, but man.
 
Iu is a beautiful campus, but the atmosphere and people of OSU just did it for me. Didn't hurt I had a nice piece of lady ready and waiting ;-)
 
Well I have to say our overall tour was amazing.

The focus was on fit and culture, obviously in addition to academic opportunities. It really resonated with my daughter who is also being recruited as a merit scholar candidate by ou.

They rolled out the orange carpet for her today and we both had a great time. Through luck, the basketball presser happened to be today. I mentioned yesterday that it would be a cool cultural experience to include it in our tour and they arranged other meetings to accommodate it. Our guide drove us around campus all day in s golf cart and really did a great job. Even bought us lunch at Joes.

I am very proud of this kid. 4.7 weighted gpa 34 ACT and likely a three time All State clarinetist. To OSU's credit, they treated her accordingly today. She's got a lot of options but it looks like she wants to do OSU for her undergrad (physics) perform in the Cowboy Marching Band and then on to a masters and Ph.D. Program somewhere more specialized.

I was just happy to tag along with her today.
 
Well I have to say our overall tour was amazing.

The focus was on fit and culture, obviously in addition to academic opportunities. It really resonated with my daughter who is also being recruited as a merit scholar candidate by ou.

They rolled out the orange carpet for her today and we both had a great time. Through luck, the basketball presser happened to be today. I mentioned yesterday that it would be a cool cultural experience to include it in our tour and they arranged other meetings to accommodate it. Our guide drove us around campus all day in s golf cart and really did a great job. Even bought us lunch at Joes.

I am very proud of this kid. 4.7 weighted gpa 34 ACT and likely a three time All State clarinetist. To OSU's credit, they treated her accordingly today. She's got a lot of options but it looks like she wants to do OSU for her undergrad (physics) perform in the Cowboy Marching Band and then on to a masters and Ph.D. Program somewhere more specialized.

I was just happy to tag along with her today.
Awesome!
 
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I am very proud of this kid. 4.7 weighted gpa 34 ACT and likely a three time All State clarinetist. She's got a lot of options but it looks like she wants to do OSU for her undergrad (physics) perform in the Cowboy Marching Band and then on to a masters and Ph.D. Program somewhere more specialized.
I feel like I just found out that JJ Watt's dad was 95 pound weakling. Sometimes parentage just doesn't predict things.
 
Well I have to say our overall tour was amazing.

The focus was on fit and culture, obviously in addition to academic opportunities. It really resonated with my daughter who is also being recruited as a merit scholar candidate by ou.

They rolled out the orange carpet for her today and we both had a great time. Through luck, the basketball presser happened to be today. I mentioned yesterday that it would be a cool cultural experience to include it in our tour and they arranged other meetings to accommodate it. Our guide drove us around campus all day in s golf cart and really did a great job. Even bought us lunch at Joes.

I am very proud of this kid. 4.7 weighted gpa 34 ACT and likely a three time All State clarinetist. To OSU's credit, they treated her accordingly today. She's got a lot of options but it looks like she wants to do OSU for her undergrad (physics) perform in the Cowboy Marching Band and then on to a masters and Ph.D. Program somewhere more specialized.

I was just happy to tag along with her today.
Man that's incredible. That's high end academic.
 
Mega, I did this with my son about 8 years ago. Similar situation...my son was an All-State in trumpet and had a 32 ACT...so being 3X State and 34 ACT is amazing. Our understanding was that he had to cover his Tuition, Books, and Fees...We would cover room and board. He received scholarships for all of his responsibilities. He had some extra money that went to us to help with the room. I'm hoping that they took you to financial aid. It was there that I learned a lot about different scholarships available. The important thing that we learned was that if you know you are going to attend go ahead and apply...it will help you in being considered for The Presidents Scholarship...which he did get. There are several of those scholarships but timing and preference were given to those early birds. At least that was our experience. Our tour was great. Oh and Cordell Hall is still standing!
 
Well I have to say our overall tour was amazing.

The focus was on fit and culture, obviously in addition to academic opportunities. It really resonated with my daughter who is also being recruited as a merit scholar candidate by ou.

They rolled out the orange carpet for her today and we both had a great time. Through luck, the basketball presser happened to be today. I mentioned yesterday that it would be a cool cultural experience to include it in our tour and they arranged other meetings to accommodate it. Our guide drove us around campus all day in s golf cart and really did a great job. Even bought us lunch at Joes.

I am very proud of this kid. 4.7 weighted gpa 34 ACT and likely a three time All State clarinetist. To OSU's credit, they treated her accordingly today. She's got a lot of options but it looks like she wants to do OSU for her undergrad (physics) perform in the Cowboy Marching Band and then on to a masters and Ph.D. Program somewhere more specialized.

I was just happy to tag along with her today.


There is a big difference between the regular tours and the individual tours they give the Academically Talented kids. Did she spend much time learning about the honors college? It is one of the better programs we saw.

My daughter's initial tour showed her Iba. Her individual tour took her into Stout and let her see all the different room layouts. The time spent with the academic advisors was very nice as well.

After she got back from her second tour she told us she had made up her mind and we cancelled her visit to Brown. Made me and my wallet happy.
 
Also, the tour of the dorm rooms was the worst comparison between OU and OSU. At OSU they took us through a floor in Iba and a dorm room in Iba that was occupied. Sorry but smell was not that great.
Have to admit OU displays this better. They have about 10% of a floor that is a floor model. The room is staged well and they show the different variations of the rooms.


Part of the issue with the regular dorm tours is that they are full and don't really have the space available to stage rooms for display.

My wife gave them a lot of feedback about the initial ResLife part of the tour. She was a hall director for a couple of years and then worked in the HS and college relations office. She was appalled by that part of the first tour.
 
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There is a big difference between the regular tours and the individual tours they give the Academically Talented kids. Did she spend much time learning about the honors college? It is one of the better programs we saw.

My daughter's initial tour showed her Iba. Her individual tour took her into Stout and let her see all the different room layouts. The time spent with the academic advisors was very nice as well.

After she got back from her second tour she told us she had made up her mind and we cancelled her visit to Brown. Made me and my wallet happy.

Yep. Academic advisors, financial aid, honors college, marching band, Stout tour and the village (where Wilham once stood).
 
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Why in the world would they ever take anybody to Iba? Isn't it still international students mostly there? Geez.

On my tour in 2002 that took us to Patchin Jones which at the time was pretty awesome. I didn't get any special VIP tour. Just marched around campus with 30 other kids, no parents, academic advisors, or anything like that.

The night before my cousin took me and my buddy to El Tapatio. My delicate digestive system couldn't handle it and I had my first experience with a shart the night before the tour.
 
Part of the issue with the regular dorm tours is that they are full and don't really have the space available to stage rooms for display.

My wife gave them a lot of feedback about the initial ResLife part of the tour. She was a hall director for a couple of years and then worked in the HS and college relations office. She was appalled by that part of the first tour.

Yes, the tour I loathed was a regular tour of the campus - nothing to do with academic status. We did Arky, OU, and OSU last June after her junior year. All three schools had about 10 to 15 students with the parents at the same time.

On a related later subject: One thing OSU does well is roommate selection.
My daughter decided she wanted a roommate from a different HS. OSU has something akin to match.com, but for prospective roommates. She entered certain qualities she wanted like someone an athlete like her, someone that wants to attend OSU sporting events, and someone interested in Greek Life. Over the course of the next several weeks she received emails from other girls who I guess like my daughters profile. She then facetimed a couple of them. She found someone she liked and they had several conversations. During OSU's senior day this January she met face to face the prospective roommate, who happens to be from Dallas metro area - since we live in south Tulsa she finds it fun that her roommate lives in another area.
 
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Yes, the tour I loathed was a regular tour of the campus - nothing to do with academic status. We did Arky, OU, and OSU last June after her junior year. All three schools had about 10 to 15 students with the parents at the same time.

On a related later subject: One thing OSU does well is roommate selection.
My daughter decided she wanted a roommate from a different HS. OSU has something akin to match.com, but for prospective roommates. She entered certain qualities she wanted like someone an athlete like her, someone that wants to attend OSU sporting events, and someone interested in Greek Life. Over the course of the next several weeks she received emails from other girls who I guess like my daughters profile. She then facetimed a couple of them. She found someone she liked and they had several conversations. During OSU's senior day this January she met face to face the prospective roommate, who happens to be from Dallas metro area - since we live in south Tulsa she finds it fun that her roommate lives in another area.

The roommate match thing is cool. Worked well for my daughter. She had it narrowed down to one by spring break, and they spent a couple of hours with each other when we were in Edmond last week since the girl is from the Piedmont area. Removed a lot of stress for my daughter.
 
Well I have to say our overall tour was amazing.

The focus was on fit and culture, obviously in addition to academic opportunities. It really resonated with my daughter who is also being recruited as a merit scholar candidate by ou.

They rolled out the orange carpet for her today and we both had a great time. Through luck, the basketball presser happened to be today. I mentioned yesterday that it would be a cool cultural experience to include it in our tour and they arranged other meetings to accommodate it. Our guide drove us around campus all day in s golf cart and really did a great job. Even bought us lunch at Joes.

I am very proud of this kid. 4.7 weighted gpa 34 ACT and likely a three time All State clarinetist. To OSU's credit, they treated her accordingly today. She's got a lot of options but it looks like she wants to do OSU for her undergrad (physics) perform in the Cowboy Marching Band and then on to a masters and Ph.D. Program somewhere more specialized.

I was just happy to tag along with her today.

Back in '92-'93 when I was a HS senior in Iowa I looked into OSU because someone I knew from my microscopic school went there, and she works at OSU now. I think TOG knows her (I have no idea if TOG even posts much anymore...).

I had a 33 ACT but no all-state music credentials and I was a national merit scholar. At that time, OSU didn't really make much of a big deal about NMS, but OU was over the top - they sent marketing and scholarship information to every single NMS whether they had expressed any interest or not.

Suffice to say, the tour wasn't very impressive. But I had made up my mind before I ever got a tour, largely sight unseen. My first big leap of faith and one of the best decisions I ever made.

I'm glad OSU is stepping up in this area and rolling out the orange carpet to at least the same degree as OU does (er... Their crimson carpet I suppose).

Your daughter's accomplishments are impressive and exciting. I hope she enjoys the music ensembles as much as I did - that was my therapy to cope with engineering classloads - along with a few parties here and there. Some of my most enjoyable experiences at OSU were either sports or music activities - I will never forget marching at the halftime of the Dallas Cowboys MNF game in '94 when Barry Sanders and the Lions beat them.

I am hoping this fall I can take my son and daughter to a football game in Stillwater. Living in Colorado has made it tough to get back to campus and I miss it.
 
Back in '92-'93 when I was a HS senior in Iowa I looked into OSU because someone I knew from my microscopic school went there, and she works at OSU now. I think TOG knows her (I have no idea if TOG even posts much anymore...).

I had a 33 ACT but no all-state music credentials and I was a national merit scholar. At that time, OSU didn't really make much of a big deal about NMS, but OU was over the top - they sent marketing and scholarship information to every single NMS whether they had expressed any interest or not.

Suffice to say, the tour wasn't very impressive. But I had made up my mind before I ever got a tour, largely sight unseen. My first big leap of faith and one of the best decisions I ever made.

I'm glad OSU is stepping up in this area and rolling out the orange carpet to at least the same degree as OU does (er... Their crimson carpet I suppose).

Your daughter's accomplishments are impressive and exciting. I hope she enjoys the music ensembles as much as I did - that was my therapy to cope with engineering classloads - along with a few parties here and there. Some of my most enjoyable experiences at OSU were either sports or music activities - I will never forget marching at the halftime of the Dallas Cowboys MNF game in '94 when Barry Sanders and the Lions beat them.

I am hoping this fall I can take my son and daughter to a football game in Stillwater. Living in Colorado has made it tough to get back to campus and I miss it.

Thanks for the perspective! I'll share your story with her.

Cool side note. On our way out of the band office there was a girl sitting on a chair cleaning her clarinet who had heard most of our meeting from the hall. She looks up with a big warm smile and tells my daughter she hopes she comes to OSU and she would be in the clarinet section with her.

Also she got a handwritten follow up postcard from her tour guide yesterday. Nice touch!
 
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