After visiting colleges in New York, we moved on to New Jersey. Drew University started the morning off with a campus tour. These tours are usually my favorite part because I can get a feel for the student body and the “vibe” on campus. However, I did not particularly like the tour guide we had as she was not able to answer a lot of questions outside of her area of study (Drama). Also, seeing as it was early Friday morning there was not much going on around campus. There was nothing special about the campus. The buildings were nothing special like Union and Skidmore but they were clean and were not rundown. I was feeling only so-so about the school.
Our day seemed to get a bit of a lift when the admissions office helped us get a hold of the captain of the equestrian team (the only other school we looked at that had an NCAA D1 team) and set up a time for us to meet her. We got along great, I really enjoyed what the team was all about and also being able to hear about her time at Drew. Speaking to her allowed me to get a different view about Drew that did not come from the tour guide. I was already starting to like the school a lot more. The admissions office also set up an informal interview where I was able to talk to a current student and ask questions about the school. He was also great to talk to. He gave me great advice but was also able to touch on all my concerns about social life, academics, and opportunities at Drew.
Drew has a great location because it is 45 minutes to NYC by train. Drew takes advantage of this with programs in Manhattan where there are opportunities to work with the UN and on Wall Street.
By the end of the day I felt pretty good about Drew and I think it will be a top contender in this college adventure.
Contributed by the Smith family. Thank you!
Note from Susan - You won't "click" with every tour guide nor will they be able to answer all your questions. This family did a wonderful job being persistent and looping back to the Admissions Office in an effort to get their questions answered and get the most mileage out of their time on campus.
