College Shopping 2.0

I woke up early (for me) Saturday morning. We had another appointment to visit a college. This time Hofstra University. As with C.W. Post, we were going to Long Island.

The day was gray and gloomy with showers as we pulled out of the driveway. Within 2 minutes, we were back to get the instructions.

We used to make the Connecticut Turnpike, New England Thruway, Throgs Neck Bridge trip all the time. We still make it occasionally. It astounds me that no matter when we go, there is construction… and always in the same places.

I’m sure there are places in the Bronx that have been torn up for the twenty years we’ve been in Connecticut! OK – maybe a small exaggeration… very small.

The biggest improvement in this trip is the advent of E-Z Pass. E-Z Pass is a little white box with some sort of radio transponder, that signals the toll booth you’re there. So, no more change. No more stopping.

It doesn’t work 100% of the time, but it’s pretty good. I can’t remember the last toll booth tie up at the Throgs Neck. It used to be jammed all the time.

Our trip to Hofstra was painless, and we got there 15 minutes before our appointment.

Back in the late 60’s, while I was a high school student, I used to take a series of busses to Hofstra College and hang out at the radio station. Back then, it was WVWH. The campus was small and close to the center of Hempstead.

Now the campus is huge. Hofstra has become a university. Covered walkways and security separate the campus from Hempstead, which has seen better times.

For some reason Stefanie’s name wasn’t on the list, but that didn’t pose a problem.

After a few minutes we entered a small theater and watched a presentation on the school. An admissions officer (who reminded me of our next door neighbor Margie) spoke before and after a nicely done video.

This was a much more polished presentation than C.W. Post, though that probably speaks to the economies of scale a larger school provides.

The tour, conducted by a student named Emily, was fine. As much as the Post campus is known for its beauty, I was more impressed with Hofstra. The buildings were understated and appropriate. The grounds, though not as spread out as Post’s, were full of mature plantings and lots of sculpture. I’m a sucker for sculpture.

Emily took our group, probably a half dozen or more families, to her dorm… and her room. That was impressive, because while I was in college my dorm room resembled a battle scene from World War II.

The dorm buildings we saw were high rise structures of cement and brick. The few open doors I passed led to tiny rooms. But, for college, this is what you want. Rooms have cable and high speed Internet connections. The buildings have washers and dryers, and the bathrooms in the high rise dorms are cleaned, daily, by the school.

There were other dorms with suites of rooms. Those have clean-your-own bathrooms. I would have perished to some dirt borne disease before Christmas break!

On our way through the school, passing the radio station (now WRHU), I noticed a sign with staff names. At the top of the list was Bruce Avery who used to be our weekend weather anchor at the station. I knew he had become the general manager of the station at University of New Haven station. He has moved up – and he still does weather – now for Cablevision’s News 12 Long Island.

I have created a small photo gallery of some of the sculpture I saw on campus. Click here to take a look

The Old College Try

Steffie is now a junior in high school. I won’t embarrass her, but to say every parent thinks of their child as… well, as their child. So, it’s tough to come to the realization that she will soon be applying for and entering college and then, leaving home.

I don’t want to face the reality that any of us have gotten older. Who does?

Saturday was to be our first in a long series of college visits. We weren’t going far, C. W. Post College of Long Island University (my friend Peter says it’s really “LG” and pronounced “Long Guyland”).

C. W. Post is located on the former estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post. It was cereal money that built this incredible estate. People must eat an incredible amount of cereal, because this place, as a private residence, reaches the kind of grandeur few of us would even imagine.

It is located on the North Shore of Long Island, in an area still referred to as the Gold Coast. Though Long Island, especially Nassau County, is densely populated and a poster child for suburban sprawl, the area around the Post campus retains its genteel nature and airiness.

L.I.U. purchased the land in 1947. The campus originally hosted 219 students. I can’t imagine what the land is worth today. Over 300 acres of prime real estate boggles the mind.

We were 20 minutes early for our 12:00 noon tour. Over that twenty minutes, a few other families filtered in and sat in a waiting room in a majestic Tudor style building, originally part of the estate.

A tour guide, a junior dance major from Rhode Island walked us through the campus. Though nice, most of the buildings needed some fresh paint of their trim.

As we walked to lecture halls, classrooms, the library and even a ‘sample’ dorm room, it struck me that this was a totally foreign experience for Steffie. Over the next few months she will get a perspective by seeing other schools as well. This was a good start.

Back at the admissions office we met briefly with an admissions officer and then, were on our way. The day was young, so we headed to one of Long Island’s most historic spots.

At 7:52 A.M., May 20, 1927, Charles Lindberg left on his solo flight across the Atlantic. The Spirit of St. Louis, loaded with gasoline, lumbered down the runway before finally becoming airborne. He barely had enough altitude to clear the telephone lines at the end of the runway at Roosevelt Field.

You would think Roosevelt Field, though no longer used for aviation, would be a memorial or historic shrine to the bravery, accomplishment and good luck of Charles Lindberg. No, this is Long Island – it’s a mall.

With four anchor stores and nearly 250 specialty shops, Roosevelt Field is the largest mall I’ve ever been to. This was a Saturday in the off season, but the mall was packed.

The exit off the Meadowbrook Parkway puts you right in the mall’s parking area. We walked through a ‘big box’ sporting goods store, and into the mall’s upper level. We were overlooking a carousel and an immense food court.

The food court was centered around a ring of small restaurant counters, under a huge Zeppelin, . Unfortunately for me, mall food isn’t conducive to the low carb way of life. There wasn’t a great deal of choice, but I found a steak salad at the Great Steak and Potato Company. The steak was sliced thin, like you’d find in a cheesesteak sandwich. Any thinner and the pieces would have been see through.

As large as this mall was, and as happy as Steffie and Helaine were at the store selection, I was disappointed. There were few ‘guy’ shops. There was one bookstore – a small Barnes and Noble (though still signed B. Dalton on the outside). Try as I might to find a book or magazine to sit and read, there was nothing.

After another trip through the food court (different restaurant, still a salad), we headed to the car and back to Connecticut.