<p>These are schools that were under at least somewhat serious consideration:
*UChicago (Loved it in theory, but I wanted the possibility of an engineering program)
*Cornell (I liked a lot of things about it, but when it came down to it, it was too big, too rural, etc.)
*Rice
*WUSTL
*Northwestern
*Stanford (I finally had the epiphany that just because everyone from my school applies doesn’t mean I have to)</p>
<p>I visited Harvard, MIT, Wellesley, and Brown and consequently eliminated them, but they were never under very serious consideration.</p>
<p>Scripps- too close to home and not a fan of the senior thesis requirement
Chicago- didn’t like city, thought students were too intellectual, also I thought I wanted to study engineering but the don’t have it here.
Boston U- campus too large, FA not very good
Haverford- too isolated, student don’t really go the Philly
Swarthmore- isolated and too intellectual, they sent a DVD and it made me realize that I would not like to go to school with those types of students
Notre Dame- Indiana, need I say more
Boston College- students seemed to be too party/sports oriented, not as close to the city as they made it out to be
Harvard- not seriously considered but I did visit and the only thing the attracted me was the cute tour guide
Also considered (though not as seriously): UCLA, Columbia, Yale, and Brandeis.</p>
<p>In the end I came to the conclusion that I only liked two schools: Wellesley and Stanford. I applied to Wellesley ED and will be attending in the fall!!</p>
<p>St. Olaf - A little too Stepfordy for my liking. Odd impressions on visit day.
Kenyon - Everyone I met was really pretentious, didn’t strike me right.
Bellarmine - Too pre-professional.
Aquinas - See Bellarmine.
Rockford - Just couldn’t offer much.
Creighton - No time to visit, may apply later depending on results.
Wooster - See Creighton.
Knox - Enough overlap with other schools.
Northern Michigan - See Creighton. Also, if I don’t end up liking an English major I’d have no other real options there.
Hampshire - Too “out there.”
Bard - See Hampshire.
Simon’s Rock - See Hampshire.
Vassar - See Hampshire.
Union - What I read, I loved. Then I visited on a Saturday, saw 3/4 of the student body hung over at 11 in the morning, and the inside of the buildings falling apart. No.
F&M - To quote someone else on our tour - “It’s like Lilliput!” I sat in a class and knew more about the subject than the people in it. Very disappointed.
Puget Sound - Ended up deciding to limit my Geographic search to East of the Rockies.
Oswego - If I end up choosing a SUNY school, it’ll be Binghamton. Linguistics is better there.
Brandeis - Uncertain how I would be received as a practicing Catholic; college advisor advised against it, although I liked essentially everything I read about the school.</p>
<p>stanford: didn’t really want to stay in california and didn’t want to write the three supplemental essays.
boston college: honestly because it is jesuit and has theology requirements.
pepperdine: elements from both of the above.</p>
<p>Cornell - wanted the engineering, didn’t like the location (don’t care if that’s a terrible reason not to apply to an Ivy with a great program, but I don’t want to be cold and miserable for 4 years)</p>
<p>Columbia - same sort of scenario as with Cornell, but I didn’t like NY when I visited. Didn’t strike me as the place I’d want to spend 4 years at.</p>
<p>Wellesley - loved it, really wanted to go there, then kind of fell out of love with it for no particular reason. When I listed my colleges, I kept forgetting it, which I took as a sign.</p>
<p>USC - Liked the education, didn’t like the atmosphere.</p>
<p>I heavily considered Salem State College (Salem, MA) before ultimately not applying. Also I’m in the midst of thinking of applying to Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) due to family history of going there, but my parents would never let me go there after sending two there already hahaha</p>
<p>Also considered: Boston University, Quinnipiac, Duquesne, University of Southern Maine</p>
<p>Skidmore: I disliked the architecture (all modern buildings from the 60s/70s). I prefer older ivy-covered buildings greatly over boring bricks. </p>
<p>Vassar: Eh, too lazy to do the supplement. They had no typography classes, either.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr/Barnard/Wellesley: Too competitive in nature for me.</p>
<p>SUNY New Paltz: Nearly every person I’ve talked to in school is applying to New Paltz. No thanks.</p>
<p>RISD/MICA: I began to lose interest in a major in art, thus, these had to go.</p>
<p>Brown. Sounded perfect for me up until I spent a month there for summer school and HATED it I suppose the good thing was that disliking Brown helped me realize what I was looking for in a college</p>
<p>I also cut out Colby (for the surrounding area) and UChicago (loved the atmosphere, disliked the urban location). Boston College and Tufts were both visited but I wasn’t really impressed with, and then Carleton (they sent me STRANGE emails, I felt really weirded out)</p>
<p>Cut all the UCs - too expensive and too big
Fordham - too close to home
George washington - wanted a more secure campus
Boston university - same as gwu
Endicott - beautiful campus but just didn’t click
All Pennsylvania schools - needed proximity to the beach
Ramapo - too close to home too
Brown - too much of a reach
Wake forest - didn’t visit but I don’t really like the south
Occidental - parents didn’t want me going too far
Providence college - never gotthe chance to visit
Sunys - hmmm not too sure about these
Cunys - again kinda too close and I could never see myself living in the city</p>
<p>I’m going to Wisconsin which is the only school I ended up applying to, but I did seriously consider others.</p>
<p>-Minnesota: too close to home
-Iowa: nice school, but too similar to Madison but 15K more
-Notre Dame: No chance of getting in
-Boston College: Too lazy to fill out the common app
-Villanova: Same as BC
-Goergetown: Don’t like DC… at all
-Kansas: Same as Iowa
-Tulane: No Big-time sports
-Vanderbilt: no chance getting in
-Alabama: Love the full tuition scholarships, but couldn’t seriously see myself going there
-LSU: Same as Bama
-USC: After watching American History X, the gangs scared me out of ever wanting to visit SoCal, let alone go to school there
-Northwestern: No chance of getting in
-Duke: No chance
-Stanford: No chance
-Texas: Same as Iowa and Kansas</p>
<p>I was almost definite about applying to University of Virginia (even had my SAT scores and transcript sent in).</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the time. I probably wouldn’t have recieved enough financial aid and, mainly, it only had a four year architecture program instead of the five year BArch.</p>
<p>I kind of regret not applying, though. It’s a great school.</p>
<p>This thread is a great way to hear of all those “first impressions”. I have twins so the list will be long:</p>
<p>Twin1 - who now wants to go into nursing</p>
<p>Eckerd, Guilford, Elon, Rollins, Florida Southern, New College of Florida, St. Mary’s (MD) - yes, we spent a lot of time visiting you, but you don’t have nursing. Eckerd and Guilford are too much party schools too. Florida Southern is a bit too religious, and New College of Florida is out anyway for being grungy and full of unappealing people.</p>
<p>U of Alabama (Birmingham and Tuscaloosa) - too big
Samford U - too religious
Johns Hopkins - too difficult to get into nursing program after being a student there
Villanova - test scores not good enough
Barton - ick
Moravian - where are all the students?</p>
<p>Twin2 who wants either a BFA or humanities - </p>
<p>Skidmore - dreary campus and just not impressed (loved Saratoga Springs)
U of the Arts - just not enough, and req’d core courses would be boring
Parsons - not really a painting school
Oberlin - not impressed
Carnegie Mellon - ridiculous and picky requirements for art application. Are you trying to chase everyone away?
Cooper Union - very difficult app, and not too impressed either
Harvard - hated tour
BU - not too impressed
UMD College park - too big</p>
<p>Eckerd a party school? Really? My younger dd entered this year as a Freshman and hasn’t found that. Maybe it’s because she’s not really a party person, lol. BTW, she loves it there.</p>
<p>Harvard – legacy and connections but parents want me to go for grad not undergrad studies
Princeton – also legacy and seriously considered until last summer. A friend’s sister had a terrible time in the cut-throat environment
Stanford – I live in the Bay Area. Need I say more?</p>
<p>I’m glad your daughter is happy at Eckerd. We had just heard rumors about it being a party school. I’m glad to hear it’s not true. If it had nursing, my daughter would have ranked it #1!</p>
<p>I seriously considered Loyola U New Orleans at first place and even sent my application (since it has no fee) then turn it down because they keep sending me form to assure that I can pay for their $40,000 tuition (both email&mail) - -</p>
<p>Re: letter assuring one can pay tuition. My son received a letter like this a few years ago from BU. Seemed very rude to us. It worked-- they weeded us out and made us realize BU is overvalued. We decided for much less tuition he could receive a far better education at U of Maryland College Park (business major). Have never regretted this…</p>
I suppose the good thing was that disliking Brown helped me realize what I was looking for in a college</p>