<p>My D had wonderful experiences interviewing at all of the six colleges she ended up applying to with the exception of William and Mary. At Kenyon, Wesleyan University, Lafayette, Washington and OWU the scheduled 30-40 minute interviews all ended up going beyond an hour and my D and the interviewer came out laughing and acting like long lost friends. At William and Mary the summer interviews were tightly scheduled and scripted. Perhaps this is the only way W&M can meet with the many students who are seeking an edge in the admissions process (interviews are only done in the summer and utilize undergrad juniors and seniors to conductr the interviews). D still applied to W&M but the experience in the admissions office knocked the school out of first place on her wish list.</p>
<p>How many of you are talking about campus visits and how many about regional information sessions in your town?</p>
<p>By far my favorite was USC. Energetic tour guide with great knowledge, and overall it was a great time. Ladies in the office are very helpful too.</p>
<p>My least favorite would have to be either University of Michigan or Loyola Marymount University.</p>
<p>I had a very good admissions experience with yale. My tour and info session were good (not ridiculously amazing, but it helped that the tour guide was attractive :-P). Once you get in they actually are ridiculously amazing. Admits.yale.edu was the best resource i had in choosing a college... Yale staffs a dozen or so students along with all the regional admissions officers to answer any questions you have, and they have a dozen or so forums that give quick replies and allow admitted students to meet each other. They also have search functions so you can meet yalies who have similar interests or live in your area, and you can find the IM addresses of other admits to chat. The other schools i applied to (Cornell and Harvard) didn't have anything close to Yale's admits website. Harvard had something that seemed like a similar message board but was never used, and i don't think Cornell even tried... </p>
<p>The snobbiest experience i had was at harvard. My tour guide was great, but the representative from the admissions committee couldn't have been more pompous. When the tour guide asked us about our info session and most people grumbled, she was like "oh, you must have gotten (insert name here that i can't remember)." Apparently he had a reputation...</p>
<p>Contrary to some of your experiences, my Yale tour guide was amazing. He was so enthusiastic and energetic and just seemed to really love Yale. He really got me excited about Yale. I don't it's fair to say that elite colleges are snobby just because of you met one or even a couple snobby people. There's snobby people on every campus.</p>
<p>Our Villanova Adcom speaker wiped his nose on his sleeve and the back of his hand then put it out for me to shake it. No thanks to him or to the school for putting him out there. Obviously not a boy scout ("be prepared" and all that).</p>
<p>Sacred Heart's Admissions officer, when asked if their apps were complete, looked up their info with the receptionist in the lobby, then made a remark about my boys' GPA's in front of everyone there. Granted, they have excellent scores, but what if they did not? How embarrassing would that have been?</p>
<p>Lafayette was excellent in every detail, except food (which they didn't offer).</p>
<p>Indiana University admissions were extremely nice.</p>
<p>My William and Mary tour guides were fantastic...both times. Although the first time I was rather preoccupied with a stomach virus and didn't pay much attention to the tour. The second tour guide told us about how Thomas Jefferson was looking into a girls bathroom. ha. ha. </p>
<p>I agree with the comment on the tightly scheduled interviews, though. My interviewer was really friendly, but he took a lot of notes and it felt like an interrogation rather than a conversation. There were a few quirky questions (what animal would you be, what is your themes song, etc) that were hard to answer on the spot.</p>
<p>the Scripps admissions office is always really friendly when I call.</p>
<p>Colby was my least favorite out of all of the schools that I applied to. They were so hard to get in touch with and never answered my e-mails. </p>
<p>I absolutely ADORED Kenyon - my interview turned into a long, comfortable conversation and the packet that I got at the end even had coupons and a wealth of information. We've kept in touch ever since, and my acceptance letter mentioned the interview! (I applied ED.) Allegheny's admissions office was really friendly too. My alumni interviews with Vassar and Hamilton were both great as well - the reps were soo nice and helpful!</p>
<p>Even though I couldn't attend any information sessions or visit any campuses, I have to say The University of Chicago's admission's process is amazing. Not only do the adcoms respond to queries with surprising swiftness, but the Uncommon Application and Blog really make applying a more interesting and transparent process in my opinion.</p>
<p>My worst experience with admissions was at Brown.</p>
<p>My mother and I took the long trip up to Rhode Island to visit, and parked in the lot recommended by the university. We then walked all the way to the admissions office, where there were about 100 other people. Then, 2 tourguides came out...and we were split into groups of roughly 50! So, we could not hear anything throughout the entire tour. On the tour, we looked at the outside of buildings, because unlike every other school I have visited (around 20), we did not even go inside the library (let alone a dining hall or dorm!). </p>
<p>The info session took place in some sort of chapel, where about 50 people had to stand (the info session was between 2 tour times...so the number of people was ridiculous). I was basically told, "you could have a 2400 SAT, be valedictorian, class president, and spend your weekends curing cancer, and we STILL might not admit you! so don't even bother!"</p>
<p>Of course, Brown did not give us food vouchers for lunch. They did offer to validate our parking, so we went all the way back to the admissions office. We gave our validated parking to the parking attendant, who then informed us that it only gave us $2 off, and we had to pay about $10 since we were there for just over 2 hours (from that stupid walk back to admissions!). </p>
<p>After that ordeal, I decided not to apply to Brown. It was too bad, since I really had thought I would love Brown and would want to apply ED. From what I hear, it would be a perfect match for me, but admissions turned me off far too much.</p>
<p>Some of you guys are extremely silly to be turned off from a great school by 1 bad tour guide or by a bad information session.</p>
<p>I just received a christmas card actually signed by 11 or 12 admissions members from MIT.</p>
<p>A quick look at their blogs and set up will reveal they don't distance themselves from the applicant like many elite universities do. They truly are the best.</p>
<p>^ that is so cool and cute haha. AWW they were thinking about you =)</p>
<p>Cornell - very informative, enthusiastic tour guide; didn't go to info session. Grade: A</p>
<p>Binghamton - rather large, but informative info session. tour was okay, but limited: we didn't even see the whole campus. Grade: A-/B+</p>
<p>UMass Amherst - nothing wrong with the tour or info session; in fact, both were very good, its just that i didn't really like the school. Grade: A</p>
<p>Amherst College - no info session; tour guide was enthusiastic, very knowledgeable, and seemed to be a true student of the school and loved it. Grade: A+</p>
<p>UConn - tour and info session were awful. info session was very impersonal - it was (supposed to be) a DVD. but, the DVD broke, so two rising sophomores, not even an admissions counselor, gave theinfo session. they didn't know what they were talking about. also, the same girls really didn't know how to answer questions during the tour, especially regarding UConn's reputation as a party school. Grade: D</p>
<p>UPenn - info session was very intimidating and uninviting: it was in a gargantuan cathedral with huge echoes. also, the admissions counselor seemed to tell us all the things that we COULDN"T do if we applied/went to Penn instead of focusing on the things that we COULD do. tour was okay, but was probably because Penn is such a reputable school. Grade: C+</p>
<p>Drexel - I was impressed by Drexel. the info session was very informative, especially in describing the Co-op program that makes the school unique. however, it was quite long and repetitive at times. the tour was okay. drexel is a fairly new school, so overall, the admissions team did a nice job in sparking my interest in a school that otherwise i wouldn't have had any interest in. Grade: A-</p>
<p>Brown - Info session was very informative, inviting, and well-run. the tours were excellent - the guides were enthusiatic and knowledgeablel; i got a good feel for the school. Grade: A+</p>
<p>NYU - info session was okay. tour guide was ehhhh - had good things to say, but seemed to be too shy and nervous to be a tour guide. Grade: B+</p>
<p>People seem to have a bad time with W&M, but when I went there I had a great tour guide and the info session was okay.</p>
<p>My Cornell tour guide was really hot, but he kept stumbling over his sentences and asking the other tour guide who was reviewing him questions. The info session was very informative, as well, if a bit boring. My only complaint was that they wouldn't tell us anything about what they were looking for (SATs, etc.), much to the chagrin of the crazy stereotypical "Asian" family sitting next to me. They spent 20 minutes grilling the admin with the most random questions that only applied to their kid.</p>
<p>Cornell tour/info session was awesome. When I went back to the specific school that I was applying to for their open house, they have a HUGE open buffet... very cool!</p>
<p>We had horrible experiences with Carnegie Mellon and Texas Tech:</p>
<p>1 CMU :First they lost my daughter's SAT scores,which had to be resent. Second, we attended an information session that was headed by an admissions rep. She had no ability to answer even the most elementary questions such as how many applications they get to the school of design or what is an average SAT or GPA for the school. She had no knowledge of any statistics whatsoever. She wasn't even sure where the nearest bathroom was to the meeting room.which was held in the School of Design. She had to ask someone. Horrible.</p>
<p>She also didn't try to sell CMU at all. Her attitude is that CMU is a top school. If you don't want to come here or don't feel that the tuition is worth the programs, it is your loss. There were no warm furries.</p>
<ol>
<li>Texas Tech: My son applied there for their grad program in financial planning. They NEVER contacted him one way or the other until May 30 when they asked if he was still interested. They obviously misplaced his file and just found it by then, which was too late.</li>
</ol>
<p>American has always been very friendly and helpful: prompt email responses, very nice open house with lunch and talks by reps from the specific schools, and they sent me a Christmas card. Though I did feel like a lot of time was spent convincing me why Georgetown sucks and I shouldn't go there! But it was cute.</p>
<p>Georgetown had a nice info session and seemed helpful, but don't ever try to email. Calling is your best bet, and they've always been helpful over the phone.</p>
<p>Tufts is by far my favorite. It's not just because of the great tour guide I had but the whole team does a really good job... I mean look at the essay questions, look at the Tufts board here on CC, look at their website. Basically the Office of Undergraduate Admissions made Tufts one of my favorite schools...</p>
<p>Not so good experiences with Brown... (release of application very late, don't answer emails...)</p>