<p>I wasn’t happy with NYU. It was at a regional college fair, and I just approached the rep. and asked her about the anthropology department, and she just looked at me and said something like, “We have over 200 majors, I don’t know about each one,” and thrusted a pamphlet at me. I understand that she may not have known about my major specifically, but there was no reason to act so rudely about it. I don’t know, I was really questioning whether or not to apply anyway (I ended up not applying), and it just really turned me off to NYU.</p>
<p>I was most impressed by Washington University in St. Louis. They really want my son to attend. They have a wonderful session to let chilldren to stay overnight and attend the class. Unfortunately, my son does not want to go to St. Louis because none of his friends plan to attend the school.<br>
The tour guide in MIT is very informative. It makes the tour kind of fun. But campus visit seems to be pointless. My son has already made up his mind after he attends a training camp for physics in his junior year. His friends has more influence on him than his parents.</p>
<p>Oh, when somebody talked about the college fair, I remembered a kind of funny college fair experience. </p>
<p>DD’s HS had a college fair and NJIT (the New Jersey Institute of Technology) had a table. We went up to the table and asked for a brochure.</p>
<p>The rep held the brochure out, and then, as I reached for it, she pulled it back and said to me, “Her SATs have to be over 1120. Do you think she can do that? That’s reading and math combined.” I was very taken aback but I said that yes, that should be doable for DD. (DD was standing there all this time.) That was the only school that drew that kind of line in the sand…over a brochure!</p>
<p>Ah, the memories this brings back when we were looking at colleges with my daughter, two years ago.</p>
<p>The next to worst: Tufts - we actually walked away from the tour. After enduring the bad language used by the tour guide, the last straw was when he said you could take a pizza making class to fulfill your science requirement. When the tour turned right, we headed straight, back to the subway to Harvard. We knew (or hoped) he was kidding, but DD was appalled. “Why would I waste my time?”</p>
<p>The worst: Washington & Lee - we decided to stop there on our drive from the North Carolina schools up to UVA. Having had generations of family graduate from Washington & Lee, thought we should at least see where they had spent so many formative years. Big mistake - we didn’t have an appointment - but, they begrudgingly said, as there were 2 families that were no shows, we could go on the next scheduled tour. There was only one other family there at the time, but we were not allowed to listen to the admission counselors talk - & they wouldn’t give us any literature. We didn’t want an interview, just some paperwork! We “must have an appointment for that” - & when asked if we could get an appointment, were told that they were full for the next 2 weeks. They must not have liked the way we looked, though driving through rain all morning, I thought we were just a little wrinkled. I did not create a fuss - just decided to go on the tour & if DD liked what she saw, I’d pursue it after the tour. They continued to be quite rude. I didn’t mention all of the money the family has donated over the years - with an actual building even named after one ancestor! They actually ignored us while we were waiting for the tour guide. During the tour, the young girl actually said that she wouldn’t show us the science buildings, as “she had never been in there”. Of course, that was what my DD was interested in. Needless to say, the whole stop left a very bad impression and was very embarrassing. Imagine our surprise the next fall when my daughter became a National Merit Semifinalist and she began receiving volumes of mail from the school, which just ended up in the garbage, unopened. I believe they do not receive any more money from this family, either.</p>
<p>i’ve dealt with over 27 different offices (that i’ve applied to this year lol) and i’d say wash u was the most courteous and helpful–emails replied quickly and very informative and engaging sessions.</p>
<p>worst–umkc’s 6-year bs/md program. they lost my freaking application, and havent called to confirm anything and tell me to “call back after a week because we’re still updating records.” HELLLOOO, i sent it three months ago…god i hate them</p>
<p>I can’t comment too much on admissions at W&M since my D applied based on having gone to summer camps there during middle school, and because of its great reputation and relatively small size for a public in our State (Commonwealth). She didn’t interview or tour, but did meet with a admissions rep at her HS. She felt the rep was somewhat cold, and the rep didn’t follow up with material as promised. Once she was admitted, however, Admissions did a much better job with info, mailings, visit opportunities and the like…all of these convinced her to attend and she loves it there.</p>
<p>PV, since your family has such a connection with W&L, let them know of your experience. It is a fine school, and I know kids who love it there and have benefited greatly from their education there. A bad admissions office can cast such a pall on even a great school as you have personally experienced.</p>
<p>But truly, once you are in a school, your student is not likely to have to deal with admissions any more. It’s the day to day that counts. It’s such a shame that the tour guide and the admissions staff should have such an impact on one’s impression of the school. My husband was ever so impressed with Tufts from our oldest son’s visit there. They were so organized, efficient and prepared. Also the tour guide was terrific. Brown was the worst visit for them. It included a visit to a vomit filled bathroom that smelled up the entire dorm, and a dirty campus that did not do its cleanup after a big weekend. The tour guide was flip and seemed to enjoy answering parents’ questions in a way to upset them. Yeah, it turned out to be my son’s first choice, but hubby was not impressed at all. He said a few families left the tour. Both Tufts and Brown are very fine schools, and neither of those tours are indicative of what the school can offer a student. Yes, those elements exist there, but they do at all colleges. The perfect college visit does not necessarily mean a great match for a student.</p>
<p>The best, Emory University. Warm, professional and knowledgeable all the way.</p>
<p>The worst, Northwestern, where the kid didn’t know anything about the school. Second worst, Georgetown, where we felt like we were cattle.</p>
<p>We looked at many colleges, none ivies as my daughter wanted to go into a design major, but still some good, some mediocre, and some fair schools.</p>
<p>RIT - Good basic tour guide, lots of humor interjected in his speeches and very informative. The department tour person never showed up, so they found some kid to show us around the department but he could not answer any questions. Disappointing visit.</p>
<p>Syracuse Univeristy - We did the backwards, we did the department visit in the Fine Arts Department first. The admissions people were extremely good at answering and asking questions to be sure this was the right fit for each student. This really was key for my daughter as it seemed like a poor fit… however they had a junior student who was a photography major for the tour of the department and he also asked a zillion questions of her and he mentioned she was looking in all the wrong places and that she should go over to the Communications department and he brought her over there and introduced her to the head of their department, and that turned out to be a perfect match for what she wanted to do! He was an excellent guide! We then did the tour and info session. These were so-so, the tour had too many people and we could not hear the guide most of the time. So, what was almost another disappointing visit turned into a positive one.</p>
<p>American University - This session was kind of boring after having been to a few already but would be good and informative if it were your first session. The tour guide was amazingly in love with herself. Every other sentence was “I’m in the honors program, so I get to do special things” Then it was I’m this, and I’m that… these things had nothing much to do with the school, but about how she was the most amazing person in the world! We got through that and went onto the department meeting. They told us to be in one place and they were not there, so we searched and searched and finally found the department head. She was really amazing in her tour and information and where we really were not overly thrilled with the school we were amazed with the department! </p>
<p>York College of PA - This was a cute little school with a so-so tour. We just followed along and were pretty bored throughout. We had our meeting with the head of the department and asked the simple question “will our daughter be prepared for the workforce after graduating from here?” and the department head said “Maybe”. Needless to say, we were done here.</p>
<p>Drexel - Nice tour, very informative especially about having to coop somewhere, and we had a great guide. However being country people, the city was just too busy for all of us and we could not wait to get to a quieter place!</p>
<p>Lehigh University - This was a place we were not really sure we wanted to check out, but since it was on the route of the other schools we decided it was better to stop than to not stop. This was the best tour of them all!! Our guide was intelligent, enthusiastic, informative. We learned pretty much all we wanted or needed to know about what it would be like to attend Lehigh. She answered every question asked honestly, and was just an amazing guide. My daughter left really inspired about that school.</p>
<p>Moravian - I’m guessing most people have not even heard of this one! It is down the hill a bit from Lehigh… we hit them both while we were there. This school wins awards (hand down) for being the friendliest group. The admissions people were not expecting us, but within minutes of arriving and my daughter filling out an info form, they brought us out some warm cookies! They offered beverages, and were just the kind of people you want to invite over to your house. The tour was not that great, but still tops in friendliness. </p>
<p>Marist - This was one of the most average tours/info sessions we had. It sort of blended in with all the others. It was not very memorable, but it was not negative at all. Perhaps the lack of interest in the school was why we did not get much out of it.</p>
<p>Miami University Ohio - This was a good info session, informative and intelligent people there to answer questions. The guide was good and showed us a lot of places in a fairly short amount of time as the campus was so big. We did meet with the department here too, and we were extremely impressed with all they showed us, the questions they asked of my daughter and the answers they had for her for her questions. They were willing to bend over backwards to be sure we left knowing everything we needed to know to make a good decision.</p>
<p>That was all we looked at… thank goodness we did not need to see any more than that!!</p>
<p>From D1’s college search, the best admissions department, by far, was at Ohio State. They were fantastic to deal with: Whenever D had a question or needed to make a change to her application, they responded promptly by phone and/or the change was made immediately with little or no hassle. While we were waiting to begin the info session, some current students sat with us and answered any questions that we had. The info session was interesting and informative and the tour was thorough. Also there was several thoughtful touches like providing umbrellas for the tour groups(it rained on the day of our tour)and calling our home (we were coming from out of state)the day before we were to visit there for an accepted students’ event, to give us a heads-up about the weather. OSU’s admissions department was just so professional all around. The second best admissions department was at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by Penn State.</p>
<p>Salem State had a horrible info session. I went for English and the woman giving the presentation had a snide attitude and couldn’t answer any of my fairly simple questions. I think they “made” her do it that Saturday and she was mad. haha.</p>
<p>Harvard: amazing. everyone was so friendly and excited about the school. </p>
<p>Yale: terrible. The senior who gave the info session was the snobbiest, most self-absorbed girl I have ever met. She spent the first 20 minutes talking about her 600 mile car ride to Yale, which mainly constitued of descriptions of her sibling having to go to the bathroom. </p>
<p>Emory: definately one of the best. Plus, they send you so much personalized mail!</p>
<p>Penn: yuck. The tour guide didn’t even like the school, kept talking about the problems!</p>
<p>Best - Yale and Stanford</p>
<p>Worst? Wellesey. And Brown.</p>
<p>Best- Vanderbilt/NYU/Notre Dame. I just remember positive thoughts about all of these colleges’ info sessions and tours. I guess I was lucky and got the good reps/friendly college students!</p>
<p>Worst Info Session- Boston University. The rep lady spent the entire time talking about how you wouldn’t be treated like a number, which just made everyone think you probably would be, and when asked about any stats/averages she brushed it off and suggested a new topic (usually their financial aid or again, how you wouldn’t be treated like a number). And they had the AC on blast when it was like 30 degrees outside. Their campus tour was ok, although a bit boring.</p>
<p>my rep was so nice and informative!!
she answered every question and even gave me her IM if I wanted to ask more questions!</p>
<p>MIT had a very welcoming atmosphere as well.</p>
<p>I guess I was fortunate to have only the good impression.</p>
<p>This isn’t HYPS, but I found the University of Nebraska to be the best.</p>
<p>While they didn’t give me ice cream like many of you have stated, one of the admissions officers took the time (around an hour) to show me the business school and introduce me to the professors.</p>
<p>It’s too bad that U Nebraska Lincoln doesn’t give out ice cream. The ice cream at the university dairy store is the best ice cream in the world. </p>
<p>P.S. Did you buy one of the “Ski Nebraska” posters in the bookstore?</p>
<p>Inkspill, why was Wellesley the worst? So far their admissions has seemed excellent to me.</p>
<p>Last summer we were up at Harvard with the kids, before a family reunion in Cambridge. We were in front of Widener Library, and a tour came through as we were standing there. There were too many kids in the Tour and there’s no way they could have heard everything. It looked very impersonal to us, but H, an alum, did overhear the guide giving out some erroneous info and went over to CORRECT the guide. I almost died of embarrassment.</p>
<p>Two for the disappointing list:</p>
<p>Lake Forest Official visit day on campus-Starting with breakfast reception every single student D & I spoke with(we spoke with at least six) seemed to have no specific goals, no direction and were pretty uninspiring. Why I kept thinking did they pick THESE students to be the face of LFC. We left part way through the day (we drove) but there were people who had flown in to see the school (I could not imagine).</p>
<p>Vandy - Rep visit to local high school
Again, the local alum that presented along with the official campus admissions rep was not impressive. This was a fairly new graduate with a prominant position/job and she couldn’t put a sentence together without “and, and, umm, ah…” I kept thinking “This is the type of graduates they produce?”</p>