<p>Cornell- Very impressive, very beautiful, tour guide friendly and competent. Very big, though. So big that it had busses running through the street and it felt as though it was a city unto itself. Windswept and cold, miserable weather when we were there. Facilities VERY impressive. Buildings like Hogwarts. Warm, friendly administrative personnel. It was so big that we felt he would just be another SS#, however. Dorms huge and sports facilities nice, but the rooms themselves were small even if they were triples and quads. Overall, we still liked it a lot; I remember we left with a feeling of wonder. My S had a VERY hard time choosing Williams over Cornell, and I think he would have if I hadnât researched what Williams was extensively and kept bugging him about it. He said he wanted to go to an IVY, but it also helped that people in CC explained LACs to him.</p>
<p>I agree oceansaway. </p>
<p>What amazes me is that some of the reasons that people listed as to why the crossed off certain schools. It makes them appear suspect. Some of the reasons seem very strange and not at all well thought out. Some of the posters reasons make sense, but some are odd and you have to ask yourself, why did they even go and visit that school??? </p>
<p>This is bashing at its finest with nothing to substantiate a lot of what is being said. </p>
<p>I think a better thread would be what were the strengths and weaknesses of a particular school? And, ultimately why did you cross it off your list. Explain in detail about your visit, not just about a one hour tour of the campus or info session. It makes me wonder if some of the posters even dug in deep to really see if the school was a good school for them. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Amherst- the other students and parents on tour kept using âsummerâ as a verb.</p>
<p>Boston College- visited on Columbus Day, a day traditionally used for high school students to visit colleges. Yet they seemed totally shocked and unprepared as hundreds and hundreds of students and parents showed up and there were only a handful of tour guides available. And I knew it was a Jesuit school obviously, but the tour guide went out of his way to mention every tiny religious related fact as we went through the campus. </p>
<p>Brown- wanted to love it, but visited on a cold, miserable, windy and rainy day and couldnt get over the doom and gloom.</p>
<p>Both Brandeis and Binghamton had depressing campuses</p>
<p>Vassar- unfriendly students- at most small schools we visited, the current students always seemed so nice. The Vassar students made us feel uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Union- All the tour guide did was talk about science-related things, I had no interest</p>
<p>Trinity- holy sea of white preppy facesâŠ</p>
<p>Bluebayouâyes, Cornell College.</p>
<p>I agree with post 58, written by oceansaway, and that is why I did not name specific schools. What is a great fit for one, is not of another. </p>
<p>The point is that visits might be necessary for some students. My son visited a LAC and he did not know it was a poor fit until he was on that campus. Books gave us the impression that the fit would be a good one. Yes, my son made his decision about that school as a 17 y/o, and in just a couple of hours. I happen to agree with his decsion. I could see why that school was just not a good fit, but I could not see it from a guide book either. </p>
<p>My comments were more about what the point is of visiting, rather than school bashing.</p>
<p>For those objecting to this thread - the OP and offspring cannot visit campuses because they live overseas.</p>
<p>I too was skeptical at first. </p>
<p>However I do think this thread can give the OP an impressionistic sense of a number of schools, especially given that most people are providing reactions to a list of schools so that the OP has some context.</p>
<p>I certainly wouldnât call it âbashing,â each person is just giving some sense as to why a school remained or was eliminated from his/her list.</p>
<p>Well at Reed- we liked the size of campus- we liked that students were continuing classroom discussion in the commons and across campus and we liked the creative outlets.
customized weird bikes left around for students to borrow, motorized couch and a swingset.</p>
<p>At Evergreen along with the grey cement buildings ( it is a public school built on a budget- although the longhouse is beautiful), we were disappointed by the student newspaper and the posters around the campus which often had misspellings and were poorly written. ( but I still like it)</p>
<p>At Lewis and Clark, while the campus was beautiful, it was too beautiful if you know what I mean- I expected a tour bus of seniors ( citizens) any minute.
They also were * really* proud of their Cheese club and talked about it much more than the other things in which we were interested.</p>
<p>What amazes me is that some of the reasons that people listed as to why the crossed off certain schools. It makes them appear suspect. Some of the reasons seem very strange and not at all well thought out.</p>
<p>That is true- but after all- those touring are what 17 years old?
We are just along for the ride
;)</p>
<p>FOr example, even though D had a governors scholarship that could be applied to any Wa college- she wouldnât even look/apply to Whitman, even though it is similar to Reed college in many ways- because she had studied the Whitmans so intensively in middle school that she never wanted to hear their name again!</p>
<p>The point of visiting, I think, is that the student is asking âCan I see myself here? On this campus? In this community?â</p>
<p>If the answer is yes, the college stays on the list â although it may be removed for other reasons later. (Example: My daughter absolutely loved Columbia when she visited it and loved the NYC location. But later, she dropped it from her list because she decided that its Core Curriculum was not for her.)</p>
<p>If the answer is no, even if itâs just a gut reaction, why fight it? Unless there is some special reason why the student really should apply to that particular college (a special program, availability of a merit scholarship), why not go with the gut feeling? My daughter absolutely hated Johns Hopkins on sight. It might actually have been a good choice for her, but so what? There were plenty of other options. There was no compelling reason for her to force herself to consider Hopkins.</p>
<p>I think itâs especially important to visit your safety. My sonâs safety was the University of Delaware â a place where he felt very comfortable and welcome when he visited it, even though he was from out of state. After that visit, he really wasnât concerned about admissions because he knew his chances of admission to Delaware were almost 100%, and he would not have been reluctant to go there.</p>
<p>Marian,</p>
<p>I agree it is very wise to visit your safety too. Just in case!</p>
<p>Wesleyanâanother instance where the kid was so turned off by the info session he refused to do the tour</p>
<p>GWUâliked the urban campus, didnât love the preppie vibe</p>
<p>Hampshireâfelt too rural and isolated</p>
<p>Bardâterrible info session, unimpressive tour; just a weird vibe all day</p>
<p>In the other direction, schools that went way up the list on the basis of a visit: Goucher, Clark, Brandeis, Tufts and especially Skidmore.</p>
<p>Only schools we visited that S had reservations about based solely on the visit were Emory and Lewis & Clark. Emory seemed too conservative and business-like for him. Lewis & Clark, he said, âlooks too much like a wildlife reserve.â (How can something look <em>too</em> much like a wildlife reserve??? - asks his mother who thinks that must be a good thing.)</p>
<p>He quite liked everywhere else, although he certainly had preferences among them.</p>
<p>D1- Hated Wake Forest, way too preppy and country club. Hated Cornell - absolutely freezing day, couldnât take the cold. </p>
<p>D2- Crossed off Tufts, UCLA - too big, too urban. Crossed off Claremont McKenna, Pomona - ugly campus. Swarthmore - too artsy and intellectually elitist</p>
<p>Conversation about first impressions:
D2 initially crossed off Amherst. We visited the first time during a downpour. She was in a bad mood and the weather didnât help. We didnât even take the walking tour. However, I persisted in keeping it on her list. When they showed interest in her athletic ability, she reconsidered. We re-visited (twice) and now she absolutely loves it there!</p>
<p>Just be careful about making snap decisions based on superficial things such as tour guide personalities, campus buildings and food. It is more important to evaluate the college in terms of âcan I see myself here.â </p>
<p>What I would take from this thread is seeing how many times a certain collegeâs characteristic is mentioned. For instance, how many times have posters said âCornell is too coldâ. Iâd take that as a clear impression and a true universal reason to cross Cornell off the list (if you donât like the cold). Other than that, as it has been said, each individualâs impressions are just that - individual.</p>
<p>Oberlinâtoo remote and D didnt see proximity to Cleveland a plus (undergrad tour)
U Michâ too cold and (her words) âtoo many men with ponytailsâ (grad tour)</p>
<p>These were the only schools she nixed BECAUSE of the visit.</p>
<p>from Dâs point of view:
Americanâloved it.
Georgetownâdidnât like seeing priests living in the dorms.
BUâThe tour guide said at one point, âWe call this the beach; if you close your eyes, the traffic can sound like wavesâ (It was 30 degrees and D is from CA). We left.
Colorado Collegeâloved it, not sure about the city.
Berkeleyâpost acceptance tour; thought the kids looked stressed and lonely. They hunched over when they walked.
Whitmanâfell in love, found her fit.</p>
<p>Crossed off:
Hampshire
UPenn
Swarthmore
Harvard (visited twice to be sure)
Bard
BU</p>
<p>Pleasantly surprised:
Sarah Lawrence
Sonoma State
UChicago</p>
<p>No, please donât stop. I think many folks would admit that their impressions should not be seen as the definitive description of the school. Itâs just random info that swayed a student in a negative direction. If a student doesnât want to attend a school because there are too many bees or ponytails or grey buildings, so be itâŠthere are plenty of other places to go. Iâm finding this entertaining and informative.</p>
<p>This is a fun thread, but it mostly just illustrates that the reason 17 and 18 year olds choose schools is really different and esoteric⊠Gut feeling is really what everyone is saying, but the kids are âforcedâ by us to give a reason. Itâs just chat.</p>
<p>Yes, please continue⊠quite interesting for a parent in the middle of the process whoâs still trying to decide where and how many to visit!</p>
<p>I totally agree with ShesOnHerWay about not putting particular weight on certain aspects of visiting, such as the tour guide, or the other students in your tour group, or the weather on a particular day.</p>
<p>We had a really boring tour guide for Stanford and a tour group made up almost entirely of prospective engineering majors. It was actually sort of a boring tour and socially a bit alienating for my son. Does that in any way reflect on the quality of a studentâs experience at Stanford. Absolutely not.</p>
<p>My son did find 2 schools we visited didnât appeal to him, but both were on the periphery of schools we were seriously considering anyway. One (Lewis & Clark) was a possible âmatch/safetyâ for him, so I told him if we didnât come up with a better one heâd need to keep his mind open to it.</p>
<p>Also I read earlier posts in this thread where people were turned off by some kind of encounter or the way people were talking around them on their tours of schools we visited too, and we had no such expereience â in fact quite the opposite. Just as, Iâm sure, while we were on a tour with a boring guide and a group of prospective engineering students at Stanford, no doubt some other day we would have ended up with a great guide and group of humanities hopefuls. Would that reflect a change at Stanford? Nah, just a different tour on a different day.</p>
<p>Please keep the information coming. Already, one poster has mentioned something about a school, a school not much discussed on CC, which could be critical to my kid. We will be sure to check it out when we visit. Carry on.</p>