Colleges you/child crossed off the list after visiting

Parents Forum
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<p>The OP’s question is an interesting one - what schools did you visit that changed your mind about the school - pro or con? While some of the comments are probably bashing some schools for various reasons, the parents and kids went to look at these schools for a reason. The reasons they liked or disliked a school may be useful or not to a particular viewer. And if you are looking at a lot of schools and your son/daughter says that he/she hates a particular school after seeing it, how much more digging do you want to do?</p>

<p>I researched about 20 schools for my son that had the kind of academic programs that he was interested in and were generally located in areas that he wanted to be in. We saw about 15. Of the 15 that he saw, he had strong positive/negative reactions to about 7.</p>

<p>He HATED Princeton. It had programs that would have suited him, but he absolutely refused to apply. We did the tour and he attended a class while we had lunch. Could not be convinced otherwise. Did not apply.</p>

<p>He LOVED USC. He hadn’t even wanted to apply because it was in a warm area and he was dead set against being warm. He applied because it was a safety school for him with the programs he wanted. He went out for an audition (alone) and loved it. It moved up from #12 or so on his list to #3. Applied, accepted.</p>

<p>He didn’t like NYU. The program was very good for him, but the complete lack of campus threw him off. He was interested in a double major, but it seemed as if that would be difficult. Did not apply.</p>

<p>He liked Columbia, but their programs were not a good fit for him. Their information session was a bit off-putting, for instance they said that if you were interested in architecture they expected that you were subscribing to Architectural Digest. They also said that they expected that the books that you had read for pleasure would not be “Harry Potter”. Did not apply.</p>

<p>He liked CMU, but didn’t like the program. They were absolutely adamant that he could not pursue a double major, even over 5 years. The reason that it was on his list was that a friend had told him that it would be an ideal place to double major. Did not apply.</p>

<p>He liked MIT’s quirkiness, but he felt it was just a little too nerdy for him. The programs were okay for him, but not the greatest. Did not apply.</p>

<p>He disliked BU even though all we did was drive around the campus. I think it was too spread out. It had not been high on his list in any event. Did not apply.</p>

<p>The rest of the schools he liked (including Northwestern!), there were no real surprises. </p>

<p>The preface to the OP’s original question stated “since we cannot visit” and I fear that he/she will use this thread as a basis for deciding what schools to apply to. This thread however is really showing how the perception of some schools were changed by the parents or students when they actually visited the schools. If nothing else, I think that you should come away from this thread with the idea that visiting schools is very important, even if you limit your visits to those schools where you have already been accepted.</p>

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<p>oceansaway, northeastmom: I don’t think you’re getting the joke. None of these colleges, not a single one, objectively deserves to be crossed off anyone’s list on the basis of a short visit. The reasons a 17-year-old will choose to reject a particular college after (or during) a short visit are either going to be inherently stupid reasons, or are going to be reflections of that particular kid’s personality. It’s not stupid to reject a college because its setting and vibe don’t mesh with your personality. Of course it WOULD be stupid to reject a college because it doesn’t mesh with the personality of the child of an anonymous internet poster. No one is advocating that.</p>

<p>Case in point: Cornell University. One of the great universities of the world. Here we have a chorus of “It’s too big! It’s too big!” And you know what? It isn’t too big, unless a kid has some kind of bigophobia. However, if a kid DOES have “bigophobia”, Cornell IS going to be a problem, because everything at Cornell screams: “I’m BIG! I’m MONUMENTAL! I’m GIGANTIC!”</p>

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<p>exactly JHS. When D decided not to attend Northwestern, my alma mater, because of the architecture, what could I do? :rolleyes: But, it’s no reason not to go there. Except, of course, if it is.</p>

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<p>“I don’t think you’re getting the joke.”
EXACTLY! Parents of seniors, get ready for some equally bizarre reactions. After our tours with our undergrad, I was completely taken aback by our normally rational D’s responses to campus tours.
Initially hated IU(Indiana Jacobs School of Music) until we met a cute male music student at the airport while we were waiting for our departing flight. By the time we boarded, IU was starting to look pretty good.</p>

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<p>My older d crossed Vassar off her list after visiting the most disorganized freshman open house-she felt that if they couldn’t get it together to host potential applicants by putting their best foot forward the same would hold true for academics. My younger d did not apply to either University of Hartford or University of Delaware as safeties because of poor impressions made by tour guides, as well as at Hartford, dirtiness of campus on first day of classes. She did apply to Northwestern despite a boring session and a poor tour and terrible tour guide.
We had strange experience when I called to fiind out tours at Emerson as we were in Boston for parents weekend for older. Admin office said no tours, closed for Columbus Day-was rude and insisted all schools in Boston were closed. We managed to tour BU that day and my older d’s school, Brandeis was hosting a freshman open house that several of younger daughter’s friends were attending. Also both applied to Carnegie-Mellon despite an email response to tour inquiry and I quote “We ain’t giving no tours that day.” I was so appalled I forwarded to the Head of Admissions. Both times we had problems with Carnegie-Mellon admissions office.
Best tours: University of Rochester, Brandeis University, Cornell (despite heavy rain), Oberlin</p>

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<p>Mount Holyoke was just too much in the boonies for D. She went to Smith, ten miles or so up the road in a bigger town. Had to struggle to get her to even get out of the car at Mount Holyoke. I would have spun it as “pastoral” but she wasn’t buying. Or would have said, “Great if you’re a cow.”</p>

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<p>I like this thread! Not every college is going to appeal to every student (or parent) and that’s a good thing. It is very easy to find information on what everyone likes about a school; it is much harder to discern what they may not like about a school. I sometimes can learn much more about a school from the negative impressions it leaves with folks. I can use those to compare/contrast what those same folks liked about other schools.</p>

<p>For instance, I’m loving reading that not everyone who set foot on Brown’s campus fell madly in love with it. And especially that quite a few visit and cross it off their list—fast! That, coupled with those folks’ reports of their impressions of other schools, actually tells me something more intangible about the school. What? you ask. Well, if I could articulate it, I would. But it is that intangible something that also appears when you DO set foot on a campus.</p>

<p>I definitely believe it is imperative to actually be on a campus to get that vibe.</p>

<p>Kiddo has visited quite a few campuses over the last four years. Some were ‘warm ups’; most recently the visits were specifically selected to see whether the colleges go on the list. Those visits provided us with distinct first impressions that were as important to us as all the reading, researching, and evaluating the written materials, school philosophy, etc. </p>

<pre><code>By the time Kiddo was seriously trying to put together ‘the list’, she’d delineated a ‘want/wish’ list: vibrant, engaged student body; school spirit; high academics; wide range of courses available; college town; on-campus life; larger city access; warm, gorgeous weather.
</code></pre>

<p>Stanford—her ‘dream school’ for years. She didn’t believe there could possibly another
school for her. It was what she judged all other schools by. The
excitement for learning and creativity just seemed to crackle in the air.</p>

<p>UC-Berkeley—amusing, but surprisingly boring. On campus, it felt quiet and tranquil.
However, immediately outside the ‘gates’, the area was dirty, scruffy, and
full of unsavory-looking characters. The smell of weed was everywhere.
Did not appear to be a very safe area. Front page of student newspaper
was all about crime in the area.</p>

<p>Princeton–cold, pretentious, sterile. Dad, however, absolutely loved it.</p>

<p>Brown–We had to get up at the crack of dawn and arrived two hours before the official
tour on an unseasonably cold, rainy day. Kiddo was freezing and we had no
coats. (We’d checked the weather the night before and it was supposed to be
seasonably warm and sunny.) I figured this school would be off the list just by
virtue of the cold weather. (At the time, California weather was non-negotiable!
Half-way through the tour, she turned around and exclaimed “I LOVE this
school!” </p>

<p>Columbia—Beautiful campus, but sterile feeling. Dorm buildings seemed dark and
musty. Core curriculum seemed stifling. Actually, everything about the
school seemed stifling to Kiddo. Students seemed to move around
campus as automatons. Kiddo felt like the City was too close and confining
and the campus was too insulated.<br>
Rice—at first seemed like it met all her critieria. The longer we were on campus,
however, the smaller and more confined she began to feel there. Especially,
didn’t like the housing set-up. Other than the Museum District, Houston didn’t
seem to have much to offer in terms of ‘access to larger city’.</p>

<p>Cornell—Kiddo: “Looks like Indiana University”. Seemed like fun, but huge—and
pretentious. We spent two rainy days there. Ithaca definitely shrinks and we
really never did find the ‘college town’. Bloomington (IU) or Athens (Univ.
Georgia) have way better ‘college town’ aspects.</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins—Beautiful, cozy. Campus was small, but felt like there were nooks and
crannies to ‘get away’ and have some time to self, thus it didn’t feel
confining. She liked the proximity to the harbor, Baltimore, and
the possibility of access to D.C. Couldn’t quite figure out if the kids
knew how to have fun or whether there was school spirit, though.</p>

<p>Carnegie-Mellon—arrived night before the tour and walked around. She flatly refused
to stay for the tour. I tried to talk her into staying just to see if she
liked it better after the tour/info session. She was willing to stay,
but said, “even if it sounds better after the tour/info session, I
wouldn’t go here”. The buildings looked like industrial factory
buildings (with gorgeous stone work!). The campus felt empty,
sterile, and stark—despite lovely trees, greenspace, and a park out
front. We left early the next morning.</p>

<p>Now, I know that each one of the schools she crossed off her list or moved down her list are at the top of someone else’s list. And aren’t we all glad of that?!</p>

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<p>^D loved Smith and liked Mount Holyoke, but it looks like MoHo is going to be crossed off her list because of a rude rep. Stupid? possibly, but who can fathom the mind of a 16 yo?</p>

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<p>S2
Bard - too far from civilization and too woodsy, senior project scared him
GW - too urban, no campus
Brandeis - looks like an office park
Stanford - too big, too country club (not that he had stats to apply)
Macalaster (from google satellite) too small
Brown - he was going to go visit with good friends, but decided to work on essays instead - they told him he’d like the campus so he believed them.</p>

<p>mathson
Pronounced all campuses fine and said he didn’t need to visit any more campuses, he just cared about computer science program. He particularly got bored by looking at dorms “they are all the same”.</p>

<p>PLEASE DON’T DECIDE BASED ON COMMENTS ON THE THREAD! I would suggest looking up the colleges in the college visits section of this site which actually are generally pretty thorough.</p>

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<p>I hope the college admissions counselors who read these threads see how important first impressions on campus are–especially that tour guide!</p>

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<p>Colleges my son has visited and his impressions:</p>

<p>RHODES (NO LIKE, NO APPLY): Didn’t like the fact that it’s fenced off from surrounding area. Thought Memphis was seedy. Thought atmosphere on campus was too preppy and not diverse enough.</p>

<p>TULSA (NO LIKE, NO APPLY): Hated city. Thought surrounding area was yucky (working-class residential, lack of restaurants and other college-related businesses). Student body was almost all white, and students of color all sat together in cafeteria. Pristine but sterile campus; architecture so uniform it was boring.</p>

<p>NOTRE DAME (NOT SURE): Beautiful campus, great students, but didn’t really click. Put off by initial presentation; thought school was a bit full of itself. Liked emphasis on service. South Bend unimpressive. May still apply because Mom and I think he’d love it (used to work and live there).</p>

<p>DEPAUL (LIKE BUT NO APPLY): Awesome city feel; campus is integrated with lively surrounding area. Very safe for an urban campus. Loved emphasis on service and internships in Chicago area. Decided not to apply because of lack of strong academic reputation compared to other schools he’s interested in.</p>

<p>CHICAGO (LIKE, WILL APPLY): Architecture is incredible. Feels like a place where the world’s greatest thinking goes on. Proximity to downtown Chicago is great, although immediate surrounding area is pretty seedy. Loved the almost nerdy reverence for learning (like inscribing the names of great scientists on the stone archways).</p>

<p>ILLINOIS (OKAY, NO APPLY): (More than a visit; worked there for part of Summer between Sophomore and Junior years in high school.) Campus is attractive and lively and has everything. Lots of great research facilities and interesting people. Area immediately surrounding campus offers plenty to eat and do. Champaign-Urbana in general are nothing special, and too far from Chicago to feel part of the excitement. Not applying because doesn’t have enough to justify out-of-state costs.</p>

<p>Hope somebody finds these observations helpful!</p>

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<p>Different schools for us:</p>

<p>Univ of WI - we visited many big 10 schools and this was DD’s favorite. great funky tour guide (did you know they teach/taught a class in Elvish in the language dept at Wisconsin? Quite a draw for thoe girls still enamored of Orlando Bloom in LOTR!)</p>

<p>Ohio State - slightly less popular that UW, but DD still liked it. Big but not intimidating. Another good tour guide.</p>

<p>MSU, Univ of MI - hated both, but mostly because they were too close to home.</p>

<p>NYU - loved EVERYTHING about it, espcially the big city vibe. LACK OF CAMPUS WAS A PLUS!</p>

<p>DePaul- loved it even more than NYU. felt safe, loved the vibrancy. Good reputation in her field (business) and tour guide was the best we had. The emphasis on internships and the network of alumni in Chicago sealed the deal for her. She’s attending now, “even though” it was her safety</p>

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<p>Personally, I’m delighted to hear that other students hated schools that may end up on D1’s eventual list. :wink: </p>

<p>I agree that sometimes you visit a school that looks like it fits a kid’s criteria, and there is only an epic fail. D1, for instance, wants a school with a strong Jewish community, a love of learning for its own sake among at least part of the student body, no super-competitive academics and a social environment not dominated by Greeks or alcohol. I took her to visit Brandeis, which she hated. She said it was “too Jewish” and that she didn’t feel they stressed academics. I know, I know, it’s a total mystery to me as well. Please remind me not to have anything to do with arranging blind dates for her. :)</p>

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<p>My son lost all interest in Harvard after the tour – I guess the quality and charisma of the tour guides has a bigger impact than the reputation of the school.
My daughter had been talking about NYU for months, but after her visit she dropped it off her list. She also hated CMU, but loved pretty much all the other schools she visited.</p>

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<p>Oh, I almost forgot - also visited Loyola Chicago. DD didn’t like it because it felt “too Catholic” - lots of priests/nuns on campus and a lot of “Jesus statues.” Don’t start flaming me or her - we are serious church-goers ourselves - and she did wind up at a different Catholic school. Different strokes…</p>

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<p>“CHICAGO (LIKE, WILL APPLY): Architecture is incredible. Feels like a place where the world’s greatest thinking goes on. Proximity to downtown Chicago is great, although immediate surrounding area is pretty seedy. Loved the almost nerdy reverence for learning (like inscribing the names of great scientists on the stone archways).”</p>

<p>We loved U of C too. We visited during one of their “Summer Fridays” and they were so organized and welcoming. We had a terrific, fun and charming tour guide and the school made it onto d’s short list.</p>

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<p>My older kids both attended small LACs and we originally thought that the youngest was also headed that way. We visited quite a few schools and she wasn’t excited about any of them. It was interesting to watch her body language - she just looked floppy and bored. We were in LA to visit Occidental and the Claremont Colleges and happened to pass USC. My sister was driving us around and suggested that we drive in and look. We parked and walked around and suddenly my D was standing up straight, smiling and looking around with real enthusiasm. We hadn’t scheduled a tour so we had to make a special trip back to visit. USC became her top choice but since they don’t have EA or ED, she had to apply to other schools as well. Once she got in, she barely even opened the other admittance letters. She is now in her junior year and loves it still. So to answer the original question, she crossed all LACs off her list after visiting USC.</p>

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<p>One more: Kenyon. DD hated it. Too small, too rural. Not diverse enough. Tour guide mentioned that students could always take a bus into town to see a movie when they got bored. DD wanted to leave the tour right then.</p>

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<p>Hampshire: too isolated. Too weird. Too small.
Amherst: too preppy–wouldn’t even get out of the car.
Haverford: too much sports emphasis.
Bryn Mawr: nice campus but no one was smiling.</p>

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<p>It’s been a while (s is a senior now) but we visited LOTS of schools. </p>

<p>Wake Forest: Nice but isolated campus. A bit too preppy. Maybe. </p>

<p>Washington and Lee: Great coach. Pretty campus. But very preppy. And very southern. And very isolated. No go! </p>

<p>Richmond: Too small. Son thought it was like a big high school. </p>

<p>William and Mary: My college town is a touristy place for old folk? I DON"T THINK SO!</p>

<p>Georgetown: Bad tour guide ruins the whole thing. NO GO. </p>

<p>Penn: Likes the tour. Likes the campus. Oh no…28 kids are applying ED from his high school. GC says he’s a long shot. NO GO. </p>

<p>UNC: Pretty campus. Friendly students. Excellent academics. But, yikes it’s Good Friday and it’s a ghost town. Son thinks he would be the odd man out here. Probably a bad day to visit. NO GO. </p>

<p>Lehigh: Son fell asleep on the bus tour. We like it a lot more than he did. Oh well. Applied but NO GO. </p>

<p>Boston College: Doesn’t really like it…no specific reasons given. Go figure. </p>

<p>Dickinson: Coach is recruiting him and that feels cool. Way too small though…no more visiting small schools. He’s a big-school kinda guy. </p>

<p>Cornell: Likes it. Doesn’t mind the cold. Nice college town. Good academics. Kids seem casual, liberal. He can see himself here (unfortunately, Cornell didn’t agree!) </p>

<p>Penn State: Last on his list. Pleasantly surprised. Honors college gives a great tour. Staff is friendly. Kids are casual and friendly. Lots of green. Big but walkable. Bustling college town. Good program in his major. “OK…I like it…I can see myself here”. And that’s where he is…</p>