<p>Aw Williams was awesome! But if you prefer the city, then it is NOT the place for you</p>
<p>It was just funny because it was surprising that she reacted so strongly. Williams is fantastic and would have been great for her academically, but I guess she preferred a little city vibe. Sheâs going to Brown.</p>
<p>I visited Yale and crossed it off. Then some teachers wanted me to visit it again with one of my old teachers who works there, and he said I shouldnât apply too (go figure). Not that thereâs anything wrong with the school, but I live an hour away and he thought I should go somewhere farther from home. And we both werenât too fond of the city.</p>
<p>so far, daughter (Junior leaning to BioMed engineering) has crossed off:
- Lehigh. (too greek & preppy to her. Tour guide was not well informed and anthropology major - no clue why she chose her over accounting major).
- RIT. (campus too spread out and near nothing. Even mid-day the campus vibe semed dead).</p>
<p>âMy favorite story: D wouldnât get out of the car at Swarthmore because she âdidnât like the stone of the buildings.ââ</p>
<p>One of the most bizarre experiences I ever had was visiting Cardiff, Wales. There was something about the stone buildings that completely creeped me out. I couldnât wait to get out of there. If a schoolâs architecture struck me like that, I woldnât get out of the car, either.</p>
<p>Ctmom, robot-like students does not necessarily equate with âseriousâ (American). It was one of our worst tours as well. I kept track in the info sessionâŠthe first mention of anything related to academics was the seventh item on the agenda. They were very proud of how safe it was (lest you be concerned about D.C. and how they cooperated with the local police and proudly expelled students who possessed marijuana.</p>
<p>The whole place had the feel of a super-sized high school and the dorms were among the ickiest we saw. If you were studying international business, it might make sense. But otherwiseâŠ</p>
<p>The impression was added to after D graduate from college. She took a pre-req for her intended grad school course of study, a class that she didnât take in undergrad (out of her major). The American students were bored & boring grade-grubbers, not interested in the material at all and didnât participate in class, a stark contrast with her undergrad experience. Ugh ugh ugh.</p>
<p>Iâve read that âsupersized high schoolâ comment before, and I donât get it at all. We toured American and it seemed just like any other university campus of that general size â albeit one located in a nice neighborhood of a major city. Where are you getting this âsupersized high schoolâ thing from? How did it look like a high school and not like a college? And I didnât find the dorms to look any different from any typical dorm.</p>
<p>BTW, I didnât care for the info session (the adcom member clearly had a chip on his shoulder about competing with Georgetown) but they didnât have any discussions about safety or pot-smoking or anything of the sort. The presentation was very internship-heavy / DC-opportunity heavy, but so was that of GWU.</p>
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<p>I got the âglorified high schoolâ feeling from the buildings. With the exception of the buildings on the quad, all of the buildings were ancient and haphazardly spread around campus. The communications building (not the unfinished one) was quite literally a trailer. The huge parking garage in the middle of campus seemed very high school to me - i.e., we needed this space so we used it, regardless of aesthetics or convenience. It was also the attitude of the school. As TheDad said, the school was very proud that it handled alcohol and drugs very strictly. I got the vibe that the school wasnât there to help students, just to punish them and/or send them off campus.</p>
<p>The high school attitude also came across through the honors college. I didnât speak to any honors college students, but the other students I spoke to (and my tour guide) seemed to resent the presence of the honors college. They didnât like the treatment that honors students received (like the lounge with coffee) and referred to the honors students as elitist.</p>
<p>And the dorms⊠wow. They were the worst dorms I had ever seen. Iâve toured Carnegie Mellon, American, GWU, WUStL, Scripps, and the University of Pittsburgh. Iâve also been to East Carolina University, Washington College, and East Carolina University. I have never, ever seen dorms as bad as the ones at America. Firstly, the walls and carpet were moldy. It may not have been noticeable to the average person, but as someone who is extremely allergic to mold, I noticed it right away. Secondly, the dorms were the smallest I had ever seen. The beds were bunked and the desks were back to back, but there was barely room in the room to walk (although they did have really roomy closests!).</p>
<p>university of rochester
UCLA
WSU
UW</p>
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<p>Well, honestly, parts of my own alma mater, NU, are like that as well ⊠Buildings haphazardly spread across campus, a parking garage taking up prime lakefront space that should be better converted to a different usage. And the dorms my kids have stayed in for summer programs were dumps back in my day and are still dumps. I just didnât think American was really appreciably different from most other campuses, though, in terms of maintenance and quality of the facilities. Not notable one way or the other.</p>
<p>I rejected Hiram because it was TOO rural- this from somebody who was perfectly happy looking at a school with all of two blocks of a town situated in the middle of nowhere! (Second school is Green Mountain College- Iâm no longer considering it, but its being equally rural had nothing to do with it.)</p>
<p>oh and reed.</p>
<p>Looked at many different schools over last 3 years with my 3 Dâs. </p>
<p>WashU-D1 loved everything about it. Me too except the price and realization that merit aid was not likely.</p>
<p>Bradley-D1 and I hated it. Admissions department was disfunctional. Class visit set up, but we were told incorrect location. We left early.</p>
<p>Butler-Lovely campus. Good academics. D1 and D2 really liked it.</p>
<p>Ball State- D2 wanted to leave 30 minutes after arriving. Tour boring. School too big. Campus ugly. (These were her reactions- I thought it was ok.)</p>
<p>Univ. of Indianapolis- D2 loved it. D1 said it was ok. D3 said no way because the sidewalks were too straight. (Esthetically the campus is a bit plain.)</p>
<p>Univ. Of Evansville- D1 loved it. Good academics. Pretty campus. Best admissions office weâve encountered.</p>
<p>Manchester- D3 said it reminded her of church camp. They had just eliminated the major she was interested in and her admissions rep did not even mention it during the interview?!</p>
<p>Valparaiso- D3 did not like how the campus looked.</p>
<p>Hope- D3 and I really liked it. Great academics.</p>
<p>Indiana University- D3 was surpised how much she liked it since she had thought she wanted a small school. Beauty of the campus really was a plus for her.</p>
<p>Earlham- D3 did not like it. Buildings not well kept up. Probably didnât fit her personality and was too small.</p>
<p>Xavier-D3 hated it. I think it was because Xavier was the 2nd school we toured on a very hot day.</p>
<p>Univ. of Dayton- D3 loved it. Great vibe on campus. Lovely campus. Good academics. Merit aid was decent.</p>
<p>American - students seemed lackluster. D liked the campus. Tour guide was flat. Art dept. uninspiring. Really bad dorms. The students in Kogod seemed like an awake and lively group though.</p>
<p>Skidmore - Nice art studios and cafeteria. D wasnât bowled over.</p>
<p>BU - It was cold and windy that day and no campus made D want to leave early.</p>
<p>Colorado College - liked the school a lot. Kids talked about ideas and their classes in the cafeteria. not in love with the town.</p>
<p>Whitman - D loved. Students friendly, down to earth and intellectual. </p>
<p>Lewis and Clark - beautiful. Had a disappointing class visit. Loved Portland. </p>
<p>Puget Sound - nice school, lousy city. Bit of a high school feel in the cafeteria.</p>
<p>Berkeley - Not as hippyish as people say. Pretty, bustling, in the end, just too big!</p>
<p>Stanford - quick visit. Seemed a bit sterile.</p>
<p>Pitzer - less than impressive. Neither S nor D would apply.</p>
<p>CMC - Pretty, D liked a lot about it. They get a lot of interesting speakers.</p>
<p>Occidental - S liked. His mom didnât like seeing someone rolling a keg toward their dorm on a Thursday afternoon!</p>
<p>Pepperdine - S loved. Had a tough time turning them down. Great campus, friendly people.</p>
<p>The thing I have learned is that in spite of strong first impressions by S and D, we met students who LOVE their respective schools and others who want to transfer. Itâs just so individual, and probably has a lot to do with who you meet there.</p>
<p>D hated Trinity (CT)ââtoo cliqueyâ; did not like Tufts-- âtoo serious and tour guide was smug and arrogantâ; wouldnât even get out of the car at Pepperdineââbeautiful view, but too hilly and spread out.â</p>
<p>Likes:</p>
<p>Indiana U BloomingtonâSon and I both impressed. A real college-town atmosphere, attractive buildings of sandstone quarried in the nearby area; very impressive student union. Huge music program, nice, friendly students. Dorms with practice rooms in basement.</p>
<p>UCSBâSon and daughter both loved the beautiful setting on the ocean. Perfect weather when we were there. Big seashells just laying around, some still with living animals, the best Iâve seen. Sunday morningâŠstudents carrying surfboards directly from their Isla Vista homes to the beach, a major plus. Guy puking off balcony didnât dissuade them in the least.</p>
<p>UCLA: cute, tame squirrels. Classes not in session so didnât get the true feel of the campus.</p>
<p>UCI: cute rabbits. </p>
<p>Mixed:<br>
Cal Poly SLOâŠas prospective freshman, son dismissed it instantlyâŠtown too small. (Mom and Dad loved town) Later, as a junior, he visited friends attending SLOâŠraved about the great âchillâ town, said âI was an idiot not to consider itâ</p>
<p>Negative.</p>
<p>UCSC: Son refused to even considerâŠâSanta Cruz is too coldâ
I checked weather stats, it WAS cooler than I had imagined. Son is not a woodsy, nature-loving type. </p>
<p>UCB: Daughter and her friends met and conversed with an odd character wearing a âbizarre hatâ, while ordering at a nearby frozen yogurt shop. ConclusionâŠall agree, UCB is not a fit for them!</p>
<p>Am I the only person here whoâd like to kidnap riparianâs son who thought Santa Cruz was too cold and forcefully enroll him in the U of North Dakota so heâll see what âtoo coldâ really feels like? Just kiddingâŠIâve lived in Monterey and San Francisco, & it really is a bit brisk on that coastline.</p>
<p>Rip, I agree with you about Indiana UâŠI was a grad student there a while ago, and was continually amazed at how clean, fiiendly, and well-organized the entire school was.</p>
<p>UCLA - Cute tame very laid-back left coast squirrels</p>
<p>U of Michigan - Squirrels on steroids</p>
<p>Brandeis â didnât get out of the car. Just didnât like it.</p>
<p>Tufts â donât know why, but didnât apply after tour</p>
<p>Brown â did the summer program and ended up not applying.</p>
<p>I must correct a previous post about American University. Please look over the campus map. The campus set up like a traditional quad with academic buildings surrounding a lawn and the spiritual center flanking one end and the library at the other. There is not a parking lot in the center of campus, but behind the quad next to the letz/anderson dorms. Other buildings are not haphazard. Some offices and graduate program buildings are adjacent to the quad tucked in some very green space. A large parking lot is across the street from teh campus; the arts center is across the street on the other side of the campus. Both are convienent and a quick hop to those areas. American is a gem in that the campus was one of the nicest in a city area. GW is located in an active urban enviorment and Georgetown is well Gtown. I have a D at American, and she could have gone to plenty of great schools, but because she wanted a city with a campus feel and a political vibe american was it! She will be in an apt. nest fall with a terrific view overlooking the fab +2milneighborhood, tree lined embassy row and the national Cathedral. Add the convience of a door man (cab please!), quick walk to classes, and roof top pool and I think thatâs the way to live in the cityâŠdonât you. My other d is waiting on gtown. i think the campus is okâŠthe downtown is a draw and of course itâs rank is exceptional, but sheâs public health.</p>
<p>What schools we didnât like: Lehigh (industrial and in a pit), Conneticut college (thereâs always a pawn shop if your child runs out of money and bring your internet cable thereâ no wireless), Haverford (stone sanatorium or retirement home for 20 year oldsâŠsnore), Tufts ( that grey elephant in the quad indicates the personality of the student body), clemson ( hooray for trailer park living and BLEEDING Orange in every store window).</p>
<p>As far as HS campus settings, I thinlk it depends on what HS your child went to. My one d went to a small suburban school without a quad and multiple buildings. My other D went to a boarding school that put some colleges to shame.</p>