Colleges you/child crossed off the list after visiting

Parents Forum
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[QUOTE=ShesOnHerWay]

We asked at information where everyone was. The guy we spoke with said “in class”. Everyone in class at the same time?

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<p>Tulsa was like that when we were there. Abandoned for 50 minutes, then 10 minutes like a madhouse, then abandoned for 50 more minutes, and so on. I guess it seemed logical to me, but to my son it seemed really weird. He said even his high school has more people roaming the halls while classes are in session.</p>

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[QUOTE=zoosermom]

My friend’s D crossed Quinnipiac off the list after a visit because students were throwing stuff out the windows at the tourees.

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<p>That is so cool!!! I don’t know why, but that strikes me as the most awesome thing to experience on a campus tour: “The students threw stuff at us.” Perfect! :D</p>

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<p>Reasons daughter chose not to apply:</p>

<p>Tufts: “Too many elephants” (that’s the mascot) and thought the name Tufts sounded like “tusks.”
Bowdoin: too small.
Barnard: also too small; felt claustrophobic.
Boston University: too sterile, not enough campus feeling.
Johns Hopkins: food really bad (did summer program there).
Princeton: didn’t feel she would get in.
Skidmore: Japanese language program not strong enough.
University of Delaware: she disliked for nonspecified reason.
Wesleyan: disliked arts center that looks like an underground bunker.</p>

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<p>I am a high school senior and I will be taking the SAT tomorrow, from my SAT scores I will decide which colleges I can get into. So someone message me please</p>

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<p>It’s nice to see the OPs list but the reality is that what turns one kid OFF can be exactly what another kid loves. When we were at the accepted event for U of San Diego, we really did give it our all. We stayed for the last thing…a parent/student luncheon. My kid didn’t even want to stay for it, she really hated the place. In the meantime, the other kid at our table couldn’t wait to go over to admissions and put down her deposit. </p>

<p>While it’s interesting to know what others have done…that doesn’t at all mean that YOUR kid will have the same feeling. There are some mighty happy kids at USD, U of Richmond, Elon, SMU and the others my kids rejected after visits. Those schools didn’t appeal to MY kids.</p>

<p>Oh…and there are kids who hated Boston University (where one of my kids went) and Santa Clara University (where the other goes).</p>

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<p>Well I wouldn’t wonder if the kids weren’t more knowledgeable than they seem. Their reasons sound odd, but I think many of them do intuit something they can’t put into words.</p>

<p>Think if we investigating dating preferences in the same way. My daughter rejected on suitor as “too Yale.” I wonder if he has fake Gothic flourishes? (Oh, I didn’t mean anything naughty.)</p>

<p>Still, with a much wider field than colleges (imagine how many potential partners of an appropriate age we meet) we do manage to pick out the one or two or three or four…well you get what I mean.</p>

<p>I doubt our reasons would sound very credible. And I may be alone here, but I do think that some psychic antennae are often working. (Yes, sometimes they don’t and people transfer, and people divorce too, though that doesn’t always negate the time spent together.)</p>

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<p>The two that come immediately to mind are Bard and Amherst.
Bard we visited on a decent spring day (it was very nice and sunny at home/NYC but a bit overcast at Bard…) and we only exited the car for a few minutes, seeing as everything seemed inconveniently placed and far away. We circled the campus and saw horrible, horrible dorms-one was like a cinder block trailer and another had dirty curtains falling off the windows. Then we passed a lot of the school kids who were virtually all smoking and ALL looking at us in this zombie-esque way. One kid alone was assembling a circus of some sort. I don’t know, everything about it seemed so depressing and outlandish. However, the teacher homes and mansion were beautiful and I’ve heard of many happy students there.
Amherst really disappointed me. First of all, for a town of its size, there were a lot of homeless people. One of them looked like Santa, sans a shirt, and I kept seeing him everywhere. A bit odd. Anyway, the campus itself barely had any signs, and didn’t really seem all to impressive. It felt too small and too ordinary. Just no appeal to it I suppose.
One of my friends crossed BC off her list because there was “too much walking!” </p>

<p>As for schools that left a great impression, I’d have to say Haverford and Brown. On both of the days we visited, the weather was absolutely perfect, everything was shining. And the atmospheres were so laid-back.</p>

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<p>JHS: yes, I agree my daughter’s response to Haverford (“too much emphasis on sports”) was somewhat irrational. She ended up at Reed, which is a lot like Haverford but without any sports at all. I will note, however, that Haverford really has a lot of sports teams for a school their size. And lest you think I’m not familiar with Haverford, I’ll just mention I grew up on College Ave in Haverford and actually attended Haverford briefly.</p>

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<p>D1 crossed Smith and Mt. Holyoke off her list after visiting. But she kept Wellesley on the list - indicating that being a women’s college wasn’t by itself grounds for disqualification.</p>

<p>D2 was the Will Rogers of college touring. Never met college she didn’t like. Every college she toured got an application from her.</p>

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<p>I have a really strange preference for college campuses. I like cohesion and consistency. It’s difficult to explain, but it has a lot to do with my gut feelings. My college search has had a lot of quirks (even some “stupid” stuff that is so discounted here) while maintaining a high level of requirement from each school. How long was I at work today? I’m not making any sense. Let me talk about the schools I’ve visited:</p>

<p>GEORGE WASHINGTON - Amazing. It was the most dismal day and I couldn’t understand a word my tour guide was saying (my fault, I’m bad with accents). The campus is tight-knit and completely cohesive, yet integrated into the city. It’s certainly not fully-integrated like NYU or even as integrated as BU. It has a defined campus. The visit completely dispelled the preppy myth - I saw plenty of “my people” there. The atmosphere was perfect, even on a rainy day.</p>

<p>AMERICAN - …wow. It was AWFUL. The school itself is broken up, with no consistency. All the buildings are completely different. There are only a handful of buildings on campus, and they are scattered all over the place with no layout whatsoever (and I really, really hate when buildings are just tossed around). There was a giant parking garage in the MIDDLE of campus. Campus had a McDonald’s. No one was studying; lots of preppy girls and more than one BMW with a student parking pass. The dorms are smaller than any dorms I have ever seen (including the University of Pittsburgh!). I have no idea where all six thousand undergrads eat, sleep, play, and study. The Communications department is in a double wide trailer. Buildings, except for those on the quad, are very run-down. Major building on campus is under construction with NO PLANS for completion! Gross! And it was my second choice.</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH - Didn’t love it, but I liked it. It was a little more helter-skelter than I’d like, and I don’t like the “campus divide” between upper and lower campus. Loved Oakland. The Park was nice as well, but I’m not a green space kind of person and could have lived without it. The Towers had small dorms, but they were considerably larger than AU’s and were at least well-located and community-inspiring. I would be in the honors dorms. It seemed much louder than GW. I’m guessing that’s because there are more cars, as the public transportation in Pittsburgh is no where near as good as in DC. All in all, a better safety than I could have asked for.</p>

<p>SCRIPPS COLLEGE - It might be great, but it’s the complete opposite of what I want in a college. The smallness killed me, as did the tampons and diva cups at the counter in the coffee house and the rainbow-painted vaginae scattered throughout campus. The dining hall was pretty suffocating. I liked the consortium.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS - This school is amazing. It’s literally… amazing. The campus is closed and cohesive, yet has TWO metro stops on campus. The green is nice, whatever, not my thing, but I loved seeing the students out, chilling, playing, studying, and practicing - the students at WashU make it the best. They are so involved. Like the South 40. All of the buildings have the same architecture, but the architecture is different for different portions of campus. Not the least bit preppy (very together and casual, with plenty of sub-cultures). First choice before, first choice by a mile after.</p>

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<p>Great idea for a thread! We all need some comic relief! </p>

<p>Loyola Marymount - Too much focus on the gym and the personal trainers
College of Wooster - Not intense enough.
Ohio Wesleyan - Raining/Ohio
Kenyon - Heard you had to take a bus to the next town to go out for a birthday dinner.<br>
Chicago - Too intense
Northwestern - Too big/ preppy?</p>

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<h1>5 >My daughter felt that if these were the people the schools were choosing to represent them, she didn’t want to be a part of it.</h1>

<p>You realize this is a poor way to judge a college, no? Quality of professors and college life does not correlate much with the Admissions or Public Offices methodology for selecting some volunteer tour guides.</p>

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<p>To add to the evidence that different people can have VERY different preferences: applicannot and I spent the exact same amount of time, at the exact same time, at Scripps. (We flew out together to Preview Scripps.) She obviously isn’t planning to apply; I adored the calming, beautiful campus and the intimacy of the small student body and the amazing food. Since we hung out a lot together at Scripps, we basically had the exact same multi-day experience, with diametrically opposite reactions.</p>

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<p>My son had some different schools:</p>

<p>Stonehill - not friendly or welcoming
Merrimack - too many brick buildings
Muhlenberg - too dead (don’t go visit on long weekends)
St Anselm - too much snow (Feb in NH). too religious</p>

<p>Dickinson - liked school and tour but turned off by nightmare drive back to MA
Providence College - freezing windy day but son loved the tour so much it went to the top of his list</p>

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<h1>152: Yes, nice example of how subjective some of this is.</h1>

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<p>Last year, my DS2 desperately wanted to apply to a school ED/EA. The only school (out of about 20) he really liked was G’town. But he did not have 3 SAT IIs, so that was off the list. </p>

<p>His friends were all marching into school day-after-day and announcing their top choice. Stress was building. What would DS2 do? I put my foot down: he could not apply ED unless he visited. That limited him to the NE, our neck of the woods. He figured Cornell: ivy, prestigious. But, my sister, a graduate student from Cornell discouraged him. (too big, too much emphasis on grad students).</p>

<p>Finally, he came up w/ the idea of Northwestern. We went to a presentation. Sounded good. But would I take him on a plane to visit? He was determined. We hoped on a plane and the weekend couldn’t have been better. The weather was gorgeous. It was reunion weekend. The tour was fun. The football game amazing. We took the El to Chicago: great. He l-o-v-e-s it there and he’s never looked back.</p>

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<p>Wake Forest - Could not find a student outside on 3 separate visits. </p>

<p>UNC - Asheville - Looked like a HS campus and tour leader bragged about the endless party scene.</p>

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<p>VP - There’s an artistic rendering of a vagina on the wall of a very popular coffeehouse, The Motley. I honestly didn’t notice that it was a vagina until it was pointed out to me, but I tend to be oblivious about wall art. In any case, the overt feminism of Scripps didn’t bother me, although I’m not generally drawn to women’s colleges (rather the opposite).</p>

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<h1>155: Not sure if you had checked the Georgetown website:</h1>

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<p>In any case, what matters most is that your son is happy at NU. Incidentally my D is applying this year, has visited Georgetown and Northwestern, really likes them both, but likes Northwestern more.</p>

<p>Edit: Thanks Keilexandra for the explanation. My D won’t consider women’s colleges at all. Anyway, she is not too much into the LACs, which all women’s colleges are.</p>

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<p>A lot of pre-visit research went into my son’s college visit list. Like the OP we also live overseas and knew that he would only have one opportunity to visit. </p>

<p>As it turned out, his top choices from afar fell off the list and his eventual #1 (from which he graduated) was a last minute add.</p>

<p>The schools that stayed on the list because they were pretty much what he anticipated: Wesleyan, Hamilton, Kenyon, Brown, Yale, Skidmore, Conn College</p>

<p>The schools that were less appealing in person than expected
Amherst
This had previously been my son’s top pick. In the info session no one seemed to know anything about the art department. My son was referred to the receptionist who couldn’t be bothered to look up from her knitting while she gave him some tepid comments. Plus, it was the weekend of the TEDDY BEAR FESTIVAL. This event is not related to Amherst College, but we fled all the same.</p>

<p>Michigan
Impressive, but reinforced that he was leaning toward small to medium.</p>

<p>Haverford
Totally unfounded negative reaction. Couldn’t wait to leave. Why? No idea.</p>

<p>Tufts
No clear why it was nixed but I think because of in Boston, but not really in Boston location.</p>

<p>Trinity
Campus was like a moat surrounded by hostiles.</p>

<p>The “surprise” schools – not on the original list
Swarthmore
Since Haverford was a bust we ambled over to Swarthmore. My son’s personality is about as far from the Swarthmore profile as you could get. And yet. . . something about the students and atmosphere spoke to him.</p>

<p>Williams
The winner! And in retrospect a perfect fit. He had originally nixed it – too isolated, too sporty, too elite. When we were driven out of Amherst by the stuffed animals we went over the mountain (sans bear) in a terrific thunderstorm. The admissions director greeted us soaking wet. The tour went on despite the down pour. The Q&A session addressed – in an open and positive sense – the negative stereotypes. Since there was no vacancy in Williamstown, we went back to Amherst for the night then returned again to Williams the next day for an in depth visit. The Clark and MassMoCA sealed the deal.</p>

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<p>“You realize this is a poor way to judge a college, no? Quality of professors and college life does not correlate much with the Admissions or Public Offices methodology for selecting some volunteer tour guides.”</p>

<p>Well, of course. Hence my frustration with my d over this. I attended Northwestern and love the school. However, you try convincing a 17 year old that the school you spent an hour touring with the most annoying creature on earth is worth a second look. There was no chance of that.</p>