<p>Dear parents, </p>
<p>Relating to the other thread that talks about colleges that did not convince you on your visit, I would love to know which ones did!
This may be a college (multiple colleges) that you just accidentally visited on a holiday and really liked, or schools you originally thought of as 8th best choice but that jumped to the top of your list. I would love to know what exactly impressed you or changed your opinion! </p>
<p>Best regards, </p>
<p>Sophie</p>
<p>For D1, this college was Dickinson a few years ago. We put it on her list at the last minute while visiting a couple other schools in Pennsylvania. She was looking for a school with good IR & Political Science, and needed another âlikelyâ school. I picked it out of Fiske, and we went on a day that was actually quite rainy. No matter⊠she really liked it. She liked the students she met, the class she sat in on was great, and she loved the look of the campus and the library at night. I personally liked the coconut cake in the cafeteria. 
She applied 2nd EA, was accepted with merit aid, and confirmed her love on an accepted students weekend. She had a great four years, graduated last spring, and has a job now.</p>
<p>For us that surprise school was University of Louisville. We were driving home from Vanderbilt and it was on the way. A last minute phone call returned and a hastily set up (but wonderfully done) interview and tour made Louisville go from an unknown to one of my Daughterâs top three schools. Since then, they have kept in touch with her and made her feel that she is already one of THEIR top choices. She was accepted to A&S and now has to audition into the School of Music, but has visited with the professors and already feels at home there. She also got in-state tuition based on her grades which even with nothing for talent $ yet, makes the school affordable.</p>
<p>I think my daughter was surprised at how much she like Mass College of Pharmacy and Health Science. She didnât end up going there , but it was her second choice school. The staff was wonderful and helpful. She just wanted to go to a larger school</p>
<p>Well this wonât surprise anyone whoâs visited, but for my D it was UNC-CH. We were touring the small LACs that she THOUGHT she wanted, and were near UNC-CH. She was very âoh itâs a big state schoolâ and didnât want to go see. But the second we set foot on campus, she loved it. Crossed most of the LACs right off her list. </p>
<p>She was even admitted (OOS, so thatâs not an easy thing) but ended up going to a different state flagship. If we hadnât looked at UNC-CH, Iâm not sure she would have found the vibe she was after. </p>
<p>Now I always tell people to visit schools of difering typesârural, urban, LAC, Universitiesâto help narrow things down.</p>
<p>Smith. We visited with no particular interest in the school but it was convenient, and it turned out both Ds really liked it. They wanted to apply there, but as it turned out, Smith didnât offer the field of study either child wanted to major in.</p>
<p>I still shocked my son is at Case Western. He was preferring LAC in remote locations like Williams and Hamilton. We were set to attend a football camp at Dennison and he was invited by the Case coach to attend a program for recruited athletes. We figured we were already going to be in OH, so why not?</p>
<p>I expected Cleveland to be a dump and I expected the campus would be dumpy as well. I was totally shocked that my son LOVED the school, LOVED the campus, LOVED the coaching staff and all of a sudden was open to urban campuses (he had rejected Tufts and Johns Hopkins).</p>
<p>Expected to really like Georgetown (as I had applied / been admitted there myself, back in the day) and LOVED it afterwards.</p>
<p>Really loved Kenyon after visiting, and it became Sâs #2 favorite school.</p>
<p>ASUâs Herberger School of Music-- D fell in love with the beautiful performance spaces, especially the barrel vaulted Organ hall complete with Fritz organ and 1742 Dom. Trieri Organ. Great voice teachers and fantastic practice rooms. Unexpected out in the desert. Went from a music âsafetyâ to a top choice.</p>
<p>Hartwick College was a very nice surprise. Great LAC and wonderful faculty and pretty campus.</p>
<p>Northeastern for D1 and Elon for D2. Both were at the bottom of their lists but quickly rose to the top.</p>
<p>Portland State Univeristy and Washington State University. WSU has a beautiful campus and very nice people!</p>
<p>Hobart William Smith I loved. I liked the location, the campus, the students we encountered and I loved how well the graduates did after graduation. I thought it was the real deal in terms of my impression of what college should be like. Totally sad when S2 decided not to attend. The second surprise was Alfred. I also loved Alfred for entirely different reasons. I thought Alfred was the most ânurturingâ engineering school with incredibly engaged students and profs. I was totally shocked at how many kids and profs were 'hanging out" in the engineering facilities on a Saturday. Neither of these colleges was terribly selective, but my impression was that BOTH probably did a darn good job with their students.</p>
<p>University of Richmond. I graduated from the University of Virginia, which we were visiting with S, and decided to add the University of Richmond to the list since we were in the area. Of all the schools in VA/NC we visited, it was his favorite. Ended up at a different school ED, but had he not gotten in, he felt there were several schools he would be very happy at.</p>
<p>Bucknell. Only reason we visited it was because we had a day to kill and it was the only school any of us had heard of on the way to Carnegie Mellon from Lehigh. Didnât know ANYTHING about it, except that it was a large liberal arts school. Found it to be one of the most beautiful campuses ever, even after visiting most of the ivies through the years⊠with friendly and happy staff and students. </p>
<p>Our son is there now and loves it. A real dream school.</p>
<p>Hey busdriver,</p>
<p>Wow, great to hear your input. My younger son is applying now to Bucknell, and he also went to look at it at the last minute and loved it. Even though weâre in Pa., we never considered it until well into his senior year of h.s. When he went for a tour, he really liked it. Still a little concerned that it might be too small, but other than that, heâs hoping he gets in.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son, maggiedog. I donât think I would worry about it being too small. Bucknell is the largest private liberal arts school in the US, and they have a full range of majors (including management and engineering, unlike most liberal arts school). I suspect your son could find most any activity heâs looking forâŠexcept an orienteering team, but thatâs pretty rare anyways! My son was initially looking for a school near a big city, but is so busy that he doesnât care about that anymore. There are daily buses to NYC nearby, but heâs found everything he wants to do right there.</p>
<p>The schools he turned down to go to Bucknell would have surprised us initially, but now we are so glad. He was very excited to leave home today, to fly the 2500 miles to go back to college 
I guess thatâs a good thing.</p>
<p>University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music. I expected a big, anonymous city university and found a school with a campus, really nice facilities, happy, focused students and involved professors.</p>
<p>St. Olaf in Minnesota. We were planning to visit Macalester and Carleton and discovered St. Olaf was having a visit day the weekend weâd be there, so we signed up. Itâs gorgeous and the Admissions staff is top notch. All the activities were incredibly well thought out (lunch, speakers, panels, tours, etc.). They even accommodated my Dâs special interest in dance by arranging a meeting with someone from that department. I really cannot say enough good things about them⊠my D ended up at another school, but she applied to St. O and was accepted and it was her close second choice after not being really on our radar before. If your near there, donât miss it.</p>
<p>Princeton. I guess everyone expects to love Princeton, but I had tried to write essays for its application and found myself simply too lazy and uninterested to give it an honest effort. It was only after application season that I visited a friend there, but Iâve found the campus to be gorgeous, the students charming, the environment stimulating, and the town quaint.</p>
<p>Also Edinburgh. I visited the city before I was in high school, but hadnât seen the university. I went back because I had an interview at Cambridge, and since it was my second choice in the UK due to the simple fact that I had heard of it, I figured I should visit it too. Unfortunately, I couldnât come at a time when I could go on a tour without either missing my Cambridge interview or even more school than I was already. But, walking around the campus with my mother, a more than kind 2nd year reading literature offered to show us around. It was December in Scotland, dark by 5 and dreary, and I was more than jet lagged, but the impromptu tour she gave us was definitely the best one I went on. My mother still talks about her 3 years later.</p>