<p>also Occidental College in Los Angeles</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO was a nice college in a nice college town, much nicer than expected.</p>
<p>we loved Univ. of Rochester for many, many reasons. ultimately, financial aid package, while generous, wasnât quite enough to compete with a couple of other offers - a gorgeous campus though, flexible curriculum, accessible by Amtrak, air, etc. Iâm getting nostalgic just typing this ⊠</p>
<p>D just returned from a visit to Case Western which she âreally likedâ. I wondered what sheâd think since she hated Carnegie Mellon and I see them as similar in some respects - large midwest city urban, engineering/STEM focus, nerdy rep. She will apply.</p>
<p>RIT. My husband and I liked it more than our daughter. It isnât her first choice, but realistically , should be. The program for her is outstanding and perfect for where she wants to be career wise. The city isnât impressive and the weather would be challenging, but if she were to get in, the COA is 2/3 off because of substantial federal funding. Of course, this doesnât hurt ;)</p>
<p>I just went on a tour of public campuses in Virginia, and I canât believe how many, and how varied, good options there are. Good job, Virginia! How I wish more students around the country had access to such a buffet of public schools. Many people know about UVA, William & Mary, and VA Tech, but there was a lot to admire about U of Mary Washington, Christopher Newport U, James Madison U, Virginia Commonwealth U, and more. This state is in a class by itself.</p>
<p>Northwestern. I loved the greenway along the shoreline. And I thought Evanston was a nice college town.</p>
<p>We were favorably impressed with Case, and I think DS actually liked it better than the more well known CMU (visited on same trip⊠added to the list due to uncleâs terriric experience there). That was good because Case offered a very generous scholarship for his stellar stats and interesting EC⊠CMU offered nada other than a govt loan.</p>
<p>@Hanna - I have always been insanely jealous of the Virginia public schools. So many great options! </p>
<p>@Hannaâ California is probably the only state that beats UVA in terms of varied and excellent public offerings (we have everything from Santa Barbara City College to Sonoma State to Cal Maritime to Berkeley).</p>
<p>I recently visited Carroll College in Helena, MT. Much prettier than what I was expecting and the location in the capital city allows UGs to have some off campus options, especially if they have a car or friend with a car. Great outdoors opportunities and excellent relationship with the state government. Some of the facilities, and housing seemed run down but nothing too serious. Certainly not the most intellectual campus, but for a Rocky Mountain West student looking for a preprofessional degree, a very solid, and lower cost option.</p>
<p>Whenhen, Carroll College is a great alternative out West if your kid is not suited to a huge state school. Carroll has a very solid nursing school. We know some kids who did well there, and one whoâs a sophomore there now. </p>
<p>Did a quick college visit trip through the southern half of Florida this past summer, and was very impressed. U of Central Florida blew me away. Itâs supposed to be the second-largest college in the country now (behind Arizona St.) and itâs relatively newâŠthose two factors together usually mean tons of construction going on. But there was none. Itâs an incredibly well designed school, with a huge student center in the middle, surrounded by a ring of academic buildings. And outside that, a ring of parking garages. Outside that, dorms and recreation facilities. All quite new, clean, pretty, and well organized. </p>
<p>[ Other places visited: U of South Florida was nice, but nowhere near as well organized and cohesive as UCF; Florida Atlantic is a hidden gemâŠanybody wanting to get away from northern snow and spend 4 years in a country club setting should check it out; Florida International was nice, but the amount of construction kind of detracted from the appearance; U of Miami was beautifulâŠcanât believe it doesnât get mentioned more in the âbest looking collegesâ threads. If you have good grades and test scores, FIU and USF have some amazing aid for out of statersâŠand it seems like almost all the state schools in Florida eagerly superscore tests, even the ACT.]</p>
<p>I was the most surprised (pleasantly) by Ga Tech. Way different than I had imaginedâŠmuch greenerâŠmuch more beautifulâŠfor my D, it was UPennâŠshe expected nothingâŠand now itâs her #2 schoolâŠ</p>
<p>Northwestern and USC. DS chose USC between the two.</p>
<p>University of Rochester. We decided to visit it at the last minute two years ago. Fell in love with the campus and the curriculum. Went back a few weeks ago just to make sure it still made Dâs toes tingle after visiting about 20 other campuses in 10 states. It did. Sheâs applying ED. </p>
<p>We visited Oklahoma because it is fairly close and we wanted S1 to get a feel or baseline of what campuses were like. He liked it so much that the other schools he saw later just didnât measure up for him. He is there now.</p>
<p>We also D1, mostly, loved South Carolina. We stopped there so our family trip would count as an excused absence for our then HS students. Despite being in the middle of the city, it is a beautiful campus and the kids loved it.</p>
<p>Not a parent, but I just got back from a tour for my older brother at Marshall University in Huntington, WV - campus was clean and well-maintained, the tour guide was informative, but most importantly I felt safe on the campus. Huntington as a town was pretty nice as well. The engineering buildingâs set to open next spring, and several other places have been recently renovated as well. Definitely worth a look for anyone driving through the area.</p>
<p>@moooop, funny you mentioned USFlorida and UCF on here. I was just about to post about USF! D was applying to USF and UCF as reluctant state safetiesâŠtoured, but wonât apply to FSU, has no interest in UF/Gainesville. We had only driven through or walked around those campuses on our own before she applied, but she sent in her application and we did the official tour of USF and loved it! It was bright, clean, open and energetic. We found that it reminded us quite a bit of the campus of Emory in GA. Our tour guide was great, and was able to give D a lot of good information about what was available at USF. Even though itâs a big university, it didnât feel overwhelming. It definitely moved up the list. We plan on another visit soon.<br>
We plan to see UCF soon. </p>
<p>We loved Miami Ohio. My son was offered a lot of money there, so we made the trip. We both really liked it. Brick buildings, good size, Farmer Business School building was quite impressive. Even in the snow there were lots of people milling about, and everyone seemed really happy. In the end he wound up at our state flagship, but Miami Ohio was only about âhalf a pointâ behind.</p>
Any chance of bringing this thread back to life? I always enjoy reading about visits!!