<p>Chapman University in Old Town Orange, CA. We were in the area to see UC Irvine, tacked Chapman on to the trip. We were just blown away by the Dodge College of Film & Media, the tops-in-the-industry broadcast and film equipment, the real-world resumes of the professors. The campus was super clean, and just beautiful with fountains and palm trees. Being surrounded by vibrant Old Town Orange was a big plus, too.</p>
<p>This thread could go a lot of directions but what Iâll add is that through quite a few college visits, there were two that stuck out for me as places that gave me a sense that they actually accomplish what so many schools say they will. Particularly at similarly-sized schools, the info sessions/tours can kind of run together, but my shout-outs go to Wabash and Centre.</p>
<p>For my D, mostly schools were crossed off the list upon visiting (and even the entire state of California!) - the one exception was where she ended up and the coach urged her to come visit even though she was NOT NOT NOT interested in a womenâs college. We were seeing many other schools back east on this trip and decided to make the trip to Boston to check it out since we had a day to kill before the sports camp she was at Williams for.</p>
<p>D didnât fall in love with the school but did decide at that point she wanted to go to school in Boston/surrounding area and did ultimately end up at Wellesley (which is beautiful).</p>
<p>For my younger daughter it was Bard. She canceled the first visit because itâs too close to home (a long train ride away) but I convinced her to visit on Election Day. She absolutely fell in love, applied, was admitted. They messed up the Admitted Student Day so badly, she then dropped it from the list!</p>
<p>what happened on admitted day? my daughter daughter dropped bard after touring, thought the kids a bit pretentious</p>
<p>For S2, Northeastern. I was very skeptical about the quality of the âworkingâ semesters and how that would impact cost and time to obtain a degree. I was concerned that it would be too hard to get a job and meet those work semester requirements. Their information session did a great job explaining how this works. The campus was much nicer than I expected, and in the middle of Boston. Ultimately, it was too expensive for us (especially as he got into the NUin program which requires a semester abroad prior to admittance at an even higher cost). Subsequently, I have heard that there has been some difficulty with securing internships due to the economy, but not sure if that is accurate or just hear-say.</p>
<p>On our âcollege tourâ trip, S2 visited a variety of campuses. By school #6, he was pretty much convinced that he wanted to attend a big school, but Dickinson was already on our list so we went to see it anyway. Like inparentâs D, he loved it!</p>
<p>The campus has an interesting style; the buildings are mostly made of large gray stones. S2 was impressed enough to take a picture of the gym (the only photo he bothered to take on our entire tour). He liked the variety of students â we saw lacrosse players on their way to practice and international students putting up posters for the African students association and all kinds of others. I was impressed by the number of students in the library; people certainly seemed to be taking their studies seriously.</p>
<p>Anyway, S2âs final list consisted of 10 big schools and Dickinson. He did end up at a much larger school, but we still have a soft spot for Dickinson.</p>
<p>I love this thread!
mom2andâI have heard the same about difficulty in obtaining internships due to the economy but again, it may only be the one isolated case in our CT town. I believe the student had to come home during the time he was supposed to be working, but I do not have all of the details straight. Some combination of housing and not being able to secure placement in Boston. </p>
<p>My son liked the school but I was underwhelmed and cannot put my finger on why.</p>
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<p>I have very little direct knowledge of Dickinson but âon paperâ it looks like a great school.
If it had a rowing team I would recommend that my D put it on the top of her list (assuming we could afford it).</p>
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<p>Hhhmmm⊠I used to also love the coconut cake in my schoolâs cafeteria.
I wonder if there is a connection.
Finally, a fool-proof method for evaluating colleges - how good is the coconut cake! ;)</p>
<p>For my D is was Indiana University. I thought it would be too big and impersonal. She connected to it as soon as we arrived on campus! It was a very embracing and fun environment.</p>
<p>GolfFather, we actually only had a few hours on campus. So I ate in the cafeteria while D was in class, and we just grabbed her a Subway on the way out of town to the airport. She did not actually taste the coconut cake. 
But it was my favorite part of the visit! Along with all the red adirondack chairs scattered around campus.</p>
<p>For us it was Colorado State and the University of Arizona. UofA was not even on the list until we visited. What sold her on Colorado State was Ft. Collins. It is a great college town.</p>
<p>For S2 it was American University. He was thinking about International Relations by then and it was in the last group of colleges we visited. He liked it much better than the two other DC campuses. I liked the variety of students on campus - you could see from the suits and the uniforms that both ROTC kids and internships were common. Our tour guide had turned down U of Chicago and Tufts to go there and had no regrets. My mother is an alumna, from the days when AU was really a pretty terrible place. (She finished her degree there when I was in junior high school mostly because it was convenient and offered Elementary Education.) I liked the campus better than I expected to and DS loved it.</p>
<p>For me the biggest surprise was Carnegie Mellon. I knew it had a topnotch computer program, but I loved the campus (yellow bricks and green tile roofs mostly) and I loved the surrounding area. The presentation by the School of Computer Science blew me away. The dean of the school at the time is an incredibly charismatic speaker and really knows how to sell his school to an audience of geeks.</p>
<p>Providence College - beautiful campus with friendly students and positive school spirit. Honors program and caring professors and advisors were all pluses. </p>
<p>Davidson- gorgeous campus and cute town. Loved the warm and sunny climate and friendly southern charm. Intelligent and engaged students with interesting professors in all the classes my DD sat in on. </p>
<p>Notre Dame- Found it to be a truly special place. Liked the strong academics, school spirit and community, faith, commitment to service, etc. Strong undergraduate focus with small class sizes and caring professors.</p>
<p>orangecontrol - I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>^^^ Did your mother really say AU was a terrible place? I guess the makeover worked!</p>
<p>I liked Pitt a lot - one of the better info sessions and Iâve attended a few.
I liked U of Richmond and Elon, but both were a bit small for D2.</p>
<p>Kenyon College surprised my younger D. She thought she would hate it because it wasnât close to or in an urban setting. It was also in the Midwestâwhich she ( as a New Englander) characterized as a place thatâs incredibly flat and ugly and where people waved at you all the time and drank âpopâ. We stopped to visit because it was pretty close to the town where my inlaws lived and we were visiting them. Turned out that she loved Kenyon. It wasnât at all what she expectedâshe liked the students she met as well as classes she attended. She also liked the look of the campus and the theater facilities. She did applyand was accepted, but ended up at her number one school, which was on the east coast. Kenyon was number 2 on her list and D says she was sure she would have been happy there. It opened her eyes to the fact that she didnât have to stay in one part of the country to find what she wanted in a college.</p>
<p>TCU - The campus was beautiful, the kids were friendly and the food in the cafeteria was great. We were also impressed with the renovations that they were doing on dorms and classrooms (not all the $ is going toward the football stadium :)) D1 is a theatre major and, admittedly, their theatre was older and small, but in very good condition. In the end, though, she chose another school (American, which also has a very pretty campus).</p>
<p>For D it was Bryn Mawr. The gorgeous grounds, the location, the honor code, the women-empowering campus vibe, the small classes, the âtraditionsâ, all of them hit her at just the right spot. She had not even considered a womenâs college until that visit.</p>
<p>For my S & I it was Salisbury U in MD. He was reluctant to visit â may have something to do with the fact that I drug him there in the middle of a week at the beach . . . Very nice resident halls and new bldg for business school. There was a feeling of energy there, -definitely up-and-coming.</p>