Colleges you (surprisingly?) loved after visiting :)

<p>Love this thread and wish I would have read it before our DC trip. We should have included American U.We had high expectations for Georgetown but GWU won over our hearts. It just felt like a better fit for S15.
Another school that wowed us was Notre Dame. Their massive book store with hanging chandlers has a coffee house and a grand piano player. Also the campus was spotless.
Northeastern beat over BC and BU.</p>

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<p>Just the opposite!! When we visited DC in May, DD and I had high expectations for GWU but she hated the city streets, lack of campus, and the split campus with Mount Vernon. Itā€™s off her list. On the other hand, she was wowed by G-Town.</p>

<p>^My son couldnā€™t get off the GW campus fast enough. He refused to even look at the Mount Vernon campus. Georgetown he was very leary about ahead of time, but we liked it much better than expected. He liked American the best of the DC colleges, which surprised me because when my mother went (for a teaching degree when I was in jr. high and it was convenient) it was a pretty third school.</p>

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<p>We drove out to it, but DD refused to get out of the car. Funny, but during the info session, the student ā€œtrained sealā€ that the admin guy brought along said that he liked to go out to Mt. Vernon just to walk around and enjoy the quiet and peaceful surroundings. I turned to DD and said, ā€œIā€™m sure he gets paid to say that.ā€</p>

<p>ā€¦ but getting back to the original thread, Dd and I both liked the Penn campus, even though urban, much more than we thought we would, especially after her visceral reaction to GWU.</p>

<p>Want to add our love for St. Lawrence, as well. D and I toured the campus last year and were impressed with the students, faculty and facilities. We were amazed at the number of majors and programs it offers. I am surprised it isnā€™t more popular - I think the remote location may make some hesitate to check it out, but we are glad we did. It is one of Dā€™s top choices.</p>

<p>Rockhurst. Went kind of on a whim (what the heck, weā€™re in Missouri anyway). Ok, the to story portrait of mother Theresa in the library is really unnerving, but aside from that, had a really nice visit.</p>

<p>On a recent trip, I booked U. of Rochester and State U. of NY College at Oneonta. Both were slightly outside the criteria my daughter had indicated, but she liked them both, a lot.</p>

<p>I wish St. Lawrence were a little closer to somewhere else, to include in a trip. But you have to really want to visit to get there!</p>

<p>Endicott College in Beverly: From the internet, I had the impression of a mostly-commuter campus. Visited on a gray, drizzly day and warned my daughter before we left home not to let the weather influence her. Strangely enough, we found the campus to be gorgeous ā€“ almost Zen-like. I left with a much better impression. D ended up not applying because they didnā€™t offer a math major (which became more important as she progressed thru the college search process.)</p>

<p>Castleton College: This is a small, bottom tier school in VT. But they <em>really</em> impressed me with two things: their communications all seem very personalized, and they appear to make a substantial, sincere effort to insure that the kid and the school are a good fit. They sent a long letter to me after D signed up for a tour expressing their excitement about her interest ā€“ it was a 3/4 page letter that was very well crafted. I got another one after she had taken the tour. On our arrival at the Admissions Center, we were greeted with a Welcome sign that listed the names of all the kids visiting that day. There was a session where they explained how remote they are, and what that means. If you love winter recreational activities and the outdoors, it can be a great school. If you crave urban amenities, not so much. D was turned off by a tour guide who appeared to be high, and another who expressed herself with poor grammar, but I suspect it could be a great environment for a late blooming, winter-loving country mouse.</p>

<p>Northeastern & BU: Iā€™m a country mouse, but even I could understand their appeal. Touring a side street at BU, I found it surprisingly peaceful. And as mentioned, NU has an actual campus.</p>

<p>We drove by Humboldt State on our way north for a Pacific NW college tour, did a tour and were really impressed by the Biology and Art facilities. Beautiful campus in the Redwoods and a great super- safety</p>

<p>^^^ Beautiful, yes, but very strong smoking culture (and I donā€™t mean cigarettes). Son of a friend attended for one year and could not handle it. He was kind of a pothead in high school, but even he was overwhelmed by Humboldt and came back home to do a year at community college to get away from it.</p>

<p>We all thought University of Rochester was fabulous. But, alasā€¦the weather was not.</p>

<p>We were at U. of Rochester on a beautiful day in August! But even so, there are indoor passageways between the buildings for the many months of winter.</p>

<p>We had this discussion at dinner tonight. I loved Bowdoin. No merit money, so I do not think it even made the application list for DD. It was a great place though.</p>

<p>Oldmomā€¦fyiā€¦ St Lawrence is worth the long out of the way drive:)</p>

<p>MD momā€¦ as my S and I were walking around St Lawrence the other day, I mentioned that I thought SLU was probably the most beautiful of all of the schools we had visited, and he said, " No, Bowdoin was prettier." I guess I had to agree:)</p>

<p>Washington & Lee- The kids were looking at each other smiling. They did not have their heads down looking at the iPhones. Also, incredible Honor Code.</p>

<p>University of Georgia - I only visited the school because my roommate wanted to see a friend from high school and I, having an undue fascination with higher ed, asked to tag along. I was extremely impressed by the buildings, the energy of the campus, and the passion of the tour guide. I also checked out the ecology department (fantastic program btw) and ended up speaking with a professor for about ten minutes about the forestry program. He went on and on about how many opportunities undergrads have at UGA and how much he loves to see them develop into skilled foresters. </p>

<p>Later that night my roommateā€™s friend took me out to a UGA party and I had a lot of fun. It certainly lived up to its reputation ;)</p>

<p>However, months later after the last day of classes, my friends and I decided to drive over to UGA because we wanted to check out the Georgia botanical garden and escape the drunken debauchery that tends to occur after the last day of finals. After looking in awe at the huge variety of plants, we drove to downtown Athens. In a fifteen minute span, two townies, TWO (!) made incredibly racist remarks towards my Pakistani friend. So although I hold the school in high regard, I despise the surrounding area.</p>

<p>Iā€™d have to add U Rochester too. My middle son went back and forth about applying there (sight unseen) because the school was great on paper, but that weather! He finally decided he would apply and we visited in Feb after acceptance. He fell in loveā€¦ and now starting his sophomore year he still had no regrets. When asked about winter he told me it wasnā€™t bad at all - they had fun in the snow and it was gorgeous at night in the lights (besides, didnā€™t the New England schools get more snow this past year with those big storms?). Spring and fall were awesome - far better (to him) than schools in the heat.</p>

<p>Very interesting thread.</p>

<p>In a case of your friends may know whatā€™s best for you, a couple of my daughterā€™s friends told her to take a look at Connecticut College, ā€œItā€™s your school.ā€ She visited and it became her first choice. Sheā€™s just starting her soph year, and loving it. It does have a beautiful campus, and her parents like that itā€™s only an hour away. Definitely not a suitcase school,but I donā€™t think she minds the convenience of getting her laundry home. </p>

<p>Her nerdier younger brother and I visited Boston to visit Harvard and MIT. He thought Harvard was ā€œboringā€ but loved MIT: ā€œIt looks like a lot of fun.ā€ As a prospective math major who is also interested in the humanities, he liked the idea that at an institute rather than at a liberal arts college he could take just the humanities courses that interest him, not all the ones required.</p>

<p>agree on Bowdoin. It has the nicest quad I have ever seen. WPI surprised me. I am not a fan of Worcester so I did not expect much from a tech school there but was pleasantly surprised by a campus with gothic charm and of course the academics and work study program are strong.</p>