<p>I have a co-worker who went to Bryn Mawr and she loves that place, the traditions keep the alumna connected. </p>
<p>We loved Seton Hill in Greensburg, PA. It kind of looked like Hogwarts as we approached it on a misty morning; the admissions department assigns a parking spot that has a sign that says “Welcome, Your Last Name Family”. She had a personalized tour, a meeting with an admissions officer, and a meeting with the head of the department my daughter is interested in (this woman, btw, came and met with my daughter in the middle of moving! and they talked for nearly 90 minutes). It went from being barely on the radar to being a front runner. </p>
<p>^^ That was an interesting, if slightly creepy, site (<a href=“http://www.lowermerionhistory.org”>www.lowermerionhistory.org</a>). I could see old friends’ houses. Luckily I grew up in a non-historic non-descript house.</p>
<p>You found it creepy, @SlackerMomMD? I think that place is a tremendous resource, along with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. What would Philadelphia be without its history? :-)</p>
<p>I guess I wouldn’t want to suddenly see my house on the web - they give street addresses along with the town name. Yeah, I find that a tad intrusive.</p>
<p>slackermom, you can google your address. You will see a picture of your house, what it cost, etc. You can scroll to neighbors houses and do the same. </p>
<p>For me it was Washington State University. I grudgingly agreed to visit over the summer last year (my mom wanted me to explore all the in state options) and fell absolutely in love. The campus is beautiful, the small-town vibe is great, and everybody bleeds crimson and gray. I’m proud to say the trip swayed me so thoroughly that I’ll be a Coug this fall!</p>
<p>We were pleasantly surprised by SUNY Binghamton. “Love” is too strong a word but we went in thinking “safety school, we need to take a look”, or in D’s case “dumb safety school”,and came out thinking it was a very viable option. We had driven through the town & past the school a few times around 15 years ago and have to say it looks much improved. A personable, friendly student gave us an individualized tour (just our family), told us about his experiences in the honors college, doing research with professors and presenting a paper at a scholarly conference. He introduced us to a motherly lunch lady as well and showed us a shiny new dorm.</p>
<p>We were pleasantly surprised by Auburn. Lovely campus, many strong academic programs - especially if you are leaning toward engineering, very friendly people, great honors program, fun sports, and a nice college town. I had low expectations for “middle of nowhere, Alabama” and it ended up near the top of my son’s list. It would have been a fine school for him.They offered nice scholarships, too. </p>
<p>Proudpatriot,
kuddos on “son is at Case Western”, great school and if he is pre-med, great Med. School. But still be very careful in this area, I do not want to scare you, be aware of surroundings, personal safety is number 1 priority. But I woudl say it is almost pretty and Little Italy is just charming, many great places to eat, great number of social events, festivals, music, food…</p>
<p>But when we visited today we were impressed–the campus was walkable and easy to navigate with green spaces. A pleasant and helpful admissions staff showed a short, persuasive video with facts about its good research rankings, innovative programs and financial value with COA at 19K instate, 30K OOS. The admissions officer was lively; families attending the session were mostly from NY but some were from NJ, VA, CT.Apparently there are students from all 50 states attending.</p>
<p>The tour guides were friendly and well-trained with 2 of them conducting each tour. When asked about the suitcase school issue, they cited a study done last year showing that of the 10,000 campus residents, 75% were using their dining cards on weekends. As for the big classes in lecture halls holding 300 to 500, many of them are videotaped and can be viewed any time on the Blackboard system.</p>
<p>Sewanee: University of the South. Beautiful campus, enthusiastic tour guides, happy students walking around, and overall just a warm and inviting feeling.</p>
<p>Oklahoma State University surprised me. We were planning a quick tour only because it was on the way. Beautiful campus, a lot of new buildings, but the school spirit really surprised me. I left wishing I could go back to college again so I could pick OSU. Going to Ole Miss tomorrow. Hope it is even better.</p>
<p>Susquehanna was the big surprise to me. Beautiful campus, new buildings, friendly students, and full tuition scholarship! I would have gone in a heartbeat, but it wasn’t my decision to make.</p>
<p>We live in Colorado and my daughter only wanted to visit large California schools. We hit them all and she loved Berkeley but I was sure she wouldn’t get in. On a fluke, I took her to Occidental which she had no interest in because if it’s size of 2,000. After seeing every other school on the west coast, she instantly feel in love with it. I think she expect a small LAC to look like her high school and was so surprised at how many buildings there were and how beautiful the campus was. She also loved the tour guide and how passionate she was about the school. She did get into to Berkeley but choose to go to Oxy (with a great merit scholarship I might add). So far so good.</p>
<p>Chapman University in CA. We had never even heard of it. On a tip from another parent while visiting another school nearby, we decided to tour. An hour into the tour, Son whispered, “I want to go here.” He is. </p>
