Colleges you were surprised you liked after visiting

<p>I really liked the thread "colleges you crossed off your list after visiting" This thread is kind of the opposite of that. What colleges went from bottom of your list to top after your visit.
For example my S was forced to visit UVM, as we were there anyway, and I thought he should take a look. He didn't think he would like it because he was more focused on small LAC's. Well, long story short... he LOVED it and is now going to apply EA next Fall. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.... what schools did this happen to you??????</p>

<p>Ithaca College: twice…three years apart…didn’t move to the top of either kids’ list, but it stayed on both…neither are attending though…</p>

<p>Texas A&M. Quite the surprise for these UT fans. </p>

<p>Also, we were surprised how much we liked Tulsa.</p>

<p>NYU: I didn’t think we’d like it, but the info. session and tour were great and got my D excited about going to college. It didn’t make the final list, but through no fault of the university.</p>

<p>Harvard. </p>

<p>My daughter was sure she would hate it. She came away loving it.</p>

<p>Luckily for her she was rejected. She fits better at her current school.</p>

<p>Chico State. Seriously. DS didn’t visit, but DH and I stopped by on our way to Oregon. Nice campus, friendly people, cute town.</p>

<p>USC[ southern calif]
Until I actually saw the campus, sat in on a class, and took a long hard look at all USC offered [ it had strong programs in the areas son was focused on], there was NO WAY my brainy, shy kid was even going to apply to USC! [ Hubby went to Stanford and we used to love to mock the Trojan Marching Band when their football team would play Stanford!] 5 years later, and after paying no tuition [ he was awarded a Trustee scholarship] son has no regrets about going to USC and has just been accepted at 2 of the top U’s for his PHD studies.
Thank you USC!</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon. I had been to Pittsburgh a year prior to help my brother move into his dorm at the University of Pittsburgh and wasn’t a fan of the area at all. Found out a year later it was just down the street in a completely different type of area with a completely different type of student population. Loved the DIII sports, small departments, tech-centric campus, and fairly diverse student population (for a tech school). Wound up applying, attending, and completely loving my time there as a student!</p>

<p>Youdon’tsay, could you share what you liked about Texas A & M and Tulsa?</p>

<p>I pulled the “we’re looking at Haverford anyway, why not just look at Bryn Mawr, even though it’s all women” card with D – she wound up loving Bryn Mawr, and then loving Wellesley even more. She was accepted ED at Wellesley, and would have gone ED II at Bryn Mawr if that had not come through.</p>

<p>Wow Vball- Chico State was my choice too! It gets such a bad rap around here, but when I saw it I was completely charmed by both the town and the campus. The programs seemed impressive too. I wonder if it would have seemed different late on a Friday or Saturday night, since it has quite the party reputation. </p>

<p>I must say D was not as impressed and just wanted to leave as soon as she could. It was her safety school and she did not want to envision going there.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon. Toured that school 3 times with 3 different kids. We loved it each and every time. I’m still surprised that my kids aren’t/haven’t attended that school.</p>

<p>Northwestern was on the list due to location and a good journalism school. After we visited it quickly shot up to the #2 choice right behind the ED school. Entire family loved it.</p>

<p>Regarding the people who liked CMU:
I agree that Pittsburgh is the best-kept secret in the country! People are shocked by how nice but how “real” it is.</p>

<p>We went on a trip to see CMU. Stopped by Pitt first and LOVED it. Walked down the street to CMU and everyone got quieter and quieter. Hated how few kids were out and it just couldn’t compare to Pitt. Did tours etc at both. End result…applied at Pitt and not at CMU. CMU was one of top choices prior to trip and Pitt wasn’t on radar.</p>

<p>Montclair State University in NJ. Not on most people’s radar, especially OOS, but has excellent arts programs. It’s a charming campus, with white adobe architecture and red tile roofs, a real working diner at the stadium, and a nice town. Train station to Manhattan at the end of the driveway. Wonderful arts facilities.</p>

<p>Northwestern and Georgetown moved way up on the list after the visits. Especially Northwestern.</p>

<p>Siena College. It is relatively local and it appeared on USNWR list of “A schools for B students” so we put it on D’s list. After she applied, D went to interview and felt very at home there. It is not too large, or too far away, the campus is safe and it has a lot of choices for her interests but is not too overwhelming. Truthfully it had not even been on our radar- and was on the list because it was between a match and a safety for her.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon for us too. I’d imagined it in a gritty ex-steel town. Instead it has a very pretty campus in a quiet residential area. (I can understand dasdnconfused thinking it too quiet - I liked Pitt too.) I happen to also love the architecture (with the exception of the library and the comp sci building - the two places ds spends most of his time, but *he *doesn’t care about architecture anyway!) I was also surprised by how much I liked the art coming out of their BFA program, though the architecture critques that were going on the day I was there gave me the willies! But most importantly, the folks at the computer science school blew us away. They had by far the best presentation of any college we visited.</p>

<p>I also was surprised by American. My mother graduated from there when I was in junior high, but I don’t think I ever actually set foot on campus. I knew the area well (my husband’s family lives around the corner), but the campus itself was nicer than it looks like from Mass Ave. I was impressed by the students and faculty we talked to. (American has gone up a lot in the world since my mother’s day. She was just trying to get a degree as quickly and conveniently as possible at that point.)</p>

<p>I loved the look of the Georgetown campus, again surprised I’d never set foot on it. I spent my high school years in DC. Loved the layout and architecture, but it was one of those too clean campuses! And I hated the dumb banners.</p>

<p>Susquehanna University</p>

<p>We were a little skeptical of the small size and somewhat remote location - but it we all liked it much more than expected. Beautiful campus - very clean - buildings in good shape. One of the best info sessions - led by the Director of Admissions. One of the best tours - had our own tour guide so she was really able to customize the tour to our areas of interest. Friendly students - casual vibe - it has made the final cut and son will be applying in the fall.</p>