<p>We also loved the University of Tulsa. It was just supposed to be a side trip on the way to the University of Oklahoma(which was very nice), but S absolutely loved it! Applied EA, has been accepted and is just waiting to hear on honors college and scholarships. It was very “peaceful” compared to other schools we had visited, and I think this really appealed to my son. Just a whole different calm vibe. We realized that big state universities are great(my husband and I graduated from one), but not for everyone.</p>
<p>^^^^I knew you’d like it!</p>
<p>oops…I meant ^^^^ to rvm</p>
<p>Northeastern and Penn State University Park. 10-15 years ago Northeastern was a dump. It was run downand it didn’t have a campus. I was shocked to see how it has transformed over the past several years. Their facilites rival any in the corporate world and it has a high energy vibe. I now understand why it is jumping up in the rankings. </p>
<p>We took a road trip to Penn State and was very surprised at how much we liked it. After seeing several other state schools (outside PA) it was refreshing to see a state university that looks like it was well planned. I was also surprised at their “stats” - percentage of kids that get into medical school, law school, job recruitment…etc. They do a good job at packaging the school… The people were very friendly and helpful - but then again, we are from New England 
Everyone seems happy - maybe that is why they call it happy valley! People that are happy usually do well.</p>
<p>University of Richmond. DS fell in love with the beauty of the campus, the friendliness of the admissions folks and the tour guide, who was a nice, bright but laid back, athletic type just like S. Also liked that it doesn’t take 2 years of liberal arts before getting into the B school. Students we saw (sitting in the dining hall) were more diverse than we would have guessed based on reputation and location. It also has a strong “up and coming” vibe.</p>
<p>What a great idea for a thread! I’ll add URI-- looked at it as a safety, found the campus charming and the students energetic, smiling, thoughtful. Since then I keep bumping into grads who love it.</p>
<p>Brandeis, because the day we visited we saw more diversity, particularly people of color, than we had at any other small LAC we had visited of similar size (although technically it is a University) and because the students and staff we encountered from the admissions office/tours were the most professional – least puffery and most information, preparation and clarity.</p>
<p>Northeastern, because of its diversity and vibrancy, and its feeling of being right in the city, and the energy that came from having a large part of its identity rooted in first generation striving and entering the professions like pharmacy and other health technologies, along with every kind of academic focus and activity, while attracting faculty who were top notch researchers and theoreticians simply because it is Boston.</p>
<p>Just wanted to suggest that this thread will be more interesting and useful if people who post mention THE REASON they were surprised after visiting to find they liked a school more than before. Just saying something along the lines of “…after visiting Yale, it moved to the top of the list” does not give any explanation for why there was any surprise about it. Most of the posts have indicated a preconception that was invalidated or something great that was not previously known about a school. But a couple just noted that a school (e.g., Northwestern, Georgetown) that were liked more after a visit. It made me wonder - why the surprise?</p>
<p>I think for a lot of people it was a school that hadn’t even been given consideration prior to visiting, so there were few preconceived notions about the institution. They went in with a fairly blank slate and walked away very impressed.</p>
<p>The University of Oklahoma…it is a beautiful campus with great school spirit. The Journalism building and programs are unbelievable. The architecture of the buildings is sort of “gothic” looking…the main library looks like Hogwarts. It has an “Ivy” feel to it. The town of Norman is very quaint, especially the area right around campus called “Campus Conrners”. I had no idea that it would be such a pretty campus.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo and others, check out my college visit reports for A&M and UTulsa to see what we liked so much about them. We never did a revisit to Tulsa because once the merit/FA offer came in, we had much better choices. We went back to A&M the week decisions were due as it made his final two. He ultimately chose a LAC, but our revisit to A&M was wonderful. They fed us in the faculty dining hall, and ds said, “If I knew they’d give me shrimp every day, I’d come here!” :D</p>
<p>Case Western (we visited AFTER DD was accepted)</p>
<p>DD really liked the campus vibe - serious, nerdy, but relatively balanced between techy and liberal artsy (at least compared to RPI). University Circle nabe was nice enough. DD ended up choosing another school, but we came away feeling that CWRU wasn’t a bad back up, and could be great for some other kid with similar personality to DD</p>
<p>Sorry, but I’m clueless as to how to find your college visit reports, Youdon’tsay. 
Enlighten me, please.</p>
<p>I will also give a shout-out to CSU Chico, especially for in-state Californians who are weighing their options between CSU’s and mid/lower-tier UC’s. If you haven’t visited, by all means do so. Make sure you cruise through the lower and upper regions of Bidwell Park (one of the largest municipal parks in the U.S.) and have a bite to eat at Sierra Nevada Brewery. If you think the school is only for “slackers”, think again, because it has done quite well in the early to mid-career USNWR income rankings.</p>
<p>Rice- D only agreed to the visit because her voice teacher insisted. She was pretty insistent that she would NOT be going to college in Texas (where we lived). She sulked in the back seat of the car during the whole drive from Dallas. I had heard the campus was nice, but…it was in Houston… I fell in love on my morning run around the Rice loop, before H and D even set foot on campus. I kept my mouth shut, but I knew it was the place for D. She liked it a lot (wouldn’t really admit it), but really fell in love during her audition trip. She graduated in 2008! </p>
<p>My surprise was Colorado State. H started a week-long bike trip in Ft. Collins, and I thought it was an awesome city. Sort of “the new Boulder”- less crowded and less expensive. I was impressed by the campus and the facilities. I had thought CU over-shadowed everything else in the state, so I was pleasantly surprised. No one applied, though.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo, I will give you one fish [The</a> University of Tulsa Visit - Youdon’tsay](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vibe/the-university-of-tulsa/5619964.html]The”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vibe/the-university-of-tulsa/5619964.html) and then you must learn to fish. ;)</p>
<p>College visit reports can be found by going to the NEW! Campus Vibe section on the left of this page under the Discussion Menu. Then you navigate to the college your want.</p>
<p>And I would encourage everyone to fill out the visit reports. Really helpful if done thoroughly!</p>
<p>Mildly surprised with Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) after we visited. Only “mildly” as I thought it was a good school to begin with. It was just better than I remembered.</p>
<p>My daughter was interested in engineering and WPI is primarily an engineering school. What she/we liked about it was its size. She is not the kid that will do well at a large school and WPI is less than 4000 undergrads (she is a freshman there this year and her class is about 925 students). Academically, it was also a good fit for her.</p>
<p>It is a very pretty campus and we were impressed with how freindly everyone was during our visit. </p>
<p>The surounding immediate area is OK, nothing great. However, she is finding out that although there are fewer “events” to attend in a small city like Worcester, getting access to them is easier than in say a city like Boston. </p>
<p>She and a couple of her girlfriends have already found an apartment for next year and the rent is quite reasonable and she is just a very short distance off campus.</p>
<p>For my daughter, it was Boston University. When we were visiting Boston area schools last spring, BU was on the least of schools that were basically drive-bys, as we didn’t have time to tour all the schools on our list. She was intrigued and when she visited again in November, she loved it. She just spent four days up there and cannot wait to move in. I was surprised because I always envisioned her in a typical college town, not in an urban environment. But I guess Boston Urban is different because she loves it!</p>
<p>We had very low expectations for our S2 as far as Dominican University of California (Northern Calif.). Very nice peaceful beautiful campus, friendly laid back atmosphere, and great food! My visit report didn’t reflect this so much but we have found since our visit that there was a communication breakdown as far as the athletic coaches and not admissions. They have been very responsive since.</p>
<p>Whoa!!! This is truly HUGE!!! Non-Texans just can’t appreciate this post.</p>