<p>Somewhat similar, somewhat different for my D1. I took her to see Bryn Mawr because we were looking for schools in the “match” to “low match” range and it seemed like a good fit. Well, it was a great fit. In fact, it was love at first sight. But then we went to see Haverford later that same day, almost as an afterthought. I was thinking Haverford would not be a great fit, a little science-heavy for my humanities/social sciences D, and a little reachy as well. Turns out she fell in love all over again, only just a bit harder this time. I think it was partly just the coed v. single-sex thing; plus the fact that the two schools are so closely linked that she could get many of the benefits of Bryn Mawr while enrolled at Haverford. But the clincher was the Haverford tour guide, an earnest young Quaker who was just deeply committed to Haverford’s unique honor code and the role it plays in building the Haverford community, and how it resonated with his own Quaker values. We’re not Quakers but we know a lot of Quakers and my D has a very deep respect for the Quaker tradition. She was sold. And I was sold because this was something so deeply meaningful to her, and I admired and respected the values it brought out in her. She made Haverford her top choice, applied ED, was accepted, and is now in her second semester with no regrets. Had Haverford rejected her she’d have probably applied ED II to Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>The University of Arkansas. I thought it was probably semi-backward and poor, like much of the state. Instead it was hilly, with beautiful old buildings and sparkling new ones, amidst the lush green Ozarks. The honors college was impressive as heck and loaded with money, as was the business school, thanks to the Walton family. The cafeteria food was about the best I’ve had on a college campus. I would have been thrilled to go there myself. (My son is harder to please and wasn’t crazy about it, but poo-poo to him.)</p>
<p>My D’s surprise was Dickinson. We added it to last year’s northeast college tour only because it fit her general specs (small co-ed liberal arts college in the northeast), because we knew a girl there, and because it was a good stopping point en route from the schools she was much more interested in: Bard, Vassar, Muhlenberg and American. She really had no interest in Dickinson, but was fine with giving it a look.</p>
<p>From the moment we walked on campus, she was pretty much levitating. She loved every inch of it: the architecture, the history, the global focus, the professor she met with, the pianos in the dorm lobbies, the gym, the restaurants and boutiques in Carlisle… everything but the dining hall, which was fine but nothing special. She ended up not even applying to Bard and Vassar, and I think odds are pretty good that she’ll be at Dickinson in the fall.</p>
<p>I’ll second Penn State. Ds wanted marching band, so much of the area’s big state schools were on the list. Went to Penn State in the middle of a snowstorm and it was wonderful, sidewalks heated so not a problem, two very enthusiastic guides, great big student union, happy kids all around, even in the library. It might be a big school but it really didn’t seem impersonal or for that matter, swarming with kids. Felt comfortable, really surprised us with how at home we felt. Went back in the middle of summer, spent more time and again, there is just a good feeling in happy valley that you don’t expect until you are there. Shot up and has stayed tied for #1 ever since.</p>
<p>In the case of Georgetown, the school has this very strong reputation for having a Preppy student body so we were expecting to see all these young, mostly white men in popped collars, or ties and suits, acting all self-important. Not so. The student body was very diverse, everyone was chill, and the students my daughter met on campus were among the friendliest she has met any where. </p>
<p>In the case of Northwestern, we were programmed to think of it as the opposite of U.Chicago- fun loving but shallow, smart but not intellectual, and too pre-professional. My daughter attended several classes at NU and realized that this was not true, and she also realized that she wanted a fun-loving student body after all. She decided to apply to NU but not UChicago.</p>
<p>I also mentioned Harvard- this was the biggest surprise. There were many negative stereotypes about Harvard that were destroyed by our visit. Students seemed happy and normal- not stressed out and miserable. Professors seemed to care about their students, and did a good job of teaching.</p>
<p>Now having said all that, I am actually not sure the visits gave us an accurate impression of the schools. For instance, several people she knows who ended up at Harvard are miserable there.</p>
<p>general comment … mostl non-top-tier schools we visited. We kept visiting schools and I kept having the same reaction … “this is pretty nice - the students here seem happy and are enthusiastic about their school - and this could be a great place for the right student”. Some schools we saw that I really liked after visiting …
Brandeis (although this probably counts as a top tier school)
Bentley
Clark
Ithaca College
UMass
UVM
U of Delaware
WPI
(and tons more like Colgate, Bucknell, Lehigh, etc that I’m counting as top tier)</p>
<p>The college visits I did made me realize just how many great options there are for students out there.</p>
<p>R4emb, our Dickinson experience was similar to yours. It was a safety/afterthought stop, but D was just charmed by the whole visit. They had fabulous coconut cake in the cafeteria the day we visited, so the food was actually a plus on that day And D is now a very happy junior at Dickinson.</p>
<p>Northeastern (where I ended up going). We did a walk-through visit without a tour and I was underwhelmed, but applied anyway, because it seemed like a decent match on paper. They did a really good admitted students day though. It was all very well-coordinated, and really impressive, and it sold me.</p>
<p>UC San Diego - all I heard was that the campus was a too urban. Not at all true. beautiful spot in La Jolla, Ca. Great dorms. Very close to a wicked beach.</p>
<p>As a Northeastern mom, I love seeing it pop up so often! I had expected Northeastern to be a true city college and was pleasantly surprised how much of a campus feel it has, in spite of being in Boston. Plus the students we dealt with were so enthusiastic. </p>
<p>I did not expect to like Yale, thinking the people there would be snobby and that New Haven would be terrible but Yale truly put on the best tour and every single person we met from the university was so warm and friendly.</p>
<p>I did not expect to like UT either, but not only did I like the campus, I fell in love with Austin.</p>
<p>I’ll speak for DH here: he didn’t think Pitt would be a good option for D2 since “it’s such a dirty, icky city”. Then we visited, and DH learned that Pittsburgh has changed a lot since he was there (for a day) 30 years ago. D2 is a now a happy Pitt student!</p>
<p>American. It is SO different from 30 years ago. It is probably not a top choice for the liberal arts, and certainly not for the sciences. But really exciting top-notch programs in international relations, business, communications, public affairs. Vrtually everyone double majors, not just for the purpose of double-majoring, but to deepen studies toward a career. We found the student body very exciting, and the what we found out about the career services office extraordinary. </p>
<p>Goucher College - If it was located in a different area and farther away from my home I would’ve applied. It was just a local option but the campus was beautiful (I was there in like October) and our tour guide was so wonderful. It had a weird vibe in general but it felt intellectual. Our tour guide took use to her own dorm room which was sweet. We saw deer frolicking and I really liked it. Different location and farther away I would’ve applied. </p>
<p>Ithaca College - It had been on my list for awhile but I never actually thought about it. We visited in early August of senior year and I fell in love. The campus is not the prettiest (especially with Cornell lurking across the hill) but it has a funky architecture vibe to it. We did the general campus tour from a music ed/some instrument performance major who was so sweet. We then did the tour of Park the Communications school and that is where I truly fell in love. I currently spend way too much time in that building anyway but it is just what I wanted in a Communications program. </p>
<p>RacinReaver - Why poor Duquesne? One of my friends go there and she loves it.</p>
<p>Long time reader, first time poster. This is a perfect chance for me to post something complimentary, instead of inflammatory, so people don’t think I am a ■■■■■!</p>
<p>D picked almost all of the schools that we visited, so it’s the parents who came in with a lot of preconceived biases, not D.</p>
<p>Scripps: Did not think we’d like it - smallish school and all women to boot. Came away with a totally changed impression. One of the most beautiful campuses we have visited, some parts are like a meditative garden where one automatically lowers voices to a whisper. When we find out that Scripps has access to classes of the other colleges in the Claremont Consortium, we start thinking of it as part of a 5000+ campus. Prejudices gone.</p>
<p>Brown: again, leery about its counter cultural, free-willing, define-your-own-major reputation. Both the tour guide and admission officer charmed us with their quirky, self-deprecating humor, not taking themselves seriously despite the Ivy League label. Looked over my shoulder and there stood my quirky, unconventional DD, in her bohemian “reconstructed” thrift store frocks. A perfect fit. I guess she knows herself better than us…</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon: Not surprised by the college itself, our affection nickname for it is “Arts for Freaks and Geeks” when she went there for summer arts course. But Pittsburgh the city was not what we expected at all! Despite its “urban” image, it feels more like a friendly college town where we feel safe to send our HS daughter to navigate the city by public transit for the summer. Walking through Schenley(?) Park, we remark that with its bridges and green rolling hills, Pittsburgh reminds us Portland. Go figure!</p>
<p>For my son it was USC (So Cal). He was absolutely adamant that he did not want a West Coast school (especially someplace warm). But he panicked during the application process and asked me to find a safety school that had his interests (music and linguistics). Because of the music interest he had to audition, and because of illness neither my wife nor I could go with him. He went alone and loved the school. It immediately moved way up his list. His reasons were non-specific, but when he called to talk about the audition, we asked him about the school. He said, “The school is beautiful!”. I teased him by saying that I had heard that the girls were beautiful too. He agreed and said “heck, even the guys are beautiful.” It would probably have been his first choice if he hadn’t gotten into Harvard.</p>
<p>For me (40+ years ago) it was W&L. I was from NJ and wanted to go to William and Mary (which I had seen because we had cousins in the area), but my mother suggested that I visit W&L (which I didn’t know much about). I still remember driving into Lexington and passing what looked like a prison and thinking I really don’t want to go here. It turned out to be VMI. I walked around the W&L campus and felt very comfortable and the students were very friendly. Had a great time there, (maybe too good a time, but it all worked out.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins–Had to drag My DS there on a school break. He had applied on his counselor’s recommendation. DS has not been interested in schools in large cities, so I thought he wouldn’t like it, and I could tell he didn’t think he’d like it (didn’t want to visit even though it’s only 1.5 hour drive from us).</p>
<p>After driving thru Baltimore I figured he’d keep his impression of not liking schools in big cities. Had a very poor (in my opinion) admissions presentation (JHU if you are reading this–intern isn’t best choice for doing this briefing). Had a very short 15 minute briefing which did nothing to wow us or convince us JHU was a great place to be. Then we had to wait 1hr 45 minutes for campus tour.</p>
<p>Tour guide was fantastic. She really talked about many facets of the school and discussed friends in a variety of areas of study. Went thru the engineering building which was very cool (saw big open bay where hands-on equipment was located). Then saw one of two DaVinci machines used for medical procedures–WOW (school has them for engineers to work with to make them better and med students to work with)!</p>
<p>Got in car for drive home. Asked DS what he thought. He said I really liked it. I asked him what he liked, and he said “everything”! He liked that although the campus was in the middle of the city it was it’s own entity–no roads going thru main campus. I was surprised!</p>
<p>So a school he applied to from a counselor’s recommendation moved up his list quite a bit after that visit.</p>
<p>"I still remember driving into Lexington and passing what looked like a prison and thinking I really don’t want to go here. It turned out to be VMI. " LOL!!!</p>
And D is now a very happy junior at Dickinson.</p>