I’m copying the topic from an old thread. So I’ll start.
Crossed off List. Bowdoin - Nervous tour guide, arrogant admissions, felt uninvited.
Moved up. Mount Holyoke - Impressive tour guide, beautiful campus and nice Dance studio.
Brandeis, off the list after a drive around campus in the summer. Felt like an unloved and unkempt pet. Hamilton, just too remote for my D.
Up the list, after an info session with a panel of really great students, Clark University. Also up the list, SUNY Geneseo. Lovely campus and buildings, students seemed happy.
Crossed off the list: Bryn Mawr due to admission office issues, poor tour and “cold” interviewer. Reed due to interactions with tour guide that helped her realize that this was not the place for her and, what seemed like, the singular pursuit of academics.
Moved up: Lewis & Clark. Initially, she was not interested and we made her go. However, great interaction action with students, beautiful campus, and a “balanced” academic/social program placed it in her top three. Mount Holyoke due to great interaction with student interviewer. Smith. “This is where I belong.” “I hope I get in.” We were most surprised by her reaction to Smith. She liked the students she met, the campus, the house system, Northampton and the open curriculum.
Crossed off: Cal Poly Pomona - “Just not feeling it.” (I thought it was fine)
Moved up: CSU Channel Islands - Beautiful campus, close to beaches, relaxed vibe.
Crossed off: St Lawrence, snowed hard in April on spring break visit, the campus culture struck us as too conventional, one of our scheduled meetings got cancelled.
Moved up: St Lawrence, felt like we didn’t give it a fair shake the first time, since it was our last school visited on spring break trip junior year, so we went back. Wow, so glad we did. Campus was beautiful, students, administrators and faculty my kid met were welcoming, interesting, and diverse. Isn’t where my kid is headed, but what a neat place!
crossed off: Tufts - terrible tour guide but even if she were better the campus is steep hills. No biking riding happening there. On campus housing limited w/ the need to secure private homes for housing which are mostly older, drafty homes. Could be cold winters if the heat goes out and I don’t want to have a kid dealing with a landlord.
Amherst - beautiful campus, small tour group that sat around the table talking with the director of admissions, students were all personable and happy. Negative for my son was the small suburban town feel reminded him too much of home.
Harvard - First visit to Harvard this was on top of the list; second visit which was after having visited about 10 other schools, son picked up on a different vibe as in a more subdued group of students.
Moved up:
MIT - the tour guide was awesome, funny, relaxed and real. Definitely a more electric vibe on campus.
Yale - tour guide was excellent. Significantly more conservative the the fun loving MIT tour guide but appealed to my son’s desire for artistic type of extra curriculars (museum, art gallery, theatre).
Schools that met expectations: Wesleyan U, BC, BU, Duke, Brown
Visited most schools twice, except Tufts. Hills were a deal breaker. Four years is a long place to live somewhere so I want him to be happy where he ends up.
Off list? None due to a visit. Oodles of others due to other factors such as academic opportunities, type of campus, financial fit, etc. Some moved down due to over-emphasizing sports (Pitt, U Alabama).
Moved up on list due to a visit? U Rochester and WUSTL. U Rochester almost didn’t make the list due to its location and the snow lore. It ended up being choice #1 for my now senior son who loves it there.
For son #3, Eckerd also moved up on the list - and became his choice. Nova Southeastern moved up too in our minds - it didn’t even make our radar before, but now is a school I recommend for the right students.
University of Richmond was dropped after our visit. It was my D’s favorite school before visiting based on Internet research and marketing materials. After visiting, she couldn’t get away fast enough. She said it was full of preppy, arrogant, rich kids.
Crossed off: Cornell, city within a city was a little disorienting for S1 at the time. RPI, didn’t like the vibe. Couldn’t get away fast enough. In fairness, it was a lousy, damp day.
Moved up: St. Joe’s. Terrific campus. Lots of school spirit. In the city.
Can’t figure out why it didn’t move down: Northeastern. Tour guide didn’t know anything. He love
Miami U— passed a large commuter parking lot (hmmm); a LOT of cows and pastures; the buildings all looked “too perfect”; we were there over an hour and saw no one but white kids. On the way out we passed two Asian students but it was too late. We skipped the school and even the two cute streets on the other side of the campus were not enough to persuade D it would be tolerable to attend.
Lol no not AT MU… Sorry, should’ve been clearer. We came in a weird way and it was literally all farmland almost right up to the entrance. For a kid who wants n urban campus it was not a good fit.
OUT - Northeastern, BU, Syracuse, Binghamton - Northeastern - all they did was talk about co-op co-op co-op ad nauseam, BU - Not really a college feel just a bunch of buildings along a street in Boston. Syracuse cold and impersonal. Binghamton felt no connection, need to modernize academics centers, class rooms.
IN - UNC CH , University of Alabama - D picked to enroll at UA after her visit, loved everything about it.
Off list: Williams. First visit was after he was already admitted. Thought it too jockey, too isolated, too much living in a fishbowl.
On list: UChicago. First visit after admitted. Right atmosphere, major league city, strong academic program. Accepted admission offer on admitted students’ day.