@Lindagaf Agree, but it just shows that it is a matter of individual preference. While we weren’t thrilled with the Claremont Colleges, the nice thing is that there were many dining options.
It is amazing how a tour can change your mind. Thought Fairfield looked great on paper but after we parked, S didn’t even want to take the tour. We took the tour but he did not warm up. I thought the campus was lovely but he just had a gut feeling about it.
Ithaca College was a surprise. We added it as a last minute visit when seeing some other schools and he loved the feel. Especially liked Collegetown. Of course, not sure what he will think about it in winter…
D is a junior, into theater tech and considering environmental science or similar majors, possibly parks management.
OFF: Drew University. This was D’s first college visit and it came with the selling feature of a well-regarded theater program. But D hated the campus, thought the dining area was like a mall food court, said it was too small, was unimpressed with the students who spoke at a panel, the university suits who hovered around during the presentation - the so-call “forest” (we live in the woods, and found this suburban stretch of grass with some trees a pretty lame substitute)…
that said…
UP: Sewanee, which has an even smaller student population, was a huge hit. Probably the beauty of the campus, which is phenomenal (this is the quintessential Hogwarts school and if you like the Gothic style, you will adore this campus). It’s worth a visit just for tourism 
… Also has a great little coffee house. And real woods. Wonderful barbecue joint “downtown” - not really a downtown, and isolation is a concern; Chattanooga is 40 minutes away. Downside: Only has a black-box theater, which D does not like, as she’s a traditionalist. School really rolls out the red carpet for you. We did a special theater tour that included a performance and meet-and-greet with cast and faculty. Students ate with us in dining hall. Lax coach met with D for an hour. She sat in on an env. sc. class, and felt comfortable; it was seminar-style, which is the norm at her h.s. Highly recommend checking this place out! We will apply.
UP: UF, my alma mater, which I figured she would hate, as she is at a tiny high school, has lived in the same tiny town all her life, etc etc., but she reveled in the sounds of bustling life and obvious myriad opportunities all around her and wasn’t intimidated at all by the size. The presentation was top-notch: excellent UF video with stirring school pride images, followed by a two-hour tour by a student obviously thrilled with the place, with lots of knowledge, great visit to one of several libraries, the student union, a rec building, classrooms but no dorm, and ending with us all hanging out at the legendary Swamp, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which was just an exceptional way to end the tour. Unfortunately we are OOS and she is not likely to get admitted, nor could we afford it. I just wanted her to see a big state U.
UP: Otterbein - another small school, but D liked the env. science building, the theater, the vibe she got. We did a truncated visit, but it was accepted students day there at the same time, and there was a very nice welcome reception there, lots of happy students, food, etc. Info session was good, not great. It didn’t hurt that it’s in Columbus and she’s Twenty-One Pilots’ No. 1 fan. I’m not sure where the fangirl ends and the school impressions begin, actually. Admissions office was very helpful and eager to please. We will likely apply here.
I toured some Texas schools with D18 and S20 last week.
Down: Rice. 
Gorgeous campus, obviously great academics and opportunities, but the vibe was very off-putting to all three of us on that particular day.
Up: Trinity U. Nice facilities, attentive staff, and a fun, buzzy vibe, even in the summer. Kids really liked San Antonio, too.
Up/down: Southwestern. I loved it. Kids appreciate that they could get a great education here, but it is eerily similar to S’s small private high school, and he thinks he wants to move on to something different. Very sweet, pretty, quiet campus with interdisciplinary emphasis. Georgetown looks like a movie set (and is sometimes used as one!).
ShrimpBurrito - (by the way great user name). Would love to hear more about the “vibe” you felt at Rice. I got my Masters there, so was just wondering. Also live real close and am on campus a fair bit during the year.
@maroon79
I hesitate to say much, as I know we could theoretically visit Rice again and have a completely different experience. We had just come from Southwestern and Trinity, which are not as highly ranked and have more “selling” to do than Rice. SU and TU wooed us. We felt welcomed and interactions were all very genuine and personal. Both schools obviously put a lot of effort into their presentations and encouraged open discussion.
In contrast, Rice felt stiff and cold. Any smiles we saw seemed forced. The AO scolded a mom for trying to take a photo during the info session, even though, in his own words, everything he presented was available on their website. All of the tour guides we met were obviously brilliant, but they again seemed stiff and uncomfortable in their roles. Although our guide talked about the fun they have (in a well-rehearsed script), we saw little evidence that anyone was having fun that day. As great as the academics are at Rice, and with its fantastic reputation, if D didn’t have other great options I would encourage her to apply and visit again if accepted. She is happy with her match and safety schools, though, so we are just letting it go.
@ShrimpBurrito If you visited last week, the regular academic calendar wasn’t in session. I think that would make it harder to get a real feel for campus life and students having fun. But, I do agree that there are plenty of colleges out there, so fine to cross some off the list for gut feel type reasons.
I love this thread. S is a recruited athlete so on the off chance someone figures out my identity I don’t want to post his impressions yet and have it get back to a coach. Yes, I’m that paranoid. I will after that process is over, it’s only fair to share my stories too.
But I will say that the school that I thought he would love and the one I still think fits him best he did not like at all. And every negative he comes up with traces back to his first impression when we drove into town, before we had even seen the school. I’m pretty sure he would be happiest there, but so far he refuses to admit it. Even he admits that he is being irrational about it, but he can’t shake that first impression.
The one he thought was a waste of time to visit is now his favorite.
Probably a few more to see. Should be an interesting year.
@dadof4kids You should be that paranoid, until you sign the NLI, keep it close to vest. I am guessing the team and conference will end up being more important than the town and other things non-athletes consider important. Scales change for athletes. Good luck!
@Gatormama I lust loved your review.
This is my favorite thread. Thanks to all who contribute!
Down: Syracuse university. We all so wanted to like it. It’s nothing the school did or didn’t do. It was the fit. On paper the school had it all.
Surrounding downtown Syracuse was not the greatest. After 7pm the streets were vacant. Almost bizarrely quiet. Just picture blinking street lights and not another car or person around. In all fairness, it was a holiday Monday but didn’t think that the city would be that much of a sleepy town.
Whitman school of business put on a wonderful presentation complete with food, drinks and swag.
Campus was nice. Went to a women’s basketball game at the carrier dome and had fun.
My youngest is starting his senior year of college so it has been a long time since I took my own kids on tours. A few weeks ago I accompanied my sister and niece (rising HS senior) on a tour of my state flagship - UVA.
The welcome session was informative and the admin (an alum, maybe about 30 yo) was entertaining as well. Told a few fun stories but got a lot of information out. Tour guide likewise was excellent - we were all impressed.
Overall vibe - good school with top notch academics and smart students, but room for fun. No pretentiousness at all. My niece plans to apply.
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Off tangent: funny perhaps misleading thing about Naviance. UMD for my S HS is almost 98 and 1600. Fairfield 95 and 1270. I know my HS is competitive but these higher numbers have turned my son off to some schools assuming he has no chance. Seeing different HS numbers is eye opening.
sorry 1350 for UMD
Penn State 1270 and 95
@CB04 How many data points for your son’s school for UMD? We always look at the size of the data set for any given school before deciding if the data is meaningful. Fortunately most of the schools my kids have looked at so far have enough data points but there are exceptions and we discount those exceptions as not useful and rely on other measures. Having used most of the sites and data sets available, we still find our school’s Naviance account by far the most predictive and useful but they have full data for 1,500 students for 8 years. The second most useful is to look up and study the full Common Data Set for the school’s your S/D are serious about. BTW, they updated the UI for Naviance within the last year or so and I have mixed feelings about it. Some things are better and more useful but some things were easier to see and compare previously.
@citivas Hmm got me. Where would I find Data Points on Naviance? Thanks.
@CB04 It depends which UI version your school is using. In the version my kids’ school uses (which I think is the latest), once you select a specific school there are numerous options near the top. One of them is “Admissions” (Between Student Life and Costs). If you click on Admissions and scroll down, it will tell you both numerically and with a visual graphic of little bodies how many people from your kids’ school applied, were accepted and how many attended for each of the last three years. When I tried it for Rutgers, for example, a popular options for my kids’ school because it’s in-state, in 2017 it showed that 186 applied, 150 were accepted and 24 enrolled. This is a lot of data and is consistent each year. On the other hand if a school only has a couple applicants each year in your case, that would be pretty useless data. Most are in-between – even 10 applicants a year for a specific school is a good data set, sometimes even less.
Where in Naviance do you find your kid’s h.s. stats for a particular college? I know I was able to see it earlier this spring when logged into my daughter’s Naviance account, but now I can’t find it anywhere. Could her school have deleted it that information? Her account is still active in that I can see her profile, list of schools she applied to, etc. but I can’t seem to find where the graph is that shows the stats from her h.s. for colleges she applied to (I forget the term for that). I ask, because @CB04’s post about UMD made me want to go back and look at D17’s h.s. stats. We are MD residents and she was accepted into UMD but her stats are lower than what CB04 posted for his son’s h.s. so I wanted going to compare with my daughter’s school.
@CB04
Sometimes you will see high stats in Naviance for a school and it strikes you as odd, because the guidance counselor may be telling higher stats kids to apply and use it as a safety.