This is about colleges that went up and down the list. Someone can create a new thread to talk about Naviance.
Someone already did. 
“We approached U of Chicago from the west and S19 got a taste of that neighborhood. And, yes, it would have been completely different had we come from Lake Shore Drive!”
I wonder if any schools have tried to influence Google Maps to guide visitors along the preferred route. U of Chicago is probably the most outstanding example of a school with two plausible highway routes from the city center where one is ten times more flattering than the other. The scenic route also takes you through the neighborhood that students use much more frequently, so there’s a real argument that this route is more informative.
@Hanna I am certain that Google will adjust the route…for a slight fee!
My family happened to take hwy 202 when going to Bates. I’m guessing our approach through Auburn and downtown Lewiston is not the path Admissions would suggest.
UC Davis is another one - there is a “lovely little town” approach to campus and an “agriculture as far as the eye can see” approach. Others who had learned the hard way coached me on the correct route if I wanted my daughter to be charmed.
1 Like
Nothing charming about New Haven, CT, I’m afraid. And I looked for charm.
And no way to approach Grinnell that doesn’t involve cornfields.
I say show them all the warts. My daughter looked at Wyoming for the first time on MLK day, in mid January. She thought it was mighty cold and wavered about her choice. When she visited again in Sept, she thought it was wonderful. However, she was prepared for that first cold, cold winter although they don’t go to school in Jan - it’s too cold!
@LoveTheBard I’m hoping S19 will take a nap on the way to Grinnell and wake up just as we enter campus. I really think it’s a good match in so many ways for him but I’m worried about those cornfields! He loved the beautiful green hills on the way into Kenyon so he doesn’t mind remote campuses but oh those cornfields! :-/
@aquapt Can you share which is the ‘lovely little town’ approach to take to visit UC Davis? I am hoping to convince DS to visit and that information will certainly come in handy!
I actually found the part of Iowa around Grinnell much prettier than most of Iowa (sorry Iowans!) as it was less flat and offered some rolling hills. My artsy kid actually took some photos and created a beautiful landscape from one of them.
@doschicos good to know!! We’ve got an artsy one too. I’ll be sure he remembers his good camera for the trip into Grinnell. I thought he might find the landscape pretty cool but he just got home from cross country camp at UIUC and his exact words about the campus were “cornfield, cornfield, cornfield, UNIVERSITY, cornfield”. That’s the comment that now has me worried about our Grinnell trip!
He has an open mind about Iowa and Grinnell. His XC coach graduated from there. I can’t wait to see if he’ll like the campus, the kids, and the vibe there.
@LYLMom - The town of Davis is mostly North and East of the University. Driving westbound from Sacramento takes you through the town. Coming up 80 from Vallejo, Vacaville, etc. takes you through farm country. Not that farm country is so terrible, but it does convey a different sense of the university’s setting than coming through town does. Also, if you approach UCD from town and head toward the visitor’s center, you enter campus through the Arboretum area, which is lush and beautiful - completely different impression from the sprawling, arid fields just outside of town. We arrived at night, stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, and had a nice dinner at a charming Mexican place near the train station downtown; and then we drove right into the Arboretum in the morning, and the kids were like, “Ooooh, this place is niccceeee!” UCD gives a really nice presentation and tour, too - very much focused on the student experience - which was in sharp contrast to our Berkeley tour the day before, which was all about the Nobel Prizewinners and their special designated parking spaces and etc. 
(Wait, @LoveTheBard - I could have sworn you told us how much you LOVED New Haven…)
Iowa is not flat. Ask anyone who has ever ridden RAGBRAI.
The area near Cedar Rapids is very nice.
Parts of Iowa are flat - or I guess it is all relative to what one is used to.
I would imagine the wind would be more of a factor riding across the state than the elevation.
Parts of Colorado are flat too, and IMO flatter than Iowa, but I don’t think anyone would call Colorado flat.
Comparing Iowa to Colorado isn’t helping your premise that Iowa isn’t flat.
But I’ll stop talking about Iowa and its flatness or the thread police will be on me for turning this discussion from Naviance chatter to a discussion on Iowa’s topography. 
@doschicos , we could all go back to talking about hills.
Iowa is the 13th flattest state in the US.
Back to the OP (in a sense)....is the perception of a school significantly impacted by changes in elevation? The school that comes to mind is Colby. WIth one of the biggest views imaginable from a "main" building (please fight the urge to wordplay Maine), does it unfairly influence perception as compared to say, Bowdoin, where all you see is trees unless you go to the top floor of the door to see the ocean? Since the thread turns a lot on first impression, how do hills influence?Our family was mixed: Lafayette went up after a visit, while the hilly (and wooded) Lehigh went down.