You have to walk up a giant hill to get onto Denison’s campus too. We parked in Granville to have lunch and then walked up the hill to campus instead of taking the car and parking. S19 loved it. Felt like a university secluded on a hill (if that’s possible).
I don’t think I reported our recent college tour results…
- Auburn - stayed the same (High Contender) - Reminded me of a southern version of Ohio University/Athens, only with a bigger football stadium. They seemed rather focused on the engineering students (DD'18 will not be an engineer). According to DD'18, dorms on the Quad were "awful" and seemed mental institution-ish, but someone else on CC has said this is not the case for all the dorms, so we are taking them at their word. One tradition, described by our tour guide, was felt rather draconian or "hunger games"...apparently when you join a club/elected office/greek org you all gather on the quad and you find out if you have been accepted if your name is read aloud from the list (what if you don't make it...nothing like standing there feeling unwanted in front of all your peers!). Despite the negatives DD'18 was pleasantly surprised that she liked it. She had been pretty adamant about wanting an urban school so this visit opened her up to the possibility of a college town. She will be very happy if she is offered a spot.
- Clemson - went way up and is a top choice now. (Being cautiously optimistic about acceptance, DD'18 is OOS with a 27 ACT). Liked the trees, and the new construction, I did not like that it seemed sprawling and the over the top "Clemson"-ness of the whole town, but that did not seem to phase DD'18. We did not go inside any buildings, which is weird and not helpful. Guide, who will clearly be a politician someday, did a great job selling it. Husband LOVED it.
- High Point - stayed the same. We had to check it out. It was surreal to say the least...but not as bad as everyone here on CC makes it out to be. I suggest that if you have the opportunity to visit, you do so, even if you are not considering it. It is not everyone's cup of tea. They are very much about "experiential" learning and if your kiddo needs that, it is as good a place as any, if not better, than any of the other small LACs that keep it company in it's category of school. Yes, everything seems brand spanking new with all the bells and whistles but, when 80% of the campus has been built in the last 10 years, I would expected nothing less (Husband said it seemed "staged"). I would guess UC-Merced feels all sparkly new too having been built in recent years, only no one on CC ever seems to attack them, despite their very similar, if not lower, academic stats and darn similar cost of attendance, but whatever. HPU seems to be working on the Field of Dreams concept "if you build it they will come", absolutely their academics need to catch up to their outer appearance. High Point, the city seems depressed. If you are a risk taker and want to be at the forefront of what could be a good thing, maybe this is the place for you. It will be very interesting to see if HPU can sustain their vision when the current President is gone!
- University of South Carolina - Columbia - fell off the list completely. DD'18 had already submitted her application, before our visit, because it seemed to tick all of her boxes. It was a great fit on paper, not so much in real life! This is an example of why, sometimes, it is important to visit a campus! It was our Goldilocks realization school, what works for some, just doesn't work for others. DD'18 was on the tour maybe 15 minutes before she whispered to me "I think I hate it". To her the buildings seemed old and tired. The tour guide kept mentioning the only way to get to know your professor, because class size, is to visit them often. Obviously we know that, it is a large state school, but the continual reminder did not help to endear the school. My husband and I liked USC just fine, but I am guessing because it felt exactly like our own campuses back in the 1980's. It felt familiar to us and that was what turned DD'18 off. To her it was dated and did not feel modern enough and she felt, for an urban school, it did not feel urban enough.
- College of Charleston - not exactly sure where it is on the list. If I were applying to college again, this would have been my "just right" Goldilocks school. I loved it. DD'18 was just "meh". I loved the feel of campus, the location is incomparable. I liked the friendliness of the staff. Our tour guide maybe over used the word "awesome". DD'18 and Hubby immediately made that a joke after the tour (they are still getting mileage out of it). I apparently was too busy falling in love because I didn't notice it! DD'18 did say CofC had the right amount of "urban-ness". Dorms and food options could be a bit better. I think there are great opportunities to be mined at this school. I suspect that DD'18 was suffering from college visit fatigue, as it was the last stop on our tour. I would bet if we were to visit again, when school was in session, it would not be just "meh". I think DD'18 is aware of that too. She came home and applied.
@EyeVeee , our family was definitely one that fell for those views coupled with a pretty campus…Conn College, Colby, Denison started on an “up” note. The view of the Boston skyline from Tufts didn’t cast quite the same spell…
@gardenstategal @EyeVeee
I’m definitely one for a pretty campus with a view. When I was at Bowdoin, I kept saying it’s just so flat (though we did like the school a lot, and the campus was pretty despite it being elevation challenged!). Next day at Colby, I was like - now this is a campus. So pretty and the hills made for some beautiful vistas. Full disclosure, I have a D at College of the Holy Cross, which is another gorgeous campus on a hill - so I think I am partial!
But do agree with @Eyevee - the woodsy hill at Lehigh didn’t do it for us. Was a little spooky
The college ranking publications should include a category on the hilliness of each campus. That way both the hillphobic and the hillphile can be made aware.
^^ quite possibly more accurate than other metrics currently in use.
I know we’re being tongue-in-cheek here… but in reality, this is yet another example of a situation where building in thorough attention to disability access would end up benefiting everybody. If you’re a manual wheelchair user, you sure do want to know how hilly a campus is, in addition to various other metrics of accessibility. Once that information is out there, lo and behold, it’s useful to all sorts of people. Likewise, the actual access features that are put in place because of the ADA end up being exceedingly useful for everybody - sometimes to the extent that it becomes hard for those the features were intended for to compete with all the other users who come to appreciate the convenience. My point being… I would go Tom one better and contend that the college ranking publications really should hire the true experts - disability advocates - to bring accessiblity information into the mainstream, both for the benefit of all information-seekers, and in the interest of better holding colleges accountable for how they have managed the access factors that are within their control.
Bowdoin might not be elevated but hard to be too elevated when you are at sea level - because you are actually living a skip and a jump from the ocean. 
As pretty as Colby’s view may be, Bowdoin’s location trumps it 100 fold. If I was a college kid, I’d put more weight on things I can actually do off campus in my free time than sitting and admiring a view.
@doschicos Haha! We go to a spot right near Bowdoin for a week every summer. People ask me what we do up there. My answer is usually, “Sit on the porch, drink lots of beer and say, ‘ahh, look at that view’” Cant beat seeing the water from both the front and back porch!!
My D is just starting her junior year so we have only just begun the college process. We did look at two schools while we in Maine this summer. Since she doesn’t have a list year I can’t say where these schools started, but I know where they ended up!
Bates & Bowdoin - both WAY up! Now she has nothing to compare them to but it was very cute when she said, “Mom, why did you take me to these first - nothing will ever be as pretty as these!”
It will be interesting to see what she thinks as we start doing more tours this year. I think I am planning an upstate NY/ VT trip in September. I figure I will let her see them in the nice weather and if she really loves one she can visit again in the dead of winter!
@doschicos Agree with you there. Thought the Bowdoin location was great. Brunswick is a cute town and an extension of the campus. Plus near the beach and very close to Portland. If you don’t want urban, and if you don’t want isolated, it’s pretty near perfect.
Speaking of hilliness…a few years ago my kid applied to West Virginia U. without having seen it. Kid was accepted but went elsewhere. A few weeks ago we were on a road trip and decided to stop & take a look at WVU. It’s not really a campus…more like a humongous Stairmaster. Makes Lehigh seem like a pool table in comparison. Our legs were hurting about 15 seconds into our stroll around campus (not exaggerating). Nice buildings, nice people, nice scenic views, but what the heck? Don’t know how they can pass any regulation regarding wheelchairs.
@moooop There is a reason that West Virginia’s nickname is the “Mountain State”.
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I’ve always thought hilly campuses are a great benefit. Just think of all you can eat. No freshman fifteen!
^^ That was actually one of the benefits of going to the University of Kansas, according to our tour guide.
Haha, yep - I used to go to summer music camp at WVU in high school, back in the late 70’s when their “PRT” transit system was a brand-new and exciting thing. Probably the only summer music program where the students came home more physically fit than when they arrived, lol. (Well, apart from marching band programs, of course, but this wasn’t that.)
I’m all about safety, and when I saw those wooded hills where the fraternity houses are located at Lehigh all I could picture was my daughter walking home alone after a fraternity party at night and being a crime victim. In my head that school dropped way down just because of those wooded hills. Pretty campus though.
We visited Lehigh and Bucknell last week. We lucked out with the weather both days -sunny, low 80’s and low humidity.
Lehigh - Pretty campus. I was prepared for hillier after all the comments on CC. D18 commented that there were too many stairs. The biggest issue for her were the dorms. The one we were shown had brown carpet and brown brick in the hallways, and tired linoleum and cinder block in the room. All the other buildings we were shown were well kept and more modern. Went down on D18’s list.
Bucknell - Big campus for a smaller school - lots of green space. I tried to warn D18 that the campus was in the middle of nowhere, but I don’t think she really knew what that meant until we got there. She liked the actual campus, but the location was a major issue for her. Went down on her list too.
It probably didn’t help that we visited WashU last month. We thought that the campus and dorms were top notch and the location made it easy to do things off campus. I think D18 needed to see Lehigh and Bucknell to realize that she wants more of an urban campus. (I knew this already!)
I’m not sure you’ve given Brunswick enough credit.
We think the Bowdoin/Brunswick situation is about as good as it gets. Some great restaurants, coffee shop, gelato, proximity to Freeport, Portland and coastal activities…it’s hard to beat. I also like the variation in the buildings at Bowdoin a lot more than the standard brick upstate. The view from the stairs at Colby is as good as it gets in the East, but that doesn’t come close to making up for the location differences. I can also imagine it being insanely cold in late January when the wind blows on top of that hill.
Having taken the tour at Bowdoin 4 times (yes…4 tours, 2 interviews, 0 applications…long story), my one concern was that there seems to be a lot of upper-class housing that’s isolated and on the other side of campus (from downtown). The perfect snapshot you get on the main quad is mostly classrooms and freshman housing. Things felt to me like they go down hill after that (so to speak)…
Having said that, Bowdoin remains one of our favorite schools…even without a hill.
If you really want to identify the Disneyworld of LACS, look no further than Pomona College.
@EyeVeee Definitely true about the non-Freshman housing at Bowdoin. Some of it is in residential neighborhoods blocks from the campus. And it’s not that students chose it that way on purpose-- with the lottery unless you’re a pack of seniors you’re lucky to get whatever you get. Not a huge deal, but not great. Also, because of that more and more students started opted for rental houses in the area that are just as close or closer than campus housing but nicer. They kind of get passed down from one group to another informally when seniors graduate. Bowdoin didn’t like that so last year they announced a new cap on the # of students they “permit” to use non-Bowdoin housing.