@musakParent and @Gatormama St. Olaf shot up in our estimation as well (although probably a bit more for me than my kid). On our trip we toured Macalester and many other Midwestern schools, mostly in Ohio. Our tour was very personalized - everybody got their own tour guide and they tailored our visit according to my daughter’s academic and extracurricular interests. There’s a refrigerator full of snacks and drinks for visitors should your energy dip. We were the only ones who signed up for the info session in our given time slot, so we met personally with an admissions officer for an hour. My daughter’s interviewer could not have been more kind. The campus is very pretty - a mix of classic ivy covered buildings and clean modern Scandanavian architecture with lots of windows to maximize the natural light. We didn’t eat there but it is said that the food is good - to the point that Carleton students come to partake. My daughter is not religious and is politically progressive and felt she could have been happy there. Aside from the music, St O is very strong in STEM and their study abroad programs are highly regarded.
@Gatormama We saw good diversity at St. Olaf for sure. I think they are 12% international? This year one of their proposed student houses is going to be all Muslim women who host events educating on Islam. The have a number of houses on campus groups of students can propose projects for (like there is a green house, language immersion houses, etc)
Thank you for the reviews of St Olaf. It’s on the list to visit in October as is Macalester. My D is a cellist/math nerd. We recently met with another cellist home on summer break from St Olaf. She gave a great recommendation as did her mother. The student said on her first day she was sitting by herself during a welcome picnic or something like that. A group of cellists recognized her from an earlier encounter, came over and welcomed her into the group and she spent the event with them. Suddenly she had a large supportive group of friends. Her mother told me she felt that she was leaving her daughter in a place with a strong sense of community. Was nice to hear so I thought I’d share. Would love to hear if anyone has a review of academics or rigor on St Olaf? The school is a fit from a music perspective but not sure on the academic side.
@Veryapparent I think your daughter would find plenty of rigor at St. Olaf. I noticed from one of your prior posts that your daughter is interested in math. St. Olaf’s math department is VERY highly regarded.
@Veryapparent My D is a math major at St Olaf. The math program is strong and is one of the top producers of future math PhDs (more than much larger U of MN, which is also know for its math program).
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19572642/#Comment_19572642
St Olaf runs the Budapest Semester in Mathematics (open to non-St Olaf students too so you don’t have to go to St Olaf to do this program)
https://www.budapestsemesters.com/
and they have a winter-term Budapest J-term in Mathematics just for St Olaf math majors.
The math dept is vibrant and my D has liked her professors and the activities hosted by the math dept.
I fell in love with Georgia Tech’s Industrial Design Program after attending their Focus on Design program. It was 6 hours of fun, engaging exploration of the field of industrial design. We even got to design our own products based on prompts given to us on randomly-selected cards. It was challenging and exciting, and all the faculty seemed truly happy to be there. I met many amazing prospective students as well and felt truly included in the Georgia Tech scene for the day. I left feeling like I needed to return, and I definitely plan on doing so. It will be a tough call.
Our son made these decisions based on his visits-
Sewanee - Loved the class he attended but not the vibe of the school. It’s very Greek heavy and he’s not into that.
Emory - Loved everything about it.
Centre - Thought it was a great school but not for him. Too small.
SIU - Perfect size, very personable. Met with 3 professors and felt like the school really wanted him. Admissions
counselor spent a lot of time with him and that made an impression too.
UAHuntsville - Again, perfect mid size school. Kind of nerdy which suits him. Great merit awards available.
UTKnoxville - Recognized that it’s a great school but hated the size and lack of personal interest.
MTSU - Liked alright but decided not interested in pursuing. Too large
So far, he’s applied to UAH and SIU. Those are both top choices so far.
@Garden Mom, could you give some details about what UAH is like in person? I’d like to learn more about it.
^ If you are interested in the actual area, I can help with that. UAH campus is located beside the Research Park (I believe its the largest one other than the one in Raleigh/Durham) but is a self contained campus. I would imagine any type of STEM student is in the perfect spot for internships/co op. Huntsville is routinely getting tech startups and of course anything space/missle/army related. The campus is off of University Drive which has some sketchy parts but like I said, it is self contained so probably not an issue. Huntsville is in a bit of a growth boom right now with new business/retail/entertainment/dining so its a much better time for a young adult to move here than even just 5 years ago.
@skyii558 Thank you!
How do you think someone from a suburban area in the NE corridor would judge the urban-ness of UAH?
D doesn’t want a city campus.
@MACmiracle and @skyii558
Our son really liked UAH and found it very friendly, with a strong stem focus. I think @skyii558 described the campus location and Huntsville well.
As far as the campus itself goes, the bldgs are a newer architecture and easily accessible either by bike or walking. Of course many of the students drive but ours will probably walk or ride a bike. There are about 9000 undergrads I think.
The dorms are great by son’s standards. Each suite houses 4 students and each student has a private bedroom. There is a small living area and kitchen in the middle. There are also 2 bathrooms for the 4 students to share.
When we visited, the school set up tours and meetings with advisors from the colleges of engineering, computer science, and sciences. Each advisor really took their time answering his questions and encouraging him to apply. Someone also gave him a fee waiver code. Yay!
What actually put UAH in our radar was the merit scholarships they offer. You can look at the website but depending on test scores and GPA they offer generous merit scholarships in addition to traditional declared major scholarships and need based aid. All of this is published on the website so you know what to expect going into the process.
Finally, and this is just an impression, but I had the feeling that UAH is a more conservative school. By that I mean only that it doesn’t appear to be a party school.
I hope you’ll look into UAH and share your thoughts with me, too. 
What is 'SIU"? Southern Illinois? And what is “MTSU”?
@londondad So sorry about the abbreviations. SIU is Southern Illinois University Carbondale. There is a second campus but the one in Carbondale is the main one and the one our son is interested in. MTSU is Middle Tennessee State University.
^ Thanks.
I would definitely not describe the area as urban compared to Boston/Philadelphia/NYC. Huntsville is a small-med size city. Maybe population around 100K? Let me know if I can answer any more questions!
Before this gets derailed into a discussion of what counts as urban or not, I’ll mention something from my D17’s college search: She thought Muhlenberg had a great location in Allentown, Pennsylvania, because it was just so amazingly close to Philadelphia and New York City. Someone else had her own D17 (IIRC) cross Muhlenberg off the list because it was just so painfully far away from anything remotely resembling a city.
The difference? My D17 comes from Alaska, the other D17 from New York.
Seriously, urban and rural and distance from cities and what counts as a big city or not, it’s all relative. Please don’t anyone start getting into fights about whose definitions are the only correct ones.
p.s. Huntsville’s metro area contains a bit under half a million people. Google is your friend on such matters.
A half million is something that’s hard to picture. More than numbers I think density might give me better feel.
I live close to a metro are of 6 million and the most densely populated state, but I live in a place with grass and trees and woods and open spaces. I have visitors from Vermont call where I live a city but it doesn’t feel like city to me. My reference points are NYC, Philly, and Tokyo.
Okay, how’s this for a question? Are there green, natural spaces in Huntsville? How about Birmingham?
For one of my kids, it wasn’t so much the size of the population but whether there was easy access to Thai, Sushi, Indian restaurants from campus in addition to the ubiquitous Chinese and pizza joints. Bonus points for Pho.
There is a ‘green, natural space’ in NYC. It’s called Central Park. However, I don’t think anyone would think of it as anything other than urban.
I think I mentioned this downthread, but my middle sons thought Stony Brook was so ugly they refused to get out of the car for the tour. I supported them because neither had wanted to visit the school; H insisted because it was his alma mater. H went on the tour while the rest of us waited in the car. He is still bent out of shape that none of our kids would even apply there, but it’s a) too close to home and b) not the right school for any of them.