@doschicos even if S19 makes some shifts, we won’t be ED. Want to compare merit offers. 
^^ What @homerdog said.
Not to mention all the other problems with ED. Stay tuned; I’m pretty certain that eventually, as the whole application process ramps up, you’ll all be treated to occasional rants from me about the evils of ED on this thread. 
Two good friends of D17 toured Georgetown; both loathed it. Found both info session and tour way too long and thought both the person who led the info session and the tour guides were way too pretentious. The impression they got was that the admissions office was doing them a favor just letting them tour. Both had been seriously interested in Georgetown before they visited. Both of them had crossed it off their lists by the end of the seemingly interminable tour.
And, yes, maybe we started early but all of S19’s friends saw schools either spring break soph year or summer afterwards. S19 is a three sport athlete (xc, winter track,track) so can’t get away much during school. WIth all of his AP classes, its risky to take him out of school for a day as well.
We saw four schools in the summer (Beloit, Denison, Kenyon, and Oberlin). We will see theee this fall (Grinnell, Carleton, and Macalester) and then spring break to hit some farther away. By then, he should have a good idea and if he want some to add any visits, we have summer before senior year. I don’t know how else we could have done it!
We visited Georgetown and my kid liked it a lot. Didn’t wind up applying due to a combo of the requirements ( 3 SAT2s and own app - which I admire because they get applicants who really want to go there as opposed to so much gaming that many schools do!) and not being as strong as other schools in a few areas of study. For an urban college, it offers a nice campus and lifestyle.
@Midwestmomofboys beat me to it! I was also going to say that Grinnell has much more of a town within walking distance than Kenyon. My husband and I both agreed that the town looked a whole lot like the town in the Back to the Future movies! Kenyon really just has a couple of restaurants, a coffee shop, post office, the bookstore, and I think that might be about it.
Yes, It’s a stretch to even call Gambier a town. It’s one side of one street with one coffee house, two restaurants, and the bookstore. Didn’t phase S19 though. He’s looking for a college bubble I think and Kenyon could definitely be one version of that!
@IBviolamom I think you forgot the bank and there might be a real estate office too in Gambier.
Someone described Kenyon as a college with a village on campus. Always sounded about right to me.
@HopefulHoya1103 - Georgetown was the gold standard for my DD2017. She compared every school to Georgetown and few compared favorably. She has six friends who enrolled this year so spent last weekend on campus. All her friends are happy and adjusting well. She said that her friends dorms were fine to great and that the students were incredibly friendly. Countless people stopped her in the halls to introduce themselves. When she explained that she was visiting because she hasn’t started school yet, they were all incredibally nice to her. Most went out of their way to tell her about friends who will also be attending Stanford. Going out at night was even better than she had imagined as she quickly walked off campus to M St. where all the activity of the surrounding town of Georgetown begins. Over the last couple weeks, she has visited and spent the night with friends at Cornell, the University of Miami, and the University of Maryland and none have had friendlier students or a better location than Georgetown.
“Does anyone have any thoughts on Georgetown?”
Agree with @Lindagaf - Georgetown has been mentioned quite a few times on this list. It seems to tick a lot of the usual boxes for academics, student experience, campus location, etc, but some find the campus too small, too urban, etc. For example, my son hated it and my daughter loved it was accepted this year. Have a look here and in the Georgetown threads and feel free to start a new thread in the Georgetown section if your specific questions about the school.
@doschicos Just curious, which areas of study did you think Georgetown was not as strong in? My daughter is on a gap year so it will be a while yet before she has to enroll in next year’s classes. Thanks!
@londondad One kid was leaning toward environmental science/studies in addition to the IR which was the initial attraction. There were just many stronger programs on the list for ES (plus those application hurdles ).
@doschicos Thanks for the color.
Moved slightly down: U of Maryland College Park. On paper it was one of S18’s top choices and we wish we’d had a better visit. We knew it was huge, but when we toured Penn State we felt very welcomed and they did a great job of showing the advantages of their size. At UMD-CP the welcome seemed lackadasical. The Admissions officer who spoke seemed nice and funny enough–when we could hear him. A lot of the time he spoke too quickly and indistinctly, and the acoustics weren’t great either. The tour was ok, good enough, which was our feeling about the school overall until we went over (on our own) to the business school where we spoke with a couple of students at the information desk who were enthusiastic and informative.
Both my students got admitted to Georgetown but both turned it down, partly because they liked other colleges more, but also because the Co-op and other Business Clubs have a notorious reputation of catering to white students, vs minorities.
@dragonmom But is what @prepparent saying true? I am very interested in the diversity and culture or lack thereof on college campuses. It is helpful to read ALL reasons for why students/parents decided against a particular campus.
What @4MyKidz said (though wrong poster tagged – it’s @preppedparent not @prepparent),
@dragonmom. No need to call someone out for that. It’s a reason the college moved down in the eyes of their kid. Very much on topic here.
Google this in Georgetown’s campus newspapers. There’s a lot written about this. Minorities are largely shut out of the business clubs. My daughter is now at Berkeley Haas. My niece is a graduate of Georegetown but she is white. This is a valid reason to cross it off your list if you want to study business or Econ as an undergrad and get opportunities working at the Coop and Credit Union but are minority.
We visited Northwestern and a few LA schools with son.
Oxy: This feels odd to call this out as a factor, and at risk of being un-PC… tour guide situation was different: one was transgender, and two identified as “they”-- and as a result he did not feel he had a sense of what it might be like for him if he went there. Of course same might be true for a female tour guide, or an international tour guide or someone with a different major, but it was a very interesting presentation for a school that (I thought) has a (perhaps) too preppy reputation. It was like they were saying: “Look at us and our open diversity and inclusiveness!” which is wonderful but also makes a statement in a way. Son felt like a fish out of water, event though he has several openly gay friends. (Yes, we get that this is what college is about, and also understand that tour guides who show up may not represent everyone). Anyway, this is about schools kids crossed off. Prettiest campus we ever saw, and the international programs seem top notch, but preppy, outdoorsy son did not like it. (Neither did daughter, who just started at Lehigh btw.) I was meh.
USC: Son is maybe the only kid ever from the midwest not to love it. He felt it was too…well…staged. Maybe it was the gated community, and the manicured lawns next to the high-rises, and all of the kids who (to him) looked the same. Just didn’t get the vibe. Felt it was 2-dimensional. I was shocked but he just didn’t like it and I was glad (because it’s hard to get into and expensive and far!) so we left. I am sure there is lots we didn’t see or appreciate.
UCLA: We all loved this one. For some reason, felt a bit more “real” than USC. Liked Westwood location, of course. Loved the campus, felt academic gravitas. Son is also preppy/liberal/outdoorsy, and felt at home there. Loved the library and the grassy quads but also walking access to off campus city areas.
We also saw Northwestern: Son loved it and would apply ED if he wasn’t set against leaving the midwest. He is looking for a school on water and the campus at NU is breathtaking. He loves the, as he says,“dorky/outdoorsy” quality of the students he met, the geographic diversity, and the intellectual buzz, plus Evanston and Chicago are accessible but campus is enclosed. Only negative (other than geography) for him is trimesters, which make for a “busy” academic experience and also (according to tour guide) make study abroad more difficult. Some kids love the trimesters, of course.
@taliecharley I felt exactly the same way about USC. Reminded me of Stanford, too. Too pristine for my taste. I like the more lived-in look. My son hated USC so much that he wouldn’t even stay there long enough to have lunch. Needless to say, he’s only applying to LACs.