I actually think they discounted the price the difference between a single and a double, maybe $600 or roughly 15%? The offer for study abroad in the fall was a good amount though, again I don’t remember the figure but it was high enough for us to at least consider it. While I agree they make money by squeezing students in, because there was no other option, the refund was happily accepted.
Oh boy, I am so excited because I get to post two new college reports!!!
University of Vermont: Stayed the same. I knew it was going to be great, and it was. Lots of lovely new buildings, and the campus, though there is a lot of construction (a good sign), is attractive. We picked the best day. Everyone seemed happy and relaxed. Kids everywhere, riding bikes, skateboarding, laying in the grass, working out, even lots studying in the library, despite amazing weather and their “students study the least” top 20 ranking:-) We had a tour with a friend’s daughter who attends, which was nice. I thought it was perfect for my casual, outdoorsy son.
The location is AMAZING! Burlington wins a prize for being the best college town I have ever seen. Wow! The lake is right there, skiing nearby, biking trails all over the place. What’s not to love? There was a negative for my son though. He loves to work out and the gym facilities were really poor. Weird, unconnected rooms with chest-high doors (can anyone explain those weird, short doors?) no natural light, pretty ugly and just not good. For him, that might be enough to ruin it. He had never visited a college before (except for Bates, where sis goes) so he had no frame of reference to compare to. But he will most likely apply.
University of New Hampshire: WOW! This has moved way, way up the list, from not having any idea about what to expect, to thinking this could possibly be his dream school. First, the campus is gorgeous. There was some building work going on, which again, is a good thing. We saw some beautiful facilities. We loved the woodsy section behind the student union. The business college was impressive. The admissions desk was soooo enthusiastic, and super knowledgable. My son was given a free lunch voucher, and he thought the food choices were good, though it was super busy when we ate and it was hard to find a table. The kids seemed quite similar to the kids we saw at UVM, though, IMO, it was noticeably less diverse than UVM, or seemed that way.
For my son, this school has some major pluses. Great big new stadium and school spirit are important to him, so he loved seeing that as we drove in. The visitor parking lot is at the gym, so we went there first and…I am still scraping my jaw off the floor. Utterly beautiful and Heaven on earth for him. Shame they had just closed the outdoor heated pool for the season. The location is great, close to the beach and ski slopes. The Amtrak has a station on campus, and it’s an hour to Boston or 90 minutes to Portland. Just amazing. The town seemed almost non-existent, but we didn’t have time to explore beyond the street that extends from campus. A bit disappointing honestly, but I don’t think that matters to my son.
We then went up to my beloved Bates to visit my daughter for the afternoon, and while it is practically perfect in every way, it was a little weird to go from a school of 12,000 to one of 1800. It was also useful for my son to realize that he definitely wants a bigger campus. One thing I really love about Bates is that there truly is a mix of all kinds of students. I notice it every time I go there, and there is no one type of Batesie. As people are curious about dorms, we saw none at either UVM or UNH, but I have seen quite a few at Bates and they are generally pretty spacious. The newer dorms are just gorgeous, but the older ones are fine.
We went to the downtown area in Lewiston for dinner, and the town is definitely revitalizing things. There are some warehouse developments, some cool new restaurants (Ben’s Burritos, fantastic!), a new bookstore, a theater, nice public spaces, attractive plantings on street corners, a museum, and other positive developments. There are also some nice neighborhoods in Lewiston that we had never seen before. So while Lewiston is certainly not a rich town, it’s good to see that there are civic improvements. We also saw quite a few placards in front yards for the upcoming election. Lewiston is really growing on me.
@Lindagaf I always appreciate your comments on Bates and Lewiston. That’s still my daughter’s top choice. I think she’ll be applying to 10 to 15 schools, and hoping for merit aid from some. But if she’s accepted at Bates, that’s probably going to be the one. So far anyway. Next month we visit Macalester, which seems ideal for many reasons, and we’re kind of hoping it moves to the top of the list. 
@Lindagaf Great post!! How would you describe the students at UVM and UNH? Down to earth, sporty, etc? Any signs of preppiness?
I would say kids at both UVM and UNH seemed pretty relaxed and down to earth, with UVM having the edge in “down to earthness.” We saw an abundance of kids at both schools wearing Birkenstocks, flip flops and school swag. I would say probably UNH had a few more preppy kids, but I would not describe the student body as preppy. As I said, I think there were similar students at both schools. The outdoorsy vibe was definitely more noticeable at UVM, whereas UNH felt a bit more “collegiate.” But both gave very good impressions.
Being fairly familiar with both UVM and UNH, I think @Lindagaf gives an accurate description of the two. Neither school gives off a preppy vibe but with 12-15K students, you’ll find the preppy types - and a little of everything else.
We also loved Burlington, great college town. We drove through UVM and it looked nice but we were in town to do an accepted overnight at St. Michaels just down the street. Someone in an earlier post mentioned they had the friendliest tour there, we thought so too. My D had a nice overnight visit but she didn’t feel it was a good academic fit for her.
Just hit UVM on Thursday with my youngest son (a HS junior), having just finished this process with our oldest son who is now a Freshman at McGill. My kids’s public high school is in a Boston suburb with a large Asian population; the school is about 50% caucasian at this point so they are used to a lot of diversity.
UVM struck me as a bunch of different types of kids. Definitely not a preppy school in any way; a bit more crunchy chewy. That said, it struck me as very, very white. My wife said that was my response from almost every college tour we have done the last two years…so take my comment with a grain of salt. Son absolutely loved UVM and the kids we met. He felt that the kids seemed down to earth, friendly, and pretty normal. Said he could see himself hanging out with them.
On the dorm front, UVM just opened an enormous dorm right in the middle of campus. It has a room specifically for the tour and it was nice.
Finally, Burlington is just a terrific college town. And when it is 70 degrees and sunny and you see the White Mountains in one direction and the lake and Adirondacks in the other it is hard not to love it. Also made my son realize he wants lots of stuff around campus that he can walk to.
UVM moved to number two on his list. (McGill is firmly number one.)
All of these descriptions of VT (and New Hampshire too!) get me a little worried. I think S19 would love both…but he already loves places like Kenyon so I’m afraid that, if he sees VT, then small schools in the middle of nowhere may go to the bottom of his list. And his list is full of LACs in fairly remote ares (Grinnell, Carelton, Bowdoin, Kenyon).
I think he will get to the point where he wants an LAC near a hopping town and that doesn’t really exist! Maybe Richmond? Maybe Macalester? Davidson…is there a town? Obviously, all of those towns are different than Burlington.
These VT reviews remind me of what is often said around here - Don’t take your child to Boulder unless you want them to scrap the rest of their list and put Colorado at the top. It’s just too beautiful that they can’t get it out of their mind.
“Definitely not a preppy school in any way” sounds like exactly what S19 will be looking for (although everything else seems to be up in the air at this point). I definitely want him to check out UVM, but the distance may be a deal breaker. For those who have visited - is it an easy trip to the airport?
@homerdog “These VT reviews remind me of what is often said around here - Don’t take your child to Boulder unless you want them to scrap the rest of their list and put Colorado at the top. It’s just too beautiful that they can’t get it out of their mind.”
That’s funny. We live an hour from Boulder, in Fort Collins (home of Colorado State). My daughter did not like CU at all. After the info session, we left before the tour. She felt it was way too big, and the presentation was way too canned. And yes, it’s beautiful here, but I think kids anywhere have a desire to try someplace new. My Colorado kid will probably end up in Maine, or Minnesota, or Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania. Even though I’m making her apply to at least 2 Colorado schools, I doubt she’ll stay in state.
@homerdog - Davidson is a very sweet, picturesque, little town - it’s got several coffee houses, an old-fashioned soda shop, some stores, a wine bar, some ice cream places, and a few restaurants. It’s only about 20 miles from Charlotte which is a lovely city with a lot going on and I believe that there are shuttles to and from Davidson’s campus to Charlotte. The campus is lovely --some rolling hills, quite green, and lots of brick buildings. Davidson is one of the towns surrounding beautiful Lake Norman and there is a Lake Campus 5 miles from campus that is often used exclusively by students.
I don’t know about the rest of the country, but in New England, the line between “preppy” and “crunchy” is very, very vague. They all help keep Patagonia in business.
@ChristiGabi I’m writing from Chicago so those mountains in CO call out to these Midwestern kids! @LoveTheBard Thanks for the Davidson info. I’m very excited for S19 to see it. I think it could be a good match for him in lots of ways. We are heading to Grinnell tomorrow (talk about remote!) for Discover Grinnell days. If Grinnell is going to stand out to him, it will be because of the people not the location. It will be very interesting how he prioritizes things once we get into high gear.
@SwimmingDad Can you be so kind as to tell us about McGill and what make it go up the list? Thanks
@homerdog - D17 liked the kids at Grinnell quite well (and we all liked the full tuition scholarship ;)!)…She visited Grinnell immediately after visiting USC(ali). which, despite USC’s really strong programs in her areas of interest and its very vibrant campus, she was not feeling socially, Grinnell’s student body seemed more compatible with what she was looking for in terms of campus culture.
In the end, however, Grinnell was too just too remote and – as was the case with Davidson – the programming was too limited in her area(s) of interest. Ultimately she decided that she wanted a research uni rather than an LAC.
If your S knows he prefers LACs to larger public or private research universities, you can’t go wrong with any of the schools you’ve mentioned. Has he considered Haverford? Great school, great location, and the consortium offers many options. And if he’s really keen on CO mountains, Colorado College might be a great fit. Then again, if he falls in love with New England, that can open up a whole other series of possibilities of great schools with lovely towns and beautiful landscapes.
@homerdog Davidson is a cute, little town, but not as amazing as I was hoping for. Based on the southern towns we recently saw, I definitely liked the town Washington and Lee was in. I think it’s called, Lexington. U of Richmond is near the city of Richmond, but it’s not right out the door. Some schools will have the town right there when you walk out the gates. What I found interesting was that if my D loved a school and a campus she wasn’t too bothered by the lack of a thriving town (Elon and Bucknell would be examples).Every kid is different. Also my D grew up in a huge city so she may be looking at things differently.
@homerdog We didn’t find Bowdoin remote at all. Brunswick is a legit and lovely town right off campus. And with Portland so close by, kids actually go there. As opposed to schools where you say, well the city is only 75 miles away(and of course the kids make it there only once in 4 years.)
Montreal is less than 2 hours away from Burlington, so that seems doable. Albany is maybe the best air option in terms of frequent domestic flights, but there is a small airpot in Burlington as well.
@homerdog , if he isn’t interested in bigger schools, don’t worry. He has done a good thing, which is eliminating schools based on size. My D did look at Northeastern, mostly out of curiosity, and it was most definitely not for her. Unless he is expressing interest, I would just stick with what is appealing to him. He is looking at fantastic schools.
@Lindagaf thx. I think that’s some of the best advice I’ve heard so far. My husband seems to think S19 might like bigger but he just hasn’t seen it yet. I keep thinking if he likes smaller then why would I show him bigger? That just muddles the decision making! Glad that you’ve got the same idea.