@HiToWaMom Thanks! We won’t be able to visit until next year but I’m only telling her positive things! The other stuff is in the back of my mind so I’m hoping they aren’t an issue.
@lindagaf Great review. I totally agree about Lafayette not being as preppy as I expected. What I remember standing out was the nerdy and sporty vibe, and it seemed more racially diverse than the other colleges we’ve seen.
Did you do a review on Syracuse? I would love to hear your impressions.
Yes I did @citymama9 . You can do a search on this thread.
Happy surprises:
Whitman College. My D included it on her comprehensive tour of NW LACs and small universities with no expectations. Both she and I (Dad) fell in love with the school and Walla Walla; after her visit no other NW school came close. She is now a blissed our second year Whittie.
Scripps College: same daughter had almost zero interest in attending a women’s college in Southern California’s Inland Empire … until our visit. Breathtakingly beautiful campus; very impressive presentations by recent alums regarding the empowering experience at Scripps. The 5C’s consortium is the real deal. I was ready to run through Scripps walls after our visit … such a convert!
1 Like
We’re in the early stages of our college search with my D’19.
Moving up: Occidental. Extremely poised and articulate young admissions officer in info session spoke without notes or slides for 45 minutes in modern, well-designed auditorium. Student tour guide was effective and relatable. I’m a graduate of a LAC and believe in this model and wanted my daughter to get a sense of a well regarded national one that’s in our greater region. Surrounding Eagle Rock area seemed a bit meh but a longtime LA resident friend said it’s the new “it” place so now I want to go back to explore it more. School has free shuttles heading south to downtown LA. Really positive visit.
Moving up: UC Davis. Surrounding town here was a pleasant surprise, and campus didn’t feel too overwhelming. There’s a creek running through the campus that gives the scene a relaxed feel. Overall location isn’t bad with day trips possible to San Francisco and Napa, not to mention Tahoe. This was an impromptu early visit when D was a freshman. The ag/vet emphasis is strong around here, which doesn’t match at all to D’s interests but it’s her favorite of the UCs. A friend’s daughter is a senior here and has been unwavering in her happiness about deciding to attend.
Neutral: Santa Clara. No tours available when we visited after Thanksgiving so we did the self guided tour via app. Pleasant campus, if a bit corporate in feel and overdoing it on the beige tones. Surrounding area is a Safeway and suburban pablum. Would need a car here, which is how we live now and would like to avoid for daughter.
Moving down: U of San Francisco. Wasn’t expecting such a picturesque campus, and its hilltop location is lovely. Some classrooms have these really innovative swiveling chairs on wheels that seemed great to encourage collaboration and even address the wiggles. However, two turnoffs have dropped this to being on the bubble for my daughter. Both the admissions officer and the tour guide basically apologized for its being a Catholic school, which was a turnoff for my D who has “Catholic school” as one desirable criterion. And the housing situation is a headache waiting to happen. Postage stamp dorm room has three kids squished into it, and then after one year of housing you’re on your own in the $4000/month SF rental market. D would love to be in the city like this but they would have to give her a generous offer for us to take on the housing challenge.
Moving down: UC Irvine. My D would have to talk herself into being a big university kind of kid and while Davis managed a smaller feel, UCI was big and impersonal. Made mistake of visiting during crowded Spring Break season. Huge swarm of 300+ people in plaza area then filtered into tours of 80 or so. Tour guide was good but seemed less eager to discuss anything outside his biological sciences comfort zone. Campus is pleasant but nothing too notable, and surrounding area is surprisingly devoid of a cute walkable scene catering to students. Picked up campus newspaper and noted Q&A with students that asked why they chose Irvine. Most of this small sample selected for the paper said they chose it because it was close to home. They do have a sleek room full of gaming computers that replaced the old pool table lounge, so that was appealing to S’21 but another turnoff for D.
Shout out: Regis University in Denver. Small regional Jesuit school in my hometown that we got a 1:1 tour of from a friend of a friend on the faculty. Probably not enough on the national radar to be something we’d go for in the end, but a sweet mellow place where D felt relaxed.
Trying to figure out what to prioritize for a longer trip away…looking into Gonzaga, Marquette, Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Macalester. That would be covering some miles…
Moved up: Case Western due to friendly midwestern feel, music options, Cleveland Orchestra season tickets and good physics department
Moved down: Haverford College due to overwhelmingly female (3/4 female with the Bryn Mawr girls ) and odd honor code that asks students to take tests in a dorm room
Moved up: GaTech due to campus, spirit, start ups in the area , international focus and co op plans
Moved down: Rose Hullman due to isolated location, but tour is very very good there and programs seem good.
Does Haverford ask students to take tests in their dorm rooms or does Haverford offer that option? Both my daughter and I loved Haverford; a large part of that love stemmed from the fact they had an honor code.
I’m posting this late, because I didn’t want any initial negative response by S to cause a coach to drop him off the recruit list. He had less than 20 schools that were realistic athletically and academically, so he couldn’t risk alienating anyone. At this point he’s far enough along with his top choice coaches that I’m comfortable posting. At all of the schools we definitely had athletics as a high consideration, since he will spend a huge amount of time with those people and on that activity, so ymmv. Visits were done summer 2017. Some of his impressions have changed, but this is how he felt at the time.
S went into pretty much all of these with no preconceived notions. He knew he wanted top academics and to play his sport. He was relying on me to put together his initial list of places to visit. So he didn’t really know the difference between any of the Ivy’s and similar schools. These were true first impressions.
Off the List:
NYU - We didn’t do anything formal here, just walked around the Village mostly. It was a nostalgia trip for me, not a realistic option for him. I pointed out where I used to live and some of my old hangouts. He did not like the fact that there really isn’t a campus. He’s also not a big city kid at all (this was his first trip to NYC). It never was really on the list, but if it had been it would have fallen directly to the bottom. Which didn’t surprise me at all.
Neutral:
Princeton - I added this mostly as a fill in. Spent most of our time with coaches, since there were no campus sessions that day. Got the impression that athletics were very important here, more so than at any other Ivy we visited. S liked the thought of a school where athletes were more highly regarded. Did not like the idea of grade deflation, or that it sounded like this was probably a tougher school to be successful academically at than the others we visited. He wasn’t sure if the academics would be too rigorous for him. Loved the campus and his athletic program, really everything except the fact that they are probably one of the most academically rigorous schools on his list. It was kind of fun watching him here though. This was the morning that it sank it that going to a school like this could really happen.
Down:
Williams - I expected my outdoorsy kid to love it. I loved the school, on paper I thought this was the best fit, and the visit made me even more sure that this was the place for him. High percentage of athletes, smart but not overly competitive kids, the size he said he wanted, lots of outdoor activities and presumably lots of students who share his passion for the outdoors. He disagreed. He could not get over the fact that there really is no town, and the closest city is Albany an hour away. He’s not interested in exploring a city or cultural events. He just wants a place he could go buy a pair of shoes (or whatever). He literally said that’s the only real problem with not having a city nearby. I pointed out that we have Amazon Prime and that pretty much solved his only problem with an otherwise perfect school. Logic did not win the day, Williams dropped way down and ultimately off the list.
He also saw the differences between D3 athletic facilities and resources compared to D1. Really liked the coach and the outdoor opportunities. In hindsight I think his real issue with the school was that he thought he was good enough to compete at the D1 level, and that any athletic success he had here would be hollow given his abilities.
Harvard - Liked the school, didn’t love it. I will say that the kid in the blue blazer and tie at the info session didn’t help any. Felt a bit more snobby and pretentious than the others, which didn’t really surprise me. That’s not S’s crowd, although he always seems to find a way to fit in and get along with whatever crowd is around, so I think it bothered me more than him. Info session definitely had the vibe of “You probably won’t get in, but on the extremely unlikely chance that you might here is some info.” Campus felt more like a tourist attraction than a college. His concerns were more about the athletic program. Nothing major, and nothing wrong with the program for the right kid. But there were a few things very specific to him that didn’t seem to fit in well with the coaches and their training philosophy. I kind of felt like both S and the coaches sensed that it might not be a good fit. Dropped way down because of this.
Up:
Brown - S complained that this one was going to be a waste of time and wanted to skip it and take a relax day. He went to the visit and fell in love. I think the pass/fail, open curriculum and more importantly the type of people attracted to that really felt right to him. Our tour guides were 2 people he didn’t really have anything in common with, other than the desire and excitement to learn in a less competitive less stressful environment. I expected a bit of eye rolling from him when they gushed about their school, but he was hooked. He felt like he had found his tribe. We had good tour guides everywhere, but these 2 did a great job of selling their school. You could tell that they LOVED Brown. This jumped to the top of the list. Ultimately just not a great athletic fit, otherwise he would have gone here.
I know that many will say that he should worry about academics and more importantly fit first, rather than athletics, and I agree. However, he still had other good choices where he would be very happy. Also it is an Olympic sport, and that is his ultimate goal. He probably won’t make it, very few do. But for a couple of reasons Brown’s program is less suited to get him there, which ultimately proved to be a dealbreaker. If he hadn’t gotten other good options, I think he would have ended up at Brown and very happy.
I did really come to appreciate the importance of “fit” on this trip. Ultimately athletics are a big concern for us. But setting that part aside, I can tell you as a regular student if S was accepted to all 4 he would attend Brown and Williams over Harvard or Princeton without hesitation.
@Jon234 the honor code allows that option. Students can, if they choose, take their exam to their dorm room, the library or on the lawn.
@dadof4kids Great reviews. The athletics adds an interesting dimension. My son was a D1 at some schools but not others so it really put a wrinkle in things. He, too, adored Brown…toured twice with kids who I never would have picked for them and their love for Brown was infectious. Eventually, he realized he simply wasn’t going to make the team at Brown and it fell of the list. But I really get why your son loved it. Good luck with the rest of the process!
@SDCounty3Mom I am going to visit USF in april with my D18 who fell in love when she visited last fall. We are Jewish so the Catholic light that you described experiencing from your visit was actually a positive for us. She likes the value of the Jesuits. She has committed for the fall so am hoping I like as much as she does. I am worried about the dorm situation. She is really hoping for a double - has too much stuff for a triple. Am less worried about her finding housing in subsequent years - they all seem to.
@dadof4kids Went to 4 or 5 college fair type events. By far, Brown student rep, this Japanese American kid who had majored in East Asian Studies, was the most articulate and well spoken presenter. Out of all schools presenters, Rice, Brown, UCLA, Berkeley, Yale, Cornell, Stanford and Priceton, the Stanford presenter was the worst. Guess where my kid is going? Stanford. Lol
Who doesn’t love Brown? But Brown doesn’t love a lot of folks.
I wonder what Brown consistently does so right that everyone loves it. Is it the Ivy status yet the (supposedly) low pressure vibe? The open curriculum? I don’t think it’s the campus. I have heard dorms are old and food is not great.
1 Like
Brown? Open curriculum. Professors. Student body. Didn’t meet anyone who wasn’t helpful or friendly, all looked happy to be there. Research opportunities. Campus, sorry, we loved it. Location. It is the only one of the Ivies I would really be happy to see my daughter go to.
Felt a bit weird typing that last sentence, all things considered, but I’m a big believer in right fit over reputation.
So the college fair posts prompts me to give you our horrible experience. DD had Florida Institue of Technology on her list. She had received some very nice letters from both the Biology and Chemistry department heads so we were excited that FIT was at our local college fair. We saved that booth for last to give my DD a warmup to speaking with other reps. The rep was super aggressive with my DD who is an introvert. She got right into her face and started grilling her about what she knew about the “UNIVERSITY”. She got super upset when DD said college instead of university. She preceded to tell DD how difficult the university was to get into, how competitive the students were and how difficult the coursework would be. Then she started giving stats that were in conflict with the stats that I had with me (I research extensively and pull from multiple sites to create a comparative spreadsheet for colleges). FIT came off of the list and we canceled our scheduled visit immediately after we left.
Edited to add- I almost forgot. DD asked rep how they integrated women into the Uni as it skews male quite by quite a bit. She told her not to worry because there would be plenty of guys to date! Not OK!
To be honest, my kids thought they were going to hate it; we are a liberal family and they were afraid it was going to be too liberal… Here is what my kids liked: great campus feel…big enough but still feels intimate. The vibe: didn’t feel snooty or stressed…just lots of kids hanging out, going to classes, etc. Academics: didn’t feel overly intellectual; grounded in the real world. More diverse than they expected…they felt like they saw their people. Thayer Street - just great having that much student oriented stuff so walkable. Providence: not a bad little city to spend four years. We’ve been to Water Fire, restaurants etc. there (it’s an hour from Boston) so it was good with them.
@sahmkc Wow! Awful! I would have reported the rep to the head of admissions.
1 Like
Re: Brown. When we toured Brown, we didn’t see a dorm, or the inside of very many buildings for that matter, Usually that would make for a poor tour, but not at Brown. Hard to explain, but just had a very positive vibe, Friendly, high energy, bustling with activity. Seemed like classes would be extremely interesting, fun and challenging all at the same time, without being a grind. Agree with @Jon234 , that it would be the Ivy I would pick for D
1 Like
Off the list: University of Florida - too big and spread out. Tons of motor scooters that students relied on to get from dorms to class.
Down: University of Delaware - the actual campus is very nice and traditional, but there was something about the surrounding area that we didn’t love (and lots of the university buildings are actually in this surrounding area). My DS and I both felt the same about it.
Down: University of Wisconsin - he applied (and was accepted) before we visited. We weren’t expecting such an urban campus. There is very little differentiation between the city and the school. Some kids may love this, but my DS interested in a more traditional campus.
Up: University of Maryland - had a nice traditional vibe with a very walkable campus.
Up: Clemson University - nice mix of traditional and modern. The college is the town and vice versa - lots of school/town pride!
Up: Florida State - big, but nice! Great sized dorms and really nice dining hall.
Neutral: Binghamton University - I was hoping for him to love it (especially since its my alma mata), but he just didn’t. And neither did I, lol. The “improvements” they have made to the dorms have changed the entire feel from back in my day, and yet all the academic buildings are in serious need of upgrade. Now feels like a hodgepodge.
Neutral: UConn - very pretty, traditional campus in the middle of nowhere. I liked it, my son wasn’t wowed.
Neutral: Stony Brook - what can you say, typical NY SUNY.