@RenaissanceMom I hadn’t seen those videos. Thank you for sharing!
@RenaissanceMom Thank you for the videos - I loved them!
I know most here will never have heard of any of the schools we are going to visit! But I’ll throw one in from our first official visit with DD19:
Went up: Concordia University, Seward Nebraska. We went with a group from our church district, weren’t really planning on visiting otherwise due to COA. It was rainy, very windy, and low 40s. DD was interested in another school but we went just to see and at one point in a presentation she said, “I forgot there are actually kids here who are interested in going here”. When it was time to meet with various professors, the one she wanted wasn’t showing up at his table and she thought it was a sign. Turns out he was manning the table for his sport so they moved his stuff over there. After talking to him DD’s enthusiasm for the place went way up. She also liked the food there.
UVM: Way up for my S19. Horrid main session; the vast majority of people were on phones by the end. I was sure my son was going to say “let’s get outta here”…but he did not. Went on the tour and our tour guides were phenomenal. They were very different people and it was so clearly not rehearsed that it just worked well. Things my son noticed: they mentioned therapy pets in the dorms and my son wants to take kitty with him. (NO!) People generally seemed happy and friendly. In fact, my son asked a question that the guides didn’t know the answer to and a student passing by said “I know that one” and proceeded to answer the question. Burlington is just a great little town…and the main downtown is an easy walk from campus. And when you stand on campus and you see the Green Mountains to the east and the lake and the Adirondacks to the west…well…SOLD!
@SwimmingDad I agree - we loved UVM. In fact D said it would be one of her top choices if it wasn’t so darn cold all the time! I’m still going to try to talk her into applying in case she changes her mind. 
I think we can agree that what is a great place to go to college for one person may not be a great place to go to college for another. I happened to love Penn (including the location) but to each his or her own! That’s the whole point of this tread.
I stopped throwing shade on northeastern cities with urban decay/grit – I’ll not say squalor so as not to offend – months ago (I’m looking at you, New Haven 
), but for those people that are unaccustomed to or made uncomfortable by that sort of thing or for those that desire a different environment for their college experience, it can be a turn off – just as a rural campus in the middle of a cornfield can be a turn off to someone else (I’m looking at you, Grinnell.)
No need to “fact-check” or offer counter arguments. This is all individual and it’s all subjective. It’s supposed to be.
I missed the whole discussion about food at various schools, but if food were a to be major criterion for a school or summer program to cause a school to go up or down on my D’s college list, she would have made very different choices than she did.
Suffice it to say that Stanford dining halls are not known for their culinary excellence and the food there is – by all accounts – generally subpar at best. There are apparently two exceptions to this rule: 1) athletes get to enjoy an entirely different culinary experience than mere mortals at Stanford; and 2) when parents are around, RedEd apparently brings out their “A Team” and the food quality in the dining halls improves exponentially. Thankfully, there are other options for getting food on campus, and there are other living arrangements outside of dorms/dining halls which involve either hiring cooks or students sharing in food prep duties that are mostly only open to upperclassmen.
At Cal, apparently the football team has their own chef. The players also have double beds instead of singles and tutors.
1 Like
My H was very “into” checking out the food at any college we visited. So we ate at virtually every dining hall EXCEPT for some reason that of the school my S ultimately attended. Fast forward on year and my S’s college turned up on Princeton’s top ten worst college food lists LOL. Honestly the food made no material difference to his college experience and there is no doubt that he was at the right school for him!
Our swarthmore student guide is from California and is NOT happy about the school’s only dining hall, no tacos! COL!
Though I don’t think dining options should be the deciding factor, it definitely is a bonus to have healthy/alternative and delicious choices.
AFAIK, the dining experience at U of Richmond and Bowdoin are at the gourmet level with tall-hat chef around. Anyone fact-check me please?
@LoveTheBard What is it that athletes get?
@makemesmart Richmond d-hall is really excellent but my son says they definitely bring out their A game when parents are in town. I hear Bowdoin is on a level unto itself.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Can we agree that the area around Penn (or Drexel or Temple for that matter) will have a different effect on different people? If one does not want to apply to Penn, don’t apply. With a 9.2% acceptance rate, they are not hurting for applicants.
Even if we cannot agree on it, another moderator “asked” you to move on. While she did it politely, one should not assume compliance was optional. 6 posts deleted.
@makemesmart Food is a big criterion for DD. Rollins is “A” ranked by Niche for food and they had fresh guacamole in their cafeteria the day we were toured! DD had chicken curry and rice and said it was delicious. We all had something different and everyone liked what they got.
Wow (and sorry to share this) to those of you who thought UVM tour guides were not rehearsed-- we were at the back of a tour that was very closely followed by another, and heard verbatim the same thing from both tour guides including “funny” anecdotes that said “I have a friend that…” and “I took a class that…”. (We were in a literal echo chamber!) They should have let the tour guides tell the truth rather than rehearse and stick to a script.
Of course, agreed that Burlington is awesome and the campus is nice!
I can’t say it came off the list but it was so insincere it was just silly.
1 Like
All tour guides are coached! They can go off script, but they have material they have to know and cover at most top 100 schools.
Yes of course they are. But at least the two that we heard said exactly the same thing at the same spot, which makes sense if they are speaking of facts, but less so when they are telling “personal” stories. I didn’t take it seriously, I’m just spreading the “hate” (but not really, it’s a lovely school)-- isn’t that what this particular board is for :)?
1 Like
@makemesmart , @OCDaddy - Bowdoin reportedly has Maine lobster. 'Nuff said.
@Rivet2000 - Re: Stanford dining: “Athletes Dinners” have much better food and separate hours in which only athletes can eat there. Apparently, three of the dining halls are now open after the athletes’ scheduled mealtimes for normal folk, but the hours are restricted in that they start at 7:15pm. From the alternative newspaper announcement:
“Also convenient: Lag Dining joins Ricker and Branner as the third dining hall to offer “athlete dinner.” It’s open from 7:15-9, and is also open to non-athletes. (For the uninformed, the dinners feature higher-quality food than regular dining hall meals, and are great for anyone with a late dinner time and hankering for expensive items like avocado and berries”
Also, athletes reportedly get all sorts of perks…here are a few examples I found online (in addition to some rules being bent when necessary):
Nike Stanford gear (sneakers, cleats, shirts, shorts, socks, travel outfit, cold gear, sweats, bags, backpacks)
Pre-game meals whether you’re playing at home/away
Individual physical therapy, recovery/rehab treatment
Tutor groups with other athletes, organized by Athletic Academic Resource Center (AARC). These are the bomb.com because super smart students help you power through problem sets.
Textbooks are picked out and packaged for you when the quarter starts- if you are on athletic scholarship, not need-based aid.
$100 stipend for educational purposes (I used mine for a laptop, calculator, etc)
Free printing in the AARC (costs $0.10 in dorms/libraries)
Pizza for the bus ride back after games
4-year varsity gold ring if you make it all the way through 
Discounts on all sorts of things
Additional Advisors
Awesome alumni network
@LoveTheBard Not sure about the perks from “Nike Stanford gear…” on down but they sound very “athlete” to me (and as expected). The meals thing is a little more open than your reply seems. The program is called “High Performance and Education Dinner” and is open to all undergraduates. It has extended hours and protein selections at 3 halls: two on the west side and one on the east. My S has been taking advantage of it for a while now. I have not really heard that the food is that much better than the normal meals except that there are more protein offerings. It does come in handy for him and many students that have later class schedules and is particularly helpful during mid-terms and finals.
In general my S (quite the foodie) is not that impressed with the food although he does mention a few dishes that he does like. What did make Stanford more attractive to us is the food allergy program they have in place especially at Ricker. A big plus.
Many parents here feel offended if someone says something negative about their kids’ schools.
My husband was born in the UPenn Hospital while my father in law was doing his Ph.D. there. When we visited with our daughter (after her acceptance) she said “I would never study here.” Well, it is what it is. Nobody took it personally. She would never go there, but at the same time, 6 of the brightest, nicest kids in her class applied ED, were accepted, and are totally happy there. UPenn is an amazing place, but not for everyone.
Many Yale parents try to convince us that New Haven is so amazing that kids do not need to go to Boston or NY to enjoy cultural activities or go to a good restaurant. Really? I understand that Yale is a top school, the campus is beautiful, students are happy, and etc. But don’t tell that NH is a great city because is not. It is so terrible that people get paid by the city to move there.
It is not for everyone.
http://www.businessinsider.com/places-in-the-us-that-will-pay-you-to-move-there-2017-11
Please understand: There is not a university or city good enough to be the right fit for everybody.
And while many would live under a bridge to get a Harvard degree, for example, many others would not. There are many “perfect” places to spend the best four years of your life, but, in reality, there is not a perfect place at all.