Colleges your child crossed off the list after visiting, schools that moved up on the list. Why?

Parents Forum
3762

I have yet to manage to get to eat at a dining hall; by the end of the college tour my kid and I are usually so bursting with things to tell one another that we skip the dining hall experience in exchange for discovering the local town eateries. The two dining hall experiences kiddo has had are when I drop him off for a day of activities and the dining hall experience is built in.

Kiddo usually just gets pizza anyways. In that long-distant time when I pick him up from his first year of college he will probably have turned into a slice of pepperoni.

3763

Up: William & Mary - Was very impressed and surprised by the school. My tour guide was hilarious and absolutely amazing. He was a senior, so he gave a great in-depth tour with many cute jokes and puns. I got overall a really good vibe from the school. The campus is beautiful and a lot bigger than I expected. Love the colonial architecture. The students seemed happy and student culture looks good. I think you get best of both worlds with a liberal arts focus and a larger group of students (kind of like Tufts?). Definitely a school I am now seriously considering.

Up: University of Virginia - To start, Charlottesville is one of the best college towns in the country, so that is a big plus. I was surprised to learn that UVA meets full demonstrated need for everyone. My tour guide was probably the best one I’ve ever had at any college visit. She was very polished and anecdotal, and she showed off the school very well. However, the tour was way too long imo; I probably left halfway through. The campus is also gorgeous. The Lawn looks a lot better in person than in pictures, and the view from the rotunda is amazing. UVA is much larger than most of the schools I am considering, but my tour guide made a good point about how you can make a big school small.

Up: George Washington - The Foggy Bottom campus was a different and interesting experience. I also like the option of the Mount Vernon campus. Not my top choice, but it’s definitely a solid school. I think it’s a great match school for me. I want to go into something like IR or PolySci and there’s no shortage resources for those fields in DC.

Up: Haverford - I actually wasn’t even seriously considering applying before visiting. I thought it might be too small for me, but I love the intimate feel of the campus. Every student I talked to was friendly and said they enjoyed the school. I also expect that students at Haverford are very intellectual.

Down: Swarthmore - The campus is gorgeous, but I did not like the actual school. To start, my tour guide was absolutely clueless. She struggled to answer most questions and repeated herself constantly. She also poorly pointed out the different department buildings/facilities, so I didn’t get a very good grasp of the school. Also, I did not expect Swarthmore to be so preppy. Pretty much every student I saw was dressed up. I know I got a shallow insight into what the school is really like, but from my visit, the majority of the students I saw didn’t look very happy. There also wasn’t anything I saw that made the school stand out.

3764

Now that I’ve belatedly joined CC, here is my Maryland edition of colleges we’ve visited over the past couple of
years with two different kids:

Way up:

St. Mary’s College of Maryland

My D remembered this campus from when her elementary school did a field trip to Historic St Mary’s City back in 4th grade (the historic city is right next to campus and the school is named after the city). I knew it was the public honors college of MD and know several people who attended, but otherwise I knew nothing about it. D was instantly in love with the beautiful setting right on the St. Mary’s river. We toured on a Saturday when lots of students were out on the river enjoying the sailboats, paddleboards, and kayaks and just hanging out on the docks and beach. We had a great tour by a student who really sold D on the school by telling her about the close relationships he had formed with his professors, the fun all-campus parties and traditions (no Greek life), and his general love for the school. Loved the campus farm, environmental focus, research opportunities, and general cheerful vibe. Nice dorms, beautiful campus, friendly & happy students, and a professor who gave us a personal tour of the wet lab moved this into 1st place.

Up:
University of Maryland Baltimore County

I have visited UMBC several times for sporting events over the years and knew that it wasn’t the classic-looking campus, but it was much nicer than I remembered it. Was impressed with the facilities, dining options, and great dorms with LLC options. Guaranteed on campus housing all 4 years was a bonus. Students seemed very studious and engaged with study groups going on all over campus. Lots of club activities. Didn’t get to tour it, but they just opened a new event center. Nice tour guide who really emphasized all the great internship opportunities and their focus on educating undergrads.

Up:
University of Maryland College Park
What’s not to love? Great rankings, amazing facilities, great school spirit, great education, well-run tour. Some of the dorms haven’t been updated in decades but nobody seems to mind. Only problem is how selective it has gotten in recent years.

Stayed on the list:
Salisbury
I was pleasantly surprised by this visit because I thought this one would be off the list immediately based on some negative things I’ve heard over the years. Nice tour, decent dorms, campus is pleasant, students seemed nice. Town leaves a bit to be desired, but being 30 minutes from the beach was a plus. Overall the school really impressed us.

Moved off:
Towson - Nothing really critical to say but son just liked UMBC much more overall and felt that the quality of education is better at UMBC.

McDaniel and Goucher – Both schools are very similar to St Mary’s of MD in size and focus but once D had seen St. Mary’s, they both fell off the list. McDaniel felt a bit too sporty and Goucher felt a bit too artsy. Both seemed like nice schools but just not as good a fit academically or socially.

3765

@BayMom3 had the worst experience driving through St. Mary’s on a weekend in April - suffice to say the few student who were hanging around looked really bored.

3766

@BayMom3, I’m a UMCP alum, but I have to say that UMBC has really impressed me as an academic in terms of what they’ve invested into innovative and high-impact undergraduate education. (Its architecture still isn’t as pretty as UMCP’s, though, but then again, what around there is?)

3767

Now that it’s all over, I can share a few observations on some of my DD2’s college visits.

Went down:

William & Mary: I expected my d to like W&M. It seemed to be everything she wanted in terms of size and academics. The campus is beautiful, the presentation was good, and the tour guide made us feel right at home. But D couldn’t get past colonial Williamsburg. Off the list after the visit.

American University: We were there on a very hot day. We had turned in our rental car and decided to take the metro. No one told us there was a shuttle, so we walked the mile or so to campus. By the time we arrived, we were sweating and D was starving. The admissions people pointed us in the direction of a campus bus they said ran every 15 minutes and would take us to a commercial area a mile or two away where we could eat lunch. An hour later, the bus still hadn’t come, so we gave up and ate at an on-campus Starbucks, the only place that was open that day. Then came the cheesy video, and American was off the list for good.

Moved up:

GW: We liked GW better than we thought we would. D liked the combination of the urban location and the Mt. Vernon campus. We had a great tour guide who was so enthusiastic you couldn’t help but come away feeling like GW was the place to be. In the end, D didn’t apply because by the time the January deadline rolled along, she had already been accepted to her top choice. If they had EA, she would have applied.

Santa Clara: We expected to like it, but we all loved it. The campus is beautiful, D loved the social justice emphasis, and the presentation was the best I’ve seen in about 20 college visits between two kids. We came away feeling like this school cares about what kind of people it turns out. D will be attending in the fall.

3768

@KAMmom Happy to hear the decision! Please let me know if I can help in any way. I am local if you need a 3am person. (Someone you can call at 3 in the morning if worried about your student and never feel bad about it.) :slight_smile:

3769

Thanks @CADREAMIN! will keep that in mind if I have a sleepless night! :slight_smile:

3770

Moved up: Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. Nothing more than me feeding a college obsession by sneaking off on a self-guided campus tour during my kid’s soccer tournament (hey, she was injured and didn’t even play). So this is based only on campus and town appeal and not on anything learned in an information session. Those have lost almost all meaning to me anyway. I begin stifling yawns at about the third “we are fantastic and unique because” bullet point. Tidy, compact, attractive campus near (though I wish it were juuust a little nearer) a quaint and very historic eastern shore town, further surrounded by strip mall ugliness/convenience. A half-mile walk into town isn’t a hardship but it likely keeps students from visiting as often as they might otherwise. Businesses there could use the extra visitors as some were permanently shuttered, but there are enough coffee shops, restaurants and markets to make downtown a real asset. Very small school so that would have to be your thing, but I found it immensely appealing. Commons/dining hall were newer and had the light and bright appeal that is de rigeur and a happy counterpoint to the bulky, historic brick buildings surrounding it. Great new science building/ library. (Isn’t this every college now? Old this old that lookie new shiny commons and science buildings!) Lots of outdoor spaces and seating. Main stadium was a mostly brick affair that seemed like a real stadium scaled down rather than the basic concrete-and-steel-bleachers model more common to schools of this size. Anyone with access to a boat has the beautiful Chester River to play on, and the Chesapeake Bay is about a ten mile steam. (I didn’t have a boat in college. Just a ‘72 Beetle so rusty you could see the highway stripes passing beneath.) And yes, it was a perfect day and the cherry blossoms were out and there might not be another day as lovely over the entire year, so maybe I fell for all of that. I was surprised at the small endowment, given the condition of the campus, and worry that they don’t have much left over to reduce net tuition. Nevertheless, I came away impressed and will keep this one in mind.

3771

Update: Dickinson College

Husband took Twin 1 to Junior Visit Day. I had a hunch that it was going to be a match and he doubted me. She loves it and it is now in the #1 spot. The day was well orchestrated and they were both impressed. The tour guide was cheerful and smart, the campus was lovely, and she felt at home. I have not been, but hubby grew up in PA so he had been there before.

Specifically, it has a strong environmental program, a decent town, six hours is driving distance, plenty of dorm space, strong travel abroad. I assume we’ll go back and visit in the fall and really see if she still loves it. Right now, she is DONE talking about it and actually leaves the room if I ask anything college related. She would likely need to go ED and receive no merit aid.

So only tour left for Twin2 is Hobart and William Smith. It would be so far and such a pain to get to. Can’t decide if I’m insane to even take her on tour or if the possibility of merit aid would make the travel worth it. She is okay with cold, but actually is clueless what freezing-a$$ cold really is (as am I, but at least I know I’m clueless)

3772

Moved way up: George Washington. My son loved the downtown DC location, access to restaurants, and urban but not frenetic feel. We got to see a lot of different dorms on the admitted student tour, which was very helpful. The rooms were much larger than we expected. Although there’s not a traditional cafeteria (a plus for him because ehe would rather use his food money off campus), there are well-used, comfortable interior lounge spaces with couches, coffee shop. The kids seemed friendly and engaged. Professors on the panels we attended were people he would love to take classes from. He decided not to move across the country to DC, but it was a strong contender for him. For someone interested in politics who wants an urban location, I think it would be great.

3773

@pickledginger Did you see the Mt. Vernon campus? If so, what was it like? Also, are you saying there are no dining halls and meal plans? Thanks

3774

@citymama9, we did see the Mt Vernon campus (“the Vern”) as well. My son’s strong preference re: college location is an urban setting, so he did not see himself at the Vern. It is in a nice suburban location with a soccer field, tennis courts, and one-story buildings. We did not view dorm rooms there, but I hear they are newer and more spacious than the main campus dorms. Also, some specialty/scholars programs are housed there (for my son, that was a downside because one program he was interested in is housed at the Vern).

Regarding dining halls - correct, there is not a traditional cafeteria at the main campus. There is one at the Vern. I didn’t investigate all of the details, but my understanding is that meal money is useable at a variety of off-campus dining options, including grocery stores (ex. Whole Foods, which has a good hot bar and salad bar). The dorm rooms we saw had fridges. For my son, this was a plus because he is loves to try new places and was not looking forward to 2-4 years of eating at a cafeteria.

3775

@pickledginger Thank you so much!

3776

@homerdog I was also an engineering major at Northwestern in the early 80s and based on other posts have a son and daughter in the same school as your children. My son graduates next week and will attending Northwestern in the fall. He plans on studying Mechanical Engineering. He was accepted into the ISP program as well. Lots of math, and science! Last summer we visited both Williams and Amherst (as well as Brown) as part of an East Coast college tour. If interested, I’m sure my son would be willing to talk to yours about his impressions of those schools. With seniors opting out of finals and AP exams being over, he literally has nothing to do.

3777

@AltaSki64 thanks! I’m curious to see if we really are at the same school. Sometimes posters assume we are on the north shore. I tried to PM you but, since you haven’t had 15 posts yet, I can’t send you a PM. I’ll keep an eye on your posts and PM you after you hit 15!

3778

not north shore. western suburbs. Yeah i don’t post much (didn’t realize the 15). And have a daughter ('20) that we are starting the process. Planning some close to home visits this summer.

3779

She didn’t cry ON THE TOUR. She cried in the car talking about it afterward.

1 Like
3780

Just as an FYI, there are a lot of dorm tours available on YouTube. Just type in the name of the school and “dorm tour.”

3781

Georgetown. It is so congested…no space to hang out…lots of buildings in a small footprint. Plus we are from DC, so there’s that.

1 Like