Rutgers crossed off list after visit to Mason Gross. MG seemed separate and D didn’t like the feel. Plus, our info session was disorganized.
Wesleyan moved down the list. D liked the school and the people, but she wasn’t feeling Middletown.
Visited Colorado College and Whitman College during a long road trip last week with D21 and D23 (the latter being along for the ride).
Colorado College - D21 loves it. Loves the Block Plan concept. D21 (and D23) have been attending CTY summer intensive camps for the past summers so the one-course-at-a-time-for three-weeks concept is appealing (similar to CTY). Loves the travel possibilities within each block. Loves the travel opportunities between blocks. Loves the focus on volunteer work for incoming freshman. Loves the friendly and unpretentious vibe. Loves the campus. Loves Colorado Springs. Loves the outdoors culture. Loves the mountains. Loves everything about the college and the location. High up on the list, definite ED contender.
Whitman College - friendly vibe and solid academics. Cool semester out west program. Pretty campus, especially the duck pool area. However, Walla Walla felt too isolated for D21. Takes hours to get to anywhere outside of Walla Walla. Great college but D21 is not thrilled with the location.
S20 dropped Arizona State after our visit, actually during the visit. He said the campus was ugly, too big, and too urban, and he didn’t like that you likely have to take some classes at the downtown campus.
Then Arizona became his top choice after we went down there. He loved the campus, and we met with an environmental science advisor who completely sold him on the program. He also thinks Tucson is good-size for a college town - more suburban than urban, but still has an airport with easy flights.
School that moved up on the list was Brandeis. We visited the campus in late fall when S still had eyes set on a different dream school he had targeted for ED. So, the visit was part of a planned set of tours in New England, but he had no skin in the game–didn’t know much about it. Sometimes it just becomes rapidly apparent that a kid belongs someplace. S not interested in LACs, but didn’t want an overly big research University. Brandeis is a small research University. S desired easy access to a city but didn’t want a campus in the city–campus is easy shuttle trip to Boston. Son not interested in partying, prefers to be in an academic environment–good description of the culture. Strong department in his desired major that takes good care of the roughly 10 or so kids each year that select said STEM major. Lots of threads diss the Brandeis campus but S is not drawn to the typical LAC picturesque campus–likes a more contemporary feel and the landscaping of late has done a lot to make the campus appealing. Eminently walkable, friendly, campus with terrific faculty.
School that came off the list was MIT. Many similar postings across threads here describe what a strange impression the campus can leave–we happened to visit on a frigid day and the walk from the parking lot near the dorms to the campus was unbearable with wind whipping off the river. Strange, long, corridors – our tour spent way to much time in the basement of one particularly dreary building to see the various labs where I frankly wanted to liberate the students working in the near dark. Tour was good and campus center lovely but overall it is an oppressive environment.
1 Like
For D20: UW Madison fell off the list by 9:15am (way too big) but Pitt was a big (surprise) hit. She did a Smith/Mt Holyoke two-fer day and Smith dropped off and MHC rocketed to the top of her list. She expected to like Wesleyan and be meh on Vassar but expectations we flipped - we didn’t even stay for Wesleyan info session but she asked to stay and have lunch in Vassar dining hall after morning visit. Didn’t dig Middletown or Poughkeepsie but it seemed to matter less for Vassar.
2017 Engineering admit rates…
1 Like
I think I mentioned crossing UVA off the list earlier, but during the same trip we added Virginia Tech at the last minute and was very impressed. It ended up #2 on the final list, making for a tough decision in April, after several visits.
Probably because Vassar isn’t really located in downtown Poughkeepsie and IIRC, has instead cultivated a little satellite of streets and shops just outside the campus walls. The only reason to go downtown is to catch the train.
This is a college that was never on the list that moved towards the top. My two sons, S20 and S21 went to Chicago over Easter break. S20 wanted to visit Loyola (which he liked OK but fell off the list. Beautiful campus but too far from downtown, whatever that means) He’s interested in a double major like math/marketing.
After visiting Loyola for S20, my second son (S21) wanted to visit DePaul. He’s interested in film/cinematography. S20 was along for the ride and was going to get something to eat but was talked into going along for the tour at the downtown campus. Loved it and the people. Next day he visited the Lincoln Park campus and liked what he saw and heard from the AO.
S20 is high stats and is applying to some higher ranked schools plus our in-state (Pennsylvania) options but DePaul is still high on his list. I told him to follow his heart and when he found the right school he would know it. I didn’t expect him to find it before senior year though. Should be an interesting few months.
For ones that fell off the list it’s Wake Forest and UNC CH. He didn’t like either. He liked NC State though but probably won’t apply. Go figure. Wake Forest campus is beautiful and the speech from the AO was perfect. He just wasn’t “feeling it”.
@chmcnm I know of two high stat students at DePaul. Both are from the Chicago suburbs. I’ve heard that are both loving it. One is in the theater department but I don’t know much more than that. The other wanted Northeastern but didn’t get in. DePaul isn’t talked about much on CC but it’s a great location in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago and kids are happy there!
Did you go to Wake in the summer or when school was in session? On the list for D21 but haven’t visited yet.
Just jumping in here to say S20 was interested in Wake, we signed up for an interview & tour, booked flights etc, and then he cut it off the list and cancelled the visit. Not sure why, just wasn’t feeling it anymore! Funny what sticks in their minds
@homerdog We did visit Wake in the summer. We stopped by several schools on the drive home from the beach. Beautiful campus. Not much was going on but they had a full-house for the daily admissions tour. I think it was the AO’s first day on the job and she was great. Her presentation and delivery was great. Sadly it didn’t grab my son so Wake was off his list but S21 liked it but they’re not known for what he wants to do.
If you do visit, I’d rent a car and tour the other schools within a few hours of Wake (Elon, UNCCH, Duke, NC State, App State, UNC Asheville, Davidson). If you’re looking for a private school with a beautiful campus, good academics, Greek life, D1 sports, and good weather then Wake is it. If D21 likes it also look at Furman in SC
1 Like
Lehigh and Lafayette both moved up. Daughter was not excited to see them, but both have beautiful compact campuses, and the students all seem happy and engaged and balanced.
George Washington moved down, unfortunately. Maybe off. . Not sure why she loved B.U. but not GW- might have just been a bad tour guide.
@joecollege44 That is great feedback. My son hated GW and loved BU. They are both urban schools but their similarities end there. They have significantly different vibes. We need to check out Lafayette and Lehigh. Both are on our list!
St Lawrence jumped to the top of the list after a great visit. It is not easy to get to from most places, so maybe that is why they try so hard to be welcoming (like giving everyone who visits a private tour, capped with a homemade cookie). Great facilities, nice people, a real community feel.
Moved up- Ohio Wesleyan moved way up. She loves the campus and the students we met were all so nice. She also really liked the town and how integrated the campus and the town were. Freshman dorm is being totally remodeled and they are building new apartments for upperclassmen. Acceptance rate is high but academics seem strong and it is a CTCL school.
Moved down- Denison. Didn’t like the hilly campus and the buildings didn’t seem to have any continuity in their building styles. Students were very nice but D just didn’t feel the vibe. Loved the town though (Granville). Their acceptance rate has gone way down this year and they sort of made us feel like “we don’t care if you apply or not as we have so many people who want to come here”.
Stayed the same- College of Wooster- D really liked the campus and there were lots of restaurants and shopping nearby. Probably a match but academics seemed really strong once you are in. Rated one of the top 10 schools for homework so that is actually a concern. Students were definitely a bit quirky. There was food everywhere. Cookies at the info session, ice cream in the middle of the tour, and popcorn at the student panel. A+ for snacks!
Unfortunately St. Andrews was a huge disappointment. More of a graduate school experience.
Surprised and disappointed in Harvard. The information tour was by far the worst we’ve attended. Felt like we were at a high school orientation led by one of the students. The admissions representative said he was a recent Harvard grad. I’m sure he has many attributes but leading an information session is not one of them. Instead of waiting until the end of a topic to take questions, he frequently stopped in the middle to ask if there were any questions. So many of them could have been answered in a quick google search. Unless, I suppose, you wanted to know how Harvard differentiates themselves from the other Ivies. This was the first question asked. It seemed, at the time, like a question out of left field but I felt it would have at least been interesting to see what the AO had to say. However, he had absolutely no idea how to answer it. It was a very boring and almost painful hour. The campus wasn’t as pretty as expected and the vibe was just all around not great. Boston College on the other hand was beautiful and classes were in session so we were able to see students interact. It was really a breath of fresh air coming out of Cambridge. There weren’t any tours or information sessions the day we were there but as we were trying to figure out where a building was, a student came up to us asking if he could be of help. Pretty much sealed the deal on how much we loved it there.
1 Like
Called into Wesleyan yesterday on our way home from Boston. No official tour but the guy in Admissions gave us a map and said it was a very easy campus to navigate. It is. Even in glorious sunshine the campus looked singularly uninspiring. The Brutalist arts department reminded me of bad housing schemes in London.
I’ve asked my kids to look past pretty buildings and settings but this was a big ask. "Too big dad.’ I couldn’t argue.