Funny @Jon234 Had the same exact feeling at Wes. The original campus and admissions hall are beautiful. It was a little of the focus on how many students triple majored and the gym/senior housing down the hill.
Moderator’s Note: Please be civil in comments about other’s assessments. I’ve deleted a couple of posts.
The comment about the brutalist building at Wesleyan reminded me of a truism I picked up from a friend as an undergrad,* and that I’ve found to be true more often than not touring campuses since then: You should never judge the beauty of a campus by its architecture or fine arts buildings, because one of them will always be the ugliest building on campus, unless they’re in a first-place tie.
(Like I said, it holds true frighteningly often. I suspect it’s because architecture and the fine arts have a stake in pushing the design envelope a bit, and when that works it works quite well, but when the designers guess wrong about future design aesthetics…)
*At the University of Maryland College Park, which has (had?—don’t know if it’s been replaced since) a spectacularly ugly architecture building, which is what we were discussing at the time.
On this occasion it appears several buildings were tied. Both daughters (twins) felt uninspired. It’s a shame as there’s no doubting the quality of the school and prior to visiting I’d felt it would possibly be a good fit for one of them.
Fun Facts about the Wesleyan arts center: 1) No two of the 11 buildings are exactly alike; there’s always a little twist in the way each one is designed, 2) There is no steel undergirding for any of them; all the walls are load-bearing, 3) The trees that originally dictated the placement of each building have largely died off (I think I read somewhere that the average life span for a tree is about 50 years) and, 4) The limestone blocks that form the walls for each building were originally slated to be made of concrete, but, a reversal in the inflation-riddled market at the time temporarily made limestone the cheaper choice.
Off the list: Wellesley, which had been at the top of the list on paper and after an informal meeting with an alumna. Nothing specific, although stress culture was much more of a thing than anticipated. The info session sounded like they were looking for a very specific type, and it is not my kid’s type. She could have found her people there, but she really wants a more supportive environment.
Other: Barnard, added because she really liked being in a big city over the summer. No real feel for it before visiting. She loved NYC and liked Barnard a lot, but wants more of a true women’s college experience, not the tight integration with the rest of Columbia. My guess is that she will not apply.
@allyphoe – sounds like Mt. Holyoke might be a good fit for her, though obv not urban. Very supportive of students and collaborative ethos.
My son had wanted to go to UW Madison since he was little (we are from Wisconsin). We visited and there was something off for him. From the very beginning, it was very impersonal but you could tell that they were more excited for the out of state kids visiting. The party culture is not his thing either. The spread out campus. The lack of internship opportunities. The sense of entitlement that seemed to be in the air. On our way home he asked to visit the University of Minnesota.
UMN was less flashy. WAY more personal. We arrived early and he was asked if he wanted to talk to an admissions counselor. The tour guides were friendlier. The view of the city was amazing. And he was very excited at the opportunities a big city would provide to him for internships. As a mom living in the upper midwest, the tunnels connecting a large portion of buildings and the free laundry sold me! HAHA
UMN is a little further away, but it became his top choice, he’s already accepted, so we better learn to enjoy that 3 hour drive 
Off the list: Trinity in CT. Visited once and loved it but it was totally different when we went back to interview. There was a bus full of students from MD/DC/VA and the admissions staff was falling all over themselves to pass out bags, shirts, pennants. DD was waiting for her interview and the same staff seemed so disinterested in her even being there, no business card, not even a pen. She followed up with a handwritten thank you note to the interviewer and it is the only school she never heard from after going. DD said it was so obvious that they didn’t care if she applied there or not. Since leaving, we have read articles about the changes in admissions practices there and it all makes sense now.
@AlmostThere2018 MHC is probably #2 on her list at the moment, primarily because South Hadley isn’t as much a town as Northampton. Also, she’s gotten a lot more radical over the last year, and I think that’s something she’ll find more of at Smith. But we all loved MHC.
@helpingmom40 , other than admissions, was there anything she liked/didn’t like at her revisit? ruling out of school because of the behavior of the admissions office - when you’ll never deal with admissions once while you’re actually a student - seems unreasonable, don’t you think? Was there something else about the school that she didn’t like?
@suzyQ7 In the case of the school we visited where Admissions left a lot to be desired, lunch with a student revealed that the administration was generally unresponsive to student feedback. There seemed to be a culture of bureaucratic indifference across the administration.
@allyphoe: Best quote in this thread in your post #4510: “Also, she’s gotten a lot more radical over the last year…”.
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@suzyQ7 It is hard to explain but I will refer you to this article:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/10/magazine/college-admissions-paul-tough.html
My take on the article is that the school is looking to increase diversity (which is great, don’t get me wrong) but the financial reality was a budget deficit. The deficit led admissions to recruit affluent students from private schools that would be full pay. Being a very middle class white female from a public high school with some demonstrated need did not fit into their desired student body. Her experience on the day she revisited and interviewed just gave her the chance to see it in action. My daughter honestly felt like an inconvenience and thinking about her experience in the context of this article just made her feel like there wasn’t a place there for her, even if she was accepted.
“ruling out of school because of the behavior of the admissions office - when you’ll never deal with admissions”
The admissions office job on people visiting is to present the best foot forward for the school including the tour guides, administration etc… If you’re not getting warm fuzzies from them, it would seem reasonable to not consider the school, especially if you’re looking to trim your list.
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Also, if colleges are going to cull their lists of admits based on “soft”, subjective elements, then why shouldn’t students feel entitled to do the same?
(Which is kind of the point of this entire thread, no?)
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We must have come in the same way. I was looking at our GPS and said to my husband, “How is it possible we are almost on campus”. Pretty campus and we know lots of kids there that love it. But it felt too isolated for my daughter!
Lehigh was immediately taken off both of my sons’ lists as we drove into town before we got to campus. The industrial town vibe was not their cup of tea. The campus was too hilly.
American University was taken off my older son’s list after the info. session and tour. The students seemed aloof to him, a bit entitled. But GWU moved up after the info. session and tour. The students were more friendly and helpful. And he loves an urban city vibe to campus.
But overall, he’s still looking at U of Miami, UGA, and UVA. All high on his list.
Olin: My kids wandered into the center of the campus took one look around and said “No way” A great school but very tiny ( 80-90 kids per year).
Likewise Babson: Too small and not enough choices for majors.
Wasn’t Wesleyan the former site of Norwich before they moved to Vermont? Are the buildings of that vintage?
My D20 disliked Villanova and thought that it felt like a place where every most popular high school kid was plopped.