So glad I stumbled across this thread. I can’t stop reading… the comments are so insightful, especially these days when in person tours are not possible for the most part.
@dramamama2021 I agree! I remember finding this thread before we did our college tours (back in the old days LOL) and just reading and reading. It was really helpful in realizing what sort of things might matter to our student. Here’s another great thread you might like, on the stupidest reasons kids give for not looking at a college. For some reason it hasn’t gotten much love lately - no new posts since February: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/705291-stupidest-reason-child-wont-look-at-a-college-p1.html
@tkoparent Thank you! Great read and some sound too familiar. 
There also needs to be a thread for the stupidest reasons kids like a college. Haha. I’ve heard a few from my D that have me rolling my eyes.
Here’s one that’s close:
Whittier: D didn’t want to even tour because she thought it was too close to home (it’s not super far but it’s probably almost an hour away with no traffic) and she didn’t think Whittier was that great (she’s only driven through it). We did end up touring and she liked it enough to apply. She ended up going elsewhere because she got slightly better merit money (though Whittier did give decent aid) and she wanted to go somewhere new. Whittier was in contention though.
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Haven’t been back to the Parent Forum in years & thought I’d see what’s going on over here. This thread made me chuckle. Our answer: Clemson. We still laugh about it many years later. Our tour guide spoke of nothing except Tiger this or that, Tiger paws money system (probably long gone), and Tiger sports. Neither of my children were interested in sports, and it was so over the top.
Similarly, the focus on sports (the tour begins and ends at the football stadium!!) on Alabama’s tour totally turned my D17 off there, despite the amazing job the Psychology Department and the Honors College did to try to recruit her.
Cornell: Wasn’t admitted and attending another Ivy, but LOVED the ice cream here, which is made on-campus by CALS’ Dairy farm. MUST-TRY for anyone visiting Ithaca.
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I’ve enjoyed perusing this thread! Great insights and comments all around. So, I’ll throw our two cents in.
Here are musings from tours with D19’s, and now D21’s, go-around:
MOVED UP:
Clemson - D19 zeroed in on Clemson, sort of out of left field to me (we’re from the Midwest). Visited twice and loved it more each time. Gorgeous campus that didn’t feel too overwhelming and easy to find your way around. Tour guide was great; I think she ended up becoming the Student Body President the following year - wow. Tons of school spirit and cute college town. Only negative - a bit hard to get to from OOS and OOS tuition (ended up getting admitted with no merit).
Loyola Marymount - Was sort of an after-thought, but had a great tour of the science/engineering school. Campus was very nice, easy to navigate and so close to LA, Marina Del Rey and LAX. The only negative: seemed a little too small and no football team. In the end, D19 didn’t apply because of “too many essays” on the app and wanted a larger school
Pepperdine - What’s not to like? Campus is gorgeous, altho we did not do a formal tour. Negatives: while gorgeous, seemed a bit isolated (if no car) and very small. D19 wanted a larger campus environment. Didn’t end up applying.
U Wisconsin - Madison - Even though we’re Midwesterners, never ventured onto this campus. It’s lovely: nice mix of urban and college-town vibe. The lake is beautiful and the surrounding areas are hillier than expected. D19 applied and was accepted, however to second-choice major with no merit.
Michigan State - Again, never visited East Lansing despite being from the Midwest. D21 visited during covid - so no formal tours - and has fallen in love with the campus. It’s beautiful - lovely trees, river running through campus and many, many squirrels. And HUGE. Is D21’s breakout favorite.
MOVED DOWN:
U of Georgia - We probably just caught this campus on the wrong day. And if that happens, the school may come off the list. We arrived on the day of the football pre-season scrimmage. Needless to say, traffic was a nightmare and there was literally nowhere to park. All the garages were full, even though we were confirmed at the on-campus conference center hotel. D19 decided to bag the tour and head on out.
Indiana University - I feel really guilty for even saying this, given so many that rightfully love this school, but this visit was literally a “drive by” for D19. Granted, we visited when there was a ton of construction on campus, but she just wasn’t feeling it. Vibe was off for her. So we left.
Miami of Ohio - Again, I feel very guilty to even saying that the vibe here wasn’t happening for D21. We did the formal tour. Very pretty campus. D21 felt the vibe felt too “cookie cutter” for her. And, location seemed too remote. But, they did a marvelous job with the tour and they continue to do a great job in the marketing/follow up. But, she won’t be applying.
Ohio State - Visited earlier this year and did the formal tour. Tour guide was great and very informative. Again, a vibe thing. Felt too big to D21 and rather impersonal. Loved the downtown Columbus vibe, but D21 will take a pass on OSU.
And, a couple more for good measure:
MOVED DOWN:
UCLA - D19 sort of thought she really wanted to go here after a quick visit the year prior. So, when we scheduled the formal tour, we arrived on campus early and had an hour or so to kill. Campus was busy during our school-year visit and while patiently awaiting our tour, D19 asked if we could leave. She just wasn’t feeling it. Ironically, she’s at a large state university now, but found the UCLA vibe overwhelming. We left and went back to the hotel pool.
MOVED UP:
USC - On this same trip, we were not able to get the scheduled tour for D19, so did a self-guided tour on our own. We loved the campus. Didn’t really know what to expect, given the “downtown LA” location, but found the campus beautiful, easy to navigate and with many upgrades and improvements. The University Village (I think?) was brand new at the time.
UP - Montana State. D liked the size of the campus - compact but still with a lot of amenities, the weather - a nice cold winter day, and the town. It was one of their big visit days so they had a bunch of presentations and she liked what she heard.
DOWN - Utah State. D didn’t like the complete lack of diversity - we were on campus for our about four hours and saw three people of color. She also didn’t like the town, Main St is a four-lane highway and it’s not very walkable or convenient from campus.
We did a self guided covid tour of west coast schools, all DIY tours of closed campuses. We didn’t visit any public schools in CA because there is no point as I’m not going to pay OOS tuition when we have cheaper state schools here in WA.
UP
UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND: This school is kind of under the radar. It’s a mid-level liberal arts college. Very traditional brick quad style campus in an old upscale part of Tacoma with nice neighborhoods nearby. D21 really liked the campus feel, although there were just families and skateboarders out and about, no students. It is very much the classic archetypical college with brink and ivy and quads. It might be D21s favorite private school of all those we visited along with Occidental.
LEWIS AND CLARK COLLEGE: More of a modern and woodsy campus than UPS, but otherwise very similar in size and feel. L&C is arrayed along a woodsy hillside in an upscale residential part of Portland. It looks like it was once an old estate of some kind and the college just grew up around the old estate grounds so it does not have the same master-planned feel of organized quads and such. The layout is a bit confusing and it’s a mix of old and new architecture. But the setting is gorgeous. One drawback is that the neighborhood is completely residential with no businesses, cafes, or restaurants within walking distance. The college provides free shuttles to downtown Portland to compensate and public transit is good. Freshmen are not allowed to keep cars on campus so that is necessary.
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY: Another gorgeous campus in the heart of silicon valley. It is a posh Spanish mission style campus. Not as large as I was expecting. Place was completely deserted when we visited, due partly to the CA fires that were happening. I was expecting the surrounding town of Santa Clara to be more posh due to the silicon valley location but it felt very much like a nondescript college town without much interesting happening. A few ethnic restaurants here and there and a bit of shopping. But very uninteresting frankly.
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: This was daughter’s favorite school on our CA visit. Campus is exceedingly beautiful in a hilly enclave in far north LA. Even though it is 1/2 the size, the campus felt as large as Santa Clara and might have nicer architecture in the same mission style. The surrounding neighborhoods are especially pretty with lots of cafes and restaurants and walkable neighborhoods. Seemed like an especially nice place to go to school.
USC: Much more urban setting than Occidental The surrounding inner city neighborhoods around USC are pretty nondescript and downscale. The entire campus is enclosed by a huge brick wall and iron fencing with very diligent security at all the gated entrances to campus. So it is very much of an island. But the campus is very pretty. Much more urban feeling with closer buildings and such that the more suburban campuses as space is probably more of an issue. Again, we toured an empty campus so only got to see the buildings. D21 liked it but will probably be a reach school for her.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: This is D21s top choice. Absolutely gorgeous campus in the heart of Seattle. We have visited several times and her HS goes there every fall for Husky Band Day to play with other high schools marching bands during half time. A bunch of her fellow former HS band mates have gone on to UW and play in the Husky marching band with is an interest of D21. She is also interested in biology and molecular biology ad the programs there are world class.
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Another gorgeous campus. This is D21s safety school. The setting is impressive on the hills overlooking Bellingham and Puget Sound. The actual campus is a nice mix of modern and historic buildings. We did a pre-covid guided tour and D21 very much liked it, along with the liberal alternative feel which suits her. Only question really is whether the academics in the sciences are quite up to the same level as UW and the private schools she is visiting. My impression is that this school trending upwards as the population of WA grows and UW gets increasingly competitive.
DOWN:
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON: We toured it in late Feb right before covid shut down the campus tours. D21 was unimpressed with all the relentless Nike brand marketing and over-the-top sports emphasis. She is uninterested in athletics, either doing or watching. All the recent money being spent at UO seems to be on athletic facilities rather than academics. The brand new tutoring center exclusively for athletes, for example, is nicer than the actual university library. Could just be our impression, but there seems to be more $$$ being spent on athletics and amenities like fitness centers than on actual classrooms and science labs. This is the reverse from what we saw at UW where academics seems much more central and athletics is off to the side of campus and much less emphasized.
WASHINGTON STATE: Actual campus is very pretty and impressive. We did an actual pre-covid official tour. The classroom and academic student amenities were the nicest of any public university that we visited. Fabulous labs and classrooms and academic facilities. But D21 just vetoed the remote location in a far corner of rural WA. Pullman barely has anything there other than the campus.
UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO: D21 found it very cold and sterile with a lot of 1930s to 1950s style concrete institutional looking buildings. We did a covid walking tour and D21 never warmed to the place. Just said she couldn’t see herself going there.
POMONA AND THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES: This was the last stop on our Covid tour of closed campuses. The place is gorgeous and dripping with wealth. But for some reason it just didn’t grab D21’s interest. We walked around Pomona and Claremont McKenna and drove past Scrips. It has a bit more of a southern plantation sort of feel compared to the other west coast schools we visited. Almost too immaculate. And the surrounding community is more typical upscale suburban like you would find in say Plano TX. Maybe we missed the interesting parts. She just didn’t see herself wanting to attend and based only on appearances, like Occidental much more of the LA area liberal arts colleges. Not going to bother applying here. It would very much be a reach school anyway.
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Fun thread, and as others mentioned, very useful since on-campus visits aren’t possible at many schools. My notes are based on visits to NE schools with D18 and S21.
Bates: UP for both kids, although both ultimately decided against going there. Student tour guides are very genuine and communicate lots of personal examples that bring life to the info session. Makes it easy to see yourself at the school. Sequence of required writing classes sounded useful, as did the May session. Kids and parents split into different groups for the tour, which I and my kids appreciated. Only saw this done at one other school we toured, and we agreed everyone should do it this way. Much easier to ask questions and to get the kind of answers you’re looking for. Campus is lovely although compact. I was turned off by the fact that several dorms surround an athletic field where practices and games seem to be running all the time; as a non-athlete, I would not have wanted that out my window. Both of my kids loved the “wall of cereal” in the dining hall. Both kids liked the idea of one dining hall where everyone eats every meal. I found that prospect stifling. Emphasis on purposeful work and community outreach is very appealing.
Middlebury: UP Possibly the most gorgeous campus. Larger than expected. Leader of info session was a very impressive and engaging senior, the kind of person you want your kids to be around. Good selection, Middlebury! The town is extremely small, and the surrounding area is very rural. But they have their own ski hill. Enough said. I was surprised that they don’t have a language requirement, given their well-known summer language school. Gorgeous, light-filled dining hall with terrific food. Students looked happy and were comfortable chatting with strangers (us) when we had to join them at a crowded table. Student body looked more diverse than at other schools in VT, but from the look of it, quite wealthy. The tour guide mentioned that he’d never heard of the school before he was recruited but was so glad to be there now.
Colby: NEUTRAL Neither kid applied. Info session and tour didn’t describe anything we weren’t seeing at other LACs; nothing really stood out, and I can’t even remember any anecdotes. New athletic center is incredible. Wooded parts of campus with kids lounging in hammocks–great vibe. Terrific art museum. But the campus felt weirdly dead both times I visited. Just as we were leaving on my second visit we finally saw a whole bunch of students. They were heading to a lightly attended football game. Honestly didn’t look that fun. When asked about campus traditions the tour guide enthused about hanging out on the steps and watching the sunset, which sounded… okay…
UVM: UP Burlington. Lake Champlain. Campus on top of a hill with gorgeous views all around. New dorms and science building. Fantastic campus center. So much liveliness on campus, even in “bad” weather. Student body just what you would expect–lots of bikes and birks. Long lines to get food at the campus center, seemed like that would be a drag. Lovely but small art museum. Athletic center surprisingly old and cramped. Student body overwhelmingly white.
Tufts: UP I was surprised S21 liked it so much, as we had to twist his arm to tour. Campus is very hilly and eclectic. Much more compact than I expected, and perhaps because of the compactness we saw lots of students out and about. There was some organization recruiting new members in one spot, and just across the field there was a small protest, and of course there were the expected runners, football-throwers, etc. Because it was a windy, freezing day, that energy was great to see. The main part of campus feels almost bucolic. The area around campus is densely residential, safe and not intense in the way I expected for an urban area. 10-minute walk or free shuttle to hip, fun Davis Square with shops, restaurants and bars, plus a T stop for the Red Line that takes you to Harvard Square or downtown Boston. (Next year another T station is opening right on campus.) The info session was pretty bland, hosted by an admissions officer, but the student tour guide was refreshing and energetic and made it clear that you could not possibly ever run out of things to do. Free shuttle to the Tufts art school campus next to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts; students of any major can also take classes there. STEM and humanities students do not seem segregated the way they are on campuses of some research universities, like UCLA. At Tufts everyone is together; for example, the tour guide was an anthropology major with an engineering student as her 1st- and 2nd-year roommate. And the anthro-major tour guide had a CS minor, while her engineering-major roomie had a history minor. The dorms are nothing to write home about. Lots of diversity.
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UP
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: This is D21s top choice. Absolutely gorgeous campus in the heart of Seattle. We have visited several times and her HS goes there every fall for Husky Band Day to play with other high schools marching bands during half time. A bunch of her fellow former HS band mates have gone on to UW and play in the Husky marching band with is an interest of D21. She is also interested in biology and molecular biology ad the programs there are world class.
DOWN:
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON: We toured it in late Feb right before covid shut down the campus tours. D21 was unimpressed with all the relentless Nike brand marketing and over-the-top sports emphasis. She is uninterested in athletics, either doing or watching. All the recent money being spent at UO seems to be on athletic facilities rather than academics. The brand new tutoring center exclusively for athletes, for example, is nicer than the actual university library. Could just be our impression, but there seems to be more $$$ being spent on athletics and amenities like fitness centers than on actual classrooms and science labs. This is the reverse from what we saw at UW where academics seems much more central and athletics is off to the side of campus and much less emphasized.
^^
I’m familiar with both these schools. I’m an alum of one and one of my kids attended the other. They are both great schools and each give reasons to like or not like them, but I have to defend UO on their construction spending and their focus on academics. I don’t think there is a Nike emphasis on campus, but there is a definite Phil Knight presence. He has donated hundreds of millions to the university, and several buildings have his name. A lot of “recent”money is being spent on academic buildings. Thanks to a $500 million lead gift from Phil Knight for a laboratory and research science complex, the first phase of construction is either near completion or just finished. The $225 million dollar, 160k sq ft building adds to the existing five building science complex that had a recent addition of a 103k sq ft building that opened in 2012.
I agree the athletic tutoring center is really nice, but it’s not brand new. It opened in 2010. As far as being nicer than the library, there are six libraries on the Eugene campus, including a science library that was renovated and expanded in 2012.
The Hayward Field track complex renovation was recently completed, but it was fully paid for with donations and Phil Knight was the major donor. It’s a campus landmark that opened in 1919. The renovation included space for the Human Physiology department.
For better or worse, athletics are a huge deal at all PAC-12 schools. Like UW, UO has a marching band. It’s the biggest student organization on campus. Both university bands play at every one of their home football games, plus selected away games.
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Reminder that the purpose of this thread is to record our kids’ perceptions, which may or may not match reality—and that’s fine. If colleges are going to pass judgment on applicants based on only a partial understanding of who they are, then it seems only right that potential applicants should be allowed to pass judgments on colleges based on only a partial understanding of what they are.
But there’s no need to defend any given college on this thread. Perceptions are perceptions, that’s all.
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Just wanted to chime in two years after I first posted in this thread. Back on page 190-ish, I gave reports on a ton of colleges D21 (then in 9th grade) visited with her younger sister. We had a great time seeing a bunch of colleges that early, because neither girl felt any pressure. Application season was so far down the road for them that the trips felt like mini-vacations and it was fun for them imagining what life might be like for them when they were at college. Plus they both really enjoyed making themselves coffee and tea before all the info sessions, and now they have their own rankings and opinions regarding the waiting areas in the admissions offices and which colleges have the best coffee/tea layout. 
Both girls had extracurriculars that required travel and all the schools we visited were either close to home (we live in the northeast where you can’t throw a rock without hitting a college) or close to an extracurricular event or close to their extended family. We made special trips to visit particular colleges starting the spring semester of 10th grade for D21 when both girls were a little older.
Those early visits paid off bigtime. First impressions did not change after multiple visits. D21 has now visited each school to which she is applying at least twice - four times in the case of one close-by favorite. The ones she liked the first time around are the same ones she liked one and two years later. Her younger sister (now in 10th grade) now has a good idea of the schools she wants to visit/revisit once COVID-related restrictions are over. D21 had zero problems writing “Why X” essays and could write them well and quickly for her college apps.
We are lucky to live in an area where visiting colleges is seriously easy due to there being so very many within a four-hour radius of our home. Most within a two-hour radius of either where we live or where they visit their father. There is no way we could have done all of this if we lived in, say, South Dakota.
All this is to say that if your kid finds the idea of visiting a college exciting and not stressful, then go take them once COVID-restrictions are over, even if they are only in 9th grade. Show them all different types and have fun. Make sure they realize there are fantastic places that accept over 70% of applicants. (Of course, if your kid ends up finding such visits stressful, then hold off). Eat pizza and have them enjoy the free coffee/tea/hot chocolate. College admissions officers will take them as seriously as they take the visiting juniors and seniors. We even got treated to a private session with an admissions officer at two elite schools because we visited during AP exam time and no one else was there. Those officers were kind and respectful and treated my two like they were seniors. They were very good experiences (and my D21 ended up applying to both of those colleges).
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We also visited a lot of colleges with my D22 when she was younger - vacations, sport camps, field trips, etc. This year, instead of just getting her head around putting together a list like many of her friends she has a very good idea what she wants. Pandemic is putting a crimp on our travel plans and so we’re glad we did as much touring as we did.
Recently she did two virtual tours:
UP - Ohio State
She loved the high-energy presentations, the school spirit, the beautiful grounds and myriad opportunities.
DOWN- Fordham
Conversely, she felt like presenters lacked enthusiasm and were awkward. The “tour” was dreadful- dark pictures, too much commentary per photo and most of them out of date because they are doing renovations. They would show a slide and say - it looks nothing like this now. Strange.
I have 3 kids in college, so we visited A LOT of schools…
MOVED UP -
Because they liked the campus/surrounding areas…
- Dartmouth
- University of Washington
- UC Santa Barbara
- UCLA
- University Colorado
- U of Virginia
- Michigan State
- Northwestern
- Ohio State
- Wisconsin
Because they thought the academic programs were a great fit…
- Harvard
- MIT
- Northwestern
- Cornell
- Columbia
- Carnegie Mellon
- Wisconsin
- Ohio State
- University Minnesota
Because they liked the “vibe” and school spirit…
- Wisconsin
- Ohio State
- Clemson
- Northwestern
- Penn State
MOVED DOWN…
Because perceived inflexibility of majors/programs…
- Indiana University
- Purdue
- Iowa State
- California Berkeley
- U of Michigan
- U of Illinois
Because they did not like the surrounding areas…
- Johns Hopkins/Peabody
- USC
- Miami Ohio
- Nortre Dame
- Yale
- UC Irvine
- NYU
Because they didn’t think the “vibe” was a good fit…
- Princeton
- U of Penn
- U of Chicago
- Stanford
Because they didn’t like how the reps talked about other schools…
- CalTech (kept dissing MIT)
- Michigan (kept dissing Ohio St.)
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@Scubaski1 After all those visits, where did your 3 kids end up going?
I’m just giving you D21’s impressions. Which is what this thread is. Probably also influenced greatly by the campus tours. The UW tour was all academics and we never even got close to any athletic facilities. It started at the student union and only hit academic programs, labs, and that sort of thing. All about things like the honors college, research opportunities, study abroad, STEM programs, etc. The student tour guide was a serious honors student type who could speak intelligently about a lot of different programs. The UO tour started at the alumni center next to the basketball arena and was mostly athletic facilities, dorms, student amenities, and that sort of thing. I think we entered only one academic building on the whole tour and not even the library. The tour guide was a frat boy who talked more about intramurals and Duck football games, meal plans, and dorm life than anything academic.
We are talking about impressions and these are the different impressions those two schools chose to present to us.