Yeah, he’ll certainly give it a shot. We’re full-pay, which might help a little, and he’s a distant legacy, as my late father went there.
My daughter walked the campus at SUNY Binghamton last week, meh, she felt it was a campus. She toured Clemson yesterday and today, fell in love (even after having a great time at a frat party at Rutgers on Saturday night, it can’t compare).
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Now that things are opening up more and more, would love to hear other’s experiences with in-person visits! S22 & I just got back from Colorado to visit University of Colorado Boulder and University of Denver.
S22 said CU was “nice” and “seemed good,” but he wasn’t very enthusiastic. The campus was beautiful, tour guide was friendly. But ultimately I think he wants a smaller LAC. Boulder is a nice college town.
University of Denver was a pleasant surprise. He liked the virtual info session - the panel of kids seemed involved in lots of different activities but still academically rigorous. And visiting the campus reinforced that vibe. Liked that they just built a big centrally located dining hall to unify the north and south campuses, liked the traditions around the D1 hockey (he said it actually felt more fun than the D1 football scene at CU), liked the easy public transport around Denver but still a self-contained campus. Just felt like the best of both worlds from a small school and a big school.
My personal pet peeve: University of Denver = DU; University of Colorado = CU. And my concern about both is the high number of students from Colorado. Only because my kid wants to leave California to get out of his bubble and is looking for a school with diversity, kids from all over, from different backgrounds, etc.
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Went to DC with D22 over Memorial Day. We weren’t surprised that she liked Georgetown— beautiful, incredible view in quaint Georgetown village. Good self-guided tour followed by excellent bagel sandwiches from Call Your Mother. Way up on the list for future poly sci major.
We were surprised at how much she liked GWU. The urban campus felt like a campus and felt very buzzy and vital. So close to White House etc. Saw Biden in profile in motorcade coming from his address at Arlington. Both of us giddy from that and spectacular National Mall. It will definitely be on her list.
The GWU self-guided tour was also excellent.
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Lol makes sense to me (I have kids at UD = university of Delaware and CU = Clemson university).
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We visited a number of (primarily B1G) schools in the last couple of weeks. Here is my summary of our impressions.
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I found your comments about Wisconsin interesting. It’s our state flagship and while my D wasn’t all that interested, we encouraged a tour anyway since it’s a good school. Of all the info session we did, and we did a lot, it was the worst. It was just SO boring. The in-person tour itself was good though, since we had a good tour guide who was very passionate about the school.
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We live near DC and went to Georgetown, GW, and American over spring break to do our own little tours. We had the same experience with loving GW, I didn’t think I would like it, much less my son but he really did and the students that were milling around were wearing GW sweatshirts and a few offered to help us with directions when they could see we were struggling to find something, so he really liked it. We did not like American- there is nothing near campus. No restaurants, no bars, no stores, nothing. It is in DC, but a residential area of DC. Of course he loved Georgetown, but we can’t afford it so he will not be applying there.
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BC got knocked off the list - vibe from student panelists and guide was too sporty/Jesuit boys’ high school, not intellectual
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Teenage preferences can be a mystery. We were in PA for other reasons and visited Temple, Drexel, and Bryn Mawr. My daughter like Temple even though there were almost no students on campus. She did note that the area around Temple was a bit rough and that you couldn’t walk to old town. They were keeping the tour groups really small so it was the two of us and a boy and his dad. Tour guide spoke individually with both kids as we walked around and seemed genuine and nice. Son/father were both nice guys.
I thought she would like Drexel better because I thought it had more of a campus feel once you got into the center of campus. I’m not sure if she was put off by the tour meet up in a building on the edge of campus that faces away from campus, but maybe. She liked the tour guide but didn’t feel like the others on the tour were her people. It was a big group. My daughter was also put off that some of campus wasn’t contiguous. There was also lots of loud construction going on that didn’t help with ambiance.
She liked Bryn Mawr in spite of herself. Bryn Mawr is my alma mater and doesn’t have the media arts/communication classes she is interested although Haverford has pretty strong studio art. After being in the city for a few days she like the big green spaces. We took the train from downtown so she knows it isn’t that hard to get into the city. The other girls on the tour seemed like people she’d like to get to know. Tour guide was the right mix of fun, interesting, and nerd. I’m thinking if she liked Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke might have a similar vibe with academic programs that interest her.
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We will be visiting Johns Hopkins (with an official tour) and Cornell (no tour) next week. Does anyone have any thoughts on either of these two campuses, specifically regarding engineering? My kid will apply for ChemE.
My D22 and W are returning from touring several schools including JHU and Cornell. JHU remained tied with Duke as her #1 choice. Not sure where Cornell is. She’s leaning engineering. Most likely BME.
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Unfortunately, Duke doesn’t have ChemE. C22 loved Duke’s virtual tour.
My daughter is a chem e and we toured both JHU and Cornell when she was in HS. My H and I are Cornell alum. H was an engineer.
Do you have any specific questions? Feel free to PM me if you’d like.
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D22 had difficulties signing in to U Washington’s virtual admissions presentation and admissions office leaned over backwards to help. Then they had an admissions person call her so she could speak to him directly! We were blown away by how great they were. School is nice too. 
planning in-person tour next month.
Occidental virtual admissions presentation also really great. D is now really excited to tour that school. Description of common student characteristics fit her to a T and lots of interesting opportunities to volunteer in the community, campaign semester, etc. Taking a trip to LA early August.
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James Madison comes off the list. All the down sides of a big school without the benefits. All the buildings were on their own individual hill. That said, it’s possible it was a bad tour guide match for my son. Her first question was what’s your major and her response was why would you come HERE for that?
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My son dismissed USF Tampa because the school of Architecture was an ugly building which was an oxymoron. PS… He is not an architecture student.
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Nearly any college I’ve ever been to where there’s a specific architecture building, it’s the ugliest building on campus. I think it’s because there’s an urge to make an architecture building daring or innovative or whatever, but actually that just makes it unbalanced and quickly dated.
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Berkeley has one of the ugliest architecture buildings. Campus Map - University of California, Berkeley
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I guess McGill bucks the trend:
Macdonald Harrington Building - McGill School of Architect… | Flickr
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