I’m pretty sure that Grinnell has an open curriculum so I don’t think your S has to take any classes he doesn’t want to.
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Thanks, @homerdog , we’ll look into that.
U of MN also has a dog of an Architecture building.
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simple, elegant, beautiful.
After my son’s interview at Swarthmore we went out to our car to grab some bottled waters before taking a campus tour. I had parked under a tree.
A bird had apparently eaten a bad worm and covered my windshield in poo. My kid thought it was hilarious.
Post the tour (beautiful and impressive school) we went to get in the car and my son recoiled as he opened the passenger side door the bird having marksman like precision had gotten the handle.
After a little clean up and 10 minutes of silence back on the road my son in an expressionless tone said “well that is a very very bad sign”.
He never applied.
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My older daughter (now college grad!) visited UPenn and found it too urban - “mom there are no trees!” she kept whining the whole tour. Next day we went to Swarthmore. When she returned to the car she said “I can never go here - there are way too many trees!” Apparently there was a very specific trees per square foot ratio she needed…
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Grinnell has an open curriculum, as @homerdog noted. I think the only required courses are foreign language competency and perhaps a writing class, though it’s been a while since we looked at it for our kids. There are policies which mean, as a practical matter, that students cannot take ALL their classes in a single department or area, but otherwise, there is lots of flexibility.
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My S22 and I are just finishing up a 2 week tour of schools in OR and Northern CA. He really liked Reed, but it will be a reach school for him and I am concerned about the academic demands. His second choice right now is the Honors program at Portland State. My S22 likes LACs, and it is promoted as an LAC inside of a larger school. Do you know any students who have attended or more about the PSU Honors program?
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Welcome! What other schools did you visit? Can you share a little more about what your daughter liked or didn’t like about the different campuses?
I don’t know anything about PSU Honors. My daughter ended up picking UW in Seattle and I’ve been pretty disengaged with all the other college search stuff since then. Youngest daughter is a rising HS sophomore so I have a year or so break before getting back into the game again!
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We’ve visited six since the beginning of June. Of those six, we had official tours or info sessions with self-guided tours at four—WashU, Vanderbilt, UChicago, and JHU.
Moved up/liked: WashU, UChicago, Cornell. My kid was absolutely smitten with all three. Pretty idyllic campuses by their definition.
Neutral: UMichigan. They really don’t want to attend a large state school, so the size is the main issue. Plus, our state flagship, while not ranked nearly as highly, is a more beautiful campus in their view. Michigan is a top four school for their major, so it will stay high on their list despite the size.
Went Down: Vanderbilt and Johns Hopkins. Vanderbilt seemed chaotic and noisy, plus the walk to the freshman dorms was far and seemed like it wouldn’t be safe alone after dark. For Johns Hopkins, the red brick buildings were a bit monotonous and the surrounding area and Baltimore as a whole didn’t seem interesting or safe. It’s too bad about these two, my kid had been super excited about them before visiting!
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A student shouldn’t stray too far beyond the UChicago campus either.
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I totally agree, but for whatever reason my kid felt safer at UChicago than at JH. The recent UChicago student who was killed while riding the L train, and Chicago’s high rate of gun violence, just can’t be ignored.
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Just finished a 2 week tour of colleges in Oregon and Northern CA with my S22. Schools that moved up in the list were Reed, Portland State(honors program), Willamette, Lewis & Clark, Humboldt State. Schools that moved down were Chico & Sac State(too hot), University of Portland(couldn’t see himself fitting in there), University of San Francisco(decided SF was too expensive of a city), U of Oregon(too big and football oriented). One big take away was that he realized he preferred LACs and smaller state schools over large state regional schools and flagships. Portland State is large, but the honors program is run more like a small LAC. The trip really helped to clarify what he wanted and has motivated him to start the application process.
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We visited Purdue and Wisconsin over the weekend. Purdue was solidified as S22’s top choice. He liked that the engineering buildings felt clustered together. He also liked that the buildings mostly matched and were attractive. Nice tower too. Wisconsin was quite good and it was fun to to eat on the lake and eat locally made ice cream. Didn’t like some of the buildings or streets running through campus. The stadium is like a pro stadium. Massive.
We also walked around U of Chicago on the way out of town. Gorgeous campus but remarked that it didn’t feel like people have fun there. I took the family a mile away from campus to get gas. I said you can’t experience UofC without also experiencing the surrounding neighborhood. UofC is way too much of a reach.
I’m glad he preferred Purdue since it’s $14K per year cheaper than Wisconsin.
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D22 and I have visited 8 schools over the summer so far - a few with official tours, the rest just walking around ourselves. For the most part, the changes below weren’t dramatic, just subtle feelings here and there.
MOVED UP
Brown (no official tour) - Already her favorite on paper and now her favorite campus also. She discovered that she really loves a defined campus area with “walls” but in a city with walkable amenities nearby. Talked with a few random students on campus who were very gracious with their time and answered lots of questions.
Harvard (no official tour) - She’s probably not going to apply, but I think she was surprised how much she liked the campus area; it fits her favored template of walled-campus-set-in-a-walkable-city-area.
Trinity (TX) (student-led tour) - A really nice and underrated campus covered with live oak trees and walking paths. Right in the middle of San Antonio, but not much within walking distance due to surrounding residential area, so that’s one downside. She wasn’t even going to apply, but I think it’s at least on the list now.
NO CHANGE
Rice (self-guided tour) - Everything was good and all boxes were checked, but it just didn’t seem to really ‘connect’ for whatever reason. It was a very hot day for a walking tour, but it’s Houston, that’s par for the course. Still a strong option.
Texas (no official tour) - She doesn’t love the enormous lecture-hall classes for Fr/Soph, but Austin is such a great city that it makes up for it. A great safety option with auto-admit.
MOVED DOWN
Boston College (full info session/tour) - As a parent, I thought it was awesome and was ready to sign up for classes myself. D22 was more lukewarm - didn’t love the Newton campus being so far away, prefers red-brick to gothic (who knew?), not enough walkable shops/cafes/“city stuff” nearby (you pretty much have to walk around the reservoir). On the list for sure, but down a bit.
Yale (no official tour) - Fantastic campus, but nearby area felt unsafe. Obviously a high reach for all, so probably won’t matter anyway.
Amherst (no official tour) - The biggest loser. She knew right away that a rural LAC was not for her - just too small and too remote, felt uncomfortable there. This was very helpful to know, as it removed a number of schools from the list entirely.
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We went on a two-week marathon tour of NE schools in July, which helped my two California kids imagine themselves on a different coast. For my daughter, who wants a small LAC with lots of great outdoor activities and a strong environmental science department:
MOVED UP
Bowdoin (official tour) - Turns out Maine feels a lot like Northern California, tree-wise. (At least in the summer 
)The campus felt just right to my daughter and she loved how the admissions director talked about kindness and character being critical to any successful applicant. It set a great tone. And the Outings Club attracts a quarter of the students! We almost skipped driving to Maine because my daughter couldn’t imagine it, but now Bowdoin is her big reach school.
American (official tour) - Obviously not a LAC and not so great on the outdoor activities, but my daughter loved the campus vibe and the new science center. We also learned that women make up at least 50% of the faculty in the bio, chem, and physics departments, which my daughter though was a great sign. She loved that American is an arboretum and the flowers were spectacular. She wasn’t going to apply, but now it’s a favorite. (It helps that they have a robust number of club teams.)
NO CHANGE
Dickinson (official tour) - the favorite going into the trip. My daughter had done a lot of research about Dickinson and attended one or two online admissions events. She wanted to adore the place. And instead, she liked it just fine. She was underwhelmed by the science center and was surprised by the big road that split the campus. But Dickinson has a great student-run farm and a healthy emphasis on global engagement (which my daughter also likes). So it’s still in the running.
MOVED DOWN
Wheaton (official tour) - The college was fine, even good. But the town was not really a town. There’s nothing there. And our tour guide admitted that “going off campus” meant driving or public transportation into Providence or Boston or maybe Foxboro.
Mt. Holyoke (official tour) - The campus was amazing and the opportunities for women in science seemed endless! The mountains beckoned in the near distance. Sports could be played. However, after Mt. Holyoke, we drove to Amherst for our next tour, and the ride was just long enough to convince my daughter that the official line about “meeting men at other colleges” was unlikely. How often would she really be taking classes or going to parties at other schools when Amherst was a good 15-20 minutes by car? She’s not going to apply.
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S22, D24, wife and I toured Texas A&M last week. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and they ain’t kidding. Weather was awesome. Days in the 80’s in Texas in August are to be spent outdoors. We had a two hour walking tour. Now…it should be said that we clocked our day walking six miles around A&M, but during the “official” tour, we did not see the Presidential Library, engineering department, business school, nursing school, or a dorm (all that came later). That tells you a bit about HOW massive this campus is. They are expecting 70,000 undergraduates and graduate students this academic year. WOW. The campus is beautiful (okay…not Iowa State beautiful, but I do like live oaks with Spanish moss). It has a bike ride share (S22 and D24 made use of this both nights we were in College Station riding around on campus). We did the engineering tour at Zachry (you should watch the tour on Youtube). Okay…a 60,000 sq.ft. maker space is unreal. This building, one of SIX in the engineering area, just oozes money. Kyle Field is huge. The Memorial Student Union is quite nice (I loved the Flag Room). The dorms…eh…they are dorms. We stayed at the University’s hotel. Of course, they were putting on a short-class for the east Texas ranchers (henceforth known in our family as “BeefCon”). So, the scores of people walking around in ten-gallon hats, massive belt buckles, and boots lent a distinctive flair (I learned all I wanted to about steel ranch fencing from one vendor!). It is now S22’s favorite…there is that minor issue of the price tag. So, here’s hoping he makes NMF. His application was submitted last night.
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Really nice, interesting post. Even more interesting because we are looking for someone to install a similar type fence.
I think that I would love Texas A&M based on your description. I have relatives who attended but transferred for family reasons prior to finishing. They all loved their time at A&M.
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Has she considered Whitman College? Sounds like it might suit her as a match or safety - small LAC that’s big on Environmental Sci and has a very active Outdoor Club.
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