Well, the vast majority of rural eastern and western Washington and Oregon are predominantly white. Pullman Washington and Corvallis OR are no less white than Eugene.
Oregon gets a bad rep for its spending on sports facilities; but the truth is, they have built and spent a ton on academic facilities. The new Knight science center cost over $1 billion to build. We’ve been through UofO for other reasons (not on tour) and were pleasantly surprised.
I could write a book about this, but our situation is complicated in that I had 3, two of which were recruited and one of which wasn’t and wanted to stay in the west. Both kids who were recruited did officials so saw dorms, experienced eating facilities and spent time with kids on the team.
I’ll limit commentary on “why” because it’s a little fuzzy now and frankly as you read through the thread you are reminded at how subjective this can be:
Went Up
Brown - College Hill made a great impression on the whole family. The campus is very nice, but at Brown it’s more about how it all comes together - the surrounding area full of beautiful and historic houses, churches, and other buildings. Downtown Providence is also nearby, which we also score as pretty nice.
Skidmore - Saratoga Springs is a huge selling point. It was the best campus food facility we’ve experienced as well. The coach was a little weird and we got the sense of a athlete/NARP divide. The campus architecture is newer and underwhelming with a few exceptions, but the grounds and surrounding area are beautiful. Overall we liked this school more than we expected. Edited to add that upperclassmen on-campus apartments were very nice.
Wesleyan - Despite the mixed reviews that the art center will inevitably draw, Wesleyan’s campus is full of beautiful and historic architecture. The layout feels somewhat random, but all in all we were favorably impressed and enjoyed Main Street a lot. Good fit for our kid.
Boston College - I, in particular, loved this place. The school and surrounding neighborhood/area are stunning and picturesque.
Dartmouth - Also a fantastic campus and nice location. A little out there but Dartmouth felt busy so that helped. The most rural campus that Ds liked and would consider.
Bryn Mawr - stunningly beautiful campus and everyone loved the Main Line area. The only problem here was that BM athletics is decidedly not competitive (unlike Wellesley). We were firm with the kids to make that the least important item, but at some point if you are a competitive athlete the prospects of having the tar beaten out of you by Swat, Haverford, Johns Hopkins and everybody else in your conference is just not very attractive. D liked it so much that she almost overlooked it, but alas she had other options that didn’t involve this compromise.
Went down
Berkeley - seemed like a complicated place to live for 4 years. Parking is impossible, and even housing is a challenge, which the school is up front about. Overall, I’d say our expectations were probably a little inflated and that contributed to a little disappointment.
Colgate - lovely campus and cute, albeit very tiny, town. Too isolated.
Cornell - downtown Ithaca is cute, but overall we just didn’t walk away with a great feel for Cornell. It was an overcast day when we were there, which probably contributed to our collective sense of malaise.
Wellesley - this one was a surprise as I thought D1 would have really been a good fit there. She wanted to be picked up right after her official and wasn’t interested in the offer to extend the visit. It’s a little sleepy and because of the campus layout, which is beautiful, makes you feel more like you’re in a suburban city park than on a busy college campus. Just didn’t get the feels there I guess.
Whitman - we kind of knew this going in, but if anyone ever tells you that Whitman isn’t remote and isolated you should assume they’re on the payroll. The town of Walla Walla is nice, but getting to Whitman is a chore. The campus is nice and all 3 kids would have been good fits. Location killed this one.
If you are touring UNC-CH, try to stay at the Carolina Inn right across the street from campus, fantastic.
So if you can’t beat 'em, why not join 'em?
Our Haverford grad spent a great deal of time at BMC. I believe she ended up with 6 or 7 classes at BM (and 4 at Swat), and intentionally scheduled around meals at BM. The Haverford sports are, as you point out, a bit better.
Haverford might be an option to spend a lot of time at Bryn Mawr, 4 years on the Main Line, and play on a team that has a shot at winning at least half their games?
BTW - I assume you were told/read that the “Blue Bus” runs between BM and Haverford a few times and hour. The registration system for classes is the same. They are very connected.
You make a great point. I often say that this particular consortium felt more truly connected and “real” than some others. The 5 college consortium, in contrast, felt more spread out and less connected. The time we spent around BM demonstrated this point in several respects. For example, my D went to Haverford for a party with her overnight hosts. It was clear that the kids on both campuses know each other. We also saw men on campus every day we were there, much more so than we or D saw at Smith or Wellesley. You could really see the connectedness, especially as between BM and Haverford.
As it relates to Haverford, we just never got on the same page with their coach. D3 recruiting is a funny business. At the end of the day, the Haverford coach never saw her play so that was just a recruiting situation that never developed.
I couldn’t agree more. If Whitman was in a more convenient location, it would have a much skimpier acceptance rate! I think it makes Whitman a great opportunity for a student who wants a top school but might have trouble getting into a more competitive one.
Curious, was there a reason why Swarthmore wasn’t on the list?
So close to the other schools…
Wesleyan - Despite the mixed reviews that the art center will inevitably draw, Wesleyan’s campus is full of beautiful and historic architecture.
Yeah, and we know in hindsight what trying to “modernize” colonial and classical architecture in the 1970s and 80s often looked like:
Eleven acres of that would have gotten old very quickly.
Is the top picture from the same school as the bottom two? The roofs of the bottom two give them a cheaper feel. Top picture has minimal, sturdy landscaping.
Is the top picture from the same school as the bottom two? The roofs of the bottom two give them a cheaper feel. Top picture has minimal, sturdy landscaping.
Not the same colleges at all:
Top picture: Edward Waters College, Jacksonville, FL
Middle picture: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Bottom picture: Amherst College, Amherst, MA
Combination of reasons really … the main one being the same coaching issue I described with Haverford. For whatever reason, the BM coach made her way out to the west coast ID tournaments and the others tended to go to the big showcase in Virginia. In other years I’ve seen both schools (Hav and Swat) travel west but when it mattered for us they weren’t there (if memory serves). That relegates you to their school ID camps, which is them watching you play in scrimmages and drills. My kid always showed her best work in real games and there are only so many individual school camps you can attend. So for her, pretty much all but a few of the schools that pursued her were physically present at one of the big western ID tournaments and watched her play.
The short answer is, neither H or S recruited her. But many others schools did, and you tend to go with those, rather than paddling upstream, if you intend to play a sport in college.
I should also add that BM being a women’s college was a draw for us.
Although to be fair @circuitrider, Wes’ newest dorms (Bennett) are not that dissimilar to what is in the Dartmouth image.
But your point is well taken. What is seen in isolated instances as a refreshing attempt to blend in with red brick and white trim would be incredibly boring if it covered the whole campus.
My Swat grad never spoke to the coach about playing until an on-campus visit a few weeks before applying. She didn’t think she was going to play a sport in college. Game tape…nope. NCAA registration…what’s that? That somewhat random encounter ended with her playing in all but 1 game with ~500 mins of action as a first-year. You never know.
If your daughter can compete at that level, and can get into Swat or Haverford (which is a taller order than BMC), then the coach would likely be very happy to support her application at any of those schools. They often struggle to fill out teams with sufficient-sized squads.
FWIW - BMC seems to have a bit more money for some things than the other schools. When you consider that BM has almost as many students as Haverford, but no men’s teams, the athletic budget probably goes a bit further.
Forgot one, which was arguably the clearest “no way” based almost exclusively on the visit: Brandeis. It was an ideal athletic situation, the school is great, but the campus is, I hate to say, very unattractive and Waltham isn’t exactly the most shinny part of Boston. It was pretty much “not going to happen” from the get-go.
The fires won’t be an issue for Whitman.
Bryn Mawr up! This is a very good thing because my kid just moved in, having not visited previously due to COVID. We got the impression that the school is extremely well organized, the campus is stunning, and the young women there seem kind, capable, and interesting. The food is surprisingly good. While the consortium is still a bit scaled back due to COVID, the Haverford-BMC integration has remained strong and viable. It seems like a great place to live and learn for four years.
Great to hear because we had the world’s worst virtual info session & tour a couple weeks ago (actually there was no tour as the admissions woman abruptly cut the session off after about 20 minutes - and no, it wasn’t a mistake because she said goodbye). It wasn’t high on my daughter’s list anyway, and now is off completely, but in a non-COVID world we definitely would have visited in person & she might have come around. It looks gorgeous & she would have liked being so close to Philly - but oh well. Hope your daughter has a wonderful four years!
That’s too bad. My kid also had to rely on a virtual tour/info session that involved both an admissions officer and a few students. It was based on that experience that she looked into BMC further. I remember when we visited colleges with my older kid that a bad tour guide or a flat admissions presentation could have a huge negative effect on schools that otherwise had a lot going for them. Which is why this thread is still going strong after so many years. Good luck to your daughter! There are many great schools out there!
Pomona College is not one we heard about much in New England. It was surprising. Students were very nice and presented themselves as engaging, happy, and community-oriented.
My husband went to Clark. Def. a hidden gem school. He is still good friends with his college friends and they meet up in Boston every 5 years to catch up 
