You may have to up your game during breaks.
Haverford students use the dining hall at BM as a “night out”…Bryn-din. My daughters’ friends had a standing date each week. She ate there once or twice a week, and I would get the “food porn” pics with captions like “why the hell can’t we have food like this in the dining hall?”
I was a Bryn brunch regular: whitefish salad, scones, even the coffee was better!
Clark is on S22’s list! I visited with D19 and we both liked it and found it very friendly. I wish my son had come with us; so many schools on his list have only been seen from his computer screen and they start to run together.
Maybe it’s a little of girls being different from boys? My son was happy to tour in person, but trying to get him to explore online is harder. Or maybe he’s doing it in his room and I don’t know about it! 
Visited Dickinson today with DD23. Stayed on the list, but maybe moved down a little bit. The info session talking about the global commitment woven through the curriculum was great, but we were a little disappointed with the campus itself. The roads that run through campus were filled with trucks, so much so that we had trouble hearing the guide at times. As my DD said, it was the downside of city school (noise, lots of crosswalks) without the energy of the big city. Nevertheless the facilities were really nice and the education/environmental focus were right up our alley so it is staying on the list.
No Brutalist concrete building from the 70’s that we could see, which was a rarity. Arrived on College Avenue - is there a law mandating one of those? Does every school have a corner of College Street and University Avenue?
Ok back to regularly scheduled programming…
Took an impromptu tour of Delaware yesterday, and it stayed the same for D, who thinks it is not academic enough. I was very surprised at how lovely the campus was -definitely went up in my book, but I already went to college!
Depends. Back east, the college very likely grew up with the town or at least emerged as a major terminus when the streets were named.
It’s hubby and my alma mater and we loved it. D22 is luke warm. It’s interesting now to look from an adult perspective to weigh the things that mattered at 18 vs 45.
Isn’t that the truth! My opinions are colored by my own college experience. I went to a large public university in California and it wasn’t until I was in the smaller, upper level classes in my major that I felt truly engaged in my studies. The rest was just biding time between parties. I often wish I’d transferred to a small liberal arts college and had a richer academic experience. Eventually, I did learn how to hustle, worked a ton of internships, and got a job in my field right out of school, but I’m a little nostalgic for the path not taken. But, D22 is more taken with mid-to-large size schools near or in big cities.
Re: UVa tour, it was fantastic. Guide was a high-energy rising junior who loves the school and made a great impression. She told some great stories about her personal experiences at UVa (the Salsa Club is NOT about condiments) and was honest about downsides (food = not the greatest, academic advising isn’t super-helpful until you choose a major). It helped that she was a quirky liberal arts major from a faraway state, as D22 would also be a quirky liberal arts major from a faraway state. UVa was somewhere in the middle of the pack before, but the arrow is pointing up.
One note about the inconsistency of the admissions tours. The guides do not work for Admissions - they are members of the University Guide Service, which is a separate organization made up of student volunteers who give both historical tours to the public and admissions tours for prospective students. Each guide creates their own tour presentation, so the content may vary quite a bit. I know an alum who took an historical tour a few years ago and was disappointed to find that, while passionate and knowledgeable about the experiences of enslaved people on Grounds (a worthy topic), the guide seemed to have little knowledge of or interest in anything else. Luck of the draw.
Great visit to University of Washington. Campus is absolutely stunning and Seattle is fantastic. In terms of college experience this ticks all my D22’s boxes — urban, spirited, football, self-contained campus.
The nearby “Ave” with shops and cheap restaurants was lively but frankly grimy if not downright filthy in areas. ( Human waste in front of boarded up storefronts). Conversely, University Village nearby was full of great shops and restaurants, but likely not very affordable for many students.
Academically it is not as spot on as are several other colleges. For instance, no official study in Washington DC program, which is a must-do on her list. Allegedly she can arrange a DC internship on her own, but we haven’t further researched how viable that would be.
The school remains a contender, not sure how much upward movement.
Bonus points for not using the word “gritty”. 
Bonus points for not using the word “gritty"
No, this was about Seattle and not Philadelphia, and the Kraken’s mascot hasn’t been announced yet.
Sorry, I’ll go show myself out now.
I toured UVA with my son a few weeks ago. From your description, I thought maybe we had the same tour guide. We heard the same spiel about the salsa club not being a food club (but there is a waffle eating club). Our tour guide also talked about problems with academic advising (econ major but assigned to a drama professor). But our very enthusiastic tour guide was an African American male. 
My son liked the school, which surprised me because he had already ruled out UGA and Chapel Hill because they are too big.
However, we toured William and Mary the day after we toured UVA. Honestly, we just threw this one into the tour lineup as an after thought. We had a very entertaining and dynamic tour guide. My son absolutely fell in love with the school. Got a very nerdy intellectual vibe, but not at all pretentious. Also turns out he wants a bikeable campus. Who knew? Now considering applying ED over his previous top choice, Davidson.
Are you a VA resident?
No. We are in Georgia. His school sends a few to UVA every year.
This made me chuckle- My D22 is all about that nerdy intellectual vibe and LOVES biking. We are actually going to see WM & Mary mid September!
Would love to know your thoughts after you tour. William and Mary was the 9th of 10 we toured this summer. Kiddo really had no idea what he was looking for. So we basically set a limit of 8 hours from metro Atlanta, and toured a wide variety of schools. He quickly ruled out most of the big publics. He is definitely leaning more towards small to mid size LACs and doesn’t love a pre professional vibe. My only concern is that we haven’t toured when there are students on campus. But I guess we don’t have it as bad as the class of 21 kids.
Our S19 got into both Davidson and W&M and they were both on his narrowed down list after all decisions were in. If you end up having any questions, shoot me a DM. We looked seriously at both schools!
My D23 did a tour at University of Washington in early August and loved it, but I have to agree about the griminess of The Ave. I lived in the Seattle area for 25 years, have lived elsewhere for the last 18, but still visit family there regularly. Seattle in general has become really gross/unsanitary in the last decade because of the homeless issues, and I was really shocked this year by the level of graffiti. My last visit was in 2018 and the homelessness/sanitation/graffiti issues were already pretty bad but it looks like they have gotten worse (while the home prices continue to skyrocket). I’d still consider sending my kid to the UW, but it’s really sad to see how a lot of the city has deteriorated. It’s so odd to see huge, fancy towers being built downtown next to homeless encampments.