Warren Wilson was a big hit with D22. It has moved up to the top of her list. It’s a small LAC nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC. Has a very homey, cozy, woodsy feel to it. Kinda like summer camp. It is a work college, and all students participate in work crews and help run the college. It also has a working farm, which the students run. Farming is probably not her thing, but it’s cool and they provide fresh food for the campus. We saw students giving out produce they had grown across from the cafeteria/student center. There is also a student-run vegan cafe. Beautiful campus and very friendly down to earth tour guides. We weren’t allowed inside due to Covid, but we could see lots of students outside and D22 could definitely see herself among them. It’s very casual, funky, outdoorsy, definitely not a school where students dress up to go to class, at least not dressed up in a preppy way — they might try out some funky fashion. No greek life which is a plus for her. It’s 15 minutes from Asheville which is super funky and cool. Thought the distance might be a problem if D22 doesn’t have a car the first year (likely), but she seems cool with what is offered on campus now and says she no longer needs to have a college drag right next to campus. (She was able to do a week long pre-college camp this summer and that helped her realize how much can be on a college campus.) One of the work crews provides transportation as part of its mission so she could get rides into Asheville with them too if she didn’t go with friends. She just really loved Warren-Wilson and said it was the first college she’s really excited about.
UNC-Asheville was pretty good too, but it’s a little bit more traditional college. It’s a bit bigger than tiny WWC with around 3700 students. The tour guide was good I thought, but the other families getting tours were an interesting bunch. We got on a tour with Business Dad and his daughter. He was on his phone making Business Calls while waiting for the tour and then said he would catch up to us once the tour started. Then once he caught up with us and walked with us for about 10-15 minutes he stopped and asked when it would be over because they had to be back at the car and on the road by 4:15. It was obvious that neither Business Dad nor his daughter were very engaged. Our tour guide changed the tour up to accommodate them and we went to the building for her major next. Then they left. Yay. The tour guide was great and we got a personalized tour after that. I ended up really liking UNC-A more than I thought I might. We were allowed in buildings (though not dorms). The cafeteria/student union building looked great. I think it had been added onto and refurbished fairly recent. Pretty modern looking (unlike the 1930s student built log cabin at Warren Wilson). There’s a fantastic view of Mt Pisgah from the library steps. Everyone seemed very friendly and there were some funky cool students hanging out on campus too. We saw a stack of three hammocks hung up on the quad. UNC-A is in a little bit more suburban location, but you could walk to stuff if you wanted to and there is a bus that comes through campus that will take you downtown. The students get free passes. D22 liked UNC-A too, but gave it a B+. It was definitely not up there with Warren Wilson for her.
Amherst - shot up, she really loved it. The info session was a snooze but she loved the tour and the tour guide (crazy how much that matters) who was a double major in a science and humanities which is something d may be interested in. She also got the vibe of friendly and engaged and enthusiastic students that worked hard but also enjoy themselves and have time to do various activities, social stuff etc which is what she is looking for. The two concerns of course are the insane difficulty of getting in and that most students were pretty conventional in presentation - my d is significantly edgier in appearance and doesn’t want to be viewed as “out there”.
Mount Holyoke - moved down significantly- perhaps this is unfair as we self toured which is very different from having a student guide and the campus is very beautiful and serene but for whatever reason the campus seemed very dead - we saw very few students around (on a beautiful Saturday afternoon) and the ones we saw (though dressed like my d - lol) seemed kind of glum and unfriendly. In any case between that and the fact that d is having second thoughts about applying to women’s colleges, MH is still on the list but barely hanging on.
Next step will be to visit some bigger research universities to see if she likes those better.
Well my for my d it is that ineffable “I can picture myself here” feeling and the rate combination of very strong sciences and research opportunities (particularly in astronomy) AND students not being intense work-all-the-time types.
If your daughter is looking at New England LACs and (1) wants to ensure her “edgier” appearance won’t make her a unicorn on campus and (2) is interested in astronomy, she really ought to give Wesleyan a look.
Re Mount Holyoke, it made the same general impression on my kids. It’s a pretty campus but South Hadley is dead. Couldn’t picture being there without a car.
We visited St Lawrence University a few weeks ago….really beautiful. Granted, we have not been there in winter. The access to outdoor activities is great. Small student body. Friendly atmosphere.
Yes - W & L has an athletics requirement, but you can take golf! They partner with the golf course down the road and it is nice! There are also opportunities for taking classes in dance, yoga, etc. Our tour guide told us she really enjoyed getting to know people via that requirement and it was fun.
Definitely will visit Tufts and report back. Bard has had serious financial issues and I don’t think either Bard or Vassar are strong enough in astronomy.
Just came back from a tour of the Midwest. We are from New England. He liked all of the schools we visited even though they are all very different.
Moved UP:
Xavier- campus was a bit “meh” but the students made up for it. We visited on XDay and everyone we met was so engaging. The most honest group of tour guides we’ve ever met and as my son said “they’re aren’t all the kids who are triple majoring and involved in 37 clubs”.
Also really liked the city of Cincinnati and all the things to do there. Also tons of on campus events.
Miami OH- thought this might be too big but we both loved it. Again, we had a great tour guide. Kids seemed like my son’s kind of people (sporty and casual). Keep reading this place is preppy but everyone we saw was in oversized sweats. Campus was really beautiful, everything seemed new or renovated, and it’s in a great college town.
Indiana U- Bloomington is a great town and the campus is stunning. Did not have a tour so tough to get a vibe. Going in we thought it was way too big but the beautiful campus won us over. Business school seems great, very pre-professional.
Stayed the same:
Univ of Dayton- thought going in that this would be his favorite but the campus was very quiet on a Thurs afternoon so it was hard to get a read. Students also seemed casual and sporty. Campus is really nice with lots of green space and off campus houses owned by the college are great. Doesn’t seem like kids utilize Dayton much at all but there was strip of restaurants/bars right off campus.
Butler- campus is pretty and frat/sorority houses rival those at bigger schools. Another great tour guide and students seemed very friendly. Lots of new buildings on campus and great freshman dorms. Food options did not seem great. Seemed slightly preppier than the other schools we looked at. Nothing walkable from campus and Indy doesn’t seem to have a ton for college kids to do but it would be good for internships.
Jesuit worker here. Glad to see X day was great. Will consider convincing my son to attend. He says he wants out of the midwest but hoping nice, non competitive vibe of xavier might sway him.
@MAmom111 love seeing the reviews of Xavier and Butler! Xavier remains the “what if” of S21’s search and decision process for me. I really wish we’d made it out for a visit.
And S18 is at Butler and loves it. Totally right about not a lot walkable from campus but depending on what your S is looking to do in Indy, there is quite a bit that’s not seen at first visit. BroadRipple (young, college focused neighborhood) and another I can’t remember the name of have great bars and restaurants and lots of museums in the area too when they want to spread their wings a bit.
Thanks for including these schools. Not a lot of info on them on CC.
Just looked at first 3 schools with my son:
UVA: Only did structured tour and thank goodness I have a larger view of the University (I’m on faculty) as our tour guide was shockingly negative though kept saying how it was his dream school. “Advising sucks, food sucks, College of A&S scheduling makes no sense.” He even threw in a few swear words which was disappointing.
Univ of Pittsburgh: From super helpful feedback on this forum, my son added this school to his list (which I thought was too reach heavy). He’s already heard back on admission into Computer Science. He doesn’t strike me as an urban kid but he really liked all that he heard and saw! A lot of good energy, great tour guide, and he liked all of the dining options. A faculty member saw us looking at a text in the bookstore and chatted him up about research opportunities, internships, tech in Pittsburgh, etc. It all felt very sincere. We didn’t go in any dorms but only negative (in his read) was the three huge tower looking dorms which felt massive to him (as a kid who doesn’t love heights).
Carnegie Mellon: This was probably his dream reach school and this has definitely moved down. Full disclosure, we had to do a self-guided walking tour, but he noted very few students sitting together, talking, laughing, etc. I’m not sure one person made eye contact with us and he thought students looked unhappy (and I wouldn’t consider him an overly perceptive child). We attempted to go into one building, masked, to simply use the restroom and were chased out…the restrooms in the one building that visitors could access was closed for cleaning. Yesterday (Fri.) in Pittsburgh it was probably 74 degrees, zero humidity yet very few students congregating in the many open air spaces. We’ll need to visit this one again if he’s admitted.
@momtofour12 I would write a short note to admissions about the negative tour guide. This is not how these tour guides are supposed to present the college.
I’m really surprised about your UVA tour guide. When we toured Elon I asked the guide what her favorite and least favorite things were about the school and she ignored the second part of the question which made me think tour guides are prohibited from saying anything negative.
As for Pitt, we live in NJ and know several families with great kids who go there and love it.
My daughter is totally averse to the Towers at Pitt also. Lots of other freshman dorm options though if that’s the only downside. We loved the blend of urban with park like areas a lot too.
Just got back from touring UMass Amherst with our son. Although it is in the “safety” bucket for him, he liked it much more than he thought he would (his words). School was clean, tour guides were excellent, food was great as advertised (we sampled) and we got a positive vibe from the students. We also walked through Amherst College (although he isn’t interested) which was beautiful but really, really, really quiet.
There are also opportunities for taking classes in dance, yoga, etc. Our tour guide told us she really enjoyed getting to know people via that requirement and it was fun.