@Cascadiaparent great run down! it’s hard that the campus being deserted plays such a role as clearly covid/summer is not a realistic picture of the campus. A lot of the schools NOT doing tours were being considerate to people who live in area by not bringing in “tourists” but agree that it give a bad impression. Did your son apply ED/EA?
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Ha. We felt ALL of this, with exception of NW. But we visited in summer, there were boats on the water and people picnicking on the grass. So the Covid restrictions were not quite noticeable. With Duke, it was identical. Just people who seemed like they couldn’t care whether we applied or not. “We’re Duke, so whatever. Apply or not, we’ll still have great students.”
The thing with Wake is that they just love you. They show you they love you, they tell you they love you, and they explain why they will love you when you attend. Add GREAT academics, gorgrous campus, and students who simply feel and look like they are happy, and our D swooned. In her interview, the assistant dean was smiling and extracting interesting things from her answers. The only other school that she felt WANTED like that was Richmond.
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It really is interesting to think how much influence a tour guide has on students/parents thoughts on a school. We toured Uof Chicago back in October and came into it thinking that it was going to be “ultra-competitive”. However, our guide was so laidback friendly and spoke passionatley about her collaborations with her classmates and professors we left with an entirely different view!
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Chicago moved off my D’s list as well due to the competitive vibe. It wasn’t the tour guide or other Chicago students though, it was the other kids touring. Even in the info session she felt that people were trying really hard to impress and be seen. I thought the campus was beautiful and I wanted her to like it, but she just wasn’t feeling it.
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How I WISH my S had loved Wake when he toured. In my book, it ticked all of his boxes. Alas… 
So far we have had the EXACT experience you describe with URichmond. I’m ready for him to commit. Who doesn’t love to be loved?!? Such a refreshing change of pace!
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Our tour guide at U of CHI was horrendous. A motor mouth who wouldn’t stop talking about herself. We slipped away halfway through. My sons were horrified at the idea of having to share a campus with her, or someone like her.
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Our guide at University of Pitt during the summer was also a “motor mouth” but of the good variety. She was so refreshingly honest and funny that my S22 thought she was a blast. I could tell that some of the other parents on the tour weren’t impressed, but they seemed a bit wet blankety- 
.
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I don’t know how the food is on campus at Fordham, but Arthur Avenue is right there. Amazing Italian neighborhood markets/restaurants/deli’s, etc.
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Our tour guide at Pitt was also great. She provided a lot of useful information about the school’s academic programs and campus life. In fact, all the guides that we saw before stepping off seemed knowledgeable, upbeat and good ambassadors for the school.
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3 posts were split to a new thread: Pros and cons of BSC or BA and grad school
Then please don’t reply to it; it disappeared for a reason. And let’s all please get back to topic.
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Same. Our U of C tour was back in 2017 but our tour guide was not a match and we ditched out. We toured maybe 20 schools with S19 and this was the only one we ditched!
Also thought the info session was obnoxious with their focus on how low their acceptance rate was. Maybe some kids or parents love that but it turned us off.
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I’ll second @merc81 's comments, with which you ostensibly agree. I’d take another run at him on this because he’s leaving too many schools on the table for reasons that really don’t matter IMO.
A close family member attended Skidmore College and speaks highly of her experience in their Psych. department. They are placing kids directly into PhD programs right out of college (a tough achievement) and placing them in really choice pre-Phd relevant jobs in clinical settings. Because of your post, I called her. She noted that Skidmore’s research methods series, which is required for the BA, is a challenging statistics-based course known at the school for its rigor. And that is coming from a kid with very high SAT/ACT math scores.
Skidmore is nice because it is small and in (not adjacent or nearby, but “in”) one of America’s truly great large towns. I can’t say enough about Saratoga Springs. He should have a look. It’s selective, and getting more so all the time, but it’s not at the Hamilton, Boston College, Emory level of selectivity, though more selective than many of the schools on your list (e.g. St. Lawrence) … in between those levels is I think the Skidmore level. Might want to run that one by him.
Edit: apologies to the mods for adding to the BA/BS discussion. I missed that up stream.
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Pitt was the most significant positive surprise in the 15 plus schools we visited with our son. In thinking back, the tour guide, a senior, so genuinely loved his experience at Pitt it was infectious. I don’t believe in any of our tours; the guide alone changed whether he would apply or not but it was a factor.
What did have an impact was visiting when school was in session vs. out. One school that was on top of my sons’ list after a first visit dropped off when we back for a second visit over the summer. This is not new advice but schedule permitting definitely suggest going when kids are in class to get the best overall feel.
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Yeah, and did they go on and on about their athletics, and how they were original members of the Big 10, and winners of the first Heisman? I mean, you just had to look around and see that you weren’t talking to a bunch of wannabe jocks(except S!, and even he thought it was odd). Read the room, people!
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Just to second the positive feedback on Pitt….and add some @ CMU….
Both schools provided excellent communications with our student. Also, the schools were willing to connect our student with faculty about specific research programs. This is for undergraduate. Very impressed……and both moved up!
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We visited most schools during the pandemic when schools were not offering tours, so the visits mostly consisted of us walking around the campuses and getting the feel for the area.
Up:
Yale: D22 loved the campus, the architecture, and the vibe. Decided to apply.
Virginia Tech: For some misguided reason, we had low expectations and were pleasantly surprised by the architecture and the vibe.
CMU: This is a bit mixed. Having been to CMU many times before, I did not like the campus and had set Ds expectations accordingly. I still do not care for it however D liked it, so it went up.
Same:
UVA, Princeton: Already had high expectations and the visit confirmed the priors. So, stayed the same.
PSU, Pitt: Both were somewhat of a safety schools for D. Met the expectations.
Down:
UPenn, Rutgers: Did not like the campuses at all. Also, did not care for the surrounding areas. Felt a bit unsafe around Philly (for UPenn). Decided not to apply.
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