@Randi_Hirsch When did you tour UW-Madison? My son went last weekend, and found it nice, but more urban than he expected. I wonder / assume it shows a different side in the spring. Was this your daughter’s experience?
CU Boulder is absolutely stunning.
Thank you for the suggestion! Finding a place to stay is my tomorrow project - I appreciate your note!!
If you need any suggestions in and around Boulder - lmk! I’m from the area and I suspect your D will love the area.
One of the pleasures of UW is the balance of urban, capitol life and the bucolic Lakeshore. There are two residential “sides” to campus, and the Lakeshore area is green, generally quieter, with running trails etc. Although it’s been quite a while since we did our campus visit, at least back then, the tour didn’t take us into the Lakeshore area, so it is easy to miss.
You’ll get to experience Colorado weather in all its glory. It’s supposed to be 60 on Friday, 44 on Sat, 34 on Sun. We just had 120 hours of below 32 degrees (most in the single digits) but it is going to be 55 today.
Dress in layers!
Last weekend. The sun was shining. It was freezing and there was a huge party on the lake. We did a self guided tour following the audio guide from the school. And then we kept exploring - looking at both sides of campus (green and city). It was freezing. But it was pretty amazing to see her face and overall body expressions. We are from Seattle with lots of water and I think that is part of what she loved. Plus the mix of campus and urban. She didn’t seem to mind the cold. But we’ve explained that cold sunny day is not the same as a cold snowstorm.
I have to add that the way she acting was also the same way she acted at CalPoly SLO in October. But now Wisconsin is all she talks about.
We want her at CalPoly slo for a few reasons. Smaller school / campus. Greek life isn’t as important. Upside down curriculum- so it’s seep dive into your major and you can figure out if this is what you really want to study. It’s less $$$. And way easier and faster to get there. Shorter Direct flights.
She seems 100% set on bigger school and sports now.
She still has to get into Wisconsin and CalPoly.
Ha. Yes. We’ve been watching the weather at her 4 top schools. CalPoly is obviously the nicest 
She is truly hoping she loves boulder. But I still want her at CalPoly.
Thanks. Our nephew went to boulder - he graduated 2 years ago and he loooved it. He got a great job in Denver so he’s going to be our tour guide.
Yes, I like that side too! We did our own extended tour of both sides. Thanks so much.
@Randi_Hirsch I’ll 2nd all your comments about Cal Poly SLO. Greek life is more like “background music,” you’re dropped into your major classes immediately, smaller school, fantastic weather, and relatively cheap for in-state residents.
As for sports, they’re D1 and they do get decent crowds to the events that I’ve attended, which has included the UC Davis football game, a beach v-ball tournament and most recently a women’s basketball game against UC Riverside.
But nope, not B1G sports.
Good luck with Wake. We are just back from a tour and agree. They knocked it out! Small school with great teachers and solid teacher/student relationships. Everyone we met appeared sincerely concerned with our kid and her path to success. Talked to some friends with kids there - they say it’s the same as a student. Wake Downtown was amazing - we walked through the labs and were warmly welcomed. New President and Dean of Students are doing big things.
How did you get a tour of Wake Downtown? Is it part of the regular campus tour? Signed up for that in April. It would be great to see Wake downtown too.
Of the top 10 attended regular season soccer games in NCAA history, Cal Poly has played in 5, all against UCSB. Some years their match ups are the most attended of the year.
My kid really disliked Wake. Felt it was behind a gate and the students were babied and pampered. Loved UNC from same visit. More real world and not trying be a certain way.
Interesting you say that. We have good friends who felt Wake was Disney- manufactured to be perfect and particular from the outside.
I almost felt that way, but it IS very pretty and the way the faculty legit seems to care has pushed our D to keeping it in her short list. But your kid’s thought process is not the first I’ve heard.
Btw, one thing that my D strangely didn’t love for Wake was a couple of girls telling her how important Greek life was for their social life. Not sure if it’s small sample size as to who she spoke with. She’s actually looking forward to doing Greek life, but would prefer a campus where it’s part of the social scene and not THE social scene (again, not sure if this is fully accurate for Wake).
We felt Wake/Vandy/UVA all had a bit similar vibes, with Vandy and UVA making our D swoon a bit on campus.
My daughter felt similarly about Wake (decided not to even apply) and chose UNC. While she loved UNC, she’ll be the first to tell you that there is no shortage of extreme wealth there either - but I guess because it is significantly larger than Wake and a state school, there’s a chance for a better mix of students.
When walking thru WF’s campus, my class of ‘21 son (a white boy from the Northeast, now a freshman @ Pitt) turned to us and said “everyone here looks exactly like me”. And, from there, we couldn’t not see it. We split immediately.
Please continue any discussion about WF on that college’s thread or in PMs.
Let’s get back to the topic of the thread now.
Johns Hopkins with D23(chemistry/maybe Engineering interests as of now, and has to have ability to continue her arts EC):
Moved up! It is a very pretty campus with lots of red brick and large green quad spaces, and does not have the overly-urban feel DH and I heard it did. The 2 yrs guaranteed housing and not 3 or 4 is a mild negative. The two tour guides were down to earth and really balanced each other: one was Classics/Humanities and the other was STEM/premed. They were both involved in many activities on campus and one did research at the med center(quick JHU bus-ride away). My impression of JHU was always Engineering/premed predominance, but it definitely has lots of arts on campus, a rare book room, and many other non-STEM features, which is a huge plus for us! D23 wants a school with a fairly self-contained “campus” feel, near or in a city, so it is a match in that way. We did not have time to explore Baltimore on this trip, but DH and I have been there multiple times for conferences and we can always re-visit with D if it ends up being more toward top of the list.
We are “rounding out” the list toward less-reachy/more matches in the next few months as she already has 5 reaches she loves, which are all in/near cities. JHU seems to fit the bill on most accounts, though it didn’t jump into the top 5. It definitely would provide better weather than some of the northeast options, but I am not sure if that matters to her.
WashU and Wake are next on the list, maybe UChicago and Northwestern: we have seen Wake with D21 who loved it so it will be very interesting to see how our STEM kid views it.
I guess I don’t understand the purpose of this topic then if discussing schools crossed off lists is not germane to the topic listed as schools your student crossed off their list…. It kind of feels like you’re trying to stifle conversations about the topic…. If you don’t agree with the feedback given perhaps you should just Provide an alternative viewpoint rather than telling people to stop talking about a particular school…my two cents