Lol so true, just read your reviews of UWIsconsin and CU Boulder - it’s like we visited completely different places lol. Well, as my mother says, that’s why they make chocolate AND vanilla. Edited to add, even funnier it seems one of your kids may be ED at Northwestern where my kid will be ED, so with luck they will be classmates despite otherwise reacting in opposite ways to the other schools they visited!
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Hobart UP— Pleasantly surprised. We didn’t expect to like such a small and rural campus. Coffee shop is walkable. Lakeside location is nice. Study abroad was appealing. Variety of living situations, including a former house that now houses undergrads. Townhouses available for upperclassmen.
Cornell DOWN—Students seemed sad, depressed. We didn’t see anyone laughing. Bathrooms in student union were old and gross. Got the feeling Cornell doesn’t have to try hard so they don’t. Art museum on campus looked promising.
Syracuse UP—Cheerful. Lots of spirit. Took online tour and then returned later for orange preview day. I eavesdropped on students and liked what I heard. Programs looked good as did entertainment on campus. I do worry about safety and drinking.
SUNY Binghamton DOWN — Brutalist architecture. Campus is really in Vestal, NY. Not walkable. Dorms are uphill and far from class buildings. Bus ride to town is 15 min.
Makers in maker spaces seemed happy. Parking is a problem.
Colgate DOWN—Too rural. Tiny campus. Town is not walkable from campus, which is on a steep hill. Seems like you’d be trapped in a tiny area. But good sandwich shop and coffee place in the very small town.
AU—NEUTRAL—Didn’t seem to have a lot of spirit. Seems best for policy or politics students.
UNC Chapel Hill — UP—Took unofficial tour. Liked the vibe of the place.
Skidmore—DOWN—Felt like a boarding high school. Indeed, student guide said she went to tiny school and wouldn’t know what to do in a big school. The world is big so kiddo felt like they want a more real-world experience.
U Florida Stayed DOWN—Too hot. Too south. Too under construction. Dorms look old. New student apartments look like student apartments on other campuses but with palm trees. Too samey same.
F and M—NEUTRAL—Took unofficial tour. VERY small. But nice how it’s inside Lancaster, which is sort of walkable in some parts. Would need to learn more to see if it’s worth applying to.
U Michigan—UP—Student liked it. But I think there is a serial killer in action now? Lots of spirit. Residential situation looks good. Some program classes require a bus ride. Parts of campus are pretty—law school area. Ann Arbor is cool.
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We did two South Bay Area, CA schools. I have a D25 and she is a 3.85 GPA kid. Both tours were done during summer, so the college crowd on campus was absent.
San Jose State University - UP. The campus is really compact, but didn’t feel small to my kid. There is a mix of Spanish style buildings with ugly 60s and 70s buildings, and some new contemporary glass buildings (the library and student commons). The student commons has a bowling alley and billiard room, boba tea, and like a half dozen food court options. There are lots of little quads with grass and benches. The university is in downtown San Jose and steps to tons of restaurants and transit (light rail and buses). The dorms, gym, and pools are beautiful. The only downside is that only 3% of kids live on campus, so I think it is probably a big commuter school. Lots of diverse folks just walking around campus, so that would be a big change for my suburban White kid, and I think she would thrive. While we’re pretty far away from picking a specific major, SJSU has enough majors and languages that she could find something she loves. I like the internship opportunities–when you can see Zoom, Adobe, and Google from campus, you can’t beat that. You can’t beat the in-state price, either. Her favorite school so far.
Santa Clara University - DOWN/OFF. The campus is beautiful. Tons of lawns and beautiful gardens surround each building. We’re not religious, so the religious symbolism stood out amongst an otherwise empty campus. Every building is Spanish style or contemporary and beautiful. Most of the dorms looked new and we saw that SCU now requires to live on campus for 2 years, which I like. There are some food choices across the street from the dorm but not nearly as exciting as the downtown area of San Jose State, which is just a few miles down the road. Not as many majors that I think would work for my kid. There were a handful of kids walking about (all male, as a coincidence). They looked upper middle class and this felt like that. I don’t think my kid will apply here because there’s really nothing to draw her there. I know a handful of grads from SCU though and they’ve done well. Beautiful, well-to-do school, very safe area, just not for my kid.
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We’ve done the last of our college tours this month with D23. She’s all over the place so a lot of variety.
BAYLOR - UP. Daughter loved it. She loves the sports scene and Texas (we’re from the PNW) and the pretty campus. School spirit is really important to her but she doesn’t want to go to a gigantic school so Baylor was a good in-between. The tour guide was good but it was crowded and really hot. I didn’t love that the students live on campus only for one year and then it seems like they’re spread out all over Waco. I’m also not sure that it isn’t bigger than D23 really wants. Waco has improved since I was last there but it’s still Waco. We are Catholic but not particularly religious but D23 has seemed to be attracted to religious schools.
TRINITY UNIVERSITY - UP. Trinity is a reach for D23 (Baylor might be too given their falling admissions rate) so of course, we both loved it. We loved the size and the liberal arts, but not entirely, feel. It is a beautiful campus and they obviously have lots of money. D23 liked the study abroad and internship opportunities and San Antonio is a great city. Trinity is in a nice part of the city and just felt like a lovely place. My only concern is that academically it might be a little challenging for D.
SOUTHWESTERN - SAME. We went on a tour straight from Trinity so it felt a little shabbier in comparison but Southwestern is a really nice school. D23 thought it was a little small and because it was summer, it was empty. I think it might be a good option for her though if she wants to go to Texas and she does want to apply and visit when school is in session. Georgetown is an adorable town with cute restaurants and shops that are walkable from the school.
BUTLER - WAY UP. On to our midwestern tour. We almost skipped Butler and I’m so glad we didn’t, what a lovely school. D23 loved the social feel and the size (around 5000), and their communications and art programs are a great fit for her. The school is in a suburban feeling part of Indianapolis and is beautiful. If I had to guess I think Butler and Baylor are her two favorites.
DEPAUW - DOWN. I wasn’t hot on Depauw to begin with due to their FIRE ranking but we had a family friend that attended years ago and loved it so I figured we’d go check it out. D23 and I both thought it felt too fratty and isolated. Add that into the FIRE ranking and she wasn’t interested. It is a beautiful campus but surrounded by a tiny town in the middle of cornfields.
DRAKE - DOWN. D23 is interested in advertising and public relations and Drake has a fabulous program, D23 just didn’t like the vibe. There were tons of safety measures that made her feel unsafe and Des Moines just didn’t cut it. The campus was also a little shabby compared to the other schools we’d seen. I think it’s a fine school, just not for D23.
So that’s it. We have seen 16 schools since March and D23 has narrowed her list to 9 plus WSU where’s she’s auto-admit. And I need a college tour break for the next 24mths until I have to do this again with S25!
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My niece went to Southwestern and my nephew attended Butler. Both were excellent schools for them. 
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Interesting, as VT seems much less spread out than NCSU to me?
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My nephew is a rising junior at Butler and LOVES it! He couldn’t wait to get out of our affluent DC suburb.
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Yah! It was probably more she liked the Raleigh area. Kids are weird. Haha!
The only two that went down were:
University of Virginia: Went way down after visit. We drove there from Washington D.C. and it took too long to get there – she thought it was a short drive away. As soon as we arrived, she said it was a “no” because it wasn’t near enough to “civilization.” This is when it became clear that she needed to be beside a “real” city that had a separate identity apart from the school.
Georgetown University: Moved way down. This one shocked us, since it is right in the heart of D.C. and it’s beautiful. She felt the gates, the vibe, everything about it, was not down-to-earth enough for her. The tour guide also talked a lot about the competitive clubs and it made her feel like it was a more cut-throat environment. The separate application they require sealed the deal.
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My D22 felt the same way about Georgetown. Going in, she felt it was a top contender. I even paid the application fee in advance—that was how confident she was (rookie mistake).
We did a self-guided tour last summer (bc covid). She felt there was a facade—the front of the school, the big lawn, it was all beautiful. But then stuff behind that felt less special to her. She was surprised to find just one main dining hall on a campus that big. Then she discovered the Instagram account Georgetown.hotmess and it sealed the deal. She didn’t even apply.
(I know Georgetown is amazing and many kids love it but it was not for my daughter and definitely a moment where I learned that a visit can change everything!)
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SUNY EDITION
SUNY Albany: DOWN
City left a lot to be desired. A lot of homeless in and around campus. Campus itself is not bad, but somewhat dreary. Guide was a normal kid but didn’t seem excited about the school. Majors offered were impressive, but we didn’t get the sense the school really had a great reputation in any. Good school, but not great. 2 hour from NYC, which is a plus.
SUNY Oneonta: SAME
Nice rural location. Town is very cute and close, with some very interesting shops and restaurants. Guide was great- like the kid next door. Campus is nice, but somewhat hilly. Nestled near the mountains. They seem to have a niche in education and music which was great. It is FAR from NYC though, and not the easiest to get to. Good school. Middling, not in a bad way, reputation in tri-state region. Great place for a NY kid who is middle of their class.
SUNY New Paltz: UP
Great location not far from NYC- can day trip easily. Town is fantastic. The best of any SUNY I have seen yet. Kids are creative and hippy. Majors are broad and they seem reasonably reputable in all for a small school. Campus is really beautiful. Some dorms rival private schools, some remind you it is and has been a public school…a long time. This is a VERY liberal campus. It might not appeal to everyone. Fashion sense, musical preference, sexual preference and politics are all out and loud…and sometimes not in the smart way it might be at more academic schools. Some of the demonstrations of difference are done for shock value in an immature way. Seems like a good school to go in undecided and find oneself. This is not for a buttoned down preppy, or religious conservative.
Trend has been upward for a long time now- school benefits from proximity to NYC, surrounding town and a academic reputation which is on the rise. Really a SLAC within the SUNY system.
SUNY Cortland: DOWN
I wanted to love this one but didn’t. It is pretty remote. It feels like jock and greek life dominate. The kids seemed to be there for the party, or because they HAD to go to some college, so why not here. Campus is reasonably nice, but runs along a single road, with steep hills. Not easy to get from one end to the other. Town is a little bit scary. Really in the middle of nowhere. On the plus, best athletic center in SUNY hands down. Really incredible (built for the NY Jets). Athletics facilities look like D1. Very strong in education, PE in particular. Not our cup of tea though.
SUNY Binghamton: SAME/UP
We expected the best caliber of kids here and that is what they are. Smart, driven, capable of being successful at "more “prestigious” schools. These kids will all do well. But there was this feeling that some resented being there because they didn’t have the resources to go to higher ranked schools they got into. Not exactly a chip on the shoulder- more like bitterness. Campus is all around good- but not yet up to snuff to make this a flagship on the level of UVA, UNC. Probably has similar quality of kids, but campus will need big improvements to attract OOS like those ones do.
Town of Vestal sucks. Really. The campus is all they have up there.
It is not an easy jaunt to NYC, which makes it a bit isolating with no real surrounding town.
Special note to OOS: This school truly is a special value. The quality of education is on par with public Ivies, and this is no secret on the East coast. The graduates are sought after. For the value, this one ranks very highly with some well known flagships as their COA goes in the high 50’s and 60’s. I would consider this a very good alternative to UT, UCB, UCLA, UVA as their increases start to put them out of reach budget wise for many families.
SUNY Stony Brook: WAY DOWN
I will keep this one short. Overly competitive kids, with no sense of community who go home for the weekend. Great and highly ranked STEM school. Go here if you simply want to be educated, but have no expectations for a college experience beyond that. Campus is dreary, remote and lifeless- really uninspiring. About 1.5hrs on RR to NYC but it looks like no one does that, but to go home for the weekend.
NOTABLE OMISSIONS: my be good add on to this posting for those looking at SUNY.
SUNY Buffalo- large university that is well regarded.
SUNY Geneseo
SUNY Plattsburgh
SUNY overall has some plusses and minuses. For NYers, you can find any type of school and it will be relatively affordable- all in at 30,000. For out of state students, add 10,000 which still makes them a good deal. Really good. On the minus side, they are in NY and most are not in the part of NY an OOS wants to be (read 4-5 hours from NYC), so there is that.
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I knew I shouldn’t, but I looked at the hotmess account anyway. OMG. 
I am sure it’s like that to some degree everywhere though.
We only visited about half of the colleges she applied to, but after those visits, she knew what to look for in a school.
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ASU main campus in Tempe: DOWN
This was our 1st ever college tour. Went to a half-day admissions/recruiting event this morning.
POSITIVES:
The event was very well organized. Lots of other prospective students & families there. Got a lot of useful info. Barrett honors college was a plus. Presenter said that this past admissions cycle, 75% of the honors college students were accepted in the EA round (deadline of 11/1). Lots of perks to honors college…their dorms are nice. Plus dining hall which only honors students can use. Extra $1000/semester for honors college fees. Graduating with honors requires a cumulative 3.25 college GPA (+ certain # of honors units taken at ASU).
ADDITIONAL POSITIVES:
- Went to an academic info session for students interested in pre-health stuff. D24 interested in their Medical Sciences BS degree.
- All 4 campuses have dorms & honors college options.
- ASU has some study abroad programs which are only during the school breaks, so if you can’t afford a full semester abroad, one of the shorter options is available, too. Thought that was cool for anybody where maintaining costs is a factor.
- free inter-campus shuttle that goes all day long between the 4 campuses.
NEGATIVES:
- it’s just too big. Tempe campus is truly enormous. Felt like 10 min just to walk from dorms to student union. It felt like over a mile from honors dorms to the garage where we parked on the other end of the ASU universe.
- regular campus tour guides all walked super fast. We now understand why. lots of ground to cover in a short amount of time. Tour guides didn’t walk & talk. We’d hoof it to a spot, tour guide talked for ~ 2 min, then fast walk to next spot. Regular campus tour doesn’t show you dorms, or dining commons. Nor does it go into any of the lecture hall buildings.
- at least a 15 min walk from honors dorms to student health center. Felt like it’s on the other side of the universe.
- we didn’t see very many places to actually sit down and relax, hang out, read a book. Didn’t see anywhere where you could sit on the grass under a tree with a couple of friends outside.
- confusing mix of bike/scooter/skateboard/pedestrian pathways & then you’d suddenly need to get off of your wheeled transportation and walk it. D24 found that very annoying. Reg. campus tour guide touted an app you can use which will tell you the bike route to take in order to go from 1 place on campus to another. She thought that if you needed an app for that, that’s a sign that the campus is too large.
- Medical Sciences major is really only at the downtown campus. D24 doesn’t want to live downtown, nor does she only want to only live in a dorm with people in her same ‘college’ (which, according to a couple of the presenters, is what they do at ASU when assigning on campus housing…if you’re a business major, you’re put in the same freshman dorm as all the other business majors…exception to this is the honors dorms).
- D24 not interested in the high odds of having to commute between downtown and Tempe campuses for classes. This and the sheer size of the Tempe campus were huge thumbs down for her.
- Everything felt just very spread out.
- During Barrett honors college presentation, the presenter touted how all of the honors classes are taught by ASU professors with PhD’s. Made me think, “Hm, how many of regular undergrad classes are taught by grad students? Why does having a class taught by a professor become something to brag about? Why wouldn’t this be the norm?” Clearly, I have some things to learn. Haha
It was a very informative morning. We also learned this morning that ASU’s Tempe campus in early July feels like Epcot-in-June level of hot. Haha!
Another positive from this campus tour:
D24 definitely more excited now about going to college. She thinks that U of A would be a better fit. Haven’t toured there yet…that’ll be next. Just on undergrad population alone, it’s about half the size of ASU.
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Additional College tours with my D23, Boston Edition. To restate from my prior post, her main criteria for schools is that it be a medium to large university, in or near a city. Boston had a lot to offer:
Northeastern - UP. She loved the campus, which is urban and in the heart of things but an actual contained campus, that is also pretty large for being right in Boston. The buildings were quite nice, and the school felt just like you’d expect - bustling and lively. This school knows what it’s all about, and is very good at marketing itself. The co-op model that they have is impressive, and every student that we heard from had really unique and substantive co-op experiences. Both she and I loved that she would graduate with at least two six month long co-ops, representing a year’s worth of professional experience. Plus, they sounded fun! Several of the students talked about how the co-ops tend to be a nice break from classes and school, and that all of the student bring their stories from their co-ops to class once their co-ops are done, which enriches the classroom experience.
BU- DOWN. This school suffered from being the same day as the Northeastern visit. But . . . my daughter didn’t love BU for many of the reasons that she didn’t love NYU. The campus is not self-contained. She wants to feel like she’s on-campus when she’s in college, and BU was a conglomeration of multiple buildings over many city streets. It didn’t feel like a campus. Also, the buildings and facilities seemed a bit more run-down. We were shown what the tour guide called one of the “nice” classrooms, but it didn’t seem that nice. It was in a very nice part of town - right on the Charles River. But, it wasn’t what my daughter is looking for.
Tufts- SAME. My daughter was expecting to like Tufts, and . . . she did. But, she didn’t love it. It was a small, but very pretty campus in Medford. The tour guide was great, and clearly very smart and motivated. But, it just didn’t “wow” my daughter. Plus, something I realized when I was talking about it with my husband. The school has a small liberal arts school “feel.” It’s in NESCAC. There are a plethora of acappella groups. A big intramural sport there is . . . quidditch. I could be writing those same sentences about Middlebury or Hamilton. I personally love SLACs, but it’s not what my daughter is looking for, so it just didn’t have that spark for her, as wonderful as it is. For some, going to a tier 1 research university that has a small LAC feel might be a huge plus, but it wasn’t the case for my daughter.
Boston College - UP. My daughter was wowed by the campus the moment we set foot on it. Huge gorgeous stone buildings that make you feel like you’re on the grounds of Hogwarts. Admissions office was super organized and the info session was really good - the admissions director spoke for a bit, then called up a panel of students to talk about their experiences and answer questions from the audience. On the tour, the buildings and facilities were state of the art. My daughter got fired up about about having a true college campus experience with big-time football and hockey programs, as well as the many other campus traditions. I thought she’d dislike the pretty demanding Core Curriculum, but she said that she wanted to try a bunch of different types of classes anyway, so it worked for her. At the end of the tour, the tour guide told us to check out the second floor of the library for a true “Hogwarts” experience. which we did and it lived up to the hype.
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Opinions about Georgetown seem all over the place. I remember visiting many years ago and liking it quite a bit, but maybe it hasn’t been physically maintained as well as it should be? Is that accurate for people who have visited recently? In many ways it seems like a great fit for my rising senior DD but I’m not sure if she will even apply after routinely hearing negative things.
Don’t want to high jack, my d just graduated from Georgetown and it is an amazing place to go to school. A wonderful and charming college town right next to one of the most exciting and culture-filled cities in the world. She and her friends got an amazing education and got launched into great careers, med schools, law schools, etc. it is also the perfect size where although not huge, you don’t know everyone and are always meeting new people. Amazing lecturers. It is true that dorms aren’t great… Many kids move off campus for senior year into Georgetown houses nearby. Visit for yourself (as always). Dorms for selective schools are rarely comparable to the Ritz… or to their bedrooms at home.
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Thanks for the comment, that was all helpful information. Unfortunately, we are not able to travel this summer/fall so my daughter is stuck with her dad’s memory circa 1990, virtual resources and other peoples’ opinions 
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I don’t know. Georgetown just wasn’t the right fit for my D22. I do think any school charging 75-80k full pay should have solid dorms, food and amenities, so it did turn her off that Georgetown seems to have let some of that lapse. But it certainly isn’t the only school in that situation. Glad @relaxmon posted a positive experience—I’m sure tons of kids are thrilled to be there.
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Back on topic:
We toured W&L: up, slightly!
It is a cute town! Lots to do and nicer than expected. The campus buildings are gorgeous, everything is very close and walkable. It is small but not as small as we thought it would be. There are dance studios and dance classes, so that was a win. The Engineering is not ABET certified but based on outcomes that isn’t overly concerning if one plans grad school, etc.
The large, prominent Greek Life houses were a surprise —it definitely gives the impression that greek life is highly central to social life there, which is potentially a negative.
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Vanderbilt - Up. Pretty campus. Liked that the freshman had their own part of the campus to live. Good tour guide. Liked “Maymester” concept. Nashville itself was OK, but arguably the campus was a little TOO in-the-city.
My D was applying to schools to study chemical engineering about 10 years ago. One of her primary criteria is that she wanted a program where she could coop. She attended the Vanderbilt engineering session and they very matter of factly said they did not support coops and wanted all of their students to graduate in 4 years. For her it was a deal breaker and we never even took the campus tour. If cooping is something this posters child might be interested in be aware that Vanderbilt may not be the place; if it’s not important no problem.
Purdue - Up. Cold (snow on ground upon arrival). D liked better than I did. Probably safety school for D, but she liked it - thought it was reasonably pretty. We cut short the 3 hour long tour(s)/info session by about 30 minutes as it was cold, we were underdressed, and it was the last stop on long tour.
Our D did not like UIUC and loved Purdue (it is where she eventually attended and graduated from. Yes she did a five term coop). It surprised me because on paper they should have been very similar. I would caution against considering Purdue a safety. Engineering and CS are very highly ranked at Purdue and have become more difficult to get accepted to in the last 10 years. It might be a strong match or target but don’t assume it to be a safety. Great school though. Best wishes in your child’s search.
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