There are a million bikes at UCSB. I had a flashback to being in China. It needs bike roundabouts.
Add’l replies …
@lkg4answers (comment #605)
UCSC’s lack of central meeting place… there is/was the quarry, which seems to need renovation, based on donor requests. And, of more import, in contrast to the older UC campuses, UCSC originally had Oxford as a model so was designed as a campus of residential colleges. Each college would have a theme & in essence be its own hub. (I’m an alum of various degrees from UCLA & UCSC, when there were ~6 colleges, DK how many there are now)
@choirsandstages (comment #613)
CMU’s Long Corridor: thank you OHMomof2. Also, after doing an internet search, there are clips of video that CMU produced that provide a virtual tour & explain the reason for the corridor’s design. Look for both Porter and Baker Halls on Youtube. The clips are very short.
… Unrelated to this comment… is there some place on the CC website that has directions for editing… like how to underline text, etc… thanks!
@manhattanboro some of the codes are restricted by CC but most of the formatting stuff isn’t: https://www.phpbb.com/community/faq.php?mode=bbcode
We will visit Santa Clara next month. One downside is that it is in the middle of the city and doesn’t have a great college town around it. That said, everyone we know that has gone there has loved it. I’m interested in what my kids will think.
@Dustyfeathers that’s very interesting about UCSC being designed not to have a central hub. It would be one thing if the colleges within UCSC had their own hub but we didn’t really see it. Again, I can see that it would be a great fit for the right kid but just not for mine.
For DD15 -
Moved Down:
Drew University - Student newspaper had grammatical errors and referred to “the town of Boston.”
Fordham - Pretty campus but too separate from surrounding area in terms of the disparity in economic circumstances. The grass is significantly greener on the inside of that fence.
Stevens Institute of Technology - Amazing view of the Manhattan skyline, but constant helicopter traffic directly above. Campus felt small and some (most) buildings were old. Nice people who love their school.
Seton Hall - The guide’s ego was so big there was no room for anyone else on the tour.
Ohio State University - School was too big and sporty (football). Guide tried to make up for being a wee bit hung-over with cringe-worthy enthusiasm. D didn’t buy it. The engineering facilities seemed top notch, but overall not a good fit.
Tulane University - Playful school & NOLA spirit. High % of sorority participation, which was a negative for D. Gross dorm & bathroom, engineering department was smaller than anticipated and facilities were just okay.
Moved Up:
Skidmore - Great mix of academics and the arts, comfortable on campus, Saratoga is a very nice college town.
U Rochester - great first visit. enjoyed the general and engineering tours, open curriculum, pretty campus, super nice students and faculty. Engineering facilities we saw were old, but other buildings looked new. And who doesn’t love a free t-shirt. Moved down a little after the second visit and overnight, but still a contender.
UCSB - Friendly people, strong engineering program, great weather. And did I mention the ocean view?
University of Southern California - Super professional and polished presentations, nice campus, lots of school spirit but not obnoxious, strong engineering, great weather.
Vassar - no engineering but strong in science and arts. Beautiful campus, sense of tradition and school spirit. Kids didn’t seem “cookie cutter.”
Stayed the Same:
Case Western Reserve - Excellent school just not quite the right fit. Visited in summer and winter, so saw both sides of the weather. Disjointed campus layout, but beautiful library and many unique academic buildings. On second visit D noticed students didn’t look super happy or engaged. Horrible freshmen dorms (saw a big dead cockroach, which I guess is better than a live one).
In a couple of weeks we hope to tour Union, Syracuse, Lehigh & Villanova with DS17. A visit to RPI last fall left a neutral impression. We toured on a gray & rainy day so perhaps we’ll go back this summer for a second look.
Wow, @jmek15 ! Tulane wouldn’t even let us tour the dorms 15 years ago. Word on the street was that they were old and gross. I guess they still haven’t updated them, huh?
@jmek15 - DD premed not engineering but we have a few schools in common - CWRU, Tulane, Skidmore and Syracuse. DD got into all 4 but decided on Lafayette College, down the road from Lehigh. Is DS17 also engineering? Check out Lafayette and Bucknell, both very similar to Union (but in nicer areas IMO) and very strong engineering.
Tulane has some new dorms - even a freshmen one I think…
@maryjay60, DD did an overnight with a student so she experienced it first-hand. But she also said that the students seemed really happy there despite the ick.
As part of a family embarking on this journey, thank you to all posters, they are enjoyable and informative, and keep them coming please.
Just so you know the value of your posts and their practical effect: I have doubled down on my vow to never ask a question! On the two tours we have been on, nearly every question could have been answered from the website, including the girl who asked if Yale had rolling admissions.
(better to keep your mouth closed and have everyone think you are an idiot, than to open it and remove all doubt)
^Or ask more subjective questions that can’t be answered via the website?? But I have no problem with what strangers might think of me. 
Yale after the resignations of Nick and Erika Christakis.
Gosh @OldFashioned1 did they gett into that on your kid’s tour or did you just want to throw that in even though it’s totally off topic?
@ OldFashioned1
My thoughts, exactly. Also, Dartmouth, after 1)incident in the library and 2) Dartmouth lost the designation of the research university.
@snicks1234 I see from another thread that you are back from touring colleges in DC. If you wouldn’t mind, would you share your thoughts on your visits?
@jmek15 When I started reading your post and read what you said about Fordham being pretty but out of sync with its neighborhood, I immediately thought of USC. But then I got to the end and saw that you actually went to USC, and you said USC went up on your list in part because of its pretty campus. How did your kid distinguish between the two?
From tours with several kids:
Up:
Miami University of Ohio: coming from NY, it looked more like an attractive, well-run private uni than a state school
Gettysburg: gorgeous campus, more academically intense kids than expected (on student panel)
Mount Holyoke: more vibrant campus than I remembered from my days in the Pioneer Valley when it seemed to be the sleepiest of the 5 college consortium
Down:
Northeastern: marketing rah rah combined with feeling like part of a tour group herd
Williams: great school but felt really isolated, most likely since we approached from Albany, arriving after what felt like hours on a two lane road twisting over a mountain in the middle of February
Columbia: didn’t go into a single building on the tour - tour guide showed no enthusiasm whatsoever for the school – seemed to want to get the tour over with as fast as possible. Stayed on the list however, as D formed a totally different impression than I did
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Going back to Fordham for a minute, I should note that we had set up a tour of the Chemistry Department in advance. Unfortunately, it slipped the mind of the professor (he was super busy co-chairing another department) but another prof happily stepped. He gave us a wonderful impromptu tour of the department and introduced us to faculty and students working in a couple of labs. D also sat in on a class. Everyone was incredibly nice, they clearly loved their work and we can’t thank them enough for all they did.
Also have to note that we learned over 120 freshman come in as chem majors (most probably pre-med), but that year’s graduating class of chem majors was less than 20.
My son only visited a handful of schools. Did a tour of Northwestern summer of his sophomore year. I would say it was too early for him to form much of an impression. It was also summer so there was less activity on campus. Its a beautiful campus and having Chicago next door provides a lot of great opportunities. Ultimately wasn’t a good fit for him though.
Cornell visit was bad. Person from admissions who talked about the school and the process was horrible. She stumbled her way through the presentation (didn’t seem like she had a very good command of the materials). Then she let one prospective student and her mother drag out the Q&A portion with what were clearly specific and individual questions. She should have cut them off after a question or two and asked them to talk with her after the presentation. But instead she let a large group of kids/families waste their time. Could have understood it a little more if it had been a student giving the presentation but it was an executive level admissions person. There was also an east coast vibe that wasn’t a draw for our Midwestern family.
Purdue visit (an admitted student visit) turned him off. I thought that is where he would likely go. But he didn’t like it. Engineering facilities were great but rest of campus seemed stuck in the 70s.
He really liked U of Minnesota. He couldn’t make an admitted student session so they essentially created one for him (and one other student). They met with a chem e professor and student for 90 minutes in a conference room (they provided a boxed lunch). Gave a great tour of the campus. They were very interested, were quick to follow up with call/email to questions, etc. Part of the reason for that I think is they are recruiting kids to come up to a frozen tundra (though the cold wasn’t an issue for my son).
Carnegie Mellon was a so-so visit. Didn’t really move the needle one way or the other.
Ultimately, I am not a big fan of college tours. I think they are largely a waste of time. To me, research schools online, talk with people who go there, etc. and apply to those that interest you (with the normal parameters of reach, match and safety). See where you get in and visit those you think you may like to attend. Even then I think its tough to get a really good sense of what it will be like to attend (particularly for most 18 year olds) with just a several hour (or even multiple day) visit. That being said, neither of my kids (nor my wife and I) are the type to fall in love with a place based on a visit. I know some people who are like that. If you or your kid are, YMMV.
jmek15 don’t know if you know but Vassar has a 3|2 engineering program with Dartmouth. First three years at Vassar then 2 years at Dartmouth end up with an engineering degree from Dartmouth. Son is in Vassar and exactly that, not cookie cutter a do your own thing kind of place.
Hey- U of Minnesota has a covered pedestrian bridge across the Mississippi. But, Wisconsin- Madison is nicer (not that I’m the least bit biased…).