Colleges your child crossed off the list after visiting, schools that moved up on the list. Why?

[southernfemmom]

Just got back from first round of tours with S24 and overall we had great experiences and learned a lot!

Moved down/off list

Washington & Lee. To be fair, the students were on a break so it was not an ideal time to visit. Lexington seems like a cool town, but it is very hard to get to for us and the surrounding area was very rural and we saw a ton of Confederate flags. We stayed at a very cool hotel in Lexington, but it was a Sunday night and a lot of the highly recommended restaurants we closed, so we did not have a good meal which started things on a poor note for my foodie son. The information session at W&L was impressive but the personality of the presented kind of turned my son off. Our tour guide was not a student and we, unfortunately, did not get any live student perspectives. The tour was ok. We went inside some beautiful buildings, but the architecture/style was not my son’s favorite. Student housing options were appealing, but overall it seemed to small and too remote. Likely off the list.

Neutral:

Davidson. This was our first tour and the information session was very engaging and interactive, led by an admissions officer and a student. Very impressed with a lot of opportunities provided for students. It was drizzling during our tour, but we both thought it was a lovely campus though my son thought it was too small and he was not impressed with the library. Students all seemed happy and engaged. Strangely, my son thought the students seemed “too nice.” It did feel small to him, and didn’t have the energy he was hoping for.

Up:

University of Richmond. This is one I “made” him visit because he had zero interest and he actually was very impressed and said he thought he would be happy there, though he wishes it were a little bigger. The campus is absolutely gorgeous! Very well laid-out, beautiful buildings, very modern facilities, lovely lake, lots of blooming trees and green spaces. Wow! The information session was led by a senior and it was fantastic. He tied the materials in to meaningful experiences he and his friends had had and all the ways Richmond provided unique opportunities for him. Our tour guide was fabulous. The tour was a little scripted but she covered everything and her love for the school was obviously. Very friendly students all around, lots of kids hanging out, studying outside, etc. overall great vibe!

Wake Forest. My son loved it so much he joked about scrapping all other tours because he found the one he wanted to go to. Literally everything about it appealed to him. Just driving up to the school he got excited and the campus excited him with its multiple large green quads, layout, and lovely, consistent architecture, and general North Carolina beauty. The information session was great - hit the highlights, gave good information, and didn’t drag. Very good tour guide who had a lot of energy and love for the school. She talked about great academic and study about experiences, but also fun traditions and clubs and social opportunities. S24 is interested in Greek life and big football games, so that was appealing. We went into downtown Winston Salem and had a great meal at a cool restaurant across the street from the new Wake Downtown campus, which is VERY cool. We had lunch the next day in Reynolds’s Village adjacent to campus and that was also appealing. I think he is likely to apply ED

[Goldie52]

Almost exactly my son’s reaction to all last year! After the Wake tour he said we can stop looking, this is it. And now will be a demon deacon in August ;-).

[AHFD23x2]

ALFRED UNIVERSITY (not Alfred State) – Way up

A college that is not on the lists for the “typical” students found on CC. Point of reference, my kid looked at Alfred because it offers accredited non-typical engineering degrees.

The town of Alfred was just named, by the WaPo as the “Ultimate College Town” because such a large portion of the residents of Alfred are students either at Alfred U or Alfred State (across the street). There is a larger town about 15 minutes away that has a Walmart, Wegmans, and chain hotels. There is a (free) bus that the students can use to get there and back.

Alfred is particularly known for its ceramics and glass engineering programs as well as their ceramics and glass art programs.They have ABET accreditation in their glass, ceramic, materials science, mechanical, and renewable energy engineering programs. My son has been looking at schools for Environmental/Civil engineering with the hopes of going into renewable energy, so the fact that they are one of two schools in the US with an accredited renewable energy program peaked our interest.

We have now been there twice. Our first visit was for an official tour. Our tour guide was a senior in the engineering department and gave a great overview of the school. He included the things he loved about the school and the things he didn’t love. It was a well-rounded tour of a very pretty campus that is out in the middle of nowhere NY. 1600 students and has an honors program. The dorms were exactly what you would think of as dorms, but the engineering building had just been renovated and they had some excellent labs there.The campus felt very safe and the kids we saw all seemed happy. After our first visit, my son was definitely interested in applying.

We visited again this weekend for an accepted student visit for students who earned their highest academic merit scholarships. We were truly impressed. They separated the kids from the parents for almost the entire morning. The kids went and had two sample classes where they sat and had a first lecture sort of class with professors. My son thought it was fantastic. He found the two professors he had to be engaging, and knowledgeable and said that he would enjoy having them as professors. While the kids were in class, the adults were in the auditorium with two different panels. The first included the dean of each academic school within the University as well as two students in the honors program and the head of the honors program. They each spoke about the first year classes the kids would take and then generally about their respective departments and the department outcomes. The second panel focused more on student life. The heads of residential life, student life, student activities, sports, and the career development center spoke about their various duties and goals for the students. There was a Q&A session after each panel spoke. The information they provided was excellent and seemed honest and genuine. At the lunch, families were seated at tables according to the student’s major. The dean of the Engineering department came and sat at our table for a while and answered the questions the kids had. We asked why Alfred vs. other more well known schools – particularly with regards to renewable energy vs environmental engineering. Her answer was convincing and she gave evidence of the workplace placement of the students there. It was impressive. Perhaps their initial salary is not as high as MIT, but it was still a respectable number with students typically getting upwards of 6 job offers each. Also at lunch, three engineering students sat with us. Two were in the honors program and told us what it was like and how much they loved being in it. Each student was well spoken, genuine, and just seeming nice kids.

All in all, Alfred went way up in my son’s list. He said that it was the first school he’s been to where he was excited. This is definitely a hidden gem that not many people know about and really should be considered – especially if there is interest in niche engineering (or art) areas.

Note: They also have an AACSB accredited business school, too.

[bethy1]

Here is our list of schools visited!

University of Washington - Our state flagship, hubby and I are both alumni and raised our kids to be Huskies. Visually a stunning campus. Our daughter loves the aesthetics, buildings, trees, green spaces. It’s very cozy and almost mystical (due in part to the actual mist) and contained and feels separate from the city. It’s got an awe-inspiring vibe and it feels kind of magical to be there. Tour guides were very confident with giving tours (we’ve done two formal ones over the recent years.) There is a vibe of why wouldn’t you want to be here . . . It feels like a very intellectual and introspective student body. I feel the infamous “Seattle Freeze” does infiltrate the campus. But many students there are cool with that, lol! The large Greek System has a more fun loving yet still very intense feel - a more work very hard, play hard mentality.

On either side of the campus are two different worlds: The “Ave” which is sketchy and gritty feeling and has become more so in recent decades. And then the East side of Campus - down a steep hill is University Village which a super ritzy and welcoming outdoor shopping Mall. And then tons of super wealthy neighborhoods stretching out beyond that. DD applied and will likely go if she gets in. But there are no guarantees for getting in at all even with very high stats.

University of Puget Sound - Daughter’s back up in state and just in case she changes to wanting an LAC. Similar visual appeal as UW in terms of coziness and old growth trees and pretty buildings. Obviously much smaller. We went to an open house and they did a lovely job with the choir performing and faculty speaking. Our STEM daughter was impressed by the ode to the value of a true Liberal Arts education. We were surprised how many attendees were up from CA and learned that they have surprisingly few students from WA. The student body, including our tour guide seemed pretty reserved and chill. Friendly but reserved. We are a little unsure about Tacoma just because it’s historically “grittier” than Seattle but Seattle has gone down hill itself and Puget Sound is in a very lovely neighborhood not too far from the ocean water.

Daughter could see herself likely being happy there (due in part by being closer to home) but neither of us left feeling super excited either. More just grateful to have the option. To be fair she’s always been pretty set on attending a large University.

I’ll have to do the other schools at a later time!

[Nicoley73]

We just finished a visit to the PNW from Alabama. My daughter was accepted to both schools and is only looking at LACs.

University of Puget Sound - way up from a parent’s perspective. Excellent admissions department. We were able to schedule a class on the website and met with admissions, a graduate school faculty member and had lunch with a coach and team members. The admissions building was used as a home base and student volunteers escorted us to each appointment. Beautiful campus, students were friendly, admissions officer was extremely down to earth and direct about financial matters and enrollment. Good student tour - even got to see a dorm room. The needle was not moved for my daughter - who had already preferred the next college on our visit. But I was very impressed.

Lewis and Clark - lovely campus. Tour was underwhelming. We did not go inside most buildings and did not get a whole lot of information. Q&A after was decent but not individualized like at UPS. So we were unable to get answers about some financial questions we had. Meeting with grad school faculty and tour of that campus was excellent. Then lunch with coach and tour of athletic complex - which was completely skipped over in the regular tour. Nice facilities. Then a freshman seminar class which my daughter said was the best class overall in her college tours. Interesting teacher and good participation from students. She stayed overnight with an athlete and overall loved it. It has been #1 on her list since she applied. Personally I don’t feel like admissions did a great job with the tour etc.

L&c has had over enrollment the past few years and is building a new dorm to accommodate. But the campus/classrooms did not seem crowded although the class size might be slightly larger than some other LACs. DD is interested in the 4 + 1 MAT program which seems well run and highly supportive.

[LAP23]

We just visited Penn State last weekend. My daughter was admitted into their forensic science program. This was her safety school but we figured we’d go look. She LOVED it! It has definitely moved way up on her list. Still waiting on 6 more schools.

[Poochie21]

Just came back from a visit to Endicott College in Massachusetts. Way up! Beautiful campus, great internship program, interesting curriculum. Kids seemed nice and engaged. Seems like a gem!

[Pippinmama]

This was AFTER her visit? There aren’t cows on campus… Husband is alum and daughter is a senior there. Odd statement.

[sevmom]

@Pippinmama I’m sure there aren’t cows hanging out in the middle of campus, but Oregon State is a land grant university and they do have a Dairy Center. One of my kids went to another land grant university, Virginia Tech, and they had lots of cows!
Dairy Center | College of Agricultural Sciences

[Pippinmama]

I was just intrigued that it came after the visit, because you have to go a looooooong way to get to anything vet or ag on campus. I would never have known. They are a land, air, space grant college, so not a typical land grant only campus feel.

[HKDad1]

University of Houston - Same

We visited last month. Coincidentially the tour guide we follwoed was also an IB school graduate. She is now a junior there. S24 had a long chat with her after the tour and learned a lot from her about the school.
The school reminded me a lot of SFSU and SJSU (we youred both last year when we were tripping in California). Some of the buildings show their ages, but overall the campus was ok, its urban but not too dense like NY. While we were touring there were those small robots (like small carts) making delivery around the campus, which was cute.
The dorm we toured were 4 students per room. But the tour guide said the older dorm have better room choice. And if you can get into Honor College, even better.
Only thing we all thought kind of weird was the way they implement tests. Students have to go to designated buildings at specific times for their tests. If you gone to the wrong building by accident and miss your time, good luck.
Overall S24 still likes the school. Its very diverse and lively.

Trinity University - Same

School was nice. It is bigger than SouthWestern and has more students. S24 thought SW was a littel small, UoH is too big, Trinity is just right.
Campus has nice lay out. We saw a lot of students walking around. One thing we did noticed was that no one was smiling. Maybe the kids were all busy with works because we heard its academically the school is hard.
The dorm we toured was ok, kind of old and small. At least its two students per room!
The guide never took our group to check out the cafeteria, but some students we talked to said its like your basic high school cafeteria food… but worst!
I did like how its in SA, so has more things to do, and is close to River Walk.

[sevmom]

Many land grant colleges also have space and sea grant affiliations, including Virginia Tech. But, back to the topic. Just wanted to clear up the cow confusion!

[HKDad1]

Back to topic. Totally forgot about Southwestern.

Southwestern Univeristy - Down

Initially it was on S24’s second spot, after Georgetown. He has been to the campus multiple times throughout his sophomore and junior years due to MUN and other club activities. He used to like its quiet and pretty, small class size and how some of the professors were so accessible (he had talked to a few during MUN and track meet, even when he wasn’t a student there).
However, I guess after visiting other bigger schools, he came to realize SW is a little too small. Also with much smaller student population, he felt like it might become high school 2.0, as a few of his older school mates have gone there.
He likes the cafeteria food though. But did complained the dorm rooms are aged and need refreshing.
Also traffic could be bad at time along University Ave.

[sflawyermom]

Just got back from LA area tours with S24, here’s where the schools ended up. (Will write up our last-fall Boston-area tours in a bit.)

USC / Viterbi Engineering: WAY UP
(before touring he couldn’t see himself in LA as I’m from there and he’s visited a lot and hears a lot about growing up in LA)
S24 loved the very “college” and high energy vibe of USC, said it just sort of “buzzed” all the time. Loved how all the kids screamed “fight on” to the tour guides, just seemed like they were “all in it together.” Liked the sports focus, although he would be relegated to club soccer. Thought the campus buildings were really nice/beautiful and had a college feel about them. I’m from LA (went to UCLA), so he’s visited a lot over the years, but more recently he’s become interested in fashion, pop culture and liked visiting shops and thrift stores in the surrounding areas.

Loved the small and personal tour at Viterbi. (If your kid is a STEM kid, I’d highly recommend going on both the general tour and the 1 hour Viterbi tour, you can do both in same day, and grab lunch at USC village in between). Loved that they had so many engineering majors/minors to choose from and the fact that he could choose amongst them or go in undeclared. Liked having a smaller cohort within the ginormous USC environment. Enjoyed touring the maker-space, impressed with all the machines there, loved all the various projects the students are working on including the sports cars and airplanes. Everyone we encountered seemed chill and open. Seemed much more less competitive an environment compared to some of the other schools with engineering programs/colleges, not sure if that’s true, just seemed that way from the tour/info session. Now, here’s to hoping he’s NMF so he can get 1/2 tuition!

Occidental - Off
Not sure why I had this on the list, as S24 pointed out there isn’t an engineering major or any classes (so he’d have to be physics), but probably because I love the idea of a SLAC education and want to make sure he looks at SLACs. But, we both thought the campus was gorgeous and the small tour very personal, interesting and entertaining. Loved our tour guide who was a senior and so well spoken about the benefits of a SLAC education/community and shared so much about her Oxy experience, which made the school come alive on the tour. In the end, S24 is learning that he wants a larger school (probably more than at least 5,000 kids) and larger campus, more sports oriented vibe, maybe greek life, and definitely an engineering major (or at least some classes) option. I still think an LAC education is beneficial and would like him to continue looking at schools that have a focus on liberal arts and not just STEM-focused. I think D21 would have loved Oxy, but they wanted to go back east, so we never looked. I would recommend to anyone who is interested in SLACs to check it out. And they have a brand new pool (!) that is gorgeous and a center of student life It was raining during the tour, so the campus seemed much more deserted than if it was a sunny day. The academics seem on par with the east coast LACs (highest number of Fulbright scholars?) with the easy access to LA, Pasadena, beach, mountains. (Can you tell that if I went back in time and could go back to college that I’d like to go there? Oh and the fact that Obama spent his first 2 years there didn’t hurt either. )

Pomona College - Off
Again, I loved this school and wish I had had the chance to go there for college. Had toured with D21 who applied to Scripps instead, but didn’t recall the tour/info session of Pomona being as compelling. In the end, as above, decided it was a bit quiet on campus, wants more engineering options. Didn’t love the area, wants to be closer to the hub of a city. There was A LOT of focus on what things there were to do away from the campus, which seems a bit like “the lady doth protest too much.”

Harvey Mudd - UP
For me, the campus was really unattractive and dreary especially compared to Pomona and Scripps, but S24 wasn’t bothered by it. He seemed to look past the 50s-60s buildings and was just interested in the cool work that was going on in the labs. He loved how cutting edge the research going on there was and how all the students seemed really into it. We saw one student who looked so young, clearly a child-prodigy Dougie Howser type. We took a trip out to the dorms (which were cinder block, motel looking structures, which again to me looks really unappealing) which S24 thought looked like a fun community. While we went past one dorm, the kids started blasting some song with profane lyrics, which I guess is a sort of gag thing they do to razz the tour guides. S24 liked to hear about all the practical jokes and gags the kids pull. Seems like a very intellectual work-hard, play hard community. S24 thought it could be a fit due to the 5C community in which he could play club-sports and expand his community (and would be okay as a Mudder even though didn’t love the Claremont area and too far from LA).

CalTech - ?
Had to cancel the tour due to the atmospheric river in LA county that flooded the streets where we were staying. Will have to make it back on a tour later on in the process. Thankfully we had started so early that it won’t be a problem if S24 wants to see it later. Similar to MIT and Harvey Mudd, he is enamored by the science focused communities and all the great work that comes out of these institutions, concerned how he’d fare if he got in (of course a giant if), and mom is more interested in a broader school that allows for more of an LAC education.

Next up . . . PA area schools and JHU at the end of March.

[coastal2024]

Just back from visiting U Miami. S24 LOVED it. The only “negative” was that the football stadium is 35 minutes away from campus and you take a bus there for game days. But the busses are free and apparently fun and they play in the same stadium as the Miami Dolphins which he thinks is pretty cool. He also likes that 100% of the athletic game tickets are free and you can go to any game. There is no trying to fight over game tickets like at some of the big D1 schools. He loved that the campus feels compact and cozy, yet somehow does not feel small. Just a very walkable, comfortable size. Loves the cognate system of classes where rather than force you to take a bunch of core classes which may not interest you, you can take cognates in any of the 9 undergrad schools. Many students there have more than one major and even a couple minors because of this system. He also likes that you are admitted to the entire university, rather than “school of arts and sciences” for example. It is easy to change your major as a result. He looks that if you go abroad, your financial aid follows you, unlike some schools which do not allow students to use financial aid for semesters abroad. Students looked extremely happy, they were all very friendly and he loved the diversity on campus. We heard so many languages spoken which was really nice. Coral Gables is beautiful and Miami is a fun, hip place. He does that the Metro is across from campus and it is an easy ride into downtown Coral Gables or downtown Miami. The airport is on the Metro as well and easily accessible.

[MsAdventure]

Same! I’m on #3 now (HS Junior). My husband says they’re Ike 3 only children raised in 3 separate houses!

[dadof4kids]

Yeah, my wife and I have commented on how weird it is that we seem to have 4 unrelated children…

[HKDad1]

We visited UT Austin again today for their “Longhorn for a Day Central Texas (for 10th and 11th grade)” event.

So to S24 UT Austin - Up

We have been to UT Austin many times, but just never did a tour. This was our first time really see UT through a tour group.

A few thing smade this event somewhat different from the daily campus tour.

First, we did the usual walk around and visited various departments, buildings, point of interests.

Lunch was catered for this event.

During lunch they had a bingo game going, which the kids have to go around and talk to not just the student ambassadors, but representatives from different schools (Cockrell School of Engineering, McComb School of Business, Moody College of Communication… etc), so they can connect three boxes on the bingo card to qualify to enter a raffle.

A few lucky students got some prizes to take home from that.

There was a student panel and the kids got to ask questions.

Dr. Ryan Sutton from Dell Medical School held an hour long mocked lecture, so the kids got a taste of what a lecture was like at UT.

Overall an enjoyabale event. Not to mention that each student got a small goodie bag.

S24 now saw UT Austin in a somewhat different light. Yes, it is big, a lot of students, traffic was bad… etc. But after getting more information and got the feel on the academic and culture there, he found himself liking the school a lot more.

[Kensing]

We must have been passing each other on tours during the Feb break, lol. First we saw Tufts. We were surprised at the campus. Not terribly updated for the tuition costs. Then drove through Northeastern. Being in the middle of Boston wasn’t her vibe. Then BC. Loved it. Then drove south. We saw UNC. My daughter felt the campus wasn’t cohesive, though, questioned herself on liking schools based on esthetics. I said if you don’t like your campus for 4 years, it’s important. Then we saw Duke. Gorgeous! She’d love it there. Then W&M. Even with the beautiful weather, not a whole lot activity on campus. UNC and Duke had many students out and about enjoying the weather the day before. So we thought the quiet vibe at W&M was strange. But it was a 10-11:30ish session and tour. Then UVA was next. I was surprised she liked it since she’d been more focused on medium sized schools. A lot of activity on campus on the beautiful day. Then drove through Johns Hopkins and liked that too. But didn’t get out of the car. She was done with tours and driving especially after visiting her sister the night before at Loyola. Earlier in the season we toured Bucknell, drove through Lehigh and glimpsed at Lafayette, it was getting dark unfortunately. She seemed to like them (these were the first college visits). Though she was concerned with the percentage of greek life. Also toured College of the Holy Cross and liked that too. Also saw WashU, loved it. And Notre Dame. Another beautiful campus. One thing we didn’t know about BC, 40% of freshman are in dorms on Newton campus. And all freshman at Duke are off on another campus too. And neither of these campuses are as pretty as the main ones.