Our niece attended southwestern as a music major - loved it.
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You are probably very correct. I feel the same about The New School for us…My son didn’t even want to finish the tour he was very turned off and yet I hear some love it. Just NOT a good day for us and unfortunately crossed off.
I’m surprised about your tour guide. When we went for a tour with my son all the guides belonged to a specific club and acted as ambassadors. They were trained in how to guide. Each of them gave their background, what they studied etc and then we were able to pick who to go on tour with. It was really a great tour.
Elon would be wise to buy a few buildings near campus ( by the root) to develop more of the area. They are doing everything else right, but the lack of amenities in walking distance is a negative.
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Remember that there is an Off topic post for discussion about topics unrelated to colleges that moved up or down the list. Please take off topic discussions there. Thanks for your cooperation.
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Yes, we substituted ‘free’ with ‘included’, as in ‘included in fees.’ Student activities? Included. Public transportation, athletic events, photocopies, athletic activities (at the rec center)? All included but not free. Sometimes these items were itemized (which wasn’t always a good thing as then they weren’t included for tax credits, like insurance and transportation) but there is very little at school that is free.
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Vanderbilt UP- On paper this seemed like a perfect fit for D24 but we all know that can be misleading. We just spent the last 2 days touring. From the second we set foot on campus, we could all tell this was the one. It surpassed her already high expectations. She loved the sense of community, friendly and welcoming atmosphere, and a few Vandy specific majors. The city of Nashville was an extra bonus- lots of cute neighborhoods easily accessible from the school.She met with 2 students and one professor along with going on general campus tour and us wandering around the campus on our own . She heard the good, the bad and the ugly from one of the students and was not deterred (connected with her thru friends- not admissions). This instant connection happened with D22 but it was at a school we were pretty sure she’d get into. Vandy on the other hand is a reach for anyone. Much as I dislike ED, I think we will likely let her go ahead. I can absolutely see D24 thriving there and am confident she’ll take advantage of all the school has to offer. I know we also need to set expectations that likely she will not get in and that there are plenty of other schools where she could be happy or even happier.
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We visited BU, BC, Rice, and Univ Texas.
BU: D really liked it. She enjoyed the urban setting and brownstone apartments. The information session was very good but all these information sessions seem to focus on the same general topics: Insert (city/town) and why it’s great, broad arrange of majors/minors, internship opportunities, study abroad and some general statistics. The new data science building was really impressive. Personally, I thought their business school was underwhelming but D thought it was fine. It’s definitely a unqiue campus and not for everyone.
BC: BC is stunning. The campus is very scenic. The information session was a little bit different than most as they had a student panel. The tour guide was very positive and happened to be a business major (first one we’ve had that actually studied business) and he mentioned the employment outcomes and strong BC network. D liked it but thought the student body had a preppy, homogenous feel. BC gives out very little merit aid so the financial aspect seems binary - Pay $66k tuition or get need based aid with very few merit scholarships. Personally, I cant imagine paying $66k for a non T20 school. BC is good but not elite but has an elite price tag. Because of this, it’s probably near the bottom of our list.
Rice: D really liked Rice and we happened to hit a perfect weather day. Like BU, Rice gave the “why Houston” theme. D thought the tour guide was excellent as she gave some very candid feedback. It’s not a big rah rah sports culture school which is fine with D. The students seemed happy and had an overall friendly vibe. D really loved the multicultural food scene in Houston which moved it to the top of her list.
UT: UT’s information speaker spoke extremely fast which was a bit distracting. The session was a bit underwhelming. IMO, it didnt hit the highlights of the university. The tour guide was good. D thought the campus seemed really big. If you want to be a big fish in a small pond, this is not the school for you. The highlight was the off campus housing. UT does not require first year students to live on campus - which is a big plus since their dorms are mediocre at best. If you can afford to live in West Campus, some of highrise views are stunning. They have really nice newer buidings and Speedway is now a closed road which makes walking down a major street more student friendly. We didnt get to see the inside of the football stadium but it is stunning from the outside. D really liked it but would have to get into the honors college to avoid getting lost in the shuffle at such a big school.
After viewing multiple schools, her rankings are:
Rice
UTexas
BU
Michigan
UF
BC
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We (including our daughter) actually felt the off-campus housing at UT was a negative. yes it’s nice, if you have the $, but it means a lot of freshmen never live on campus and sets up a little exclusive bubble. this actually moved UT down on our list (not far down, but down). we know kids who have gone through that and loved it, though.
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Reports from a few schools S23 visited on his own.
UC Davis: Up and then down. He felt very much at home at this school, and it received the highest possible “vibe” score. Friendly students who seemed interesting, smart, and generally happy. He also likes the pleasant yet utilitarian campus style, beautiful arboretum, cute animals, and food trucks. Students reported some issues getting support and space for their engineering project teams, which made him worry a bit, but overall, he thought that he might choose this school… until he went back for a third visit, and it was hot that day. He looked at information about the climate compared to other schools he is considering… and he really does not like hot weather. Davis fell to a lower position on the list.
Oregon State: Up. This school had been crossed off his list earlier because it was his safety school and seemed “logical” for him to remove from consideration after he had been admitted to so many reach and target schools (many with merit and/or honors). However, he had second thoughts, so we made a last minute plan for him to revisit OSU, go to an admitted students day and talk to their world famous formula SAE team. Just as when he visited this school last year, it still seemed like a great school. This time, he got to do the more in-depth engineering tour and that was great. Vibe felt good. It was raining in Corvallis (this was a positive, I think)? The formula SAE team fully lived up to expectations, and they were friendly and welcoming. Also, he got to see the other engineering project teams’ spaces, excellent well-organized and well-appointed facilities, and happy busy students. He would really like to live in a bigger city… he was really hoping to have the big city experience in college! But on the whole, OSU went to the top of the list after this second visit.
UC San Diego: Up and then down. From the moment he set foot on campus, he was very excited. He loved the brutalist architecture and the weirdly spread out campus layout with paths and trees. His first comment was “Mom, this is the most beautiful campus I have seen!” (I think this is funny because many students IN THIS VERY THREAD have had the opposite reaction to UCSD’s architecture! 
). Unfortunately it was all downhill from there. He felt that the students were the least friendly of any school he has visited. The dining hall food looked great, but the food he tried tasted bad. Academics seemed very inflexible for what he wanted to do (non-CS engineering majors), it is very difficult to change between capped majors (even closely related ones), each capped major has its own set of courses and you can’t take courses from another major, etc. He visited an engineering project space, the students working there seemed to be stressed and were not interacting with each other. Oh well. Off the list.
Cal Poly: UP. He was not really expecting to love this school because of its “in the middle of nowhere” location (at least that is how it seemed to him). But he loved this school! Vibe was excellent, students lived up to their happy friendly reputation. He really liked talking with the other students and professors there. The day was structured so that he spent most of the day in major-specific programs (lunch with the department, lecture about the major curriculum, visits to the department’s facilities etc.) and this worked well for him. He thought the academics seemed excellent, and was very attracted to the learn by doing approach. Did not get to visit the project team space because of limited time. Despite some drawbacks (for example, he was told that study abroad would be really hard to do in his major), this school moved up to #2 on the list and is still under consideration.
UW Seattle: DOWN and off the list. He was prepared to love this school when he arrived on admitted students day. He had visited the campus previously, loved the location and campus, and liked how the students seemed smart and energetic. He loves a lot of the aesthetics associated with the school, the purple color, adorable mascot, attractive web site and marketing materials (yes these things do affect our perceptions…), cherry blossoms were in bloom, it was a nice cool overcast day and it rained (a plus). He liked the new-ish dorms, modern and nice, with music practice rooms, maker spaces, pleasant common areas. He liked the food he tried. Engineering curriculum seemed well designed with a lot of overlapping courses between majors, interesting high level options, interesting research being done at this university. Other students seemed smart and interesting… But not welcoming. And over and over during the day, it seemed like everything at this school involved a competitive application process. Clubs, project teams, majors, research, everything seemed to involve a competitive application process complete with essays, resume, interviews. After a while it started to be funny! During the engineering school welcome presentation, the speaker started to talk about some interesting opportunity… then there was the inevitable mention of a “highly competitive application process” and this got a laugh out of S23. At the end of the day… this attractive, generally very strong school received a low vibe score… and was crossed out.
That was the last visit… now he just has to decide!
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Thanks for posting. My D23 just enrolled there and that made me nervous as we are in CA so coming home for a weekend is not really going to happen.
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Visited Ithaca College and Hamilton with DS. We had previously visited Bard, Marist, Clark, and Wesleyan (posts up thread). Kid isn’t sure what he wants to study but skews artsy/humanities. He has a background as a professional actor with series regular credits and independent film roles, but is not interested in majoring in acting. More interested in writing, photography, history, philosophy and the like. Really into outdoors pursuits, but not otherwise into athletics. Not interested in greek life.
Ithaca College-- STAYED THE SAME
We toured on a completely gorgeous spring day, after having spent the night in Ithaca. We walked all around town at night and loved the amazing food scene, the many murals, and the general vibe. It’s a great college town. Ithaca College campus is situated on a beautiful spot with incredible views. The Admissions office is in a new(er) LEED certified building that is quite impressive. Campus buildings are otherwise pretty modern, and not overly beautiful in and of themselves.
We had an info session before the tour, which gave a great overview of the different options students have in each school of major. My kid would likely apply to the Park School of Communications, and he was impressed by the many ways to be involved in film/tv production on campus. Info session also mentioned the many types of merit awards available and said every student who applies receives some kind of merit–which, as an admissions professional myself sounds more like a discount than merit award…
After the info session we headed out to tour campus with our assigned tour guide who was a health sciences major. Several tour groups went out at the same time on the same assigned route and our tour guide seemed singularly focused on staying ahead of the group that was behind us–so much so that she was consistently 10 feet ahead of our group with her back to us. It made it really hard to ask questions or to feel like we were on an interactive tour, rather than a perfunctory circuit through campus. We did see lots of students outside enjoying the weather and eating in the dining halls. We liked that one of the food spaces on campus has local restaurants set up as vendors–that was cool. The residence halls were underwhelming, but our guide did say there are no forced triples. The Park school has great facilities and gets students involved in production right away–our tour guide talked about how one of her friends was filming a horror movie in the dorm bathroom two weeks after school started her freshman year. Niche commentary for any other rock climbers out there: There is a rock climbing wall in the gym that was fine but nothing special; tour guide said there are ample climbing/bouldering opportunities out in nature just a few miles from campus.
Overall, the tour guide experience kind of dampened our enthusiasm for IC but it is staying on the list.
Hamilton College–Way UP
I really did not expect my artsy quirky kid to vibe with Hamilton, but he loved it. We attended a Junior Preview day that was packed! After we checked in we sat outside to enjoy the beautiful weather for a bit before heading in for an info session. A current student immediately came up to us, introduced himself and offered to answer any questions we might have–he was very authentic, kind, and had a really neat set of interests (neuroscience major, creative writing minor; involved in student media club and athletics). Great start to the visit. The info session was good, nothing earth shattering.The Admissions rep did say 2/3 of students are involved in athletics (including varsity, intramural and club sports) and currently 25% of students are involved in Greek life. Greek life at Hamilton is non-residential, and all events must be open to the entire community and there is a very strong anti-hazing policy–this made my son wonder what happened that was the impetus to implement these measures…
Immediately after the session was a community panel with 2 seniors, the Dean of Students and a professor. They all talked about ways to be involved in the community, the advising system (every student has THREE advisors!) and the emphasis on developing excellent written and spoken communication.
After the panel we got to eat lunch in the dining hall which was a dream come true for my always hungry child. Food was good, and as we ate current students came and mingled and sat at tables with us. It was nice. Every student we talked to had really diverse academic interests and was involved in multiple clubs.
Lunch was followed by a campus tour. Tour groups were small–only 3 families per guide. This meant there were like thirty groups out at the same time, yet our tour guide was adept at adjusting the route so that we didn’t “bump into” other groups. Nice touch. Our guide was an extremely extroverted young woman who is in a sorority and majoring in art history and French. She is clearly making the most of her time at Hamilton, as she rattled off abut ten different clubs she was a part of. Campus is gorgeous, with a mixture of new brutalist designed buildings and old well maintained brown brick buildings. Everything was immaculate and manicured. Art majors get their own light filled studios in their senior year, students can reserve rooms in the botanical gardens to study in during finals/midterms weeks (our guide studied in the desert room one night), and housing is abundant. There are 29 dorms on campus, including some of the prior greek houses that have been restored and converted to dorm rooms. Students that we saw all looked happy and busy–lots of skateboards ( a plus for my kid) and fliers for events. Th two big hits of the tour for my child were the 1960s themed diner on campus that is open late nights, and the 4 story rock climbing wall. It was an amazing climbing wall, and he loved that students can work there as a job.
The surrounding town is cute with a few restaurants and shops to walk to, and a great coffee shop.
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My d loved Hamilton (as did I!) but sadly did not get accepted. Had very similar thoughts/observations. Seemed like a very special place.
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The brutalist buildings on one side of campus were at one point a separate women’s college called Kirkland College that merged with Hamilton in 1978. The students refer to that side as the “dark side” and the other as the “light side.” I live nearby and often walk my dog around campus, love it here. The weather for the recent preview day was amazing, glad you got to experience it!
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Rice freshmen move-in experience is unique and the most heartwarming way to start college. you can search for “rice o-week” to get more info. My D is graduating in 3 weeks. She says the time at Rice is the best part of her life, even with the COVID effect in consideration.
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University of Florida
We visited last month on a Thursday and Friday and daughter loved it.
The campus felt more alive than many schools we visited. There were students out and about all over campus from the Quads which had activities going on, the Student Union where the the restaurants always seemed busy, Pool by dorm, Graham, had lots of students there, Stadium which is open had students running the bleachers and others studying in the stadium. The Library we visited was busy as well. The students seemed happy and many were wearing Gator gear, shirts, hats etc.
The campus has some construction going on. The New Honors college is almost done and is scheduled to open this fall, the construction site takes up several blocks, the new Data science Building is almost done and several other road closures due to construction.
D23 loved the Brick buildings and Moss covered Oak Trees especially in the Historic part of campus. It gave the campus what she called at traditional campus feel.
We visited one of the dining halls and the food options looked good. However, we did not eat there. One nice perk on the meal plan is that you can substitute one meal a day at any of the restaurants on campus, there are some rules with this.
On a final note D23 committed to UF and will be a Gator! Class of 27
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We finally visited the two schools DD was deciding between.
Colgate University-Husband took her so this is second hand. They both thought it was pretty, but a rather stark and compact campus with not many trees in the main area. They said they liked the people they met but when it ended and my husband asked if she wanted to see anything else she said no. Said she would be ok there. So, not a glowing impression. She also finally started looking more in depth and hearing/reading about the reputation for work hard party hard, greek life etc. and really was not interested. Even on an admitted student Instagram page she found she said kids listed partying as one of their interests They left and drove to Hamilton where they both felt much more at home and comfortable.
Hamilton- the following weekend I took her for the Hamilton tour. We didn’t get to do the admitted student day, but there were a mix of accepted kids and underclassmen in the tour we did. The accepted students name tags said class of ‘27 and they got water bottles. The admissions officer was an entertaining speaker and she had a current senior with her as well who gave his perspective on things. They covered pretty much everything one could think of and it was great. The only other official tours I went on were Princeton, which didn’t have a presentation and was ok, and Vassar, whose admissions presentation was rather dull. The campus is absolutely lovely and big enough to not feel like a tiny school but not too big, the athletic fields are so close and there was a lacrosse game happening, it seems that many students would hang out and watch sports, there was a little local vendor market happening as well. The mix of the Kirkland campus’ 1960’s architecture with colonial architecture was kind of cool. There are so many things that we both fell in love with that we went straight to the bookstore and bought a sweatshirt and she committed in the car when we left.
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I have heard similar complaints for years. In sports, the Amherst crowd were always low-key, and the rivalries much more intense between Williams and Wesleyan. From that I always carry this image of Amherst as a laid back place. Even the Amherst people I know well fit that description.
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Just back from NYC.
Columbia - Same/Up. So glad to have had the opportunity to visit so many schools with S24 that I only had an idea of in my mind and that only a visit can really capture the student-vibe, culture, etc. S24 loved the campus, happy/busy looking students, energetic and engaged guide. It was cold, but the campus was bustling with students chatting/laughing while walking to class or wherever they were going. Beautiful old buildings and a real sense of history. Campus seemed much smaller/compact than I thought it would be. S24 thought the engineering facility was not that impressive compared to other schools he’d visited (MIT, Harvey Mudd, USC). Now, that common core curriculum, will need some more investigating. Might be too oppressive/intense for him and might be an impediment to applying. He does have tangential legacy here, but we’ll see whether it makes the list. (On another note, it’s been so interesting to see how different all the Ivy+ schools are, I couldn’t imagine the same kid applying to all of them.)
NYU - Off. Loves NYC in general and to visit, but didn’t love not having a real campus with a quad, designated boundaries, etc. Also, the engineering school is in the Brooklyn, just too much work. (Edited to change to Brooklyn from the Bronx, that’s what I meant, ooopssie!)
Others not yet reported on (prior trip in the fall to Boston area schools):
Tufts - Same. Liked the campus and the proximity to Boston. For some reason didn’t totally love the student-vibe, didn’t seem as cohesive or school-spirited as others. Will keep on the list and further explore the curriculum, not sure about the language requirement as well. Loved all the different engineering majors. No merit aid is a big minus.
Boston U. - Up. S24 loved Boston and the BU campus. It was a beautiful day on the Charles and surrounding areas. Campus was vibrant with tons of kids walking around, chatting, laughing, etc. He didn’t mind the long campus and felt comfortable there. Will need to further investigate curriculum, including required core classes, engineering options, etc. (Bonus was that old family friend was there who raved about her experience.)
Harvard - OFF. Glad we saw it, not sure what all the hype is about (jk). Seemed a bit dated, students were not friendly. Not a fan of Cambridge in general.
MIT - Up. S24 loved MIT, but was also very intimidated (all the talk of the endless PSets). Students were definitely quirky, and seemed excited about what they were learning. Campus was fine, a bit disjointed. He’s going to do a deep dive on the website this summer as well as talk with his engineering/math teachers about fit.
Northeastern - Up. He hadn’t really heard much about it when we visited, but liked what he saw and heard there. Liked the idea of the Co-ops and getting some practical experience while in college in general. I didn’t love the look/feel of the campus, but he was fine with it, liked the eclectic mix of architecture. Again, needs to do a deep dive this summer to see if it might be a fit.
Brown - Up. He felt that Brown had the entire package. Beautiful campus, great academics, school spirit, great location (although I thought Providence was a bit small/uninteresting). Helped that his cousin goes there and she had good things to say about the school. He loved the open curriculum, but again, needs to take a deep dive to see if this fits the program of study he’s interested in. In the end, I think Brown will end up as a potential ED for him.
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Engineering school used to be in Brooklyn until recently.
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