I made a huge mistake of 1) deciding to stay the night in Troy and 2) picking a hotel on the wrong side of the RPI campus (only $190 for the presidential suite? Now I know why…). Really wanted them to love that school too. Campus buildings are magnificent.
In defense of their rejection of it, I did feel the triple dorm room they showed us looked like something out of “Lockup:Albany”.
The refreshments is a great topic deserving of its own thread.
At William and Mary, we were there on a hot August day (Williamsburg, VA). When the info session was over, there was a feeding frenzy at the start of the tour when they brought out only a handful of water bottles.
At Amherst, I had to go and ask for cups for the water bubbler. Seemed like they were not interested in re-stocking cups. Never got pastries.
And I went on > 40 college tours in the last 2 years.
@preppedparent gets several gold stars for that many college tours.
And now to get back onto topic . . .
Oh I stand corrected. UCLA provided juice and water in the queue for campus tours, also blue and yellow rubber bracelets. When I asked for a specific color, I was told to stay with my group, and could only have the blue, when we wanted a yellow also. Rules are rules I guess, and meant to be followed (vs. broken).
But in their defense, they were one of the few schools that had muffins later on the tour. UCLA revisit day was nice–photos with the mascots, marching band, a capella group and more. They really drew you in—very nice in all seriousness.
More than 40 college tours in 2 years? There should be a medal for that. Just the thought of that many tours is depressing to me.
When we visited Arizona State with D1, they had the visiting students take a photo with a giant gold frame that said “future Sun Devil.” After taking the photo, they handed my D a card with a code so she could view the photo later. She took the card from the photographer, walked to the nearest trash can, and pointedly dropped it in. That was apparently NOT the way to impress her! She did apply, and if they had offered her preferred major, she may have attended. D2 had a similar photo op on one of her visits and it didn’t bother her at all. She’s attending that school.
Since we’re talking refreshments…Drake University in Des Moines gives out the most awesome resuable waterbottles with their logo on them and made a point of pointing out refil stations not just at admissions but all over the tour. They also had coffee on hand at admissions.
Creighton University in Omaha not only has fresh popcorn, sodas, water and coffee at admissions but provided donuts and muffins (and orange juice!) on a very warm summer morning for “CU in the Summer.”
My favorite snack, though? In the middle of Nebraska is this tiny little liberal arts college called Hastings College. They had fresh cookies, coffee, water at admissions, and at the end of the tour, presented D17 not only with her own Hastings t-shirt but a custom decorated GIANT chocolate chip cookie from Eileen’s Colossal Cookies. The whole drive home, she kept looking at it and whispering, “They gave me a cookie!”
@preppedparent Was “UCLA revisit day” the day you revisited or was that something else? Sounds maybe like the admitted students day with all that activity.
The day we visited UCLA I almost left the tour because there was a food truck giving out free Chobani yogurt.
This summer’s lineup of college visits:
Kenyon: Went down, too small and isolated. Admissions officer also spoke ungrammatically (!) but student tour guide from southern Africa was sincere and friendly. Stunningly beautiful campus in a teeny-tiny town. There was a water cooler in the admissions area
Oberlin: started as #1 and remained so. Low-key info session that included a representative student. Student tour guide was bubbly, enthusiastic and informative and fielded tough questions with aplomb. Student interviewer was down-to-earth and he and the girl from the info session took the time to chat with my daughter after the interview was over. The environmental sciences building is really cool. There was water and maybe a Keurig machine
Chicago: Went down because it was just too densely urban for my D. They, however, offered water bottles and neon-rainbow ice pops at the conclusion of the tour. Little fans and sunglasses too - it was blazingly hot.
Wash U: stayed the same. This was just a campus tour as it was a Saturday. Beautiful, architecturally harmonious campus, a bit too opulent for my taste, but D liked it well enough. The business school’s main building is impressive and the surrounding area has a lot to offer. They offered bottled water at the beginning (it was during a heat wave) and D got an $8 voucher to redeem at the university’s food court. Good food.
Macalester: Went up. Great info session, gave a really good sense of the school’s philosophy of global citizenship. The student panel included an international student, a first gen student, and two others, each offering a unique perspective. They divide parents and kids for the campus tour. Campus is pleasing, surrounding area has a good mix of commercial and residential areas. Don’t remember about refreshments beforehand but we were offered a free lunch in the dining hall, which was just OK.
St Olaf: About the same. As @doschicos said, they win on the refreshment front. There was a cooler stocked with water, juice and soft drinks and coffee. Lots of prepared snacks including a freezer with healthy popsicles made by a local student startup. We had our very own tour guide who was informative and friendly. D liked the admissions officer who interviewed her, very kind and encouraging. As a campus visit, it could not have gone better. D was kind of lukewarm going into the visit; on the other side, she still has reservations, but feels badly about possibly not applying because everybody was so darn nice.
U of Washington: Went up because of the physical beauty of the campus, the accessible surrounding neighborhoods, and that killer view of Mt. Rainier. D went on this tour to humor her parents because she really prefers smaller schools. Guess what? She still prefers smaller schools but if she were to contemplate a large university, this would be a contender. No refreshments but they did build in time for you to get a coffee in the student center and pointed the way.
Western Washington: Went up. Really great tour with an articulate, laid-back, hip student in the honors program. No admissions talk because it was a Saturday. Beautiful campus in a stunning natural setting. No refreshments but there was a water fountain in the admissions area.
Place is really important to D so summer visits, even when students are not around, were really helpful for her.
@MotherOfDragons Did you go the other direction to Wellesley? It’s a much livelier town with a very nice town center, and then you can stroll through the Wellesley campus.
Just drove through Grinnell (in Iowa) last weekend. My kid is not considering this school, but since we were driving by and I had seen interesting mailings from them over the years, I thought it was worth going 3 miles off the interstate to look at. I had to apologize to my family for this one. It was super ugly/modern/hodge-podge of mismatched buildings. Depressing. Scary. Not at all what I was expecting. Maybe there are nice people there, but I was too horrified to find out.
Really? I think the Grinnell campus is pretty nice IMO. Did you get out of the car and walk around?
There is one old building that is pretty, but the rest of it was not. Besides the mostly ugly buildings, it looked sort of run down (landscaping, etc.) Just my impression/opinion, of course. But I was SO disappointed–not what I thought I’d seen in the brochures!
@atomom Grinnell was “scary?” Seriously? To each his or her own, and there’s no place that appeals to everyone in every way, but too bad you were “too horrified to find out” because you would have discovered a very nice place indeed. “Run down” is pretty much the last word I would use, unless the place has headed way far south since April.
@NoVADad99 I didn’t go on the tour with her-she flew up to MA with my husband and his dad. If I remember correctly she did walk around a little bit to the other campuses, but spent a LOT of time poking around all the workshops at Olin, which she really liked. There were some kids hanging around and they let her go anywhere she wanted, so she got a chance to look at all their printers, tools, etc. I told her about the other campuses (including Babson’s indoor ice skating rink-she skates), so she knows that Olin’s part of BBOW.
@2muchquan We had the same impressions with the tours at OSU and Pitt. OSU definitely didn’t make D’s “fav five”, but Pitt did.
@atomom Superugly, Scary, Depressing. Wow. I’ve heard of beauty being in the eye of the beholder, but hard to imagine someone seeing the place in these photos and describing it in this fashion. Hope no one takes it at face value and decides to find out for themselves. Seriously, even people who haven’t liked the school for various reasons enjoy the campus. http://www.grinnell.edu/admission/visit/photo-tour
I’ve never been to Grinnell, but I think it’s ok if that person felt like it was ugly to them. There doesn’t seem to be a reason to try and talk her out of her impression-it was what it was, and it’s valid to her.
At the very least, now I’m curious about Grinnell and looked at the pictures. It seems ok to me. Not awesome, not awful. I used the walking man on Google Earth to look at it, not the glossy brochure…
I think people need to be able to express negative impressions without everyone coming down on them…
D is a Junior this year. My goal for our tours this summer was to get to a list of 5 colleges that she would be excited to attend. Her initial interest is International Business, so I put together a set of universities with that in mind.
The colleges that made the “fave five” cut:
Pitt. Great tour and information session that they managed to pull off at the same time as new student orientation. Small tour group with a great student ambassador. A lot of good information and personal experiences given that helped D visualize herself as a student there.
SLU. Great information session and tours that provided a lot of personal experiences from current students and alumni. The campus is beautiful and close to downtown and Forrest Park. They have two new suite-style dorms being built. One of the biggest attractions for D was the sister campus that SLU has in Madrid. We plan to visit it next summer!
UofSC. This was the last college we toured, and D didn’t initially want to go. She was very impressed with the historic campus. The tour and information session were great. We also sat in on the Honors College session and I think that sealed the deal.
College of Charleston. Beautiful campus in a fantastic city, which I think is was really appealed to her. Our tour guide was fantastic (and she was just a freshman). We didn’t attend a session for the Honors College, but the discussions that we had made it sound like a great program.
Florida International. We live in Florida, so I was really hoping that she would like at least one of the state universities. FIU’s campus is big, with attractive modern buildings and a lot going on. Students as a whole seemed pretty happy. We didn’t attend an Honors College session,
The colleges that got crossed off:
Carnegie Mellon. This was actually the only tour my daughter was looking forward to when we did our travels this summer. Tour sizes were far too large, tour guides were 15 minutes late, no tour of the residential facilities, very impersonal information session. Admissions staff made us feel like they were doing us a favor by allowing us to tour the campus rather than enthusiastically selling the university to us. I’m a CMU alumni and I was embarrassed by the way they run this tour.
Vanderbilt. D loved the campus and the sense of community that she sensed from the tour guide. Vandy just didn’t have any programs that interested her (no undergrad business program for example). I think it’s worth revisiting down the road as some of their programs within the Peabody College could set up a pretty powerful foundation for a graduate business degree.
Duke. The campus was beautiful, but felt too isolated for her tastes.
UNC. Great tour and campus, but edged out by UofSC.
OSU. Generic, impersonal tour. Campus was beautiful, but too large for her likely. Excessive focus on athletics.
Does “sealed the deal” mean it’s her top choice? My son submitted his app without touring. But his cousin graduated from UofSC and now he’s very interested.