@doschicos I agree with “not focusing on a dream school” if it means a single school. I hope every school on my son’s list is his “dream school”. The whole list. Every school he applies to should have something make him excited about being there if he gets accepted. Whether the school is the safety, target or reach when he gets accepted somewhere it will be the “dream school” for him.
Good thread. It’s fun to see what people’s initial reactions to a campus are.
For my son:
HS Junior who is leaning towards a smaller school, located near a city of some sort, that has a decent business program.He is also possibly interested in going to law school after getting a business or economics related degree, or getting a MBA when he finishes his undergrad. He’s a decent student: A- average in all honors classes thru high school, taking 2 AP classes next year, 29 on ACT 1st time ( he stunk in science for some reason) , waiting on new SAT scores. He plays varsity soccer and lax at a competitive high school. He participates in DECA and Model UN. For a job he is a soccer ref. He tutors kids in school. He’s going to end up being a full pay student.Typical White male from the burbs.
Down:
Middlebury: to far from Burlington, too much woods. Kids seemed pretty serious and all about subjects that he didn’t really have a liking for such as languages and writing. He thought the campus was nice, town too small with not enough to do.
Bates: He really didn’t like the tour guide. She talked 1000 mph and blabbed incessantly about theatre and arts. No discussion of what types of jobs kids were getting when they got out of school. Campus was OK, nothing great. Showed us a dorm that was not very attractive.
Boston University: pretty big. Loud. School mentioned over and over again how competitive it is now, they received the most applications ever this year, so the acceptance rate will be the lowest it’s ever been. Went on and on about it. Liked being near the action, but did not like not really having a campus.
UMASS Amherst: Just a huge meh. No thrill. Did not seem like he was interested in it on any level. Oh well, that’s our instate flagship. Too bad.
Up:
UVM; easier to get into. Kids doing all sorts of fun stuff. Nice campus, fun downtown zone. New dorms coming. He liked it there, good for his safety school. Has a business program. Close to mountains for snowboarding and mountain biking.
Going to look at some more schools in the next few weeks.
This thread is a lot of fun. I have another to add, inspired by the girl who said “There are too many trees, it would be like camping.” We visited Maine for vacation a couple of years ago, and on a rainy day we went to the really cool and free Arctic Museum at Bowdoin. Fast forward to making a list last year, and Bowdoin was mentioned. D said “I didn’t like it, no way. All those creepy pine trees and all that marble. It was like some kind of weird cemetery.” I thought it was beautiful! What do I know, right?
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@Lindagaf my daughter loved it because of the wood siding on some of the buildings (!!) (???)
My S didn’t like Bowdoin because it was too flat and had a high rise dorm.
D applied to Bates because “They have cross-country skis on their website so it must be my kind of place!” (one hopes that wasn’t the sole reason). At another, forget which, “I like this school! They have free laundry!” (??) In the beginning, “Wow, 3/4 have singles at this school! I like that!” At the end, “Oh, too many singles. That sounds lonely. I want roommates.” At the beginning, “I need mountains!” At the end, chooses a school with not a mountain in sight.
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Love this thread! My D wanted a dance conservatory, not in NYC (where we’re from), and ruled out the south and Texas.I already knew the importance of the tour guide, since back in the day I ruled out Syracuse because I hated the guide and accepted at BU sight unseen as a result. Saw the same dynamic with D. What I learned: once we started visiting schools she was able to refine and change what she wanted – went from thinking she wanted a small school to wanting big and near a city.So my advice is to visit all kinds of campuses, you never know what might click.
Down
James Madison – at the top of her list because of a rave from a teacher, but she hated the tour guide, who kept going on about sororities (my daughter so not a Greek), wasn’t impressed by dance dept, and thought the school lacked diversity (Mom, everyone here is blonde!). Never applied
Point Park – she was very keen about school before she saw it because of great dance reputation, but she didn’t like Pittsburgh and thought the school too small.
University of the Arts - again, thought it would be a top pick before she visited, but decided it was way too small and she wasn’t sure she wanted to go to school with only performing arts students.
UNC School of the Arts - same as U-Arts, felt too small, and made her finally decide she wanted a conservatory that was part of a larger school.
Skidmore – the one that made her realize she did not want a small school in the middle of nowhere (thus cancelled visits to Elon, Bennington, Bates and Muehlenberg)
U-Washington – went there only because visiting Seattle but she absolutely loved the beautiful campus. Probably would have applied except that a visit with head of dance dept made her realize it wasn’t rigorous enough for her. The one that made her realize the value of observing a class in the program you want to study.
Moved up the list
University of Missouri Kansas City - only went because we were visiting relatives nearby, but the tour guide was the best we had, funny, friendly, and answered every question. We both loved her. Also, unexpectedly lovely campus, and city, and head of dance dept spent an hour with D, which really impressed her. Suddenly UMKC was not only on the list but near the top! The one where the tour guide won her over.
Temple – every single person at that school, from the guards to the professors to the students, was incredibly nice. We were both blown away by it. Also, the school is so large that it can offer everything. The one that made her realize she would like a big school in or near a city.
UNC-Greensboro – She knew one of the dance professors, they let her take a class, two charming dance students gave us the tour – it was Southern hospitality come to life. (Mom, its like a family here!) Also a beautiful day and a beautiful campus.
University of Buffalo – she wasn’t interested but I insisted (because SUNY, and I’m from Buffalo). A friend’s daughter gave us an insider’s tour which made all the difference. She ended up liking much more than she expected.
George Mason – A last minute add after talking to them at a college fair. She loved it – the dance program is impressive, the dance director spent an hour with her and introduced to her several enthusiastic students and teachers, the performing arts building is brand new and lovely, the tour guide was a quirky funny boy that charmed the socks off both of us, the campus is very pretty and best of all, a metro ride away from DC. Big school, big city, with a great dance program. Guess where she’s going.
Crossed off- Olin-At the start of our college search a year ago, my S thought about majoring in engineering. Super small school. We sat thru info session. Did part of campus tour but never finished it. My S just knew that the school was not for him and either was engineering. Definitely found value from that tour even if the school was not the right fit. Shared campus with Babson. But basically had one academic building. Dorms were all suites which were great. Very techy group of students.
Holy Cross- didn’t like location. A quick turn off the highway and the entrance to campus was right there. Didn’t have the sprawling campus feel.
RPI- visited on a rainy, gray and cold day. Probably didn’t help. Tour was fine. Not crazy about the area. Male to female ratio unbalanced.
Lehigh- wonderful admissions presention. Said all the right things. Campus buildings were beautiful but a very hilly campus. Not opposed to that but the narrow pathways and stairs in the winter snow must be crazy to navigate. Dorms need some serious upgrading. The ones we visited were dark and musty. Not very appealing.
Brandeis- drove through campus and never got out. The campus looked tired and unkept.
Stayed the same/moved up
Bucknell- wow! They had the complete package. It is a very isolated campus but stunning. We attended several events and were always impressed. Tour guides were amazing and informative. Constantly doing improvements to campus. Just had their business school accredited. No longer just a business program. Will be building a business school. Unfortunately, my S was wait listed.
Fairfield-beautiful campus in a great residential neighborhood. Nice presentation and facilities.
University of Scranton-small campus in a small city. Didn’t think we would like it but we did.
Villanova- my S other top choice. Beautiful campus close to philly. Train stops right on campus. Tremendous amount of school spirit. Great sense of community. Doing some major campus renovations. Currently only guaranteed housing for 3 years. New dorms will allow 50% of senior class to be on campus. Basketball team winning the national championship can never hurt. Business school just ranked #1 in the nation by Bloomberg survey. S will be attending in the fall.
@bk11231 You hit the nail on the head regarding not knowing what might click and I hope that is at least one of the take aways from this thread. I scheduled tours at schools my son was adamant he wouldn’t want to go to and asked him to just be open minded. As long as he went, if he said no that would be find but it’s all about having options. He ended up absolutely loving some schools he would never have chosen to go visit and some he will be applying to.
Just another note on how different perceptions can be, I’ll note that this was the reaction of someone from NYC—but my oldest, coming from a much, much more isolated region of the country was amazed at how close Muhlenberg was to everything, including to NYC itself.
We saw BC yesterday and it shot up D’s list! @DevlinHall208, the student ambassadors (panelists, tour guide, escort to the info session) were the best we’ve interacted with on any tour, hands down. They were all personable, friendly, and knowledgeable - really represented BC well. The school also did a great job managing a large crowd by being well organized, plenty of tour guides, etc.
Down and Out
Brown - wanted so much to like it but we missed info session and took tour and our guide was a ditz. School felt too hippy dippy as did the town
Harvard - Walking across campus, too many tourists
Northeastern- kid was not impressed when touring lab (I am sure it was fine, perhaps they were showing less sophisticated experiments that kids could relate to better). I really liked the campus, kid did not
BU- I could not get past the lack of campus, kid did not mind it
URochester - not sure what the problem was, something about requirements for Computer Science major turned kid off
UMass - no one wanted to get out of car, too big and impersonal and it was our last school
Dartmouth - too remote, other people on tour were WAY too preppy although I do not think the students were. My favorite campus. Everything seemed to center around outdoors.
Columbia - Toured with a bunch of foreign students who kept trying to find the Alma Mater Owl
Surprised to Like
UMichigan - expected it to be big and jockey and it seemed very academic and campus was great although engineering campus, especially dorms felt cold and dark
Tufts - LOVED it. We had a great info session person who was really funny. Relationship between engineering and college really worked for my kid. Did not notice the hills or steps compared to Cornell. Took the train to Northeastern from there, really easy
MIT - kid asked to apply halfway through the tour, not accepted
Amherst - loved it, especially small campus, within larger college program but no engineering
We were extremely impressed by BC’s info session including the student ambassadors. But S felt the school wasn’t really “him” so it went off the list.
I couldn’t agree more with touring a variety and not really knowing what will click until you tour. We have just started the process but S’s assumptions have already been turned upside down.
Off.
Colorado State. S expected to love it, near the top of the list going in. Campus was too flat, too modern, too spread out. Engineering tour was too general, not much specific to S’s potential major and spent too much time focusing on how hard it is and that mechanical had a cap and to do ED. He wasn’t there to your mechanical. Very little info on the history of the school and anything non engineering. Loved Fort Collins but that wasn’t enough to give it a second chance and it wasn’t program deep enough with options to push it. A surprise and disappointment to all of us.
Up.
CU Boulder. S toured this to humor us. Did not want a big “rah rah” football school. Solid info session and tourwith a lot that really resonated with S, down to a profile kid in the flyer that could’ve been S. Really appealed to the “it’s ok not to know” concept as well as mixing majors/dual majors. Absolutely fell in love with the campus, setting and town. Opened S up to the fact that maybe a big school would be ok after all.
Way up.
University of Wyoming. Gave S a lot of love. Almost 3 hours with 3 different professors all of whom he would have as teachers. All made a point to get to know S, and we liked all of them a lot, especially one that heads up the senior projects in one of the majors he is interested in. Has 4 potential majors in his areas which by itself is fairly huge from a flexibility standpoint. 2 unique programs that seemed to deliver on the exciting promise. Really sold S on the ability to still have some music and or theater in his life even if he does choose engineering. Great Adcom, tour guide and assigned dining hang out dude. Absolutely stunning campus in a collegiate sandstone feel like you are in the middle of a national park way. Great vibe everywhere we went and not as country/conservative as S had feared. There is a lot to be said for school that really shows your kid love.
^^I am really surprised. I would have thought, from what you posted previously, that he would have loved CSU and Ft Collins and found Laramie/ Wyoming too boring. Don’t get me wrong, I love Laramie but accept that it is low frills town. I think everything you said is true, that the professors and even department heads go above and beyond to welcome prospective students and show them around. When we toured, the head of the theater department invited my daughter to a play rehearsal, came over and spoke to her, really made it a special tour for her.
My daughter’s good friend is in engineering, but also plays clarinet in a musical group (not marching band). He finds the mix of music and engineering is good. D’s not a sports person at all, but does go over to the football games (they are free for students) and likes the atmosphere for about 30 minutes or so. Being a CU person, I don’t think there is anything better than watching a buffalo run around the stadium, but Laramie on game day is fun. At all 3 schools, it would not be hard to avoid sports/football if you aren’t into it. There if you like it, not so overwhelming if you don’t.
@dfbdfb Re: Muhlenberg, your response made me laugh, you are so right about different perceptions. Upstairs neighbors daughter went there and absolutely loved it, because it had that country feel but she could get back to NYC very quickly. She was disappointed when my D crossed it off sight unseen, but D said “Sarah came home so many weekends, there must have been nothing to do there.” Who knows how the teenage mind works!
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@liska21 Re: Cross country skis. I know a boy from California who chose St. Michael’s, small school in VT, in part because they offered a $60 season pass to Stowe and he always wanted to learn to ski. Your son is not alone!
@twoinanddone we were all surprised. If he could take U of Wyoming and set it in Fort Collins he might enroll tomorrow. Laramie itself is his biggest concern but he loved the school. As he talks with family all weekend it’s the only one he mentions.
It didn’t help that our engineering tour guide had been a drum major in HS, very passionate about music, played freshman year and has given it up due to workload. Granted the kid was also doing tours and is an RA but that bummed S out. As
much as anything though with they lack of multiple program options it is probably for the best, but still sad. I had no idea architecture was going to be a significant factor but in hindsight I should have.
@Dolemite Re:post 138 My expectation was the student tour guides don’t need to be able to answer questions other than what their personal experience has been and be able to highlight where on campus we are. Once we have our bearings of campus, we then stop at a dining hall to have something to eat and we then tour on our own to visit the places we wanted a more in depth look at. On the Tufts tour, our tour guide told us more than half the kids live off campus in private houses so they just hang out with their housemates at home because they are poor college students. She also said after the first year kids learn how to beat the system and, like her, she didn’t buy a meal plan and just shares a meal plan card with her roommate. My son was turned off by this lack of integrity and unfortunately it does paint a broad brush. This can go both ways which is why we have visited any schools that are in consideration twice.
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A tour guide should not be expected to chance a student or explain in detail program requirements.