I don’t really think that the reason she didn’t like Yale was because we were there in the summer. I think it had a lot more to do with the fact that Yale is not an enclosed campus. She seems to like the schools that are not interspersed with “towney stuff”. I don’t think she sees herself walking down a couple city streets and across several different quads to get to class from her dorm or whatever. That feeling, that she wants to be within a “bubble”, isn’t dependent on the timing of the visit. For what it is worth, my recollection is that Brown’s campus is much more unitary (if that is the right word) than Yale’s. Then again, I was only at Brown once, so I could be wrong. Brown is also appreciably smaller. For those reasons I believe Brown will be more attractive to her. Plus, she is well on her way to being a hippy dippy kid, and well, where else would you expect such a kid to apply?
@hunt, you are probably right about the pizza joint. The criteria for lunch however was proximity to an ice cream place for mama rather than pizza excellence 
@monydad, I did not mean to imply that Oberlin’s grounds were unkempt. My point was that both Vassar and Oberlin have a collection of buildings built in disparate styles, rather than all built in a common theme (like Fordham and Bucknell). And I don’t know if I would be disappointed if Bucknell doesn’t make it past the first cut. It was a great school for me, and I would recommend it to anyone. But you have to want a fairly isolated undergraduate experience to truly enjoy going to school there. Much as I would not have been happy at someplace like Fordham with people everywhere, I am not sure my daughter would be happy if the big activity for the weekend was floating down the Susquehanna in an inner tube. Different strokes.
@arwarw, Thanks! Best to your son. Athletic recruiting is a whole different ball game from regular admissions stuff, at least so far.