Parents' College Visit Awards

Parents Forum
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<p>We visited approx 20 schools. Here's what I came up with:</p>

<p>Most beautiful campus: Vassar, Drew, Stonehill, Merrimack (MA).
Least attractive campus: UMass/Amherst (but in a gorgeous area!)
Most spread out campus: Bard
Best theater facilities/resources for students: Drew, Skidmore
Most interesting architecture: Bard
Best towns: Smith, UMass/Amherst, Drew, Brown
Worst weather (2 visits): Bates
Most religious icons: Providence
Least interested in your applying/attending: Brown
Best dorms: Smith
Best events for accepted students: Drew
Best campus center: Wheaton
Best campus pond: Smith
Closest to gambling casinos: Connecticut College
Funniest tour guide: Wesleyan</p>

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<p>Most Beautiful Campus Traditional: Duke
Spectacular Locale: Tulane
Most Wildlife on Campus: Duke
Coolest/Funniest Tour Guides: William and Mary
Congeniality (Tour Guides, Admissions Officers, random students, or faculty went out of their way to be helpful): Davidson
Most Responsive Admissions Officers: Davidson
Most Vibrant, Exciting Atmosphere: UNC-Chapel Hill
Nicest to Parents: Davidson
'Save-The-World' School: Tulane
'Big School' Feeling: Cornell, UNC-Chapel Hill</p>

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<p>Okay, here are mine, Midwest edition:</p>

<p>Absolute best information session (funny, helpful, entertaining -- no one fell asleep!) -- Jerry Pope, Director of Admissions, St. Olaf College (Sample quote: "And when you send us your e-mail address? Please don't freak us out. One kid sent us, I'll never forget this, thedeadwatchyouwhileyousleep at whatever.com. What is up with that?")</p>

<p>Best student rec center -- Miami University of Ohio</p>

<p>Most funny and relaxed tour guides -- Knox College and University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (and at Illinois, it was his first tour, with another guide stalking along silently, observing him!)</p>

<p>Most beautiful traditional campus, seamlessly integrated with natural scenery and a great town -- University of Iowa at Iowa City</p>

<p>Most beautiful small campus -- Augustana College in Rock Island, IL</p>

<p>Best unexpected experience -- Getting to sit in a chair that Lincoln had sat in at Knox College</p>

<p>Most beautiful quads -- the main quad, University of Illinois and the law quad, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor</p>

<p>Best student Union -- University of Iowa and Univerity of Wisconsin at Madison</p>

<p>Most crazy, alive, vibrant place -- University of Wisconsin at Madison</p>

<p>Best study abroad options (can I go?) -- Augustana College in Rock Island</p>

<p>Best urban setting, bar none (and I've been to NYU) -- DePaul University in Chicago</p>

<p>Where I want to live when I retire -- I thought it would be Madison or Ann Arbor, but hands down, it's Iowa City. Do some research -- one of Utne's most enlightened towns, great health care, inexpensive housing, beautiful river, and lots of literary events thanks to the renowned Writer's Workshop.</p>

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<p>Ditto on DePaul being the best urban setting in the universe.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Ditto on DePaul being the best urban setting in the universe

[/quote]
Chicago right? Which neigborhood? What's close by? Thanks!</p>

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<p>DePaul is in Lincoln Park, which is one of the most fun neighborhoods in the city. There's a lot of good shopping, restaurants, and theaters nearby (bars too, though in Chicago, it's tough to get in under 21). If NYU tends to feel a bit lost in Greenwich Village, DePaul's presence is pretty strong.</p>

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<p>Greatest billboard/bumpersticker: Maryland: "FEAR THE TURTLE"</p>

<p>Gave me a new respect for the terrapin, and a few chuckles on 95 south.</p>

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<p>tsdad, congratulations on your grad son!<br>
I think that by saying a college campus is "vibrant", it's an intrinsic feeling. We did most of our visits in the summer, when campuses are generally sleepy, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's fun to see a campus full of students involved in projects, research, and just happy to be there-- even in summer.</p>

<p>JHS -- thank you for that clarification about UChicago. I did not hear the phrase "Great Books Program" from the Tour Guide or at the info session, but read it in one of the many booklets I picked up, published by the admissions office. It seems rather a shame that UChicago has distanced itself from the Classics Curriculum, as Chicago and Columbia were the birthplaces of the program, through such intellectual heavyweights as Adler and Erskine.</p>

<p>historymom -- BIG thumbs up for Sonoma State! They are doing groundbreaking astrophysics work there with GLAST (Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope), under the amazing Dr. Lynn Cominsky. (see http colon slash slash glast dot sonoma dot edu -- of course with no spaces and with symbol substitutions). SS has its own observatory (no light pollution out there in the vineyards). The SS tour guides knew nothing about the GLAST program, but we knew about Dr. Cominsky and sought her out. She invited us into her office and visited with us for more than an hour. She gave my son NASA stuff, and spoke to him like an equal -- even though he was a hs freshman. She took us into the lab and introduced us to her team -- which included postdocs, profs, undergrads, and even hs students -- all of whom were excitedly involved in research together, even on a beautiful summer day. The high school kids were treated with respect and encouraged to contribute. It was incredible, all I can say is wow. Sonoma State also has a new music center, and (I believe) a Great Books Program at the Hutchins School.</p>

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<p>best place to go and have a mini vacation while taking a side trip to visit D at school- anything in NYC...I can not wait to "visit" D</p>

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<p>
[quote]
best place to go and have a mini vacation while taking a side trip to visit D at school

[/quote]
Have to say, we felt this way about New Orleans and DS - both before and after Katrina.</p>

<p>But the list of areas about which I could say this would be pretty darn long: NYC, most of California, Montreal (McGill), Washington, DC.... and we don't mind Baltimore either.</p>

<p>Special to the parent who didn't find the weather at Bates too inviting :eek: --- make the next visit the last week of September/first week of October. Fall is spectacular.</p>

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<p>Sonoma State is the closest 4 yr to us @ 1 1/2 hours driving distance. We just got back from a soccer tournament there on Sun. It's nice to hear it getting respect and recognition. It is a pretty campus but not one either DD has seriously considered. If your son attends he will find the best pizza ever a few miles down the road in Petaluma at "Old Chicago Pizza" Also Olivers market is just west of SSU. A definate visit for the salad bar and deli.Yummmmmmm</p>

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<p>Best ice cream: Cornell
Gorgeous campus: UChicago
Tour guide: #1 Cornell (cute redhead), #2 Mudd (cool geeky engineer)
Best college town: Boston
Nicest dorms: Olin
Best backwards walker: Mudd
Worst backwards walker: Caltech
Most surprising school(s) that DS added to the list after visiting: UMich, Cornell
Nicest student: server at local cafe who was also CMU student
Most surprising "no thanks": Stanford, Olin</p>

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<p>Best tour guides /funniest/knowledgeable (a pair): U of Chicago (1st visit)
Most socially and physically misfit tour guide (true sad sack): U of Chicago (2nd visit)
Most knowledgeable: Yale
Most pretentious: U Penn/William and Mary
Funniest/Most Informative/Down to earth Dean: U Penn
Most boring info session: Northwestern
Best Personal stories that made school look wonderful: Trinity SA
Most Thorough Tour: Trinity SA/American
Best info in an info session: U Penn/ American/Trinity SA</p>

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<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Sitting and watching the students walking around campus they always seemed happy and animated. My son and his friends (mostly in film or communications) clearly enjoyed themselves and took advantage of all the the school and LA had to offer; classes with interesting professors; internships; founding a comedy troupe (partly funded by the student government); taking part in school and local-based media; starting anti-war activities (partly funded by the student government); and going to clubs and the beach. </p>

<p>Now on to adulthood.</p>

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<p>What a great thread!</p>

<p>Most Beautiful Campus: Gotta give this one to UVa.
Best Backward Walker AND Best Tour Guide: William & Mary
Most Depressing Campus Vibe: Binghamton (AND we visited during Homecoming! Yikes!)
Best Ice Cream: Penn State (Peachy Paterno)</p>

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<p>--Worst campus feel for me: Penn, Cornell
--Worst campus feel for Mom: Columbia
-- Best college visit on the sly: Wesleyan
-- Best college campuses for Dad: Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford
-- Most irrational dislike for Mom: Tufts
-- Worst tour guide: Michigan
-- Worst info session: Brandeis
-- Best overall visit experience: Binghamton (randomly saw some of my friends around who took me on a dorm tour, seemed really happy, went to an a capella concert, ate near College-in-the-Woods... liked it so much!)
-- Best classroom experience: UChicago</p>

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<p>Best college town- UVA
Nicest students- Washington and Lee,Miami Ohio
Least favorite in everyway-Boston College
Most beautiful surroundings-Williams,runner-up Colgate
Favorite Inn- Middlebury Inn
Absolute worst Inn-Brown's on campus inn
Most intellectually stimulating environment- Williams
Most depressing campus-Georgetown</p>

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<p>--Worst info session: NYU (so bad that didn't take tour)
--Most Don't Stop the Car (ala most bucolic/soporific): Mount Holyoke
--Most Disappointing vs. Expectations: Columbia
--Biggest Positive Surprise: Smith
--Deadest Campus When School Was Out: Georgetown
--Worst Collective Scorecard: American (ack!!! ptui!!!)
--Best School Without A Campus: George Washington
--Best in Living Up to Rep: Yale
--Biggest Cattle Call Info Session & Tour: Harvard
--Coldest Tour: Northwestern
--Worst Dorms Actually Seen: Barnard, American (some schools never showed dorms)
--Most Surprisingly Indifferent: Stanford
--Most Spectacular View: Pepperdine (there for performances, not considered as a choice)
--Dining Room Most Like Hogwarts: Harvard
--Campus Architecture Most Strongly Tapping Primal Ideals of College: Wellesley
--Campus Far Too Familiar & Close to Home: UCLA
--College Most Raising the Question, "What do you do but drink when not studying?": Gettysburg
--College with neatest "island" feel that might grow old: William & Mary
--Campus Furthest from Large Body of Water: St. Johns (Santa Fe)</p>

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<p>Best backward walkers: George Washington</p>

<p>Most laid back: U of Arizona</p>

<p>Best ice cream: Penn State</p>

<p>Most touristy: William & Mary</p>

<p>Friendliest: James Madison U</p>

<p>Handsome Campus: (tie), U of Rochester, Duke, U of Richmond</p>

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<p>I second that one. Here is Annenberg Hall - where the freshmen dine:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.fas.harvard.edu/%7Ememhall/images2/annen1.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~memhall/images2/annen1.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>