Haha! Thanks for the tips! I will look them up!
This is a long post so skip if you have no interest in schools in Boston.
We went on four tours this week in Boston. S was trying to get a feel for different types of colleges this week. We visited some small LACs last summer and those are definitely not for him so we didnāt visit any on this trip. Itās funny because two years ago, I would have pegged him as wanting to go to a small liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere. Ha, was I wrong!
Iāll give you my impressions because he is reserving judgement until we look at UT Austin and UT Dallas. He is very tight lipped and pushing to get information will get me nowhere. He likes to think things through on his own and then talk.
So, my impressionsā¦
Emerson - Great location right on the Boston Common. Really disorganized and they did not do a good job of selling their school. They only have two years of guaranteed housing in Boston which is a concern to me since we live so far away. The ad com said he was going to Northeastern for grad school. Enough said. I feel like this is a good option for creative types who are sure that is what they want but they really did not sell themselves at all.
Boston University - It was a really cold, rainy, windy day but we still had to break into five different groups for the tours because there were so many kids. The campus is so spread out and it seems like you would really need to plan your classes to make sure you could get where you needed to go. The general tour was okay but our departmental tours were really good. He sat in on a class in the college of general studies and really liked it. We talked to an advisor in CGS about why it would be a good option for S since he is so undecided about a major. He did give me some good advice about taking SAT subject tests. We also went on a communications college tour and they really knocked it out of the park. They have so many options for creative kids that donāt want to perform but want to be in the creative side of things. Overall, liked it but not sure it is worth the cost of tuition.
Bentley - Too suburban for S. The tour was great and if your kids want to major in business in a suburban setting it is a solid option. Good merit packages and a nice, safe campus. Great internship opportunities for business. If you are even remotely undecided this is not the school for you.
Northeastern - I really didnāt have any expectations for Northeastern. Great info session, great tour guide. I loved the co-op options and study abroad opportunities. If I had to pick, I would go to Northeastern. Their merit opportunities seemed better than BU. Their test scores seem high but they superscore. The GPA was high too but they weight it based on your studentās class rigor. Iāll have to get more info on that if this becomes higher on his list. Great school if you want to get real world experience in college. Might be worth the cost if there is merit money and because of the co-op.
All that being said, if S gets in to UT Austin or Texas A&M , it would be hard to think about an out of state school. He is super undecided and I can see him changing majors so I want him to have as much AP/ dual credit going in as possible.
Not sure how many are interested in UT, but Iāll post my impressions in a couple of weeks once we get a chance to visit.
Just got to Palm beach for a mini vacay and there are 3 pages to catch up from this morning!
@2muchquan we are visiting Duke and UNC next week! Itāll be interesting if we have the same impression.
@carachel2 do you live close to Durham? Can anyone recommend a good restaurant?
And I love the recaps! Keep em coming.
@jedwards70 Thank you for the helpful post.
A neighborhood kid goes to Emerson. He is into film and is happy there (I enjoy his various films on youtube since his high school years. He has done some music videos for other artists while at Emerson) So I assume it is a good school for film.
I will look forward to your UT & A&M reports. We wonāt be able to visit them until summer. We will try to make one of Longhorn Saturdays if they have them again in summer or visit in September.
Is your S an auto-admit?
DS is not an auto-admit for UT Austin, but will be an academic admit at A&M and assured admit at UT Dallas. Getting into Science or Engineering major is another story.
Since we are not in Texas, we do not have much info about Texas schools. DH works there so Texas schools are in-state for DS. Iām glad to find out (early enough) that Texas admissions close on December 1st. We plan to submit everything by October 15th to meet their various priority/engineering deadlines.
We leave for Boston on Sunday and it looks like it will snow while we are doing campus tours. 
@greeny8 ā¦no, we are in Texas! I worked for a summer in college near Asheville/Black Mountain and I LOVE NC. We are doing a southern tour this summer and I would fall out on my knees if D loved any of the schools in SC or NC and there was some merit aid to make it happen. We would seriously consider moving there after a year or so alsoā¦that is where we want to be in retirement.
I know of great places to stay near Asheville/Lake Lure/Black Mountain, etc. and lots of things to do along those ways if anyone wants some fun things to do.
I canāt say enough of what a great bonding time our college tour trip was. In the end, she may choose Texas schools due to affordability but I donāt regret the tour at all!
I love reading the visit reports ā so exciting!
@carachel2 I love the idea of puppy therapy. My D11 (yep, 5th year senior) took a dance class last semester where the prof invited people to bring their dogs on the last day. D brought our super-friendly black lab/border collie/something-something. Only one other person brought a dog, so hers was quite popular. I think ALL colleges should have puppy therapy. I know my D17 would love that.
Will download YikYak though it sounds a bit scary (do I really want to know?..)
@jedwards70 My D and I will be in Boston this time next week looking at BU and Northeastern, so I appreciate your summary of those schools. How long does it take to get from one school to the other? Do you know if thereās a subway/train stop at either or both campuses?
D and I will be off on our 6 day/6 college tour on Sunday. Hope we both return home sane. I mean āsafe.ā No, actually I do mean āsane.ā
Puppy therapy is totally āin.ā Every school we visited made it a point to tell us about it as a selling point. I ended up discussing the growth of therap dogs over the last few years with one of the reps at one school.
Our community college even has puppy therapy during finals week. Agree ā totally āinā
Itās on the college tour Bingo:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1837440-college-tour-bingo.html
http://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator/results/gSmSp
@itsgettingreal ā¦thatās awesome! None of the schools we visited mentioned it at all! The only way I knew about it was from digging around on the website. I think it is a great thing. These kids have to miss their family pets they have had for years!
@snoozn Yes, BU and Northeastern are both on the T Green Line but different trains. It is easy to get from one school to the other. Are you going to both in one day? BU is on the B line and Northeastern is on the E line. I think we switched at Copley. It didnāt seem to take too long to get to either school from Copley. Maybe about 15 minutes from Copley.
Iād love to hear your feedback when you get back from your visits. Have fun!
Yikes, DS is allergic to most furry animals. Reaction to cat is most severe but some long haired dogs make him sneeze too. He will be sniffing and sneezing through the finals if pets were brought in. 8-}
@payn4ward The dogs are in a separate location, like outsideānot where they are taking finals.
DS is also allergic to cats, and his math circle teacher has a couple of them. She shuts them in a bedroom when he comes over, but he still has a reaction at some levelāworse some weeks than others. So, he takes AMC tests and ARML preliminary rounds while starting to sneeze. Heās OK with dogs, though.
There are some colleges that have wings of their dorms where students can have cats as pets with permission, so heāll need to avoid those wings if the cats are allowed to roam.
@jedwards70 mentioned transferring at Copley - you will have to pay again to get going in the other direction since outbound/inbound are not connected there - if you go in one more stop to Arlington, you can transfer for free! Just wanted to mention that.
Additionally, you can actually walk from the end of one tour to the other in about 15-20 minutes - the same amount of time as taking the train. The walk goes through the Fenway neighborhood, a place many students at both schools regularly go into for food and fun. Walking may actually give you a better idea of the surrounding areas if the weather permits - then again, sitting on the T may be welcome after a full walking tour of course.
Sounds like a fun week upcoming, best of luck!
I donāt remember who asked about UIUC, but my one quick observation is that it is in the middle of nowhere! We live in suburbia, so I am used to ruralā¦but our drive here was seriously voidville. 
(We drove the entire day yesterday and drove through lots of farm country, but this part of IL had nothing but a few farms until we actually arrived in Champaign.)
Dd starts her competition in a few hrs, then we are off to KY.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, I thought UIUC would be in a rural area but didnāt know itās that remote.
Best luck to your D on her competition. (I donāt remember if you shared what competition.)
Yes, the population around UIUC is āmostly corn and oatsā as my dad used to say. We are from IL. I think being rural is one of several obstacles UIUC is currently dealing with. COA in general, and state budget issues specifically, have removed it from contention. I believe our OOS options will be cheaper and better from a āfitā standpoint.
Thank you for the continued UIUC posts. My son still intends to apply b/c of the strength of their CS dept, but I have no intention on paying OOS tuition rates for him to attend a school where budget cutbacks may create a declining environment during his time there. I figure I can just wage the battle in April of next year when acceptances are in hand, and hope that strategy does not backfire on me.
@carachel2, University of SCās honors college is supposed to be very good and they offer merit scholarships, but I donāt know any specifics.
@mommdc ā¦ Yes! SC is on the list for late spring/early summer tour.
I need to dig and find visit info. Would welcome any info anyone here has from a campus visit.
Thanks. It is the Olympiada of Spoken Russian. She competed last yr at UChicago. Her teacher lives in Chicago and she works with her over Skype.