<p>Mount Holyoke . . . I think women's colleges can be a fantastic educational experience. All-female schools were DOA for D; in fact, one of the first things she checks out is the ration of men-to-women. Wonder why? :)</p>
<p>And my D is still '12, so c'mon curmudgeon, we all want you to fess up!</p>
<p>No regrets about where son will attend - we love his school. But, there are a few schools we considered visiting but never made it to. I wish we had seen (in no particular order, and for no deep or meaningful reasons):</p>
<p>Wesleyan, because my late father graduated from there back in the 40's and I've never been there,
Princeton, because S. loved it on a visit when he was a little kid. Would be curious to see what he thought of it at 17, and
Brown, because... it's Brown. Maybe because of those old pics of JFK Jr and friends playing frisbee, the beautiful buildings, the open-mindedness of it-</p>
<p>I wanted my daughter to apply to Smith. Then my son reminded me that he's an only child...</p>
<p>MarathonMan88 , just waiting for an invite. ;) </p>
<p>Princeton and the no loan policy and generous FA. Might have been doable. D would not take SAT II's just for a couple of schools. </p>
<p>CalTech because although I'm confident she could have , it would be exciting to see if she could have drank from a firehouse. </p>
<p>D wouldn't apply to Emory because the campus complex (with CDC, Carter Center, hospital, etc) overwhelmed her as a soph (my mistake).</p>
<p>And then I'd say the women's colleges : MHC, Bryn Mawr, and Smith specifically. I still believe they can be wonderful choices for the right kid, and I've heard some aid stories that make me think it might have been more doable than a couple of her choices.</p>
<p>Lord, where to start. But like lspf says, I really, really like the school that was his clear first choice, and couldn't be happier that he's attending. </p>
<p>Centre
Rhodes (the march of the penguin, in particular, did it for me)
Furman
Denison
Tulsa
Mary Washington
James Madison</p>
<p>Whitman - just didn't get on the radar soon enough
Haverford - she loves the Philadelphia area
Sewanee - sentimental favorite of mine
Williams - just plain awesome</p>
<p>At some point, you wish you could clone your kid and send them everywhere (without all the bills, of course).</p>
<p>McGill - she said that she did not like the feel of the campus.</p>
<p>I could play the martyr a bit for doing all the road trips this past year, but looking back I'm very happy I got to see so many great schools and also such beautiful areas (Ithaca, Amherst, Williamstown).</p>
<p>I have a different twist - For years, S would not even CONSIDER looking at the school that we thought was the best fit until mid-September (JHU) where dad got BA and PhD. For some unknown reason he decided he should "at least look at it" and it ended up being his first choice. (Happy ending, applied ED, accepted, but VERY last minute!!!)</p>
<p>Grinnell. We visited and he liked it but when they said if you do well here you can probably go to Michigan or Harvard as a grad student he decided to skip Grinnell and go right to Michigan. Can't say I blame his logic on that one.</p>
<p>That was not the smartest comment made at a college visit.</p>
<p>fireflyscout- Sewanee is a sentimental favorite of mine, too. Neither of my kids would even give it a look. I am not too far from it now, though!</p>
<p>Harvard, because I really wanted to be one of those obnoxious parents who draws out the AH in Hah-vahd when someone asks where your kid goes to school. And Stanford, because it's only an hour by plane. And Berkeley, since it's also an hour away and CHEAP! We actually would have saved money since it's less expensive than his high school! Instead, he fell madly in love with Yale. Where Bush went. Really. When my neighbor asked where S was going to school and I said Yale, he said, "Oh, where is that?"</p>
<p>Our daughter graduated from Lafayette College in 2005. She is now in a Masters program at Columbia. We went to visit Lafayette (my alma mater) - after visting Princeton - H alma mater. Not enthused by P-ton, even less enthused by L-yette - took one look outside of the back of the minivan as we were driving through the campus because I made her. She hated Columbia at the time - end of 11th grade visit for all schools. Applied to all anyway (plus 6 more), accepted as a Marquis Scholar at Lafayette. Went to the Marquis Scholar Day; of course school held Marquis Day two weeks before she heard from all the other schools to which she had applied. Fell in love with Lafayette on that day and did not even care about the rest of her acceptances/rejections as they came in, beginning of April. Go figure! And loved going to visit/interview at Columbia 5 years later. The school she hated as a high schooler - now loves as a graduate student. It all works out!</p>
<p>Oh, Curmudgeon can't have all the fun, I'm 2 years out, and starting to think about DS, but hey, there are still some regrets (and I won't get to fulfill those regrets with DS, he's totally different, and probably going to non-College COnfidential schools).
W&M, Emory and UVa, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (no I'm not biased), Wellesley, many Midwestern LACs, and Sewanee. Williams, though, is still the biggest mystery, although I'm glad she didn't apply, I'm afraid it wouldn't have been for her, and it is about the only school that is harder to get to from our house than the college that she does attend. She had one of those moments at Williams, just looked around and wanted to get back in the car - I still have no idea what the problem was - the hole in the ground, the tour guide, lack of sleep - who knows????</p>
<p>D loved U Rochester. We suggested that she look at Tufts: similar undergrad size, similar SAT range, both have med center UR has music school off campus while Tufts has vet school off campus, etc. Tufts is ALOT closer to home.</p>
<p>D wouldn't hear of it. To this day do not know why.</p>
<p>D would not look at any Catholic universities. Would not believe me when I told her they are Catholic in spirit, but not full of hardcore religious students. My experiences at a Catholic university could not change her mind.</p>
<p>this DD - anything in PA. Emory (big reach). no anthropology so no applying -tcnj, u. scranton and a zillion more.
older DD. Princeton. my family went there in a way, being from Princeton Jct. my older aunt and my mom c.1930's would go through the campus and the boys would yell FIRE out the window (girl on campus) and FLAME at my mom who was young. my grandmother was a maid and walked through campus to get to the dinky, saying hello and nothing more to Einstein as he was out walking, for most of her working life. I loved the campus as a little girl coming in on the dinky. It was a magical looking place. I left "the junction" when I was 8, though 2 related families are still in the area. I think middle child, DD1, had a good chance, though she was leaning towards a conservatory. The day before it was due she ran into the high school and they made up the entire princeton app package for her to run to the mailbox. She just could leave her music. The package is still here.
she's joyous at her conservatory. how maudlin can I get?</p>
<p>I guess I was "lucky". D wouldn't visit schools (soccer practice), check websites, go to school info sessions (class conflicts), even go thru Fiske. Finally panicked with realization that applications were coming due and she was clueless. At that point I had alot of input into choices, the only constraint being school had to be within striking distance of decent skiing.</p>
<p>"Demonstrated interest" will be a problem, tho.</p>
<p>MADad-- At our house it was just the opposite. Son did a lot of research, and both Tufts and URochester were early favorites. He fell in love with Tufts on first visit, even more so on the second, so we never did make it up to UR. Think distance played a big factor as well. It sounds like a great school, though, and the chance for merit aid would have been a plus. As for being scared off by Rochester winters, I wouldn't be -- at this point I'd love an alternative to this freakish warm weather!</p>
<p>University of Scranton. This is a Jesuit university I never hear mentioned on this board, but it had a very personal feel to it when I forced my son to visit :)--they appeared to take an intense interest in each and every kid. My son applied to ONE school (the one he is attending); he was willing to attend a branch and transfer if he didn't get into main campus. My kids are extremely strong-willed. :eek:</p>
<p>UChicago, Wesleyan, Vassar. And then there are the ones I wish she'd declined to consider...</p>