<p>Now that my daughter and I have seen about a dozen schools (with about another dozen to go), we've been talking about the "personalities" of schools. Do you think schools can be reduced to having a specific personality? Or are they all too diverse to limit them to a couple of adjectives? </p>
<p>My daughter and I have been able to identify some schools as having a sense of humor; or take themselves too seriously...that kind of thing. </p>
<p>Are we being fair? Are we being accurate? </p>
<p>I'd be curious as to whether or not others feel the same way and what "personalities" they feel the schools they've visited exhibit.</p>
<p>I agree that some schools have personalities, but I also think it’s possible to overgeneralize from a particular tour guide. How’s that for a non answer?</p>
<p>“Now that my daughter and I have seen about a dozen schools (with about another dozen to go)”</p>
<p>WOW! Are you visiting this many schools because you don’t have anything else to do? That is a lot of time, money and creates much confusion! Every school reaches people differently in the way they ‘speak’ to you. I would narrow your choices to 4-5 (even less if possible) and visit them. Your daughter needs to ‘find her place’. She needs to see what school she would fit in the best and where she would be most comfortable academically, socially, financially, etc. </p>
<p>Granted this is just my opinion, but I really believe you are just asking for a headache visiting this many schools!</p>
<p>I completely agree with the concept of personality. It’s what organizational theorists call an institution’s “culture” and it’s one of those squishy things that defy attempts at precise definition. You can find hints about it by how the college handles PR and prospective student contact, more hints in their official mission statement, and tons of hints just by wandering around campus and being observant and talking with people. (Of course, as in any organizational culture, there will be pockets with a different, even contradictory, subculture, as in the very personalized theater department we toured at an otherwise large and anonymous state flagship.)</p>
<p>We’ve visited schools that left us feeling like you do when you’re around someone who “tries too hard,” schools that made us feel like we were being processed through an assembly line, schools that made us feel like we had found a new circle of friends, and one that felt disturbingly like an encounter with a sleazy come-on at a bar.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it was the “personality” of the school that D2 used to make her final decision.</p>
<p>I certainly agree that schools have personalities… </p>
<p>“Overly competitive” was the phrase both my DD and I came up with after visiting one LAC. Another was “Grimy”. Needless to say, DD won’t be applying either one.</p>
<p>I think schools have personalities, although I also think that the stereotypes can be wrong and that there are subsets in every school that are different than the personality. </p>
<p>My daughter used to determine the school’s personality partly based on the shoes she saw kids wearing on campus (Birkenstocks vs. pumps, for example).</p>
<p>sunshine, my daughter visited about 20 schools – some were drive bys so only took a few minutes. I see no problem visiting that many schools if you can afford it.</p>
<p>“If you don’t believe schools have a personality, do a tour of Brown.” </p>
<p>I laughed out loud when I saw this - we just came back from Brown and it pretty much started this discussion!</p>
<p>“WOW! Are you visiting this many schools because you don’t have anything else to do? That is a lot of time, money and creates much confusion! Every school reaches people differently in the way they ‘speak’ to you. I would narrow your choices to 4-5 (even less if possible) and visit them. Your daughter needs to ‘find her place’. She needs to see what school she would fit in the best and where she would be most comfortable academically, socially, financially, etc.”</p>
<p>She’s my first to go to college and we have weeded out so many schools already. But we’re being overly neurotic - we know that, lol. And we’ve visited them over the last 2 years, many of them in a “let’s drive by and see it since we’re in the area” kind of thing. She knows she wants a moderately sized to big school, near a city, with a broad range of majors. So, we’ve done the Boston trip, the DC trip and next we do a midwest trip and we’re done. Many of the schools on the midwest trip we’re looking at because they are on the way, not because they are schools she is passionate about.</p>
<p>Did you drive 3 or so hours to just ‘drive by’ a school or were they within a certain distance? That is a lot of time and money to just drive by! Was your daughter confused when it came to decision time or did she know exactly what school she wanted to attend after visiting them?</p>
<p>For instance, a couple of years ago we did a family road trip to Chicago. We did a quick drive through South Bend to look at Notre Dame, that kind of thing (and ruled it out right away - she didn’t like South Bend at ALL.)</p>
<p>This summer, she and I are driving to do the midwest trip. So, we’re starting in CT (where we live) and driving to Cornell, then Carnegie Mellon, then Michigan and on to Chicago…then down to WUSTL. In order to get back to Philly to look at Penn, we’re stopping at IU and OSU and Penn State. They aren’t schools she’s desperate to go to, but she’d like to see them; and they break up the trip.</p>
<p>I think visiting lots of schools is a great idea, if you have the time, can afford it, and can do it without driving any member of your family crazy. Some people like to have lots of data before making an important decision, and even visiting a college you might not be interested in may give you something to think about. I don’t think everybody has to approach the process like this, but for some it makes sense, and is even fun.</p>
<p>Wow! I guess, different strokes for different folks! </p>
<p>I can sort of see why you would like to stop and see all these schools…in the event of her liking something, but I am still having a difficult time understanding why you would want to take time out of your vacation to visit all these schools she isn’t passionate about and doesn’t really care about! </p>
<p>It is probably just me! </p>
<p>I think of your Chicago trip (previously stated…)
I guess I would much rather enjoy the Chicago area on a family trip opposed to taking away from the Chicago area to visit a school several hours away that she isn’t interested in.</p>
<p>I think different families can tolerate different amounts of college visiting and no fixed rule applies. It seems the OP and her daughter really have enjoyed their trips so why not continue? My daughter and I also have loved visiting colleges - at least 12 so far and we will probably see another 6-7 this fall. It has not been at all stressful and seems to have helped her clarify what she likes and dislikes. As to the personalities question, at least at the smaller schools, I would tend to agree.</p>
<p>Our school visits definitely gave us an impression of the school’s personality, and stradmom, I like the way you described what that means!</p>
<p>Sun_shine, I’m not sure why you seem so invested or judgmental about people visiting a lot of schools. I can totally understand choosing not to do so, but why do you sound so astonished that some people visit a lot, or so relieved that some of the schools were on the way? </p>
<p>Anyway, we’ve visited about 11 so far, and if I could schedule it, I’d visit a ton more with my son! These trips are part college visit, part road trip, part let’s-try-a-new-restaurant. The conversations that occur during our college trips are some of the best conversations we’ve ever had, and they aren’t limited to college discussions! We’re on a budget and have driven to all of ours, so those hours in a car just the two of us are priceless. And I haven’t yet found how to really get a feel for a school by online research that compares to the information you get out of a visit!</p>
<p>No need to apologize for the number of visits. We have done the same thing. We started between our daughter’s freshman and soph years, and she also tagged along with older brothers when she was younger. </p>
<p>To those who think visiting more than 4 colleges is too much, I respectfully disagree. If it afordable for your family (that to me is the biggest piece of the puzzle) then visit as many as you can. You never know when you will “hit” the right school. Schools do have personalities. No doubt about it and these personalities never come across on the websites. I would rather spend $10K-20K visiting schools over two years if it meant finding an awesome match! College is life changing. Making it the best experience is so important.</p>
<p>P.S. Our daughter spend 4 weeks at Brown. Brown has a distinct personality.</p>
<p>I think visits can be useful for many different reasons. I took my younger son to Bard even though I knew he would probably find it too small and too rural because I wanted him to see that choice in real life and not just on paper. Also Bard has some distinct good things about it that I thought might appeal - such as the emphasis on senior projects. The senior projects actually scared him as much as the location. Sometimes I think it’s as helpful to see what you don’t like as much as what you do like.</p>
<p>My older son didn’t do a lot of visits, but the moment we stepped on Caltech’s campus it was clear this was a place full of his kind of people. He didn’t get in, but has found a very similar (and probably more specifically computer oriented) crowd at Carnegie Mellon. </p>
<p>BTW, Carnegie Mellon has an interesting split personality with both a very arty crowd and a very tech oriented crowd - what they have in common is that they are both more dedicated to their interests than the average college student.</p>
<p>I also think there are lots of schools where a wide variety of kids can flourish. Harvard is a bit like that - there are the coasters, the science nerds, the do-gooders, the we’re majoring in our EC types. Most are driven, but the variety is huge - no one group dominates.</p>
<p>You could make your trip a little more efficient by saving Carnegie Mellon for the way back, and seeing Penn State on the way out (between Cornell and Michigan). Or dropping Penn State altogether, since it’s nowhere near a city, and driving from Cornell to Michigan through southern Ontario. If you want to add another public U, Pitt is basically adjacent to Carnegie Mellon, and is more popular with smart city kids around here than Penn State. (If you take the Canadian route to Michigan, you would also drive right past Western Ontario, in which you would probably not be interested.) </p>
<p>Penn State, unfortunately, isn’t “on the way” from anywhere to anywhere, unless maybe you were going to Erie PA from Baltimore/Washington. Columbus to Philly is a doable one-day drive; Columbus to State College to Philly really isn’t, especially if you spend a couple of hours in State College. And by the time you actually got to State College, you probably would have been within shouting distance of Philly.</p>