<p>To people mocking the “you might get mugged” reason for avoiding Cornell : That is a LEGIT CONCERN :'(</p>
<p>And school colors absolutely matter. My financial package at Northwestern wasn’t nearly enough to make attending possible, but I was still sad about crossing it off the list. Purple and gray are my dream school colors -.-;</p>
<p>Also don’t discount vibes // the influence of single people. During a tour of one college in Washington State, I left midway because I just had a distinctly uncomfortable sensation that I would be miserable there. At another school, I was trying to find the library and got trapped behind three enormously bratty friends talking about how “their parents didn’t pay 50k a year for that kind of attitude in a professor.” Apparently he’d given one of them some extra resources to look over because she’d expressed interest in a topic. How outrageous o.o</p>
<p>Weather also matters! It played a part in my final decision (although obviously I had other reasons) – I didn’t want to freeze up north. (Turns out Southern winters are not that balmy though… )</p>
<p>Son got a postcard from U of Miami addressed to Ms. son’s name. Wouldn’t give it another look.</p>
<p>Same evening he got a call from a school he’s interested in and the young lady on the phone (guessing it was a student) told him they didn’t offer the major he was interested in when in fact they do (he had just been to their website the day before). They have moved to his “maybe” list for allowing unknowledgeable students to call prospectives.</p>
<p>You know the “personal” letters that some schools send prospective students, lauding their “impressive record of accomplishment at XYZ High School”? After my son changed high schools after Sophomore year, a few colleges started sending him two versions of that letter, with only the high school name changed. He gave those schools no further consideration.</p>
<p>Son wrote off the entire Ivy League. Muttered something about ‘snobby.’ </p>
<p>Had barely glanced at the Cornell quad when we were in Ithaca for an unrelated reason then actively refused to visit any of the others during our college trip even when already in same town. I didn’t push as most were probably not a great fit. Did finally apply to one sight unseen that was the best academic fit but only halfheartedly. Thankfully was rejected so didn’t have to deal with ‘to go or not to go.’ Not an anti-prestige thing as he did apply to other top schools.</p>
<p>Last night at a large college fair, my son walked away from a rep that he was talking to because the mascot was a Spartan. I thought he was joking, since it was originally on a campus visit list due to merit aid.
Why Spartans? Seems he liked the Persian Empire more from studying it is World History class.</p>
<p>No, so far he is looking at Chemistry. He does want to do a study abroad year, however, so that he can study Greek and Turkish history and culture.</p>
<p>D1 didn’t want to consider Princeton because of the eating clubs. A friend’s mother suggested she read The Rule of Four. She read, she applied, she is now a proud member of Tower eating club.</p>
<p>D2 rejected a school because she saw a lot of the students wearing ballet-flats (not ballet dance slippers). I didn’t even bother to examine that reason; just cross it off the list…</p>
<p>DH thinks we should reject USC from D2’s list because of the problems with the football team; D2 is a potential music student… I don’t see the connection and we’re keeping the school on the list.</p>
<p>My daughter refuses to considers schools where diversity is the primary message - her point is that if they have to promote they are diverse, then they are not diverse…it should be a given.</p>
<p>I feel so much better after reading this thread…thought my DD was a princess in the process but reading this, I realize she is just “normal”. </p>
<p>University of Texas - No one looks good in burnt orange and they sell their shirts at Walmart
Vandy - Waay too many people from up north
TCU - none of the students were happy (1 girl made a comment during the tour)
Michigan - snows (apparently we had to tour in July to figure this out)
Harvard - Too many people acting a lot smarter than they are (no actual evidence on this one)
Rice - Applied, accepted, could noy come to grips with telling someone she went to a school with a name like that (good scholarship too).</p>
<p>DB: my D’s both said that they couldn’t in good conscience look at Cornell, because of Andy Bernard and the Office :)</p>
<p>TexasMom: that’s so funny about Vandy because a lot of times people on campus assume that most of the girls are from Texas and they went to prep school ;)</p>
<p>I used to joke that I wanted 1 of my girls to go to Perdue and the other to Rice just so I could have both those stickers on my car at the same time (Perdue + Rice…Chicken & Rice; yeah, I know. It’s really not funny to anyone but me.)</p>
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was rejected so didn’t have to deal with ‘to go or not to go.’ Not an anti-prestige thing as he did apply to other top schools.</p>