<p>The person who gave the Princeton info session didnt know things about her own university, wasnt a kiss of death cuz the I like the university. But Cornell was byfar the best, I especially liked the pens that they gave out.</p>
<p>Daughter 1
Penn State (3 or 4 years ago). The tour around campus mentioned football and Joe Paterno close to a dozen times. On top of that the constant “we are, Penn State” chants along the tour really turned off my daughter. The meeting with premed staff went well though. The remoteness also was a kiss of death. </p>
<p>Daughter 2
Temple (this year). The interview with the music department lasts no more than 5 minutes. Very impersonal. She didn’t bother touring the campus after this. She also didn’t like the general area. </p>
<p>Swathmore. Tour was ok. She attended an engineering class. The extremely small size of the class (8 students) was too intimidating for her. Her high school is larger than Swat. </p>
<p>Penn. Awesome personal tour from a janitor. It was impromptu and informative. She also went on the official tour. </p>
<p>Cornell. Very good visit. Excellent engineering seminar. </p>
<p>A few years ago I was working in New York City. A coworker was taking her daughter on a college tour to Boston. They were considering Northeastern, BU, BC and Tufts. I made an itinerary that could be done in 2 full days. </p>
<p>Upon her return to work, she informed me that BU and Northeastern were ruled out because the trolley tracks ran through campus. BC and Tufts were ruled out due to the hilly campus.</p>
<p>Mom was not pleased!</p>
<p>My experiences as a current high school senior:</p>
<p>Kiss of death: Millersville University: Small campus in the middle of nowhere that was dead on a Saturday afternoon. Although everyone seemed friendly (a bunch of students from the school greeted us with, “Welcome to Millersville” as we were driving and walking around), it didn’t seem like there was much school spirit. It didn’t help that there were only 50 Jewish students in the entire school out of 6000. Even though it’s my safety school, I feel bad for dismissing it because their meteorology program is one of the best in the US and it will be by far the cheapest option, but I just can’t see myself there.</p>
<p>Other schools:</p>
<p>Penn State: Beautiful campus. Being in the middle of nowhere is a turn off, but the drive to PSU was nice and smooth, and there’s plenty to do in State College. Info session ran smoothly, but didn’t talk about anything that wasn’t available online. Walking around, I could tell that most of the students who go there love and take pride in the school. The random “we are” chants during the tour became a bit annoying after a while, but it was great to see such school spirit. One thing my mom and I noticed while walking around campus a night was that women were walking around by themselves. I felt pretty safe to begin with, but this would indicate that there’s little crime in State College. I also had one on one interviews with a meteorology professor and an adviser for my program, which were informative and made it seem like PSU tries to cater to each individual. Definitely my top choice, and most likely where I’ll end up.</p>
<p>Rutgers: Only got to see one part of the campus and didn’t really like it. In general, don’t really like how the campus is split into 5 different pieces. Same comment about kids loving the school and having school spirit applies, though not as evident as at PSU. A turn off at Rugers was the crime rate - in contrast to Penn State - but the tour guide downplayed it. In terms of location, Rutgers has a major advantage over PSU because it’s much closer to home and much closer to the beach and big cities. Meteorology program was much smaller than PSU’s and didn’t have access to the same programs, but there is more available freshmen and sophomore years. Still an option for me, but behind PSU. </p>
<p>Toured College of the Holy Cross in July, loved the school, beautiful campus and friendly tour guides. Kiss of Death: at the end of the interview the admissions counselor told me to keep my fingers crossed because, even though I’m a qualified applicant, I am a white female from the northeast (after saying demographics aren’t considered in admissions process). I appreciate her being honest, but she could have put it a bit more delicately. </p>
<p>Of seven schools I’ve visited, there were only two that crossed themselves off the list</p>
<p>RPI: I had been thinking about it for months, and I thought it would be one of my top picks. the info session was great (all heads of each academic department sat and answered questions) and the academics seemed top notch, but the tour drenched whatever flame had been growing in many gallons of metaphorical water. almost every building seemed a little dated, both inside and out. the dorms were unappealing [yes, i know they aren’t supposed to be Ritz-Carlton level, but these were bad], and Troy, NY, well… see it for yourself. it was really the location and campus that sign the death certificate for me</p>
<p>UC Berkeley: on a visiting stint in April (which included Stanford OMG beautiful!), we decided to visit because my mom’s brother went there, and he loved it. I, however, did not. The tour guide was not really interactive with us and gave generalizations about everything. I think we went in two buildings: science and admissions! </p>
<p>to lighten the mood, one of my most positive experiences occurred at Notre Dame. I thought the information session was fantastic, and covered almost everything one needs to know. Then, ~6-7 current students (also the guides) came up and introduced themselves by dorm, major, year, and extracurriculars they were involved in. We were allowed to choose whichever guide we wanted based upon who they described themselves as. I chose a Marching Band member and engineering-turned-architecture major, and it ended up being just me, my dad, and him walking all over campus! It was one of the most amazing college visit experiences I’ve had, and solidified it as my #1 school</p>
<p>Looking at Schools with S1, several made us go nope, nope, nope:</p>
<p>NJIT - This was a big disappointment for me, my wife and the kid, as it’s my alma mater and is a good value education with reasonable in-state tuition, but the Mechnical Engineering program has not kept up with the times. There SAE program is just the mini-Baja car, and the school due to liability issues does not let the team work on the car or equipment on campus. Instead, they are forced to use the advisor’s barn shed 60 miles away. Also having to do with that no-touch equipment on campus rule, there is no machine shop or modern CNC equipment in the ME building. Our visit was also during an open house, and the student reps were surly and rude. The school has had a huge building program over the past 20 years, but many facilities are getting old before their time due to no maintenance. The day didn’t start off well either by the parking garage having the stairwell exit doors locked at street level. We had to walk back up one floor and out the car entrance/exit.</p>
<p>RIT - Rochester can be a dreary place, and even on a sunny day in the Summer, driving up to a bazzillion huge brick boxes just gives off a “meh” impression. The campus is kind of isolated for being in a small city/suburb too. The tour group we were with was a complete and total socially awkward nerdfest, parents and potential students alike. My kid went in already armed with the impression of a family friend not long out of school and his impressions of the place too.</p>
<p>Purdue West Lafayette - We had been told good things going in by friends and acquaintances, but the whole visit experience was mediocre at best. All we heard about during the info session and tour was rules for this and rules for that. Don’t to this and not allowed to do that. If I wanted to put my kid somewhere with a surrogate parent I’d have sent him to a military academy.</p>
<p>And we are just starting with D1, now a HS Junior. Only a few looked at so far, but one that looked great on-paper due to their early-entry out-of-HS DVM program was Mississippi State. We’ve done a lot of traveling around the US, and the general landscape and appearance of Starkville did not do a thing for her considering she’d be there for 7 years. We have probably at least 10 schools to visit with her over the next 6 months, so I’m sure our list will get longer. LOL</p>
<p>Tour from a janitor ? That’s a winner :)</p>
<p>@Lumpty , we visited RIT in September. Not my daughter’s first choice, although the program she is interested in is very impressive there. Husband and I like it better than she does. I wasn’t impressed with Rochester as a city at all…the best part was getting out of it and in the area of Lake Ontario, which was really very nice.
The surrounding area near the campus was very mall and chain restaurant oriented. Daughter doesn’t shop in malls so no selling point for her.
She is applying tomorrow </p>
<p>Not a kiss of death.</p>
<p>We toured Emory last week, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so most kids were gone. Nonetheless, it made a very positive impression on D. The student tour guides re volunteers, not paid, and I wonder how often that is the case? I had assumed it was a work-study position everywhere.</p>
<p>Everyone was SO friendly. We live in the midwest so we know friendly, but the in-your-face friendly of the south - even metro Atlanta - was remarkable.</p>
<p>@lje62 He gave us an hour tour of all of the floors in the arts building as he made his trash pickups. It got started when he saw us peering into the building and motioned us to come in. Super nice guy. He said that Penn was a great place to work.</p>
<p>Over a year ago we took a tour of a small private college. Our tour guide was a freshman who was extremely homesick. Along the tour, she stopped us at the guidance office where her favorite counselor resides. She is responsible for helping the freshmen transition from home life to college life. She told us that sometimes she just shows up at her office and says I need a hug. She also told us she was very homesick a few weeks back when she became ill and she begged her mom to come visit. Her mom said no and to suck it up. Also we toured on a Saturday morning at 10 am when all the students were sleeping! So the campus was literally dead!</p>
<p>So I asked my daughter what she thought of the campus. She said, “I am not applying here because I would feel very lonely here.” </p>
<p>Kiss of death: W&M on a beautiful summer day, flowers in bloom, happy visitors all around, thought this would be a keeper. D, then a junior, was totally turned off by enthusiastic campus tour guide, who none-the-less made off-color remarks about the student body, disparaged her parents (including daddy drinking too much during a campus visit) and, significantly, that she misrepresented part of her college application and implied getting away with an honor-code infraction. We weren’t the only ones surprised - there were looks of disbelief and nervous laughter from the other parents.</p>
<p>Great to hear these stories because I don’t get to hear much from the family/student side. We give surveys after tours, but usually they are filled with positive reviews because people dont want their negativity to hurt their chances of being accepted. At my school (Monmouth University), we take the campus visit very seriously and would love any and all feedback. I am sure that other schools would think the same. You don’t have to feel bad when you arent happy with a visit experience. Speak up and we will listen. Don’t let a tour guide (who could be going through a tough time) alter your view of a school. That place could be perfect for you and your family. Now the cleanliness and safety of a campus are different concerns and if that is a negative experience, then follow your heart. </p>
<p>Wash U-mommy school to beat all mommy schools. Not surprised to hear about the beds!</p>
<p>Kiss of Death for D at Vandy was when the admissions rep leading the info session told the group that although she knew most of the kids could do the work, most of them wouldn’t be admitted. DH and I found that refreshingly honest since most schools seem to want to drive up their applications regardless of applicant suitability, but DD was turned off. What sealed the deal was when we hit the cafeteria at a busy time, and no one noticed our evident confusion and took time to point us in the right direction. </p>
<p>I’d just like to add another word of caution about basing too much of your impression on the tour and the tour guide. I toured several colleges twice (with different kids, a couple of years apart), and in several cases the tours and/or info sessions were very different. This was quite notable at Harvard, Brown, and Columbia. The first time we went to Harvard, the info session was terrible, with two seemingly depressed students. The second time, it was totally different.</p>
<p>This is an amusing thread. One daughter had visits which, for her, were deal-breakers. At Goucher, which she liked very much prior to visiting, her overnight hosts pulled a vodka bottle out of their dorm fridge and started pouring shots. When they saw daughter wasn’t thrilled, they said, “Haha, we’re just pulling your leg–it’s water.” Either way, she wasn’t impressed. That was among the things that caused her not to apply after that visit. At Grinnell, also an early favorite, another female prospective student disappeared for several hours with male student helping to show overnight guests around; availability of drugs to the prospies, and her feeling that non-partakers were socially out of it, was also a little more than she had bargained for. She found a great fit in a different liberal arts college. Thread is also reminding me of a Barnard tour, with a different daughter, where everything went wrong–but an after-hours encounter with an admissions officer who was warmly interested and welcoming turned it around. We still laugh about that visit and its mishaps. It’s interesting to reflect on which events reflect some truth about institutional fit and which are just coincidences.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins, August 2014. That was the most canned presentation of anything anywhere on any topic I have ever heard. The two people presenting - one an admissions director and the other a “typical student” - kept saying “DEFINITELY” and just utterly dripped with “I can’t wait to get out of here”. My D hated it. She also took a strong dislike to the tour guide who blew through the tour with no real personal input at all, just describing the buildings.</p>
<p>She also commented several times that the students walking around campus never made eye contact with anyone as they walked. She thought the atmosphere was a little sour.</p>
<p>There was ZERO percent chance I was ever going to talk my D into applying after that visit (34 ACT and great resume). “I’m not applying and if you apply for me and I get accepted I’m not going” 
Oh well.</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan I agree somewhat but little things can give you good insight. We visited 8 or 10 colleges and by the end my D told me she was convinced that the info sessions were an eye into the soul of the campus.</p>