<p>Down - Princeton, the tour guide was horrible. Did not wait until the entire group was gathered before he spoke so did not hear half of the tour. What I did hear was all about the new investments in the Arts, he was a theater major. Walked away not knowing much at all about pre-professional programs or their stats which is ironic considering it was Princeton. Also, the student at the information desk was incredibly rude. My guess was that it was his work study job and he didn't like it much. The whole thing was disappointing as Princeton and the surrounding town was probably the most beautiful campus/town we visited on our trip. </p>
<p>Up - Georgetown, the tour guide was hysterical and, I felt, very honest. He did not come off as a salesperson but as someone who loved his school even while presenting the few negatives. He answered questions honestly. I loved the campus and I adore D.C..</p>
<p>LAC's</p>
<p>St. Olaf - Down, this was always my safety. I had been to the campus several times in the past and loved it, however, after spending the night I just could not see myself there. My high school is more diverse. Also, the classes I sat in on were incredibly easy, I knew 90% of the answers and the lectures were not engaging. </p>
<p>Up - Macalester, really like the humor that is included in all of their materials. The staff is always friendly and helpful. The softball coach is stalking me :) I head up north for an overnight visit in February, hopefully, I will really enjoy my time with the students.</p>
<p>Down--Santa Clara: beautiful school & nice small feel but would ask student to withdraw from school & lose all merit aid for 4-6 absences due to chronic health condition in a quarter</p>
<p>Down--Boston U: refused to award merit aid because S didn't list them as his 1st choice by Feb 1</p>
<p>Up--USC: extremely helpful at answering all questions, very generous merit aid, good about keeping in touch and personal contact, small "feel" even tho campus has lots of students enrolled, lots of activitities for students to meet/mix :) Guess where student matriculated?</p>
<p>Down--Loyola Marymount: gorgeous but because school & faculty is small, might not provide the depth and opportunities in engineering S wanted</p>
<p>Down--USF: tour guide indicated school doesn't do much/anything to help students mix/meet and adjust to campus, very urban</p>
<p>Down--UAz & AzSU: haven't heard/read from too many satisfied honors students that have kept their merit awards, haven't heard/read much reassuring about campus life & opportunities</p>
<p>Up - Denison - DD loved the campus, beautiful new buildings, college really put out effort to make visitors feel special</p>
<p>Down - Kenyon - DD felt it was way too remote (45 mins through the corn fields, no cell phone coverage), old stone buildings didn't appeal to her (more like an old church), miserable rainy day didn't help</p>
<p>Down - Carleton - Too remote (notice a theme?)</p>
<p>I originally posted this in the U of Michigan forum, but in light of some of the comments above, I thought I would post it here as well.</p>
<p>"The end of rolling admissions? </p>
<p>I have heard through a GC at an Eastern prep school that U of M intends to end rolling admissions beginning next year and that they will go to an April 1 acceptance date."</p>
<p>Down: Harvard
It seemed very, very large and urban. And we live in Chicago. Only a minority of the students (1/3) are undergraduates, and it seemed like only a minority of the people on campus are students. I guess there are a lot of employees and other people just crossing campus. And tons of tour groups- I'm talking about tourists, not prospective students. I was a little surprised because I studied a bit there "back in the day" and it didn't seem like that then. Didn't seem so much like this even 5 years ago when I visited with my son.</p>
<p>Down: Haverford
They made an architectural decision to go "modern" some time ago and the new building housing admissions feels like a ski lodge. The honor code sounded oppressive. I "get" and heartily approve of academic honor codes but it seems students also set behavior rules for their fellows and police them in the social sphere.</p>
<p>Up: Swarthmore
Beautiful campus and smart, friendly people. My only very, very slight negative (odd in view of my Harvard post) was having an eerie feeling wondering where everyone was. The campus is so expansive with impressive buildings and grounds for such a modest sized student body that there were times literally no one was in sight. My daughter could see herself being very happy there from the people she did meet.</p>
<p>Up: Princeton
The friendliest students by far and very down to earth. Several approached us on their own initiative as we were stumbling around campus and were ready to talk and answer questions at length. Happened onto a student symphony practice in one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen in my life. The sound of the orchestra was terrific, and I'm used to the ballet and symphony in Chicago. What's even more impressive is that there are few music majors on campus- these were mostly just students pursuing one of their interests.</p>