This was an idea brought up on another thread. Many of us as parents (or as students) still have warm feelings toward colleges that were seriously considered, but in the end were not chosen. What colleges do you feel this way about, and why? Note, these colleges should NOT be ones that resulted in a denial/rejection, but rather should be ones that the student didn’t choose for one reason or another, but we still love.
Hat tip to @1822mom who started the idea. I’ll go first
My S22 applied to some CUNYs, and although he didn’t choose them in the end (due to logistics like minimal dorms) I still think they are a remarkable college system with a fascinating history, and many amazing alums, especially from back in the years when Ivys and other elite schools discriminated against Jews. Would have been proud to put a CUNY sticker on the window of my car!
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My kid is where she wants to be but she got into Washington & Lee and I loved it. She said she’d have gone with aid based on its prestige but alas we didn’t win one of their wonderful scholarships and it was $81k. And she loved Charleston most of all schools so all in all it worked out…at least for four years.
For my son, Purdue. Why didn’t he go ? He says housing. My guess is that while it played a part, it was more distance to mom and that I visit Tuscaloosa for work. But after attending a camp at Purdue he was enthralled with the school. So that one got away.
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For us it was University of South Carolina. It was our kid’s second choice, and a very close runner up. The letter she wrote to them declining their offer included “I’ll always wonder what if SC.”
They wrote her back that they would hold her acceptance and (huge) scholarship for a full year in case her first choice didn’t work out and she wanted to transfer to SC.
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My S22 was sold on his first choice since November, but his visit to the University of San Diego in March made him think long and hard. Beautiful campus, great weather, ocean 10 minutes away, so much to do in and around SD.
He is happy where he is at and it is the right spot for him, but he still thinks about his runner up sometimes.
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Our S was accepted to many of the schools he applied to. In the end it came down to Stanford and CMU SCS. He chose Stanford and it was a great school for him. I do still have fond memories of touring CMU with him - lots of great things coming out of that school too.
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I was disappointed my kid didn’t choose Oxford, particularly when her school ended up shutting down for a semester and Oxford stayed open. A professor there offered to facilitate a transfer but she wouldn’t budge.
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^
A few years ago I was able to spend about 6 months at Oxford doing research for my dissertation. Such a beautiful place with so much history! The students are very fortunate.
Denison really won us over at their Admitted Students event and we have a great friend who is a professor there. I am happy that we know two wonderful student-athletes who have committed there for next fall.
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Lehigh. H and I loved the campus and we had great interactions with students and ad coms. I loved their entrepreneurship minor too.
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Tulane. Tulane was my 2024 daughter’s first choice. She was fortunate to get accepted and we were all very excited. The school was very welcoming and unique. We loved New Orleans and could not wait for her to attend so we could visit her. They gave her a good amount of merit. We were the last group to go to the admitted student day right before everything was canceled. We even put a deposit down. However COVID hit and everything changed. There was a lot of uncertainties - Online classes, economy, no family in New Orleans, possible tuition increases, paying a lot for online classes, etc…She chose to go to UF.
She is now a junior and is doing well at UF. She has moved on from her Tulane disappointment (although she made the final decision to attend UF versus Tulane in lieu of the uncertainties - We gave her the choice).
We are rooting for the football team and will always be loyal to Tulane for their generosity.
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I definitely have a soft spot for Clark U. It was the only college we visited (visited toooo many, at least 30 by now) that had an intro session with a student panel. The kids seemed intelligent, relaxed, friendly, genuine and a bit alternative. They offered my daughter a great scholarship, but she ultimately felt it wasn’t right for her. I still think she would have had a good experience.
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Can I say two? Both Davidson and Wake Forest still hold soft spots in my heart.
S liked both of them a great deal (and was accepted to both) but….he visited D and WF PRIOR to visiting GW.
And once S walked the streets of downtown DC while touring GW he immediately fell in love and has never looked back. (And didn’t even apply to the other DC schools American and GU bc he wanted to be in the heart of DC.)
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University of Florida. Really wanted a Gator, she didn’t want a plane ride. Went to UMD instead and loved it.
Now I’m in Round 2. Child applied, but won’t be accepted. Not getting my Gator.
Way back in the day, my parents tried to get me to go, but no way. Said they would buy me a car because it was much cheaper.
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Although we aren’t even at the end of the decision process with S23 we already have one that got away. WPI was a last-minute visit as S23 doesn’t intend to go to school in New England, let alone 20 minutes from our house, but it checked a lot of boxes and was an easy tour to take. Both S23 and I fell in love with everything about it. It actually made it high up onto the list until S23 decided not to go into engineering. We still compare almost everything we see to WPI and how student-centered it was.
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Go Gators! My daughter was accepted at UMD as well (class of 2024), but we never got to visit due to COVID. That school also checked all the boxes for her on paper. My 3rd child is applying now so I am hoping that we will have good news and we get an admitted student visit.
My second child was accepted to Tulane last year (class of 2026), but he chose ND instead. I have one more child who is a freshman in high school. There is still hope for Tulane 
I can empathize.
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For my D17 it was Smith that came in as runner up and I’m always happy to recommend the school whenever it comes up in conversation or if people are looking at women’s colleges. They sent my D an early write and she got a STRIDE scholarship, and Northampton has many charms as a college town. We were pretty sure it was where D17 was going right up until Hamilton accepted student day, which changed her mind.
This year, I actually have pretty warm feelings about every single program D23 applied to - this is going to be an interesting thread to come back to in May!
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Hamilton. My daughter applied ED1 there and was deferred. After a few additional late visits she fell in love with another, and ended up applying ED2 to Kenyon. She took a few days to make the decision to do ED2 instead of waiting to see the outcome of RD with Hamilton. Once she did she never looked back. She went to Kenyon and had a phenomenal four years. I’m the one who thinks of Hamilton as the one that got away. I bet I’d be writing this about Kenyon though, if she had gone to Hamilton. I love them both! They were my two favorites of the dozen or so schools she looked at.
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For me the school I fell in love with was Agnes Scott, we never visited but attended a ton of online events. Everything I saw and heard was amazing, innovative programs, friendliness, inclusiveness and the mission to empower women. It’s a fit school though and would have been a terrible fit for my D22. My next child is a son, so it’s not in the cards. I’m still joking that I might apply there for a job some day.
D22 landed exactly where she needed to be. So far Tulane is a great fit, roll wave, amazing game today! For her the one that got away was Lehigh, we had to cancel our visit for accepted students day and in the end the money didn’t work out anyway. But if we are ever in the area we will probably go and still take a look around.
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We did a family trip over Thanksgiving to University of Arizona last year, including their residential honors college, and absolutely loved everything about it. It certainly helped that they gave a very attractive OOS merit package as that is what spurred us to visit. Came home thinking DD had found ‘the one.’
When decision time came, she decided on in-state option, which as a parent was comforting since she’s now just a few hours away. She is very happy and it was absolutely the best choice for her, still there are not enough positive things I could say about the overall vibe at Arizona.
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