D21 had 7 schools that said yes but Davidson was the one she almost attended and it is such an amazing school! She would have had a great experience there…but she is having a fabulous time where she is, too!
Luckily D23 is applying so we could still be a Davidson family.
Others for us as parents that were loved a lot and a little tough to see her turn down: William &Mary for me, BC for dad. We still have the acceptance shirts/gear around the house.
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My oldest was heading to Dartmouth until the admitted students weekend which he really hated! To me it seemed like Hogwarts and a dream school!
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My D23 got into both Mount Holyoke & Sarah Lawrence with enormous merit scholarships but chose to stay closer to home and pursue a course of studies better suited to where she is at now. In retrospect given the pandemic it all worked for the best with her attending a Uni much closer to home. But I can’t help thinking she would have loved the open self directed curriculum at SLC or the close knit community feel of MH and the traditions at either school.
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Earlham! Everything about the place was so student-centric and I have been really impressed with all the grads I’ve met. Uniformly thoughtful, kind people. It was too similar to my kid’s high school for him.
I remain a fan of Bates, and my kid was a hair away from landing there.
Also loved Union. Lots of little things that were different from most. I think my kid would have had a great experience here. And I think my spouse would have had a great experience at Bard!
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I really liked what I read about schools like Case Western, Colorado School of Mines, WPI and a few others. They seem much more hands-on but DS was just not interested.
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Williams, Pomona, Amherst and Dartmouth. We targeted colleges that are undergrad focused with smaller LAC-like environment that met both academic quality and extracurricular opportunities. My son would have been very happy with any of these four.
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I really liked Agnes Scott when we visited there. Beautiful campus in Decatur and walkable to lots of shops, restaurants, book store, etc. Gorgeous old buildings. Liked the vibe and the programs they have going on.
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For us, it’s probably Willamette. I didn’t go to the admitted students’ day but D22, D26, and DH did and all three felt so positive about it! My D22, who is quite introverted, connected with a couple of girls and they are still in touch on social media. We also have a family friend who just graduated this past spring who adored her four years there. Downsides are Salem and the fact that the school is so small, so I don’t know if D26 will apply. But the campus was beautiful and the people warm and welcoming. D greatly enjoyed her mock class also. I will always wonder about what D22’s experience would have been like at a small LAC, but instead she chose DePaul.
Another one I will always wonder about is UVM. We never got to visit because D22 decided it was too hard to get there from the West Coast.
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Another Agnes Scott fan here. I have 2 daughters and had 2 chances, both applied, were accepted, we visited the gorgeous campus… but no dice. 
You are right @trops that it’s a fit school and my girls were probably right that it wasn’t the right fit for them. But man, it was the school that always made me wish I could do it all over again (except 18 yo me wouldn’t have picked it either, sigh)
Our youngest had a tight race in the final 3, and she is very happy where she is so I have no complaints, but I did have a soft spot for the others as well, Knox and Hendrix are great schools that don’t get a lot of chatter. I would have been super happy if she had chosen either of them.
Just not as happy as if she had chosen Agnes Scott 
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College of Wooster for S21.
We attended an Open House that was incredibly well done - lots of panels of different types so we heard from staff, faculty, students, community members. Campus was beautiful and surpassed expectations. The way they talked about their culture including the “prepare for, not weed out” approach really resonated with us. In the end, S21 chose a place that fit him better in some ways, but he and my husband and I all really found a lot to love about Wooster (which we had never heard of before S21’s college search). I would have loved for D23 to have it on her list, but they don’t offer all the academic programs she’s interested in…remains to be seen what schools will be the one(s) that got away for her, but I expect there will be multiple as I love quite a few on her list.
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Great idea for a thread @fiftyfifty1 and @1822mom.
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I personally loved Babson but my son is graduating HS with 64 college credits and an associates degree. Babson won’t disclose which college credits will transfer until after you’ve been accepted and commit. Not worth the risk, so my son didn’t even consider Babson (I don’t blame him) and he loved NEU so applied ED. NEU has a database of classes from the 2 year college he attended and we know going in what will transfer. BU offers the same thing and is my son’s backup choice. I suspect he still would have chosen NEU even if we knew which credits would transfer to Babson. He feels certain he wants to come home on weekends, so schools outside of New England weren’t considered.
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My favorite campus visits were at Lawrence U (D13) and U of Rochester (D17). Each accepted the respective kid with merit, but didn’t make the final cut. I can’t be truly regretful as the travel to both (from the SF Bay Area) would’ve been pretty rough, but I kind of wanted to go back in time and attend one of these schools myself 
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Me too!
If I’d even been aware of it back in the day, I think I’d have loved Wesleyan. It seemed a bit ramshackle and cool at the same time. My D had no interest, probably because she is almost sports-phobic and didn’t love the athletic field in the middle of campus. Sports isn’t my thing either, but I continue to feel that Wesleyan would have been perfect for me.
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Me three. We saw Bowdoin and I was like - if I’d seen this, things would have been different (DS wanted nothing to do with it).
For DS22, I still think about Case Western and Purdue, partially due to finances. He’s at Duke and very happy but I just loved Cleveland and Case. He got a lovely financial offer, but it was just not enough to make him choose it over Duke. DS24 also liked Case so there’s hope. And Purdue was the big surprise to me. Despite the size, it felt really interesting/exciting. He was in the honors program where the dorm is amazing. I think he’d have found “his people” a little easier being in an honors dorm. But he was a little afraid that if he dropped engineering, he would most likely want to transfer and he didn’t want to set himself up for that (not sure this was rational, but it was how he felt). Both schools we went to admitted students programs and both did fabulous jobs. It would have come down to one of the two of them if Duke hadn’t come through (it came through while we were in Cleveland, ironically).
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Yes, WPI was on the short list for both kids. There is so much to love there. I wanted to go!
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My D23 was accepted at Boston University and seriously considered going there until her other acceptances came through. It took away her stress of waiting. I had even bought her a bright red Boston U sweatshirt that she never wore, but I still fondly wear it. 
She is a senior at Barnard College of Columbia University this year.
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Kenyon is the one that got away. I loved its emphasis on writing, gorgeous campus, rural beauty, and close knit community. It was in my daughter’s final 3. I loved it so much and thought it would have been perfect for her. She chose a totally different but also amazing path. She still teases me about my love for that school!
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Davidson! H and I agreed that we wished we could go to school there. It just wasn’t what D wanted, but we loved it.
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University of Miami for my daughter (she loved it, got a great scholarship, but she had to stay closer to NYC for medical reasons)
Ball State or Appalachian State for my son… or anywhere but Rutgers, where he decided to go. I just personally have a thing against Rutgers… and I don’t feel like he’s getting very much of a college experience at all (just too big, spread out, too many buses, and they’re just not very helpful… and the “RU Screw” of course).
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