<p>My daughter and I visited NAU last week for their campus tour from 9am-2pm. People on our tour were from Reno, Phoenix, Tucson, Los Angeles, and San Diego.</p>
<p>9am-10:15am: They started us with a presentation on the school with the normal stuff presented by a recent graduate. </p>
<p>10:15am-10:30am: We were already in one of the halls so the group visited one of the dorms</p>
<p>10:30-11:30am (the rest of the group went until noon): did a campus tour with a tour guide</p>
<p>11:30am-Noon: My daughter and I broke off from the main group and did a tour of the honors program</p>
<p>Noon-12:45pm: lunch in the student union</p>
<p>12:45-2pm: People went to visit an academic advisor for their area of interest</p>
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<p>BASIC FACTS: Flagstaff, Arizona; 7,000 elevation; 4 seasons; 100" of snow on average; NAU has 18,000 undergrads and 5,000 grad students; 67% in-state and 33% OOS; 60% women and 40% men; 65% white ... a fairly diverse school; 65% of apps are admitted; 3.0 average or Top 25% in high school to get in.</p>
<p>My daughter and I regrouped after the visit and came to these impressions:</p>
<p>1) HOUSING - this is a residential school; you can choose your own roommate; 2 people per dorm; 1 all male and 3 all female dorms; 8 freshman dorms; freshman dorms have a community bathroom for each floor; dorms are decent size, we were actually impressed; sinks in the room; laundry facilities on site with a neat computer/text based process to let you know when a washer/dryer is available and a text to let you know when laundry is done; coed dorms are separated by floors (i.e. girls on one floor and boys on another floor).</p>
<p>2) ON-CAMPUS FOOD OPTIONS: 25 restaurants are on campus; food was good; all freshman must have a meal plan; coffee shop in the library; food is available until 2am.</p>
<p>3) ACTIVITIES: brand new 240,000 sq ft rec center is will be ready in July 2011 (versus current 40,000 sq ft center); $3 movie nights with free popcorn and drinks; shuttle to ski resort that is 30 minutes away; Las Vegas is 3 hours away; Phoenix is 2 hours away; lots of hiking and outdoor activities; intramural sports; casino nights; concerts; Grand Canyon is 90 minutes away.</p>
<p>4) CAMPUS: trees, 4 seasons, very pretty campus, 13,000 ft peaks within 30 minutes from campus, clean air, Flagstaff is a college town ... close relationship between NAU and Flagstaff; lots of off-campus food and shopping available; Dome Stadium holds about 11,000 people for football, hockey and basketball games; WiFi throughout campus; Library is good size and active ... condusive to study; Campus Bus loops around campus every 3-5 minutes so easy to get around plus biking is big option there.</p>
<p>5) SAFETY/SECURITY: Has call boxes throughout campus; blue light boxes that call 911/security when picked up, campus ID gets you into locked dorm rooms. Has program where you call to have someone walk you to car or dorm for safety.</p>
<p>OVERALL: we were very impressed with NAU and it set a high baseline for the other schools we'll visit. It's a cost effective school and part of the Western Undergraduate Exchange, which gives western out-of-state kids the tuition at 150% of the instate price. The overall vibe was good and relaxed. I did notice an absence of the "jocks" that are probably attending Arizona State or University of Arizona. NAU kids seem to set their own path and desire to get away from home ... they want to be independent. The weather is cold from mid-November through March but we live in Phoenix so my daughter wanted out of the heat. Though we'll visit some OOS schools, I would not be at all surprised to see her end up at NAU. </p>
<p>I hope this helps ... feel free to ask questions if you like and I'll do the best to answer. Also, I left the academic stuff out ... I wanted to give you a feel for the campus visit.</p>
<p>Good luck to all!!</p>