<p>More than 60% girls (unless it’s all-girls, I’d be okay with that)
A very religious school (whether it’s affiliated or has a majority of one sect)
Football. It’s okay to have a team, but schools are for learning
Party schools
Super liberal or super conservative schools
Big schools with big classes
And then the normal stuff (not having my major, being outlandishly expensive, etc.)</p>
<p>My child crossed off schools with one of the following conditions:
(1) There is a predominant religious influence on the campus (like BYU, Brandeis, Notre Dame).
(2) The conservatory students count as a significant percentage of the student body (like Oberlin)
(3) Too much Greek life.
(4) With 20% or more students who do not live on campus.
(5) Large schools with more than 8,000 students
(6) Schools with weak science programs
(7) Too much emphasis on sports and too much money spent on coaches and athletes.
(8) Classes are too big or taught by TAs.
(9) A too competitive atmosphere
(10) Too many snobbish students
(11) Too many Caucasian students (like 75% or more)
(12) Too much emphasis on LGBT stuff.
As a parent, the schools I first crossed off are those that do not meet 100% financial need, which leaves few choices that also meet my DS’s criteria.</p>
<p>Coconutcake’s post #31 covers all the details of an undesirable college environment. I hope this is a compilation of different colleges you know, not based on a particular college.</p>
<ol>
<li>Majors. If they don’t have ANY of the majors I am interested in, I cross it off</li>
<li>Graduation rate</li>
<li>If a school is in the middle of nowhere, I can’t deal with that. I need city space</li>
</ol>
<p>1) Too athletic, unless is an in-state public.
2) Weak CS program or not well-known.
3) Too religious or conservative.
4) Away from the East Coast, unless it had strong CS programs.
5) Insanely hard to get in, unless it had strong CS programs.
6) Party schools.
7) Too many males, except for certain situations.</p>
<p>That’s about it.</p>
<ol>
<li>Conservative campus</li>
<li>Widespread racism/sexism/homophobia</li>
<li>Location</li>
<li>Appearance of campus</li>
<li>Prevalent Greek system</li>
<li>Doesn’t provide need-based aid</li>
<li>Doesn’t have concentration</li>
</ol>
<p>-Weak liberal arts programs
-Weak computer science programs
-Rural campuses
-Single sex colleges
-Poor financial aid
-Commuter campus
-Extreme religious influence, i.e. BYU</p>
<p>Here are some things that would really turn me off:</p>
<h1>1. Too small of a student population (Nothing under 15,000 undergrads)</h1>
<h1>2. No football team</h1>
<h1>3. No NCAA D1 sports</h1>
<h1>4. Too small of a college campus (This is why I love Penn State and Maryland)</h1>
<h1>5. No prevailing party scene</h1>
<h1>6. Small Greek Life participation</h1>
<h1>7. An ugly campus (I don’t like a campus with mostly old buildings; the only exceptions are Maryland and UGA)</h1>
<h1>8. Lack of girls</h1>
<h1>9. Lack of diversity</h1>
<h1>10. Any college too far away from the East Coast (I was born and raised in Philadelphia)</h1>
<h1>11. Any type of LAC</h1>
<h1>12. Lack of student organizations</h1>
<h1>13. Too far from an urban area (Example: I love Penn State, but it’s too far away from cities like Philadelphia)</h1>
<h1>14. Crappy dorms</h1>
<p>Things that I wouldn’t like, but wouldn’t make me cross the college off the list:</p>
<h1>1. No Wawa’s nearby (I can’t live without my Wawa)</h1>
<h1>2. Lack of Philly food (Cheesesteaks, Krispy Kremes, Philly Soft Pretzels, etc)</h1>
<h1>3. Lack of Philly sports being broadcasted (GO PHILLIES!)</h1>
<ol>
<li>Large student body (Sorry, University of Washington–40k is a bit much)</li>
<li>Weather (I despise the rain/cold)</li>
<li>must have a roughly 1:1 male female ratio</li>
<li>Religious influence</li>
</ol>
<p>Pretty much any of these would cross a school off my list. I don’t really think I could negotiate any of these:</p>
<ol>
<li>Lack of an strong art dept</li>
<li>Lack of artistic (visual and musical) opportunities</li>
<li>Lack of financial assistance</li>
<li>Not in an urban area</li>
<li>Overly conservative area/school</li>
<li>Not near a large body of water e.g. ocean or great lakes (grew up on the coast and I need my water access haha)</li>
<li>Lack of hills/mountains/forests/nature in general</li>
<li>Lack of crunchy granola liberal community</li>
<li>An all-women’s school</li>
<li>Near my father (except for one safety, but I’m only applying there because I got a fee waiver and it’s a UC, so I just had to check another box, and it meets all the other criteria really strongly)</li>
</ol>
<p>Wow, looking back on these criteria I look like a total hippie, but I still really agree with them.</p>
<p>Dealbreakers:
No Chabad (That’s definitely just me… someone above me mentioned Hillel, though)
Bad psychology/premed department
Rural (suburbia MAYBE, as long as it’s within shouting distance of a city)
Major party school
Greek
Overly crunchy (as in unaccepting of chewies 
)
Too small (should ideally be more than 2k)
No merit aid/scholarships
Either a very intellectual college or a very intellectual honors college within a college</p>
<p>Turnoff, but not absolutely terrible:
Way more guys than girls
Suburban college town (I’m not a partier, so it would probably be pretty boring…)
Tiny/gross campus</p>
<p>Why is everyone hating on all-women’s colleges? One of my favorite colleges is girls only!</p>
<p>Cost
Area
Distance from home
Bad school
Doesn’t offer my major</p>
<p>Really I have 3 that make a school an automatic no. Other than that everything is fair game. They are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Major</li>
<li>Net Price (affordable)</li>
<li>Location (anywhere outside my home state)</li>
</ol>
<p>Everything else is just play into the rankings ;)</p>
<p>It seems that most people do not like schools located in a rural place, but many elite colleges are in small towns or in the middle o nowhere. Does location really count that much to so many students? What is the main purpose of college education?</p>
<p>High crime rate on/around campus was a deal breaker for me.</p>
<ol>
<li>Predominant Greek life </li>
<li>Bad need-based aid after running NPC</li>
<li>Too conservative/preppy</li>
<li>Religiously affiliated/considerable religious influence (e.g. Notre Dame)</li>
<li>Anywhere where it’s hot all year</li>
<li>Ugly campus</li>
<li>Commuter school</li>
<li>No central campus or quad (i.e. college blends in with the city; e.g. NYU, UTA)</li>
<li>STEM-heavy school (e.g. MIT, Caltech, RPI, Harvey Mudd)</li>
<li>Party schools</li>
<li>Any school larger than about 15,000 undergrads</li>
<li>Lack of interesting courses</li>
<li>Doesn’t support LGBQ groups</li>
<li>Skewed gender ratio</li>
<li>Lack of intramurals</li>
<li>Way too rural</li>
<li>Homogeneous student culture or little socioeconomic diversity (I’ll cut LACs some slack, but not schools like SMU)</li>
</ol>
<p>didn’t offer major(s)
wouldn’t let me pursue both majors
lots of partying/drinking
middle of nowhere (I already live there!)
no public transit (I already deal with that!)
is an Ivy, MIT or Stanford
library would be under renovation when I’m enrolled
doesn’t ever snow in that climate/ is above 10 C on a regular basis in winter
not tolerant of liberals</p>
<p>I would say little merit aid, but one of the schools I applied to have next to none (though I did apply because my mom really wanted me to and I though I would feel ok going there)</p>
<p>Non-availability of aid is pretty much my main dealbreaker</p>
<p>I would absolutely detest going to an all girls school. Most of my friends are guys and it would be the worst to be surrounded by girls 24/7. I know there are people who feel differently but I would hate it. Most of the schools I’m applying to are close to 60% girls which is bad enough!</p>
<p>For those who say that lack of need or merit aid is a deal breaker, do you really mean that, or do you really mean that net cost has to be affordable?</p>
<p>For example, a $60,000 school with $30,000 in need or merit aid grants for you costs the same as a $30,000 school, even though the latter is offering no aid.</p>