Say Some Nice Things About Colleges You Did not Choose (inspired from Calliemom)

College Search & Lists
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Calliemom started a terrific positive thread honoring the prep schools that her family loved but didn’t choose. I thought a college thread on the same subject would be great. If a thread like this already exists moderators then please merge or let me know this is a duplicate.

I am happy to start.

UT.
Top 20 (maybe higher) school. Wonderful sports, well known for business, sciences and many others. Fun town. Just not a fit for our D

Texas A&M
Oh my goodness… fantastic kids attend this school! Polite, kind, love the conservative vibe. This is a school that is becoming increasingly difficult to get in to. D loved it… just too large for her.

Trinity (San Antonio). This is a hidden gem LAC in Texas. We toured about 20 schools and they had the best dorms for freshmen hands down. They give terrific merit, San Antonio is fun. For my D, a little too artsy and too small. (She graduated from a huge TX high school that was about the same size).

SMU
Gorgeous campus in a terrific part of Dallas with great connections. They give great merit aid. Terrific business school. We are not at all an anti-greek family. I was in a sorority and H was in a fraternity so we are totally good with Greek life. D wasn’t sure If that was her lane and it is fairly prevalent at SMU… in no way a diss… Just our own D’s preference.

TCU
Loved, loved, loved this school. Stunning campus, Ft. Worth is a fun town. Beautifully manicured grounds, this was D’s neck and neck school Baylor. We all loved it… We toured 6 times. They give terrific merit and have the honors college down pat.

Let’s celebrate all of the great school our kids considered even if they didn’t end up attending!

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Pomona - my kid absolutely loved everything about it. It is beautiful and seems very friendly. It was her first choice initially, but since she was matched with Midd, she ended up there, and isn’t sorry (since it is likely a much better fit). Her good friend who attends Pomona has only good things to say about it

Harvey Mudd - another place my kid visited and loved. Their workshops and labs are absolutely amazing, and the kids seemed geeky and friendly and fun. They don’t have her majors or minor, so it was dropped off her list, but I would recommend it for students who are interested in physics or engineering as a match for any other college of university out there

Cornell - my kid also visited there and was really impressed with almost everything she saw - from the faculty, the classes on which she sat in, the students she met, and she really liked the campus.

MIT - my kid also loved their faculty and people, though she never considered it seriously for the same reason that HMC wasn’t on the list. I met some undergraduate students from MIT who were part of joint research project with my wife in Africa. Aside from the general great impression I got from them, and the fact that they treated my then 12 year old daughter wonderfully, their maturity was amazing, and man, they were bright. These students, at least, were everything that MIT boasts about their students.