In my previous post about our USC tour, I failed to mention the $12 for parking. No passes there.
I think we had to pay for parking at JHU in their ramp, too. It did not endear them to me, but my kid did not care. 
I can see paying for parking at urban schools where parking is scarce. On the other hand, paying for parking at UCF, which is surrounded by fields and has many, many empty parking lots, was a real slap in the face and turned us off to the school from the start!
@thermom Oh believe me substance use was a huge turn off. Earlham was one of my top three schools, but within a few hours of being there I wanted to leave. Unfortunately the college was paying for my flight so I couldn’t 
I am going to be letting the college know about that as I’m sure the admissions office does not want their tour guides talking about drinking/drugs!
Good luck on your tours!!
WUSTL is actually right across the street from Forest Park, which is a wonderful place. The surrounding neighborhood is also very nice. We really enjoyed the tour, and everyone we met was so friendly, kind and helpful. My D is a very happy freshman there.
Bowdoin. It was so small I felt like I was in a closet.
Actually @mjrube94, I believe whole-heartedly that Morris College is the most depressing school ever. Everyone that went was excited at first, but then we were just looking forward to the trip to McDonald’s afterwards.
The worst:
Pomona: Our guide kept telling us how everyone loves Pomona. Everything was amazing. I think he used that word and the word ‘awesome’ about 50 times. I also almost choked when the same tour guide said one of the best things about Pomona is that it is easy to get into LA. In the next sentence, he said Pomona was better than UCLA as it isn’t in LA!
Claremont McKenna: subjected us to a torture session, “death by Powerpoint”.
Georgetown: tour guide made constant comparisons to Harvard. That said, my niece said the guys were the nicest dressed she had seen. She said they looked like they had stepped out of a J Crew catalog.
Kenyon: Nice if you want to go to college on a farm. Kept expecting a cow to walk across the campus.
NYU: Never really figured out where the university was. Every building looked like an office building.
The best…
Wellesley: if only because it is stunningly beautiful. Wow.
Michigan: Niece loved Ann Arbor, It was spring and people were everywhere. It felt alive and very Bohemian.
@widgetmidget Lol, we toured Pomona more than three years ago and both of my kids still talk about the tour guide who way overused the word “quirky.” They both wanted to run away screaming.
@1518mom Glad to hear it. Other people do nothing but sing Pomona’s praises but I honestly don’t know why (other than that the campus is nice and the weather in SoCal is beautiful).
WUSTL neighborhood “nasty”? I should only be so lucky as to live in the subdivisions with million dollar homes that line the one side and are home to lots of St Louis old money, of which there is considerable. Or dine regularly in the upscale restaurants of downtown Clayton, or stay at the Ritz that’s close to campus. If that neighborhood is nasty, you must think NU is in the ghetto!
Early on, D had a hunch she’d prefer a larger school. We hit the road spring break of junior year HS to see some representative campuses not too far from home. U of Iowa for large public, Augustana College for small LAC.
At the Augustana tour, the tour guide, bless her heart, kept saying things to emphasize the small size and intimate feeling of Augustana. She’d take us into a small classroom and exclaim, “See?! This classroom will NOT be full. At most, you’re going to have 12 or 15 students in here! Probably LESS!”
I looked over at D, and she put her hand to her throat and quietly made a choking sound. The tour guide said some other unintentionally funny things to us that day, but I can’t remember them now. She single-handedly confirmed to D that a small LAC was NOT for her.
On the same tour, as we were walking along a lovely ravine path on the Augustana campus with the group, another parent engaged us in conversation. She was telling us that there was no way their daughter was going to U of Iowa. So and so had told her, firmly, that U of Iowa is no place for a young girl. If you care about your girls, do not send them to U of Iowa! They were headed to this school and that school to visit next. Where are you all headed?
“Uh…University of Iowa…”
Another very funny moment.
Kent Barnds of Admissions at Augustana gave one of the most entertaining, funny, presentations about application essays. He was terrific!
For sure, Augustana was the best tour of a school that was not a match for D.
@widgetmidget “I kept expecting a cow to walk across campus” oh my gosh I am laughing so hard
I agree with those who take exception to WUSTL’s neighborhood being “nasty”. Both my boys spent four years each at that school and truly loved every minute. They never had a problem with the neighborhood. And they were raised in the suburbs and were not “street smart”. Advice: take another look.
We were in Virginia and so decided to visit Liberty University just to say we did. Remember the Stepford Wives? This was like that but for college students. We were so unnerved that we didn’t even take the tour. The day after we visited, the President of Liberty University said he wanted all the students to get concealed carry permits as he said this would make the campus safer…
@annana I think we visited Kenyon. It’s the one in Gambier, Ohio, right? We did pass a lot of farms on the way, so a stray cow isn’t beyond the realm of the possible.
“Kept expecting a cow to walk across the campus [at Kenyon].” (#227)
I’d pay extra for that.
LOL @midwest67!
I like the Kenyon campus. This thread has degraded somewhat. It is okay if you had a bad interaction or reason that was a turnoff for you or your kid, but remember that other students out here attend those schools. Consider that maybe it wasn’t a fit for you, but is for someone else. Just… be a little nicer.
Such a great thread! We didn’t sneak away but we had a funny experience touring BU. Our tour guide was very animated and excited about taking us around. In the middle of the tour some type of bug (nothing life threatening) landed on his shoulder. He flipped out and just took off running down the sidewalk. He circled back apologizing profusely and explaining that he was afraid of bugs. It was a very funny moment for everyone there but for the rest of the tour I could not get the image of him running down the sidewalk out of my mind. I could’t keep it together and giggled through the rest of the tour.