I liked the Reed info session, too. It was much more informative than most I have been to – but partly because Reed has some differences in approach from every other school we have visited.
Note to those in charge of campus tours: We can see the OUTSIDE of the buildings on campus in your virtual tour. We schlepped all this way so that we could see the insides. If you are just going to show us the outside we will leave midway and my kid will likely cross you off the list. Yep I’m talking to you Northwesten and JHU
@happymomof1 , my youngest is currently a freshman at Towson, which is a school we never actually toured formally…we visited the department she is a major in.
She pretty much chose it because of the location and proximity to home , but she is beginning to be comfortable there. The campus is pretty decent with a lot of amenities.
It isn’t the most comfortable place for OOS students since most of the people there are from the surrounding area …
The friends she has become close with are mostly from our home state of NJ
Reed’s info session was the best of all that we attended. However, our tour guide struggled. I will just leave it at that. We stayed because the info session was so great and it was too small of a group to leave the tour.
“do the colleges ask you and other college counselors for feedback at all?”
Sometimes. Typically not the ones who need the advice the most…
There are lots of schools that do an outstanding job. Ohio State stood out for having a gigantic staff (both professionals and students) where every single person was great at their job. I was impressed with both the freshman and transfer offices at the University of Minnesota. Warren Wilson College, University of Tampa, Landmark, all standouts.
We were bored on the Stanford tour. The campus is huge and rather than staying in the core area we wandered far and wide and got exhausted. We stuck it out though, my son and husband were fascinated by the tour guide who walked backwards the whole time, going around k-rails, fountains, trees, etc. and never skipping a beat. I still wonder if he had eyes in the back of his head!
I was sick at our tour of Mass College of Liberal Arts and it was freezing rain in February, so I bugged out, but D stuck with it. The kids were extremely friendly. Next day I left D to do a tour of UConn by herself while I went to the minute clinic at CVS 20 miles away. It was her first tour alone, which I was glad she was able to do.
We left Boston College before the tour. All the kids in the info session student panel were white girls with headbands and all the pictures and statues were of white men. The architecture was too church-like, the weather was again cold and rainy. D could tell it wasn’t for her.
In general we loved the tours. The info sessions were all the same. All the schools have research opportunities for undergrads, small student to faculty ratios, study abroad opportunities, community outreach, close relationships with faculty, excellent advising, and Quidditch teams.
We did ditch one tour group to join a different tour group once. We just couldn’t hear anything the first one was saying, too many “chose” her so the group was large…it was one of the setups where you could choose your guide by their major. When they got close to each other at one landmark, we made our move. I still remember D and i laughing about that 
Quidditch, yes. Time to take that off the list of things that make a given college “unique.”
We slipped out of Holy Cross. While in the library, the tour guide mentioned that it wasn’t air conditioned. My mom, who’s a librarian, said something along the lines of “but the stacks are air conditioned, right?” and the tour guide said “Nope!”. I didn’t like the school much anyway, and the completely shell-shocked, horrified look on my mother’s face sealed the deal. On the drive out, my mom made several wrong turns while muttering about the condition the poor books must be in.
@motherofdragons that is exactly what we did…and it was perfect…
We did not slip out on any of the tours. And there were many.
Not sure if we were lucky, if we are easy to entertain or we are fools.
@FireflyLights How horrifying!
@lje62, we toured Bloomsburg with my dtr & she loved it! Loved the campus, the tour & she got into their honors program. Only thing she didn’t like about it was that it was 3 1/2 hrs away.
Hanna, we thought also that Ohio State hit it out of the ballpark in admissions. Really well done. Their engineering tour was equally impressive.
Also when my S was trying to decide at the last minute between OSU and another school and talked to the department head of his major, he offered S an additional $1000 scholarship. We were impressed.
BTW, he picked the other school. But OSU was a close second.
@deb922 Totally agree. OSU’s admissions events are very well put together. I went to their Fisher accepted students day and the speakers were engaging, the example classes interesting, and the food was really excellent. Unfortunately financial aid didn’t come through, so I won’t be attending but they definitely did a great job selling their school!
Another vote for Ohio State. We drove in the day before our tour and I had a headache. We drove around to try to get our bearings for the next day My son already had another school as a top choice. I hated driving around and just wanted to get rid of my headache. I woke up the next morning with a REALLY bad attitude and just wanted to get it over with. I was already planning my escape. I figured no one was going to make me like it. Fast forward. LOVED all the people. LOVED our tour. LOVED the school. My son Beamed the entire time and announced this is my first choice. Went back for an admitted students day and tour and it was just as good. He is currently at Ohio State and couldn’t be happier. Advice: park the car and don’t try to drive around campus.
My second child is a senior and we have done several college visits and I find that I keep comparing to the tours at Ohio State
S2’s 1st tour and info session was EXCELLENT and focused, despite the miserable freezing rain. Now we find ourselves comparing other schools to that experience, and they’re really coming up short,. Some schools we like in spite of the crumminess of the admissions office spiel.
@jcort1 , I am glad that your daughter enjoyed Bloomsburg…It wasn’t right for my daughter. We did have a terrible tour but and the program itself seemed lacking compared to the others we visited. We know a few local girls who go there and love it !
@GMTplus7 Sometimes we found that less polished and slick seemed more genuine and honest.