<p>From my daughter’s experience a year ago, I would comment on the follow up the students receive after they are admitted. The results were a surprise for me. She was admitted to Yale along with a number of other LAC’s like Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Amherst. We received an invite to a local admitted students gathering to a few of the schools, Yale and Amherst most notably. But contrary to what I expected it was Yale that followed up with her the most. An alumni rep in the area called her, talked to me one day for about an hour, emailed her with a lot of information and an open invitation to ask questions. Her admissions letter included a personal notation from the admissions rep from our area (although a couple of her other letters did too) and her local alumni interviewer called her to say congratulations on her acceptance. The smaller LAC’s that I thought would want to do a lot of follow up given that she was a top student and likely courted by a number of schools, never followed up with her at all.</p>
<p>We saw several schools and had pretty favorable experiences with all of them. It is normal to base one’s experience with the school on the info session and tour guide but try to go beyond that because that is just a small sample.</p>
<p>I’m international so actually didn’t visit many colleges, but of the ones I did:</p>
<p>Best: Mount Holyoke
We all got little water-bottles and umbrellas, the lady taking us around was really interested in everyone, my interviewer sent me a handwritten note after my interview which was really sweet and actually personal. In fact, when my dad had trouble finding the place they came out and got us and held the tour for us. Best experience ever.</p>
<p>Worst: Tufts
The tour guide was really unprofessional, she was wearing really sloppy clothes and was not interested in giving us a proper overview of the campus, just telling us her own stories. She would laugh at people’s questions on the tour (like, in a “are you stupid?” way, not a joking way). The information session was also really condescending. They’d say things like “well, if you’re applying to Tufts, I’m sure I don’t need to teach you how to use the internet”… I was just really put off by their attitude, which was a shame.</p>
<p>The absolute best is MIT’s. They’re extremely nice, helpful and answer their emails rather quickly. :)</p>
<p>Also, Williams’ is actually quite well too. Their admissions rep was helpful and gave advice rather bluntly. From my experience they answer their emails the fastest. On a side note their faculty response rather quickly also. </p>
<p>Ogletrope and New College were nice, efficient and proper. </p>
<p>Eh…for worst.
Rice - I got transfered 4 times to an automatic answering machine to “schedule” a contact with the regional rep for an interview. I did this twice 2 weeks after filling out the interview request. <em>shrugs</em> I just assumed that they didn’t have a rep where I live. They meant well but I would have liked a call telling me that an interview wasn’t possible.</p>
<p>UF - The adcom that visited was arrogant and well…not that informative, at all. :S</p>
<p>MIT - our tour guide was the best of all the places we went that whole trip (like 16, i think, was our end count… in a week!) he actually WALKED BACKWARDS DOWN STAIRS!!! </p>
<p>Harvard - pretentious, they all sat their like we’re the best, you wish you were us attitude</p>
<p>Yale - actually facebook friended the tour guide, very funny…</p>
<p>CMU - we toured it was ok-ish, i had my alumni interview with a fine arts grad who used to be a tour guide, i hated her, ok disliked her a lot… made me think if this is what CMU people are like, i don’t want to be you… still my top choice after a rejection from cornell… but STILL! ugg! she was talking all this trash about frank gehry and its not like she could do any better!! so who is she to say that his building suck? ya, thats what i thought!</p>
<p>rice - interviewer rocked! he offered to pay, i didn’t let him but he was so nice!</p>
<p>Marquette gets the highest marks from me. They make the kids really feel like they’re thrilled they came to check them out. Very friendly, nice presentations during info sessions and great tour, free t-shirts and lunch when you visit and sent all the applicants a Christmas card.</p>
<p>Also agree Wash U St Louis does a great job in the admissions office. Friendly and competent, they can always put their hands on anything you’ve sent them in like 30 seconds. They get that “school runs like butter” award on Princeton Review for good reason, because their competence runs past the admission office into the rest of the university (D is applying, older S is sophomore).</p>
<p>UVM, Johns Hopkins, Washington and Lee, Duke, Gettysburg, Elon, U Delaware, U Rochester, Lehigh, Case Western, Emory, Wake Forest, Georgetown all do a nice job.</p>
<p>UVA, U Maryland, U Miami Ohio, UNH very impersonal. </p>
<p>With William & Mary, step 1 is actually finding the place. They were the only admissions office in the 20+ visits we’ve done with our 3 kids that we couldn’t find on the first try. To be fair, I guess they had just moved the office. Next time I suggest they move the office and the signs at the same time :)</p>
<p>The people who say don’t judge the school by the admission tour are on target. We poke into things on our own before or after our tour and stop students at random and always find out great stuff.</p>
<p>Duke definitely has a great admissions team. Like someone has already mentioned, they are fast to respond to emails or calls and are generally very friendly and personable. I was also surprised that their regional admissions officers contact the students via email, something which no other college has done. This lets me know how seriously they take their job and it makes me feel good about myself altogether and makes me want to apply even more.</p>
<p>Yale’s tour guide was also very impressive - she was energetic the entire time, had a great sense of humor, and you could tell she was loving every bit of her experience at Yale.</p>
<p>MIT’s tour guide was also very friendly and helpful, but rather soft spoken so it was kind of hard to hear her in the large group. But overall she made the place seem very fun and inviting.</p>
<p>Harvard’s tour guide seemed bored… and a bit pretentious.</p>
<p>Fordham did a great job, inviting me to a special breakfast info session where they had a really nice continental style spread laid out. Unfortunately, the tour led into the dorms- I left then. x_X </p>
<p>As for worst, everything the Tufts admissions people did seemed to be apologetic about the school or had a “Second rate” mentality wreaking from it. I didn’t think that way going in, but I certainly felt that way after coming out…</p>
<p>dickinson was very nice…i got there one minute late and the group had just left. one of the admissions office ladies was gonna walk me to the info session, but two random students popped in and they did the job instead. </p>
<p>ursinus was probably the best by far…though the admissions office was a little small, the officer i interviewed with (erin) was so amazing…so was my tour guide. i met erin later again at a college fair for my school and she remembered my name. even greeted me like we were long lost friends. </p>
<p>swarthmore was fine. great tour guide, but quiet admissions office.</p>
<p>the upenn lady who did a session for philly kids only was really enthusiastic, so that was nice. except sitting front row was a bit too loud for me</p>
<p>saint joseph’s was very welcoming. there were little coffee tables and drinks available. my tour guide was great too</p>
<p>haverford had a nice admissions office, and the receptionist lady was very nice. my interviewer was kind of stiff though. just a smile and nod kind of person. (perhaps i flunked the interview??) the other AOs were very enthusiastic and amiable though. (i know two of them through other stuff)</p>
<p>I must say that on all the college tours and phone calls, I have felt welcomed and greeted. They take what appears or is a genuine interest in me, which leaves me with a great impression of their school. For example, Columbia left me with a great feeling after I went on a tour there. The Midwest Admissions Counselor talked to me although I’m from California and was very, very helpful. Other colleges that I talked to or toured at were: Harvard, Boston University, Boston College, New School (New York City), and NYU.</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, and Stanford were very, very helpful and kind in responding to my e-mails and phone calls.</p>
<p>My interview with a USC admissions counselor went very well; he was very kind and even suggested programs and activities that USC had that I did not specifically ask him questions about based on what I had said in my interview before and from questions I had asked him.</p>
<p>Soproud, vis a vis the “runs like butter” designation, you can especially appreciate the extent Wash U went to for our S, who recently graduated. To make a VERY long story short–2 weeks before graduation, S’s car was legally parked on the street in front of his off-campus apartment and at 1 a.m. it was totalled by a security guard employed by Wash U driving a Wash U vehicle. The security company’s insurance company was legally obligated to be responsible for the claim, but when they inexplicably began dragging their feet, Wash U stepped in and not only handled it–the university cut us a check for the value of the car and had it hand delivered to our hotel the weekend of graduation–they said they would fight it out with the security company and didn’t want us to have a bad taste in our mouths as S graduated!</p>
<p>S1 has already been through all this and we did not have a single negative visit anywhere … although we NEVER had any school offer us food of any sort except on a special Open House day. </p>
<p>Now with S2, with whom I am traveling presently … I have a question for you all: Both S’s would always e-mail the prof ahead of time to book a class and ask permission to attend, and then e-mail another, usually a department head, to try to set up a personal appointment to discuss the department itself. </p>
<p>When S1 did this 4 years ago, all went swimmingly and these experiences really helped fill in the blanks so often left wanting from simply taking in a tour and an info session. </p>
<p>Well, S2 has now been to visit 5 top, top colleges (no names; he’s too early on in the process). In all 5 cases, either the prof hasn’t shown up for the office appointment (with no apology or explanation) or the class was canceled (again with no apology or explanation). He has waited up to an hour, had secretaries try to locate the missing professor or his or her class, but to no avail. </p>
<p>To clarify … in all 5 cases he has e-mailed the prof, the prof has responded, the prof has committed to a date and time, the prof has reiterated the exact building and room … AND HAS THEN NOT SHOWED UP! 5 for 5!!!</p>
<p>In each case, because he is really interested in these HIGHLY reputable schools, he has been reticent to e-mail afterwards to say, “Yo, I was there and you weren’t; why’d you stand me up?” But after 5 straight times AFTER getting confirmation as recently as the day before …</p>
<p>4th House: Wow, 5 for 5…that’s unbelievable. If I were your son, I’d drop emails along the casual-but-polite, non-blameworthy line of “We must have missed each other yesterday, but nonetheless, I really appreciate your offer to speak with me about __<strong><em>'s </em></strong> department” and then either ask some brief (!) questions in the email or, if necessary, ask whether it might be possible to talk on the phone or to obtain any further info about the department. </p>
<p>At least this way, your son can make some judgment based on response, be it “I have no further information available,” a total lack of response, or “I’m unbelievably sorry! I had a family emergency and had to leave campus…our meeting completely escaped my mind! Will you be back any time soon?” He might be able to find answers to important questions, if he has specific ones in mind, and he’ll have some feeling of closure to the situation. 5 for 5 is just terrible luck, and must be quite frustrating.</p>
<p>dg5052: Your story about Wash U is wonderful…it’s the type of odd little anecdote that truly says great things about the school’s dedication to its students.</p>
<p>Thumbs down for Boston College. When my son arrived for the info session and went to the desk to sign in, he was told it was not necessary because the interest of students in BC was not a factor in admission. The “don’t call us, we’ll call you” attitude was an immediate turnoff for him. He noted that the participants on the student panel were articulate, but the seniors were, in large part, clueless as to what they would do upon graduation and made him question the value of a liberal arts education. </p>
<p>Thumbs up for Holy Cross; it was a lot more welcoming and he did apply there as a result, even though by then he desired to attend a university.</p>
<p>Thumbs up also for Lehigh where he had such a warm and enthusiastic interviewer, he came away with the school high on his list.</p>
<p>I’ll admit the ice cream sandwich at Colgate was a positive, although I hated myself all evening for eating it. Somehow the campus was just so picture perfect and preppy that my son could not feel relaxed there. The same for Trinity to a lesser extent.</p>
<p>Tufts: D thought she would love the college, but we all had negative feelings after the info session and tour. Info session was boring and rep
talked down to the students. Kept stressing how Tufts would mold and shape the students into their version of what a good global citizen is. Went on and on stressing this need to change the incoming students from what they were. Really turned me off as a parent. I’m proud of the adult my D has become…I want her to grow and experience new challenges, but to say that I want her changed into an institution’s version of what she should be, is a little extreme. Made us all feel very uncomfortable with what the school saw their mission to be. To top it off, after the info session, the tour guide kept saying how “Blah, blah, blah… doesn’t suck!” He must have used the word “suck” at least 4 times. He kept talking about how he turned down Harvard to go to Tufts…He did not impress me as being particularly articulate.</p>
<p>Boston University: The woman giving the info session was just boring. And then she really lost the audience when someone asked what was the % of male/female students. She looked at them like this was an unusual statistic for her to be able to produce. Finally said, “well I believe that BU is 45% male…which means that it is…Ummmm…Cough…Let me think…I can never remember this…let me try to figure it out…” The audience stared at her for what seemed like an eternity…no one would help her do the simple calculation…Finally, she said, “Oh it must be 55% female!!!” Everyone just shook their heads in disbelieve that someone that dumb would be deciding whether their kids were smart enough to attend the school. It was very scary!!! And she was an admission rep with BU for 15 years!!!</p>
<p>My Yale interviewer was very arrogant- just bragged the whole time about his children.</p>
<p>Hamilton people were extremely nice. Also they send lots of mail and it makes you feel important.</p>
<p>The overall Cornell University presenter was very enthusiastic, as well as the tour guide. When I went to the individual school presenter, however, the whole package was spoiled.</p>
<p>Also, my U of R class engineering class was moved to a later time and I was never notified.</p>
<p>I’m a senior at a Virginia high school, and I’ve visited 4 schools:</p>
<p>Best experience: William & Mary - despite what many say, the tour and interview are what sealed WM as my first choice. I’ve visited 5 times over the last 2.5 years, and I must say I fall in love all over again every time. I went my sophomore year Spring Break and again my junior year Spring Break (after they moved the admiss office.) Everyone was so nice, and I loved the atmosphere. I did my interview this summer, and my interviewer seemed interested in what I had to say. We had a great deal in common as well. She sent me an email thanking me for a wonderful interview 3 days after. I went again for the fall preview day back in September, which made me decide to apply ED. I have called the admissions office to check on my records several times, and I have had my messages answered within 2 hours every time. I went back a few days ago with one of my friends who had never been before, and he commented on how friendly everyone on campus was.
It did take 5 days for an admissions officer to answer my email one time, but then again, they are all busy.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins - The admissions session was very personal. The officer was polite and answered all of the questions we had. My tour group only had about 7 people in it, and the tour guide was crazy and had blue hair. It was pretty rad. They gave out free tote bags, pencils, stickers, etc. The only downside was that I went in the middle of July when it was 95 degrees. Other than that, it was awesome.</p>
<p>Christopher Newport U’s Leadership Program - CNU’s information session was pretty much based around the president giving a speech on how his graduates were “bound for success”. I went to the dinner they had for the prospective applicants, and it seemed like they were trying a bit too hard to impress prospective students with fancy food displays, and not as much with the school itself. They gave out so much free food. Some students seemed bored and uninterested with the school.
However, both of the admissions officers I met remembered me by name. One found me the night before (I did an overnight stay), and requested to do my interview the next day. She was amazing and VERY personal. Needless to say, I got a letter a week later from the president offering me the highest scholarship to the program.</p>
<p>Worst - UVA. I love UVA, but the tour or info session did not give Mr. Jefferson’s University the justice it deserves. My sister fell asleep during the info session (and I must admit that I almost did too). My tour guide was a senior who was really involved in his frat (and apparently the extracurriculars of the frat as well since he told stories about drinking excursions- then tried to cover these up by saying “but you didn’t hear it from me.”) There were about 30-40 people in my tour group, so if you were not at the front of the group, you missed what he was saying. I ended up resorting to my friend (a Charlottesville native who was also taking the tour) giving me information. The admissions office was not even open, so they ended up not being able to validate some of the parking passes. Good school, not so great tour.</p>
<p>I was sorry to see that W&M headed this topic as a “worst” admissions experience, since its office went more than the extra mile for our S during his interview. He’s now a very happy W&M freshman.</p>
<p>In other old news: UVa’s website incorrectly indicated a tour on Sunday. Guess we should have called to confirm before driving to Charlottesville. Pretty town, though.</p>
<p>Penn State did a great job with its day-long program. Very well-organized. Binghamton’s program emphasized how cheap it is for NY residents…well duh, tell us why ELSE a person should go there! Cornell’s campus is gorgeous…we didn’t take a formal tour, ditto Georgetown.</p>
<p>Although it was not the fault of the Admissions Department, I had an issue with Fordham changing its requirements for full-tuition scholarships midway through NMF S’s application process. Nothing screams “we’ve got more great applicants than we can take!” like suddenly requiring NMF AND top 5% of class.</p>
<p>S is happy where he ended up…everything happens for a reason, they say.</p>
<p>This is so interesting, because first impressions really do count! Admissions really ought to be reading these posts. I think the tour/info session people are in great need of sprucing up at many of these schools. Especially since at some the experience seems to have been wonderful, and at some it was awful. Last year, for us, the worst by far was Middlebury! The info session was ONLY about the cows and their cheese in Vermont, and the way the voters of Vermont are concerned about “going green.” Didn’t say anything about the school. A total turn-off, and made my daughter very unenthusiastic about a wonderful school. Interestingly, the Brown day was also not terrific last year, and that is where she is. One of the above posters talked about the extreme discouragement the rep gave the group. That happened on our visit too, and really depressed everyone. She believed her chances were totally zero. She applied at the last minute anyway, got in, and absolutely adores the school now. But it was not a definite, a year ago. Go figure…</p>
<p>I wish that schools that are highly selective could all be as graceful as the former admissions director at Vandy…(who is now head of admissions at the also very refreshing Bowdoin)… regarding the inevitable anxiety in the room of prospectives and their adoring parents about getting rejected after attaching/loving the college a family just devoted a day and considerable travel expenses to visit. He apologized to the entire room for Vanderbilt becoming more selective and being unable to admit many delightful bright students that could have attended if they had been applicants just five or ten years earlier. He actually sounded sincere! And like he knew that many great deserving people would be disappointed. Worked wonders on everyone’s attitudes in the audience during the tour and panel interviews. In fact, the entire Vandy team was amazing in our experience, including students assigned to our son when he visited classes, ate lunch…who immediately introduced him to other students, teachers and admissions staffers all day with real warmth.<br>
It is stupid to judge a college by your tour guide or by some fleeting negative contact in an office, but really hard not to do that.<br>
My pet peeve in general is hearing teachers and admission directors drone on about how impossible it is to get into their college in a pompous manner. Everyone would simply love the stats and the facts and can catch their breath and take it in, but a couple schools had professors get up and kind of natter on about how their colleges no longer take ordinary people, and only want extraordinary people, citing the most unusual members of the current classes…so that you feel you don’t have a shot if you are not a ballerina from Argentina etc blah blah inadvertently making everyone in the audience wonder if sounding silly and smug is an outcome of four years at said college.</p>