<p>We were surprised at all the smokers at American. Still applied because of potential merit aid but not enthusiastic.</p>
<p>The red star tells me I posted in this thread, but I donât find it.</p>
<p>I never posted this part, though.</p>
<p>Donât any of the athletes here decide to apply/not based on facilities?</p>
<p>D had 4 unofficials scheduled for Patriot League schools. Lehigh was the first. It was a really great visit. An older classmate gave us a tour and even got D in to meet with 2 profs in areas of interest. Coach was really nice. The âno can applyâ came when it took 30 minutes to get to the athletic campus. And the facilities for her sport were terrible.</p>
<p>Next was Lafayette. Very nice everything, but again, not near campus.</p>
<p>Didnât even go to Colgate or Bucknell. Decided that if the place to practice and play wasnât on campus, she wouldnât apply.</p>
<p>Princetonâthe campus was âtoo spread out.â</p>
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<p>This is why you were called a â â â â â . No one would drive 800 miles to see a college and then allow their child so sit in the car. I can believe the hair thing but you obviously didnât turn around and then drive home. So what were your daughters impressions the next day?</p>
<p>Mtmn- I drove from upstate ny to Ohio Wesleyan,we drove by the school, d said no way. We called, canceled our appointment, and drove on! I saw no sense in wasting all day if she didnât like the look of the school. Sometimes you have to trust your instincts. Fortunately the next day was more acceptable! So I believe her when she says it happened!</p>
<p>Williams â When D and I visited a few years ago we didnât have time to do the full info session and tour (coming down from Hanover and had to get to Boston by 2:00). We stopped in the admissions office to talk to representative and obtain literature. The first thing the rep started to tell us where demographic stats. D wanted a school with diversity but was turned off that it was the first thing that was discussed. The campus was also too isolated to her and much too small. </p>
<p>Amherst â The two students in admissions were very sweet and talkative; however, when we told them we were from the south, I remember the young man talking about regional differences and saying he couldnât understand why southerners responded to adults with âYes, Mâamâ or âYes, Sirâ. My D took it as condescending and rude. She also felt Amherst was too small. </p>
<p>BC â D went in thinking she wasnât going to like it; she actually wanted to revisit and it became a favorite. She discovered then that she actually liked the preppy student bodies and traditional campuses so schools like Vandy, BC. UVa, UNC, Wake, Pepperdine, etc. were appealing. </p>
<p>Yale â D liked the architecture, students, etc. but the town of New Haven was in her words âsketchâ. She wound up still applying though. After visiting Yale, though, she crossed JHU off and never visited because of the inner-city campus.</p>
<p>Agree with mtnmomma. I thought she was a â â â â â too. Itâs a reasonable assumption. If my d came to the âno wayâ conclusion, based on a superficial glance at the place and a bad hair day, Iâd force her to endure at least a walk through the campus. Do you know how many of my first impressions on a blind date were wrong? Sometimes, you just have to give the place, the person, the school,the class, the prof, the job âŠa try. If you still donât like it after a fair trial, what have you lost? After 800 miles, at least use their bathroom!</p>
<p>Well, I never thought you were a â â â â â , mommidwest-- youâre way too funny! </p>
<p>Holliesue-- what turned your D off at Ohio Wesleyan? Thatâs a possibility for us and too far away to visit pre-application.</p>
<p>Holliesue, thatâs what makes it interesting. My son liked Ohio Wes, and we did too. The one thing that I recall not caring for was the distance from housing and the academic buildings. I saw this as a big negative. I thought that the walk could be unpleasant on a cold, rainy, or snowy day in Ohio. Our tour guide told us that she tries not to go back to her dorm between classes (she claimed that if she did, she was sometimes tempted not to go back out to her next class)! I got that info only after engaging some conversation about the walk between dorms and the rest of campus. Otherwise, we really liked the school and the campus and my son really considered this school. At the end of the day, we could not make the financial end work for our family.</p>
<p>Gwen, I cross posted with you. I hope this helps. My son was really considering Ohio Wes.</p>
<p>Drove out east with D two summers ago to look at several NY/MA/CT campuses. Had to at least drive by or visit MIT, Harvard and Wellesley for grandparentsâ sake (alumni). Poured rain the entire trip and went on all tours with umbrellas! Here are Dâs comments:
Cornell - middle of nowhere. I thought beautiful setting, big enough for plenty to do.
MIT - why would anyone go to a school with such ugly buildings? (Keep in mind she told her engr parents years ago that she would never be one.)
Wellesley - why would anyone go to an all-girl school? Mightâve been ok in the 50s . .
BU - didnât like location and look
BC - toured and loved, but we later found out she told friends she wouldnât even apply because her parents wanted her to go somewhere in Boston so no way. (Honestly, we didnât have a school or even geographical location picked out for her.)
Did a few more drive-byâs but got so tired of the rain we just headed home.
Turns out sheâs heading to the opposite coast (USanDiego) in the fall. Definitely wants to do her own thing and good for her. </p>
<p>And mommidwest, Iâm glad youâre not a â â â â â . Youâre just the parent of a teenager. :)</p>
<p>I have to say, as a current student at Knox, who never toured, watching tours go by makes me wince. I can hardly blame parents or other students for rejecting a school based on their tour guides - itâs only thing to not be as well-versed in say, Art, if youâre a science major, but itâs another to, as many of our tours guides do, blabber inanely: âThis is the Special Collections reading room. Itâs where we keep all the old stuff, so if youâre into old stuff, this place is great. It even smells like old stuff.â <em>commence obnoxious sniffing</em></p>
<p>Worse, Iâve caught tour guides outright making things up before: replacing some facts with others, renaming or redating things entirely, rambling with the beautiful pieces like: âold stuffâ. </p>
<p>I doubt I wouldâve come had I gone on a tour myself! </p>
<p>They have the worst tours of any school I formally toured. Itâs an okay campus, but Iâve met only one or two tourguides who have any idea what their spiel is supposed to be.</p>
<p>mommidwest: welcome to CC!!!..being called a â â â â â is not the worst thing here; </p>
<p>I am a 51 yr old mother of two girlsâŠsomeone once called me a âpervert and a pedophileâ on hereâŠheheâŠif you knew meâŠhehehehe</p>
<p>Crossed off:</p>
<p>Dickinsonâdreary surrounding area and the location was difficult to get to. In short, the long drive to get there wasnât worth what we saw when we got there.</p>
<p>SUNY Geneseoâthe main building looked just like our local elementary school. It also felt as though it was in the middle of nothing, if you know what I mean. The town was very quaint to look at, but didnât seem to have much to offer. It would have been a very long winter in the middle of no manâs land. Son hated it. </p>
<p>Manhattan Collegeâtour took us into one of the dorms. The dorm was terrribleâdark, old,
empty, quiet. We had to make our way around the students smoking out on the stoop to get into the dorm. Son said it just didnât feel right to him.</p>
<p>SUNY New Paltzâwe arrived early for our tour. We decided to waste some time walking around the campus on our own. On our way back to the admissions office for our appointment, the three of us turned to each other at the same time and we all had the same look on our faces (we drove all this way for this?). We got into the car and headed back home without even staying for the appointment.</p>
<p>As a teenager, I refused to take the UVA tour, didnât like the vibe. Got out of the car alright and then got right back in.
As an parent visiting UVA with ds, I went in with an open mind fully believing the views of my youth were naive and childish. Funny thing was, I still got that bad vibe. Sooooo, all these impressions that we find superficial and childish might just be spot on. Just a thought.</p>
<p>DD did not like UVa either. It could have been the snarky comment as we left the cousins (who along with their parents are W&M grads): âJefferson started UVa because his kids couldnât get in to W&M.â</p>
<p>Re : OWU- d did not like that the campus was right on the main drag. This was new information to me! Had I known that would have been a huge turn off I wouldnât have suggested looking at it. I find that these tours, (or non tours in this case) are very valuable as they really help narrow the focus. From this weeklong college roadtrip we learned: 1) d didnât want a school on the main drag 2) didnât feel âat homeâ at school that the geography was flat 3) did felt very at home at schools with hills, trees and red brick buildings. These things may seem superficial to ME, but to her, they were important. And the reality is that there are SO MANY schools out there that would be great for her, that anything that can narrow the focus is helpful!</p>
<p>thanks Holliesue and NEmom-- âmain dragâ sounds good to me-- that is, itâs integrated into a town, a la Smith/Northhampton? Or you have to cross a major highway 10 times a day, a la BU? D loves both of those. (I totally agree that atmosphere is important, btw. Dâs criteria are 1. the program; 2. proximity to home 3. what the place feels like. Makes sense to me.)</p>
<p>Rodney, (you pervert)-- what airport do you use for Elon? I think I saw your D is heading there next year.</p>
<p>hi GwenâŠwe used Greensboro the 1st time,
âŠdrove down the second time
⊠and are using Raleigh/Durham for March orientationâŠ(timing was different for all three so we were happy it all worksâŠ)</p>
<p>gwenfairfax. It is a pretty small town, so the main drag is not huge. I thought it looked fine, but I have learned it is not worth fighting about these things with a 17 year old.</p>
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<p>Totally understand first impressions but didnât she say the problem was with Dâs hair? I guess I was just trying to let her know why she was thought to be a â â â â â . Maybe I took the post too literally, like they drove 800 miles just to see that college. Maybe if she had used more context it would have sounded more plausible (e.g. college A was on our way as we drove to visit aunt Sue).</p>
<p>But agree with lots of other posters on just having a âfeelingââUC Berkeley is a campus I just got a bad vibe from many years a go without touring it. Lots of people say its amazingâIâm going to try to get past that first impression and give it a try (it is on Sâs list of campuses to visit). Anyone else been to see it?</p>