<p>Linymom - What did you think of U of Miami? That is a school whose reputation and ranking have changed considerably in the past 30 years. It is now on my son’s possible list.</p>
1 Like
<p>Seiclan: loved Miami! Beautiful campus. Perfect size (just under 10,000). DS interested in engineering and they offer a program where you can get a masters in five years. Since he would like to live in Florida eventually, it is definitely on the list. The price tag is very high but they seem to offer a lot of merit aid.</p>
<p>Not a parent, but here we go:
Haverford: Our tour guide was very ditzy and inarticulate. She also was majoring in linguistics, which Haverford didn’t actually offer as a major (you can take classes at Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr). There seemed to be way too much emphasis on being able to take classes at other schools (even majoring at other schools), to the extent that it almost appeared like a school for those who were rejected from Swarthmore. Also, there appeared to be too much of an emphasis on sports (mostly club, but still not my cup of tea). I had a hard time taking it off of my list, because it seemed like a very good school for me on paper. In person, though, it just didn’t feel right at all.</p>
<p>UPenn: Tour guide was a frat boy who seemed to be focusing entirely on proving that smart kids still knew how to party. He was very preppy and pretentious, and it was off-putting.</p>
<p>Northeastern: The women who led the info session used incorrect grammar and words that don’t actually exist (a deal-breaker for me). Everyone on campus seemed to be in a hurry, and no one seemed to be having conversations.</p>
<p>Emerson: Too much of a vertical campus, and everything smelled like smoke.</p>
<p>Hofstra: The campus was divided by basically a freeway and was very ugly. The info session focused on fraternities and sports. The school didn’t seem to present itself as academic at all (which was different from the mailers I had received touting their Honors College). I ended up apologizing to my mom, “this isn’t for me”, and we left the info session five minutes in. </p>
<p>As a point of reference: My favorite tour was Columbia-- applied ED and I’m going to be attending.</p>
<p>^Correction: Haverford has one professor (in Chinese) who teaches introductory linguistics courses, and you can minor in linguistics there. Bryn Mawr offers NO disciplinary core linguistics courses unconnected with the Tri-Co.</p>
<p>In the last year we have visited 24 schools: Tufts, Holy Cross, Columbia, NYU, Geneseo, Colgate, Syracuse, Cornell, Penn State, Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Duke, Wake Forest, UNC at Chapel HIll, UVA, William and Mary, U of Richmond, Notre Dame, Tulane, Binghamton, U of Maryland at College Park and… I missing a few I can’t remember them all but we are going to Vanderbilt in a week too.</p>
<p>In any case the worse school were : 1) Tufts- we couldn’t find one student who actually liked their school or had anything good to say about it. No one seemed happy. 2) UVA- the tour guide was terrible all he did was complain how bad the school was. He honestly couldn’t think of one good thing to say about his school. We were shocked!!! He complained about the building infrastructure to sports and how terrible they were doing. 3) Lafayette- the young girl was sloppily dressed and couldn’t put one sentence together. All she did was point out the buildings after she would read the name plates of each. ( We still liked the school but she was a horrible speaker.)</p>
<p>The rest of the schools did a fine job with their tours and students all seemed very content with their schools.</p>
<p>LINYMOM, this linydad would love to hear your opinion of RPI and Union after your visits. We haven’t hit those yet. Miami is intriguing. S also looking at engineering, many same schools as yours.</p>
<p>@Keilexandra: Yeah, but Haverford doesn’t offer a linguistics major. She was majoring in linguistics at Swarthmore, but going to Haverford. I know Haverford had some classes and a minor, but it still didn’t offer her major. I don’t know; it just struck me as kind of weird.</p>
<p>When my daughter toured Swarthmore, another student asked whether she could major in a language that was not offered at Swarthmore. At the time, DD thought that was the strangest question to ask–and now I know why it was asked.</p>
<p>Elon University. I auditioned on campus for the BFA MT program and had a terrible time. I audited an acting class which in particular was disappointing…and oddly enough, I was the only person who hated it there. The other students were all very impressed. By what, I don’t know. The acting class reminded me of high school as it was extremely juvenile and basic, the students were all eerily happy and not very mature, many even lacked talent- I felt like I was in Stepford College. And there seemed to be NO ONE on campus all day. It was practically empty, besides the Chick-Fil-A, which was filled with students…as an avid hater of Chick-Fil-A, I didn’t get that. lol But almost all the other students auditioned on my day loved the school, so I’m going to accept my position as one of the few very disappointed and underwhelmed students.</p>
<p>CFA rocks. The king of fastfoods.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is a very common system – nothing to write home about. I personally hate this system, because I hate to see the prospective students gather around some of the tour guides while the other tour guides who might not be as good looking or have an accent or something get no one or just 1 - 2 people. It’s shades of being picked last in gym class. Did I mention I personally hate this system?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I so wanted my S to like Haverford but we had a really poor tour guide. I even sent him back to Pennsylvania for a second tour, but the first tour guide really turned him off the school. They took us to a dorm that was really and truly a pigsty. I get what well-used college dorms look like, but this was truly decrepit and they didn’t even have the shame to be embarrassed, LOL. It was a real shame because Haverford is such a great school and the campus in general is lovely, but certain parts of it really didn’t show well.</p>
<p>As I read these summaries of visits to Colleges and Universities, it is hard not to notice that too many decisions about the school are being made purely on the behavior of one student tour guide and his/her personalities…</p>
<p>This is why sometimes it is best not to use a tour guide during your visit</p>
<p>I know the issue with the Stanford tour guides is that they’re absurdly cliquey - the current guides pick the new ones, which tend to be their friends because it’s a good on-campus job. So I guess way back when there was one theater major/bad tour guide, and the tradition has continued for decades? Either way, campus is stunning. No other school can hold a candle to palm drive.</p>
<p>Some gentleman is starting a web site “wecometocollege” but it hasn’t really gotten off the ground yet, it will have reveiws after the tours of various colleges. I think judging just the tour guide for a school is not a good idea, but it does give you a bad feeling when the guide is disinterested or doesn’t seem to like the school! I have heard many that looked forward to their Haverford tour, not like it when visiting, I don’t know how much was the facilities and how much was the tour guide but they said he/she wasn’t very good at giving a good feeling about the school. I know it’s hard to get the perfect student with all the attributes for a good tour guide (especially if they aren’t paid) but a school should be informed if the guide is giving a bad impression.
I’ve heard the opposite about Swarthmore, it’s neighbor, they loved the tour and guide and it left them with a good impression.</p>
<p>Last week we looked at Wesleyan University. We went knowing that it is a really good school and expected to like the school. After the information session we left. It was a terrible information session. The admissions representative was condescending. The student representative was scattered and a total flake. I am certain that these two people were a poor representation of the school but I will never get my son to go back and take another look. The info session was so bad we did not go on the tour - opted for an early lunch a Frank Pepes ( a much yummier way to spend my time)!</p>
<p>CCMom, living in CT, I have heard that about Wesleyan also, re the information session. They aren’t the only ones like that, but it does give you a bad feeling. One mother said her child asked a question and they made it sound if you had to ask, you weren’t ready for them. My daughter’s friend went there, based on his FA package (best in bunch of that caliber), but it took him the first semester to get a niche, he said it felt like everyone was trying to be something they weren’t, but then he found some nice friends.
I think when a college has that condescending attitude, they are saying, this is the type of student we want whether it’s true or not.</p>
<p>Some colleges are just the opposite, they must be on valium, answering the same questons, posed different ways, for over an hour, but always gracious. : )
ps
New Haven does have the BEST pizza</p>
<p>Thought I would post a few more of our impressions (son & parents):</p>
<p>Lehigh: Son liked Lehigh before the visit. Loved it after the visit. Great tour guide - interesting, well spoken, considerate. Interesting info session lead by the head of admissions. Not too wild about the immediate area around the school.</p>
<p>Union: Son was invited to an admissions event. He had been to the school before as we have family who are graduates of Union. He went to visit with the intention of loving the school. After the visit/tour/info session he was turned off by everything about the place. As a parent I was turned off by the admissions people (head of admissions & financial aid in particular). It is an SAT optional school but they really focused on the idea of how high SAT scores can really help the school with their rankings in US News & World report (I think they may have been trying to be funny but after a few times it was no longer funny). The tour guide was terrible - talked a lot about baking cakes (this has now become a family joke). After all of this I would like him to reconsider Union and take another official look!</p>
<p>Vassar: I was worried about visiting this school. The day prior we had been to Wesleyan and did not like it one bit. Many of the guide books show cross over in interest between Vassar and Wesleyan. Son loved the school! Parents loved the school! We took the tour in the pouring, somewhat freezing rain - walking through large muddy puddles and we all still loved the school. Great info session (clear, concise, and highly informative) Beautiful buildings (loved the libraray). Came away with the impression that this is a solid well run institution.</p>
<p>Northeastern: Went with mixed feelings about this school. Came away with a favorable impression. Well spoken tour guide who explained everything and was energetic. The tour guide loves her school and it shows! There is more of a campus feel to the school than I had expected. Great programs. We all liked this school.</p>
<p>Elon: This was one of the first schools that we visited. Beautiful campus with lots of “bells & whistles”. Smooth, well orchestrated information session. On the surface everything was fantastic and fabulous but there did not seem to be much academic substance. The admissions representative down played a question about SATII tests as “not something that tells us much about the student” (really???) and “something that is out dated but still used by small schools in the North East” (ummmm…such as the Ivy League!). As a family when we talk about Elon we often mention that it is like the Disney World of colleges - beautful and happy on the outside but not too sure of what goes on behind the scenes.</p>
<p>This is such a great thread, so much to learn here. And one thing is–the tour guide matters! Much as it’s only one person, it’s the person the college has delegated to represent it, the one student most people will hear from in-depth during their visit. Any college that doesn’t pay attention to who’s guiding the tours is making a mistake.</p>
<p>My daughter thought Wesleyan had the “least attractive student body” of any school she visited. She said that it seemed as if people tried to look as bad as possible. Apparently, a deal breaker for her.</p>