<p>We visited Bard as well. And unfortunately, we suffered through the entire tour. While my S liked the school on paper, the tour turned a “maybe” into a definite “no.” I think it had something to do with the fact that it was way too long…close to 2.5 hours!</p>
<p>ASU (Arizona State) </p>
<p>It was just so big. We were getting lost so easily. A lot of different campuses. Almost like a “concrete jungle” as my S explained.</p>
<p>mnrmom- I loved Wooster…would have gone there myself in a heartbeat! Unfortunately D didn’t feel the same way!</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz - which was disappointing considering how much our family has always liked the area. </p>
<p>The info session was the worst of any we have attended thus far, as was the student tour. This is not meant to bash UCs as we really enjoyed the other two UC sessions that we attended. Additionally, the school while in a beautiful setting is quite difficult to navigate by foot (or any other non-motorized method). </p>
<p>I was hoping for a better experience and now understand why it is not regarded as highly as some other UCs. On the positive side, I think they still have the coolest mascot name in the country.</p>
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<p>Our experiences with DS and campuses he crossed off the list after visiting:</p>
<p>Columbia “not campusy enough”</p>
<p>Kenyon:“What would I do for four years in Mount Vernon, Ohio?”
“I’m not going to be an English Major”</p>
<p>I would add that there was quite an emphasis during the student tour and info session with the admissions director about how excellent their English program was and I could see DS-math boy-cringing. </p>
<p>Miami University (Ohio)-did admitted honors student overnight:
“I did not see one single minority the entire time I was there” There were some comments made about this from some of the students evidently.
“I did not see one single female who was unattractive the entire time I was there”
“they kept talking about how a high percentage of Miami graduates marry each other”
“What’s up with all the ice hockey?”(he’s a baller)</p>
<p>BU- didn’t like it. There wasn’t really a campus. It was too merged with Boston</p>
<p>Columbia - not enough campus and was turned off by the core curriculum.</p>
<p>Dartmouth - too rural, too small, but S loved the place in Hanover where we ate lunch (lol).</p>
<p>My D also crossed off Allegheny because of the surrounding area and Bard because, though the location is gorgeous it’s remote, and the campus felt too spread out for her. Very picky, my girl. But, you know, she can only go to one school (or at least start at one) so we are both happy when schools lose their place on the spreadsheet. We’re going to Wooster this Saturday. What can people say about the “cute” factor in the town?</p>
<p>Psychmama, sounds like our sons were at admitted students weekends at all same schools - Dartmouth, Columbia and Duke. My son’s reaction was different - really didn’t like Dartmouth (too rah-rah and fratty, too remote and small, too conformist) but loved Columbia.</p>
<p>When you read this thread, you see how arbitrarily some decisions are made. Sometime it bothers me, even when my son made snap judgements, but then I remember that they will still end up finding many schools to apply to and can only go to 1 after all that analysis!</p>
<p>Instant rejects:
RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) - aka “Brick City”
Clarkson - nice little school in the middle of nowhere
RPI - atmosphere is “grim”, surrounding neighborhoods bleak
CMU - people didn’t seem happy there, no social interactions observed
Union College - parents like it, son did not, at all.
BU, Northeastern - we live in the Boston area, he didn’t even visit these because they are both in the city.
GWU - great place for international relations, NOT for engineering. The engineering facilities were pitiful. The split campus is probably a drag too.
Swarthmore - beautiful campus, wonderful people, awesome students. Engineering program and facilities - an embarrassment to the rest of the school.
Lehigh - son hated it, not sure why.
U.Mass Amherst (size and party school reputation), UMass Lowell (location mostly)</p>
<p>Pleasant surprises -
Places we were much better than we expected:
-Syracuse U.
-WPI - in a relatively nice section of Worcester. Great engineering program, and happy (but nerdy) students.
-Case Western Reserve U. - almost overlooked this one entirely because it is in Cleveland, and my son doesn’t like citites in general, but we all loved Case! Great facilities, great academic programs and grad schools, exceptionally nice people, surrounded mostly by museums (botanical garden, the symphony etc.).</p>
<p>We visited a couple of fairly rural LACs where students have been described as socially awkward and/or quirky. Fantasy games/larping are big at those schools. DD’s friends include kids who might fit that description, but she is pretty mainstream herself. She sat in on a couple of classes and loved the academics, but was unsure whether she would find her peeps. (She also moaned that she wouldn’t be able to shop at Forever 21 or H&M. I reminded her that she would be a poor student with no money to shop at even those low cost options.) Those schools would be fabulous for certain kids who never fit in at their high school and really brought home that it is important to visit a school when students are around. A couple other kids we met on one school’s tour were rejecting it for the same reason. Different strokes. . . .and that’s fine!</p>
<p>Grinnell - The weather was horrible so that might have played into the poor tour but the admissions woman was AWFUL. I had to fight to stay awake. She had nothing to say, kept asking if anyone had any questions and suggested the kids talk to their high school guidance counselors about applying. Even though the weather was bad we did expect to see a few kids when it was time for classes but we only saw a few kids at the cafeteria (the food was really good) and library and that was it. Not even any kids in the dorms we visited. Very odd, almost like a deserted ghost town - everything in place but no people.</p>
<p>Knox and Beloit were winners though.</p>
<p>We were in Georgia visiting family over Spring Break and visited Georgia Southern University on a whim. Beautiful campus, friendly students. I was surprised that it had 16,000 undergrad students as I was unfamiliar with the school (granted we live 500+ miles away.) Anyone have any experience with GSU?</p>
<p>Just finished our spring break tour…</p>
<p>Rejected:</p>
<p>Middlebury - too much emphasis on language program (S is a science/math kid). Personally, I didn’t like the student run information session that was question/answer only. And our tour guide was horrible - she did not have one useful piece of information. Also, it’s a small school with bad weather - so why is it so spread out?</p>
<p>Bowdoin - not sure why he didn’t like this school (vibe?/no emphasis on sciences?), but it went on the reject list.</p>
<p>Amherst - S didn’t like it</p>
<p>Williams - Didn’t like the tutorials (2 kids/class) or the Jan term. And those 5 stores are the town???</p>
<p>What made it thru to the ‘Will Apply’ list:</p>
<p>Dartmouth - We all loved this school - moved to the top of the list. Information session was informative (about admission process) and honest. Great tour/right size/great study abroad program/great research/great alum network/cute town. </p>
<p>Bates - S like this school alot better than Bowdoin (not sure why)</p>
<p>Colby - S liked this even better than Bates. Beautiful campus. I think it seemed more laid back than Bowdoin and Bates - more relaxed. More emphasis on sciences.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee- too preppy
JMU- “Duuuuuuuuuukesssss” and we were out of there!</p>
<p>My son and husband were very amused by “Duuuuukes.” Different strokes, I guess.</p>
<p>^ what are dukes? Just curious.</p>
<p>gluckie, They are the JMU Dukes.</p>
<p>My son and I actually enjoyed the school spirit of JMU - “Duuuuukes” and all. I found the layout of the campus to be extremely odd - with 4 distinct sections - bisected by Rt 81 and the train tracks - and buildings just randomly located everywhere with no discernible pattern - but that did not bother my son either.</p>
<p>Thanks, sevmom. I thought it was some kind of slang that I wasn’t aware of. :-)</p>