<p>I felt like I visited just about every selective school in the Northeast. Each time I approached a new campus I’d believe this school was going to be the one. Almost every one was removed from my list. In retrospect I had some unusual/illogical reactions, but I ended up at a school I still love and happily return to often to this day.
Brown - thought I’d love it, but I hated Providence at the time.
Tufts - thought it was going to be the perfect school. I took one look at the campus from the car and told my parents I didn’t need to get out of the car, I wasn’t going there.
Williams - this seemed like the ideal school for me, I spent a day in Williamstown and came away feeling it was just too remote. </p>
<p>So I ended up at Middlebury. I remember my mother driving me up to campus through cow pastures. I thought, as we approached, that there was no way I could attend this remote campus. I went in for an interview, came out and told my mother that this was where I was going to college. Even though the campus did feel remote, I just knew I’d found the place for me after talking with the interviewer. I applied ED and got in. I hope kids give schools a chance. If I had relied on my gut reaction at Middlebury I never would have ended up at the school where I had an incredibly positive experience.</p>
<p>Visited Emory and Clemson a few days ago (two schools couldn’t be more different):</p>
<p>Emory: Not your typical college atmosphere…at least not to me. VERY nice campus (but not campus-y in your typical sense), brand new dorms, more spacious than any we have seen thus far, outdoor pool in part of campus that houses seniors I believe. Very unique. D loved it. No football team at Emory, so that might part of the difference in the atmosphere there. (just a guess) Adm very friendly and helpful. Student tour guide very knowledgeable too. I’m not a big fan of Atlanta just because of traffic, but D likes the area and all it has to offer. Loves the fact that CDC is basically on campus and sees that as an opportunity as she is interested in the bio field.</p>
<p>Clemson: Very typical college atmosphere when I think of college. School spirit alive and kicking. Boasts #1 happiest students in the country. Attended info session, guided tour and Destination Clemson (which included break out session into your intended major with professor from that dept. and one of your choice - D chose study abroad session). This is definitely the way to learn more about an intended major/college/research opps and Clemson did a great job. Can’t stress how friendly/helpful Adm Rep, teachers and students were for this program. </p>
<p>When visiting New England schools last spring, we crossed Colby off the list after having a terrible tour guide followed by a very disappointing info session led by a staff member from admissions. All the other schools we visited had great tour guides, but the Colby guide talked nonstop about herself and her own (non-academic) interests. (My son noted that her dorm room included a prominent display of empty liquor bottles). </p>
<p>We were prepared to let that go, but then the staff member from admissions led a terribly corny information session that did not say one word about academics–just general references to social life and clubs. Important things, but so are academics. My h and I didn’t say a word, but as soon as we left, our son said “I think I’ll be applying elsewhere”.</p>
<p>RIT - Students didn’t seem happy or engaged. Snow falling during tour in late April didn’t help (but was sunny and 50’s for tour of U of Rochester by afternoon). Academic building and dorms very seperate. School changing to semesters in fall 2012. Also, very little to do in area and students don’t seem to be active in campus activities. SGA campaign for President was going on and one of the candidates stated goals was to get students to be happy about being at RIT verses being happy about being in “college”.</p>
<p>My D and I were among the throngs touring colleges in the Boston environs this past week. My favorite moment - a handwritten sign saying “The tour lies - let me out!” posted in a window of the student activity center at Northeastern, just across the way from where tour guides stop to talk. D crossed off Northeastern right away for other reasons but that didn’t help.</p>
<p>Rejected, flat out–Case Western. Too sciency-nerdy for my humanities kid.
We loved the area, though–with the art museum, park, etc. But it was late Oct when we visited and already viciously cold.</p>
<p>Loved pretty much everything about U Pitt, though–and went in thinking that would be the last place she’d ever want to attend.</p>
<p>middle: we had a similar experience at Emory. The tour guide had just started out and was talking about Emory’s president and how everyone loved him when a student walked up and handed us all flyers explaining whey they were holding a protest against Emory’s president. We all found it amusing.</p>
<p>Do any parents feel like they are traveling with Goldilocks? So many of the schools are populated with Mama Bears or Papa Bears. . . .I just hope that at least one Baby Bear school turns out to be affordable!</p>
<p>Why would one want to cross a college off because the tour guide was awful or the presenter of the info session was bad. Isn’t this akin to rejecting a house because the realtor was terrible? </p>
<p>Years ago, when DS looking, his first choice school (which he now absolutely loves) was such because of his interactions with others from that school over the years. When we finally went to an open-house and tour, very little in the session actually related to anything that made DS pick the school. I don’t think he even stayed for the tour, and had this session & tour been his only contact with them, this school would been some middle of the road choice for him.</p>
<p>DD, for example rejected Penn State outright because she just hated the feel of the place. Then several of her friends including two of her closest went there. Now when she visits home (her terms are out of synch with the semesters), one of the things she looks forward to most is to drive to State College and spend several days with her old HS classmates. As for the school she’s in, that lovely campus in summer, forces an awful walk in the middle of winter when she has to trudge between the north and south campus between classes, and she’s practically never spent time on the “beach” and the other numerous attractions that first held her fancy. What she really likes about the place now has nothing to do with her initial criteria.</p>
<p>So for us schools that were crossed out - Cornell for DS, again because of how it looked at felt the evening before the tour, which we never went to in the end, and PSU for DD. After the fat letters came out, DD rejected Washington and Jefferson (too small), Pitt (felt like grade 13), and Gannon (didn’t connect with anyone during the accepted student weekend and didn’t care for Erie).</p>
<p>Yes, Dad it shouldn’t be enough to negate a school but it does. My husband says this constantly, it’s illogical but reality. Given that there are 50 great schools for each kid it’s as good a way to eliminate a school as any I guess.</p>
<p>By the way, my daughter doesn’t mind the bike ride from one end of campus to the other and spends many hours on the beach during all seasons, not to mention the time she spends in town (especially living off campus) and in Chicago. Is it a reason to love a school? No, but it sure helps!</p>
<p>“Bowdoin - not sure why he didn’t like this school (vibe?/no emphasis on sciences?), but it went on the reject list. Bates - S like this school alot better than Bowdoin (not sure why)”</p>
<p>My DS didn’t like Bowdoin either and I wasn’t crazy about it. It felt cold to me. OTOH, he loved Bates and will be a freshman in the fall. </p>
<p>We never made it to Colby. </p>
<p>When my sister was looking at schools back in the early 70’s she told my parents to keep driving and refused to get out of the car when they got to Bates. Meadow Soprano did too!</p>
<p>anyone have any reviews on cornell? just curious as to what others think. i have yet to go there myself, otherwise i wouldn’t care that much about others’ opinions lol.</p>
<p>ColorRed–We had the best tour of all at Cornell. Lots of enthusiasm. Students chased down another student who knew about Asian languages and he gave DD names and numbers of a prof she could visit. DD ended up not really in love with it–for several reasons that would not matter to another soul on earth.</p>
<p>i’m glad the students there were enthusiastic and playful (well at least from what you saw), but what about things that might not change? like, did you feel overwhelmed by cornell’s entire campus, or did you only visit one part of it? were the gorges gorgeous, and did you walk by many as you took your tour? did you get to visit collegetown, and if so, what was the vibe? did you get to see dorms or listen in on a class? and if so, opinions on that. lool. a lot of questions. you don’t have to answer them if you don’t want to. =)</p>
<p>thanks for that info! but i’m curious now: what were the reasons she didn’t like it?</p>
<p>When you have 25 schools on your list you really have to cut them down based on sometimes dumb criteria. However, if you really disliked the tour guide, and the tour guide seems reasonably happy at the school, it’s not completely illogical to assume you’d not necessarily jibe with the predominant campus culture.</p>
<p>Kathiep…I post my visits both places. I’m hoping there will be more visit reports coming since spring break just ended down here. I love to read what other people thought of the schools in both places.</p>
<p>Went to Cornell hoping to love it, but D never applied.</p>
<p>We felt that it was in the middle of nowhere and that Ithaca was just ok–a bit shabby and dated.</p>
<p>While Cornell can be considered beautiful, there was a grandness of scale that made us all feel small and isolated. Despite it being incredibly hot the day of our visit, we found the school cold.</p>
<p>There were people around, but I felt that to get to one building to the other, a student would need to take long walks or buses. It seemed flat and treeless once on the campus proper. The tour never took us to see dorms becasue they were too far away and down the hill.</p>
<p>I know many people who absolutely love Cornell, and it is a great deal for NYS residents.</p>
<p>But it was just not the right fit for our D who is thriving at NYU.</p>
<p>Kttmom: we went to many of the same schools, and had quite different responses. Middlebury was the friendliest school we visited, very good info session (student-run, but not question-led), nice tour. Town a little small. My D is very interested in abroad programs, so the emphasis on languages was good.
Dartmouth we already know very well, but the info session had some good info on admission; tour guide good. Food really abysmal (for vegetarian Jews during Passover, it was a pretty high hurdle, but other places had much better choices), but they’re in the middle of revamping their cafeteria, so we’ll give them a pass for now. The D-plan really caught my daughter’s eye, especially with regard to the possibilities for abroad study.
Bowdoin I expected to be her top choice, given its match to her interests, but although it’s still on her list, it’s not the top.
Colby was lovely, nice student guide; it seems like a good place to go to school. Still on the list.
Bates we left after the tour, before info session; complete bust. Tour guide kept talking about Christian fellowship on campus, and kids seemed over the top Type A.
And Brown was surprisingly pretty–I had remembered it as very grey and blah, very urban, but although it is obviously an urban campus, it has a real campus feel, not a bunch of buildings in a city. I did get a negative feeling from a couple of people answering questions–I went in without my daughter, who was at a class, and asked for some answers to questions that she wanted, and the people were all “it’s on the web site. We don’t have any handouts, it’s all online.” When I asked for specific information on the PLME, they didn’t have anything to offer. Maybe it’s because I was there as a parent without my daughter, or maybe they were just too busy, but I felt a real “ivy” attitude: “we don’t actually care if you come. There are plenty of others.” On the other hand, and probably much more importantly, the few kids we met seemed nice.</p>
<p>I am a huge fan of Cornell with dad, me, and DS1 graduates, and DS2 starting in the fall. That said, the tour is dreadful. They are trying to cram talking about 7 schools into one small inner circuit of the campus. It is informative in some ways (and I’m not sure there’s a better option), but really does not give you a great feel for the place. I really recommend visiting North Campus, where all the freshmen live (not on the tour). You will cross over some “gorgeous gorges” on the way. Also the Andrew Dickson White Reading Room in Uris Library, climb to the top of the clock tower if you’re there for a chimes concert, and visit the Johnson Museum, just off the Arts Quad, in a wonderful IM Pei building, with a killer view from the top floor. Wear comfortable shoes and sit down from time to time.</p>
<p>It does seem overwhelming at first (like UMich, or NYC), but after a couple of days on campus, the kids know their way around and enjoy the variety and the ability to meet new people for four years. They all get used to walking (remember when we used to walk to school?) and it is really manageable.
Ithaca is a little funky, but some people like that. Others do not.</p>