<p>Sorry that you were underwhelmed by UVA but the comparison to UMd is not really apt in my opinion, given that UVA is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and at least a half dozen colleges like Vanderbilt et al are modeled after it. I’ve never heard of any school proud to say that they looked like the University of Maryland! OK UMd alums,let me have it!</p>
<p>Tufts University. I had high hopes since I like Boston, my sister lives there and the school was the right size with many of the programs my Ds were interested in. However, neither of my Ds would even get out of the car. They gave it about 5 minutes before asking to leave-too hilly and didn’t like the name. Emerson College-no campus. Dartmouth and Middlebury-too isolated and rural. Didn’t help that the road to Middlebury was washed out, leaving us with a 15 mile detour so we were late for the tour.</p>
<p>Oddly enough - Syracuse made both lists. First visit was for Engineering program - the vibe felt right, the guides were informative and had our group interact with faculty during an intro tour, we got to see modeling shops, aeronautics simulator - a real hands on and pleasant visit. When son changed decision on majors to Industrial Design - we went back to visit School of Visual & Performing Arts and had exactly opposite experience. Ill informed tour guides, pompous department heads and very superficial view of “hands on” facilities. The whole day made us feel like we had to prove ourselves worthy to apply to a program which, honestly, is good but not great.</p>
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<p>I have a couple that were almost-crossed-off but I made him look anyway. My DS has been insisting he wants an urban campus, but as our drive through the midwest was taking us reasonably near Carleton and Grinnell, both rural, I arranged visits for him. On arrival, he was visibly underwhelmed by the small town vibes. He expected Northfield to be a suburb of Minneapolis, but it’s not. However, he was impressed with Carleton and will apply. Grinnell was really pushing it, surrounded by Iowa corn. At his first sight of the town, I could tell he was thinking a visit would be a waste of time and we should just head on to Chicago. But being a cooperative son, he went on the tour and LOVED it. The facilities are first-rate and we both agreed that the academics appear to be designed for him.</p>
<p>The only visited school he’s likely eliminated is Carnegie Mellon, and for no particular reason. We visited on a dreary day, and all of our visits to other schools have been accompanied by pleasant sunshine, so CM suffered in comparison. He realizes this and claims the weather isn’t his reason for discarding it. He says he liked it ok, but he prefers all of the other schools he’s visited, including his two safeties.</p>
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<p>My advice is to think about more than athletic opportunities. Also think about values, goals, and fit. I say this because while Bucknell may be a bit of a Princeton wannabe, Swarthmore and Washington & Lee are totally different schools culturally. OMG. They are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Swarthmore is very diverse and very liberal. W&L is the opposite. Conservatives feel very much at home at W & L. But as one Swarthmore student joked “everyone on campus knows who the three Republican students are.” W & L is heavy Greek participation. I don’t think Swat even has frats or sororities. Both LACs are academically outstanding, but the social life and on campus vibe is radically different. They are so opposite, your child needs to be honest and decide which one is the better cultural fit.</p>
<p>To address the thread specifically…my D crossed Lehigh off her list after visiting. There were a number of reasons, but in the end, she couldn’t envision walking up those steep hills, day after day, in the dead of an icy winter.</p>
<p>ID mom. My son and husband went to see both RIT (my husband’s alma mater) and Syracuse to check out the same majors Engineering and Industrial Design. Son disliked the RIT Engineering info person, too focused on getting a job and loved the ID dept. </p>
<p>Then they went to Syracuse and met with an ID person at the downtown site and son felt it had too much attention to how they view the future of ID not enough focus on the actual doing the design which is what he liked. So ID at Syracuse was a no go.</p>
<p>However, the engineering tour which is lead by a dedicated person was excellent. The tour guide knew all the kids by name and took DH and Son to various labs and classrooms. Syracuse for engineering is now on son’s list.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg. S said it would kill him if he went there. He couldn’t imagine being intellectually stimulated at the school. Tour guide said “Yous ready to move on?” about 30 times. But, he REALLY liked the plates at the dining hall. Think different colored fiestaware. Silly kid.</p>
<p>Only one crossed off the list after the summer - Duke. The information session was the best we had seen but the tour ruined it. Tour guide was awful and I can’t imagine knowing less about what it’s like to be a student there among other complaints we had.</p>
<p>Not crossed off, but comments -</p>
<p>Elon - great looking school but maybe not an academic fit
UNC Chapel hill - Liked it a lot, but very big and “something” missing
Division - Kind of small feeling but still high on the list</p>
<p>Cal Tech - S1 is a techie but didn’t want to be around just techies. I think he was turned off by the crowd at the open house day that we went to. He also inquired during an info session about sports teams and most of the people in the audience started laughing.</p>
<p>Claremonts: I didn’t like the separate schools and the “socal” feel
Georgetown: unfriendly people, smelt like sewer, bad tour guides, kept mentioning how Bill Clinton went there. I left the tour early and it was my first choice going into the tour.</p>
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<p>DS planned an overnight at Tufts, left after a few hours to hang with Emerson and Harvard students, came back to sleep and hightailed it out of there in the morning. Went from #2 to off the list. Left the Amherst and GT tours midway - too much elitism by both admissions and tour guides. Unexpectedly, loved the vibe at Johns Hopkins.</p>
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<p>What did she dislike about Tufts?</p>
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<p>Luck of the draw, he was paired with a suite of guys who were enjoying a big game on TV. His comment was too may baseball caps.</p>
<p>That makes an overnight visit risky. Too bad.</p>
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<p>DS took Vanderbilt off the list after their Roadshow. I thought the program was informativ, he thought it was boring, and nothing stood out for him.</p>
<p>Any impressions from any of your children about their visits to BELOIT, LAWRENCE, or KNOX?</p>
<p>I’ll be happy if D2 is willing to look at those schools. D1 refused to look at Lawrence simply because her mother and I are alums. In fact she refused to look at any Wisconsin schools on the same principle. Yeah I know. She did apply to Knox although we never visited. Hopefully D2 will be a little more receptive. I think all three are very good schools and well worth considering if you are looking at Midwestern LACs. All three also give merit money and are somewhat less expensive than the top price LACs.</p>
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<p>Why would you let one bad tour guide who you may never see again dictate the decision, especially if the stuff you learned in the info session was good?</p>
<p>Because 17-18 YOs are not fully formed, lack experience and are just kinda dumb in many ways.</p>
<h1>2637:</h1>
<p>KNOX: Crossed off b/c student she met in class she attended was into LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) and kids’ taste in music did not appeal. Is not into playing board games. Too remote; no malls nearby. Great professors; friendly Admissions folks. Students just not her peeps. The class she attended was during the lunch period so we never saw the cafeteria nor observed students in the cafeteria. </p>
<p>BELOIT: The very cute tour guide could not counterbalance our lunch host who told us the LARPing group was huge on campus and that he was mad that he was not permitted to write a science fiction/fantasy tale for his creative writing class. Did not like constant use of tuning fork in choral class. Again, class she sat in on was great and the new science building was fabulous. Also, location was a bit remote.</p>
<p>Conclusion for our student: Avoid LACs that describe student body/culture as <em>quirky</em>; a more mainstream urban environment would be a better fit.</p>
<p>LAWRENCE: Loved it; a Californian entranced by five inches of snow in April. (Sh-h-h. I know it will get old very quickly, but she doesn’t.) Again, enjoyed the class she sat in on. Sat in on choir rehearsals, and president and secretary of women’s choir invited her to rehearse with them which was very sweet. The new student union was very nice, and we had a hard time adjusting to the fact that students just left their backpacks out in an open area while they ate. Seems to me backpacks at Beloit were left unattended, too. We live in an urban area where theft is common, so it was a real shock. Our tour guide was a Wisconsin dairy farm boy who I think was a jock, and our lunch hostess was a pianist from the Con who, at least that day dressed like Minnie Mouse. DD wants a quality choir to remain part of her life but does not want to major or minor in music. This is a big part of Lawrence’s appeal, but YMMV. My understanding is that many non-Con students participate in music.</p>
<p>Oh – We spent entire days (9-6, generally) at these schools plus Lake Forest College last spring break. This included tours, visiting a class or two, lunch, the student meeting with Admissions, and the student sitting in on a choir rehearsal. Our student is outgoing enough to talk to students when she is visiting classes. I don’t recall any information sessions which I find generally to be of limited value since they go over stuff found on the school web sites.</p>