<p>makenahunter, I’d start a new thread because you won’t get as much attention within this sprawling thread. That said, I would strongly discourage applying ED to a school you haven’t visited. ED is a binding decision (assuming financial aid works out), and Tufts does have a specific vibe. It appeals to some–my D1 is a happy freshman there after applying ED1 last year. And, as this thread shows, it is a turnoff to others. Have your D apply RD so she has time to do her due diligence.</p>
<p>USC, UCLA, UCSC, Azusa Pacific, and Pomona College. I eliminated most of those with just an unofficial campus visit, not even a tour. It’s amazing how much a simple walk through campus can tell you you about the school.</p>
<p>^ interesting - you named 3 of the campuses we loved in your elimination list: USC, UCLA, and UCSC (my child actually liked the latter the best of all) :D</p>
<p>Swathmore- To ‘artsy’, would have been the perfect school for one of my friends (she actually applied there after I told her about it) but didn’t get a good vibe for a hardcore science program.</p>
<p>Mulhenberg-Just a no, not that impressed by facilities, tour guide, programs</p>
<p>RPI- The male/female ratio and surrounding area</p>
<p>Williams- I liked but it was very expensive and pretty remote</p>
<p>Came down to Wheaton and Brandeis and did overnights at both. Wheaton was pretty and had a great soccer program (I want to play in college) but just didn’t get the right vibe from the students, seemed like they spent a lot of time partying, not a lot of support for pre-med. Brandeis, I liked it when we did the tour in the summer was really impressed by the science center and volunteering. Went back, did the overnight, loved it. It was the perfect combination of academics and athletics, the students were bright and passionate, everyone was incredibly friendly, a great all around fit. I’ll be a Judge in the fall :)</p>
<p>I’m a high school senior, and I went on a college trip with my school through the state and we visited various colleges including UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSB, UCD, Mills, Stanford, etc. </p>
<p>I had a wonderful experience at UC Berkeley because we attended on Cal Day, but we were at UCLA on a Saturday and the campus was a bit sleepy. Similarly, Stanford on a Friday afternoon was rather boring and I know that many of my classmates decided that it wasn’t for them based on that visit. </p>
<p>However, given that I’ve been to UCLA, Stanford, and UC Berkeley on separate occasions, I know that they can all be as boring or as lively as one another and I would urge students and parents to keep an open mind if they just took a tour, especially if they’re comparing it to a college that they visited on a day where classes were in session.</p>
<p>Great academic schools but:</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins - and two months later a student killed an intruder with a sword</p>
<p>Duke - did not like whEre they house the freshmen 10 minutes away</p>
<p>I went to school at UCSC and while it isn’t the right school for everyone, it offered me some life changing experiences.</p>
<p>^ I think that can apply to any school.</p>
<p>I have enjoyed this thread so much that I finally decided to contribute.</p>
<p>My husband took our son on the Upstate NY tour in August right before he began his senior year in HS.</p>
<p>Rochester was a hit-beautiful campus, nice city, interesting curriculum. This was his top choice for schools he thought he had a good chance to get into.</p>
<p>Cornell-they both loved it. Beautiful campus-not much else I got from that tour but the sheer beauty of the place. The tour got high marks but there was an uncomfortable moment when the tour guide asked for questions and one woman asked if they would be shown the suicide bridge. This was his dream until…</p>
<p>Harvard-my son fell head over heels in love with this place. I loved it too! I told someone on the tour I wanted to apply as well. It was so funny though since as much as my son and I loved it, the tour, everything about it-my husband was just as turned off! He rolled his eyes constantly from the opening info session until the end of the tour. The opening info session was led by a guy who had graduated with a major in Brazilian Studies. My husband just couldn’t get over that-why would someone major in something like that? Our tour guide was great and couldn’t have been more enthusiastic-if you wanted to learn some obscure language and they didn’t have someone who could teach it then by golly they would find someone who could teach you and fly them right over from wherever in the world they could find them! The final touch was looking through the little window at the dining hall-it was Hogwarts! My husband’s behavior was so out of character for him and it was very annoying to my son-I had to play referee on this visit! My son told me he would be “crushed” if he wasn’t accepted-oh well he was for a while but got over it.</p>
<p>Northeastern. This tour was taken the same day as Harvard. It was the morning tour and Harvard was the afternoon one. I do not recommend this! The morning was a typical cold grey November NE day, but the afternoon was one of those days when the sun comes out and everything just seems so much nicer. Poor Northeastern never had a chance! This was a “Dad Tour”. My son hated everything about it-a big school in the middle of the city-the two things he absolutely did not want. They did a nice job of the tour. We had two guides. The regular tour showed most of the school and the guide was very nice and did a great job. We stayed for the honors tour at my suggestion. She was the best guide ever in my husband’s opinion. It was hard for me to judge since I was unable to go on the NY tour. She was very impressive and had just returned from her co-op at the United Nations in Geneva. This tour showcased their newest dorm International Village.
It was very new and very modern-I didn’t care for it too much but can see how others would find it beautiful. As much as my son loved Harvard my husband loved Northeastern. We ended that tour with my son saying he would rather go to the state U (spoiled brat!) than this place. </p>
<p>He is now a freshman and absolutely loves his choice: Northeastern.</p>
<p>If he was accepted to Harvard he would be there but he wasn’t, and in the end he picked the place he applied to only because his father insisted he at least apply. My husband isn’t usually like that but he felt so strongly about the school and my son’s chances of getting a nice offer from them he just wanted him to keep his options open. </p>
<p>My advice to parents is to say as little as possible and keep your opinions to yourself unless asked. My husband’s behavior was baffling that day and I still don’t quite understand it-although our son did make this whole process less than enjoyable.</p>
<p>I am so glad the college application process is over! :)</p>
<p>@Lakemom, good to see your post. UCSC seems to get little respect on cc. We were prepared not to like it and ended up fascinated by the whole place. It is my child’s safety (we think) but will attend happily if that is how it turns out.</p>
<p>Snowdog, I guess it depends on your major. I did not graduate from there but started there for the first 2 years. I took a Social Psychology class from Elliot Aronson, one the main movers of this form of psychology. He was an amazing lecturer, 50 people stood to audit the class. That was my life changing class and I still talk about cognitive dissonnance theory today.</p>
<p>All my chemistry classes were taught by visiting professors from all over the world, very interesting experience. Santa Cruz was the college town to end all college towns and you are only an hr from SF and SJ. After the earthquake it really demolished the town so I don’t know how it is now but at the time is was pretty wonderful.</p>
<p>^ We did not have a chance to spend much time in Santa Cruz during our day there. Stayed in Capitola the night before and enjoyed it. I know that the town was largely lost during Loma Prieta but campus seemed to come through great. A major deal to my child, we are from the northeast and fear of an earthquake is there despite the love of CA. Major at UCSC would be human biology.</p>
<p>Capitola is nice. I think those core type majors are probably good there. For Chem, they had 2 tracks. Chem for majors and chem for those who just needed chem, that was me. I imagine they may do the same for Bio.</p>
<p>Chiming in on Pittsburgh, S also crossed off Carnegie Mellon after visiting, mostly due to disliking Pittsburgh. I couldn’t understand it, other than our visit day being chilly, gray and dreary. I saw nothing objectionable about Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>He also crossed off Northwestern and U of Chicago after visiting, for different reasons. He couldn’t identify what he didn’t like about Northwestern, just said it didn’t feel right. U of Chicago, which I thought he would like very much and seemed to offer everything he originally said he was looking for in a college, was mysteriously eliminated. All I could figure is that he was overwhelmed by the crowds at his visit. I believe now I made a mistake in scheduling it on one of the summer super Fridays and wish we had gone on an off day. </p>
<p>After visiting about a dozen schools, we did learn that “urban location” was not a must-have like he previously thought. He’s applied to 8 schools – 2 safeties and 6 he really likes. Of those 6, 2 are in the middle of cornfields and another is in a small town. Those 3 were my additions to his list and he was skeptical he would like them before he visited. I know it’s not always possible to visit every school of interest (and S has applied to one without visiting yet), but nothing really beats it for erasing preconceptions, good or bad.</p>
<p>Pepper03–Details Please!!! You omitted major chunks of the story! Did you visit Northeastern again? What was S’s mindset?</p>
<p>Penn State Main Campus - My daugher decided within the first 15 minutes that she didn’t want to attend a 50,000-student university. It was our first college tour and helped to narrow the field in a hurry.</p>
<p>Lehigh - I don’t know if it was the hills or something else but she just wasn’t feeling it.</p>
<p>University of Rochester - I wasn’t there for this tour but she was not impressed with the main speaker or the tour guide.</p>
<p>Bucknell - Lovely campus but it was too close to home and wouldn’t provide an experience much diferent from being at home.</p>
<p>Dartmouth - She didn’t feel like she would fit in. Got that vibe while waiting for the tour to begin.</p>
<p>The big surprise for me was RPI. We stopped in expecting to cross it off the list but ended up liking the place. Daughter is a Medalist and the application has been sent.</p>
<p>It is way too long to get into on this thread! I guess the point of my post was to share that these visits may or may not be helpful in the decision process. </p>
<p>He never visited NEU until admitted students day when he made his decision. I was very leery of his choice but in the end after he explained his reasons it made a lot of sense. </p>
<p>Even though the process was very grueling for him which I frankly think we made worse by “helping him” too much he learned a lot about himself and ultimately what path would be the right one for him. It wasn’t the one he thought it would be when he first started this journey but so far it seems like he made the right choice for him.</p>
<p>Late entry to this thread. There were so many that I initially wondered if daughter would even be going to college :-)</p>
<p>Western Washington University: she came away not feeling good about the academics of the campus. I think that it also felt too remote for her. Beautiful location, though.</p>
<p>Whitman College: was on her list after we visited, then came off. She loved the college, but decided that she couldn’t stomach four years in Walla Walla.</p>
<p>Washington State University: originally on as a safety, but came off for the same reason as Whitman. Too many hours driving through wheat fields to get anywhere. She dozed off while we were driving away, woke up some time later and couldn’t tell that we’d moved. I think she found that kind of scary.</p>
<p>University of Washington: campus felt huge, with everything oversized. We quickly learned that she doesn’t want a campus that large, or that urban.</p>
<p>Lewis & Clark: she just didn’t feel like it was a good fit for her.</p>
<p>Mills: opposite extreme from UW. She found the thought of a college 1/3 the size of her high school “creepy.” </p>
<p>Berkeley: heard too many bad things about it, and she just didn’t like the looks of the campus.</p>
<p>Saint Mary’s (CA): Too “peppy,” with all the talk about their Div I basketball team and the rabid fan base.</p>
<p>Santa Clara U.: couldn’t put a finger on it. She just didn’t feel it. Didn’t help that on one visit, the engineering dean couldn’t answer a basic question about his program.</p>
<p>UCLA: “Well, it’s better than Berkeley,” but that’s all she’d give it. Big, popular campus, and so it may have been doomed even before we visited.</p>
<p>Pitzer: very earnest students, but my daughter didn’t feel like she’d fit in.</p>
<p>Yale: MUCH too urban for her.</p>
<p>Harvard: better than Yale, but still over her urban limit. Didn’t help that it was summer, and the place was lousy with tourists.</p>
<p>Brown: at the edge of her urban limit, and just didn’t feel special enough to her to go to the effort of applying.</p>
<p>MIT: she wasn’t considering it strongly to begin with, so it took very little to cross it off. We walked around on our own. It was too monochromatic, too urban, and we got lost in a rat maze of lab buildings on the back of campus.</p>
<p>Hampshire: did a self-guided tour, and she knew decided 1/3 of the way through that it was not a good fit for her.</p>
<p>Pepper - Northeastern was also a school that I made my D apply to even though she was lukewarm on it. She has just completed her first semester there…she almost didn’t apply.</p>
<p>She too chose it after the accepted student’s day…and we were surprised.</p>
<p>LostCoast: I’m intrigued, where did she decide to apply?</p>