<p>@ UVAStudent2015 - Because we all come from different backgrounds with different perspectives and what one family finds an annoyance, or simply something to be brushed off, another family finds greater meaning in and takes greater stock when considering that school. We all do it for different reasons and that’s why we visit. We are NOT here to judge one another on what one family brushes off and what another finds a deal breaker. Schools have to be taken off the list for one reason or another and it is really up to no one but the student and their parent what those reasons should be. They don’t owe anyone else an explanation. Not here, not anywhere.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be harsh, however the topic in question has been discussed by many, covered from many different angles, and I think it serves no one to reopen the topic on the grounds that you suggest.</p>
Thanks Hunt for reminding me of one of my all time favorite threads! There are some “spit your coffee on the screen” funny reasons why some kids ruled out schools on this thread. In the end it doesn’t matter because they can only go to one and the list has to get smaller somehow. :)</p>
<p>I take great exception to the title of that thread. Parents on there deride reasons such as architecture, student appearance, colors, etc. as “stupid.” I know they’re the ones paying the bill, but ultimately it’s not only the next 4 years, but something that they’ll have to identify with for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>Haha Blueiguana, I forgot about that… not to take all the credit, Cottonwood started it. But to save the searching, here are the summarizing posts from the famous “Stupidest reason child won’t look at a college” thread:</p>
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<p>DavidSSabb, some of the reasons on that thread were truly stupid. That’s what made it so fun.</p>
<p>I think it’s alright to look at a school and decide you just don’t like it. Of course some of the reasons parents here probably aren’t the whole truth, you’re not going to tell your mother that you don’t like the fact that there aren’t any bars near campus.</p>
<p>DavidSSabb94- I can promise you that no access to bars was not a problem with any campus that we visited last year. Knocking a school off the list because of too many girls in peasant skirts, however, was. It is stupid, but it helped to knock a long list down. We can laugh about it here. The fact that we can call it stupid is because we would rather laugh than cry.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, parents are desperately looking for something that will irritate their kids on the tours at the really expensive colleges, and trying to point out the great features of the cheaper colleges. Did you notice that all of the girls at that expensive college were wearing those skirts you hate???</p>
<p>(I’m a happy parent so far - with no prompting by me, my daughter said she hated the most expensive college we have visited so far, and loved the cheapest one).</p>
<p>UVAStudent2015, the real question is how can anyone make a 4 year decision after a single college tour or even only looking at the website. The answer, people do it all the time because that is simply how we do it. We rely on that first impression to help us decide. </p>
<p>You think the college search is arbitrary, try looking for a house you plan to live in for 20 years + and see how much those subtle details get in the way. But amazingly, people do buy houses after very little time spent in them. Something has to click with them when they see the house, something strong or those little nuances get in the way.</p>
<p>Just like with a house, no school is going to be perfect for 4 years. But it has to be good enough (does it have majors you’re interested in, does it have people with whom you can connect, does it provide sufficient opportunities for X, Y, or Z).</p>
<p>So many college are in approximately the same price range that unless one is going to rule out an entire tier of schools, the prices are similar.</p>
<p>We were lucky to get need-based FA, and the awards differed, but I made my criterion that we could afford it, not that we got the best deal.</p>
<p>And the “best” colleges (expensive) gave the best deals because they had more endowment money to spend.</p>
<p>I’m sure that was an indicator of something about the students. I’m not sure what. But I know if I saw a whole bunch of guys with khakis and bow-ties, that would indicate something about the student body.</p>
<p>I mean, if you look at my post on that thread, I was offended because a college had my city wrong on my name tag, and completely crossed them off the list when I realized all their buildings were old and bland. So I’m completely guilty of using “stupid” reasons, which is probably why I’m being defensive about it.</p>
<p>For me, I mostly applied to public schools, and I was certain to get good need-based aid at the private schools I went for. So my mother had me make the decision completely on my own once acceptances came in, and I was only able to eliminate a couple outright. So I was left with every little detail I could find that I liked or disliked (I visited some schools more than once) to guide me along.</p>
<p>There have been various proposals over the years to put “something else” there: a library, a diving and swimming center, a Life Sciences building. The drawback they all had in common was that they ruined the view of Wesleyan’s one iconic natural feature: Foss Hill and the turn-of-the century observatory that tops it. There’s just no getting around the fact that it’s a natural stadium that comes into its own at least once a year :): </p>
<p>When I visited, the first thought was that the field was strange and that sports were the center point of campus. But as I walked up the hill and more around campus I came to appreciate the open space and thought of it as a nice central location that brought the school together.</p>
<p>Northwestern- great academics, fantastic theater opportunities and training, but crossed it off the list because it was too cold. The wind off the lake was too much to take on a day that it was 50 degrees outside… we knew it would be unbearable in the middle of winter. Obviously, this is not an issue for more sturdy kids!</p>
<p>I really want to see the look on these Great Lake campus student’s faces (Northwestern, Case Western, Chicago, etc.) when they first find out about lake-effect snow.</p>
![http://www.wesleyan.edu/newsletter/images/commencement082550.jpg[/url]](http://www.wesleyan.edu/newsletter/images/commencement082550.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
