<p>Son was going for a music school. Did the visit, and was ready to apply. Oberlin offered an overnight, so he took advantage of it. That was the deal killer. The kids at the school were too liberal for him. He never did apply.</p>
<p>Daughter was offered a fee waiver to apply to Lawrence University, Appleton, WI. It was not on her radar, but had the program she was interested in. Since it was free and common app, she applied and was admitted. They had an admitted student’s weekend, so she decided to look at Lawrence. It was her first experience with the school, and after that weekend, she knew that is where she wanted to go.</p>
<p>Southwestern in Winfield,KS- an hour from anywhere, 12,000 residents, my suburban D was having none of that, even though we loved the school and their quirky traditions.
OKC University- really liked the school until she saw the dorms; like 6 girls sharing a bathroom? I don’t think so.
Colorado College- We are a pretty liberal family, and D is even more so, but she found CC to be over-the-top liberal.
Central Arkansas University- too big, with 9200 students
Ouachita Baptist- They had her until they mentioned mandatory chapel every week, with the occasional right wing evangelical politician speaker.</p>
<p>SaltwaterTom–6 girls sharing a bathroom is a GOOD ratio for most dorms. Generally you have 50 girls sharing a bathroom with 4 showers, 4 sinks and 4 toilets :D.</p>
<p>This is the opposite of the thread title but my son liked Emory because the newer dorms have a sink in every dorm room allowing the student to brush their teeth or wash up in their own room.</p>
<p>Clarkson - It is great for Engineering (which is what we are looking at for my S). It is quite small and too out in the middle of no where for him. Took us 3 hrs to get to Burlington VT from there and then another 3 hrs to home.</p>
<p>DD loved South Carolina’s Columbia campus but hated the Honors Program - she felt it was way too rigid and geared primarily for those intending to go on th grad school in a liberal arts discipline. As an engineer looking to head on to med school, she didn’t feel it was a fit.</p>
<p>After meeting with the dean for D’s intended major she wanted to like the school. In the end she felt it was too uniform. Buildings all matched, students looked the same, dressed the same, town was cute but cookie cutter to her. Coming from an urban school, and being a city kid, the lack of diversity was off putting. There weren’t even and dirty hippies in the college town. D now jokes that the dirty hippie factor needs to be part of the college guides. Too many=bad. No Dirty Hippies? Equally bad…:0)</p>
<p>We did leave thinking the education is top notch there.</p>
<p>MereMom–I don’t know if you’ve spent time on the pre-med board here but your DD may want to reconsider the engineering route to med school. It’s all about GPA and MCAT scores for the first rounds of selection and engineering is a tough field do get a high GPA in. Just something to investigate.</p>
<p>Meremom…if D love USC campus, be sure she talks to someone in honors about her specific schedule. My D is soph honors and is done with honors requirements except study elsewhere and thesis (which doesn’t even have to relate to major) due to APs and most of her honors friends are engineering/premed/science/business. She is taking upper level math and has been able to do all as honors except one. The requirements can be confusing without getting into detail.</p>
<p>Brigham Young University is off the list. DD did a summer program there. She found the young men there expect deference from the women. A man busing table tried to kick her out of the Union because her shorts rose above her knees when she was sitting. Many of the students are too politically conservative without really understanding the issues involved. One counselor was a strong advocate of Ayn Rand. (Rand’s philosophy is in direct contrast of LDS). This is unfortunate because academically BYU is a good school.</p>
<p>Bard - “too rural”
Villanova - “too religious” also wan’t impressed with the giant parking lot in front of campus
Hamilton - didn’t like the old/new campus split
Colgate - too hilly, winter break too long (go figure!)
Amherst - unimpressed with admissions presentation (like they couldn’t be bothered)
Princeton - “too fancy” but “the architecture is nice” LOL</p>
<p>Loved:</p>
<p>Haverford
Swarthmore
Tufts
Hobart
Wash U
Brown
Connecticut College</p>
<p>Can any one on this thread share with me the good, the bad and the ugly re: Binghamton? Curious to know what other posters have thought after visiting this school…thanks.</p>
<p>In response to a previous post, Villanova is trying to convert the big parking lot across from the campus into new student housing and a performing arts center. They need local development approvals.</p>
<p>Chochipcookie…as with many of the SUNY schools, Binghamton has that all- brick campus with not much personality. It has the dorms on the outside of a central area where most of the academic buildings are located. The road around the central area is roughly shaped like a brain and that is what they call that area…kind of clever. It is not a pretty campus.</p>
<p>Having said that, academically, it has enjoyed top or nearly top status in the entire SUNY system. It is well-respected and has been building its reputation for years.</p>
<p>I tried to get my daughter to apply there, but it was too remote for her.</p>
<p>We visited Binghamton. It was one of the first schools we looked at. I went to Stony Brook so Binghamton didn’t seem bad at all. In the grand scheme of things its wasn’t great but on a scale from 1-10 I would give it a 7. I thought the dorms were very nice and my S liked the fact that they stated that the dorms are spirited. They have lots of dorm functions, like BBQ’s and races/competitions with other dorms (Ie. They have some annual tug-of-war competition)</p>
<p>As a whole I thought it was a very good school, it was pretty looking and for the price you certainly can’t beat it! If the SUNY’s are of interest to you, I would definitely check out Geneseo. S loved that school, with the exception of the gymnasium, its very pretty, has a cute town attached to the campus thats very welcoming to the students. They just really need to overhaul the gym. It was a 'pit".</p>
<p>Thanks MD mom and dungareedoll for your responses to my Bing question. </p>
<p>We are concentrating on schools mainly in New England for Engineering, but will look at Bing as it was suggested by our really terrific gc. Geneseo has a 3/2 program which we are not interested in and it’s really, really far from home.</p>
<p>It pays to go visit Bing and form our own opinion. Heard they just built a new tech/engineering complex…</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack this thread! Back to colleges you crossed off the list after visiting! :)</p>
<p>I didn’t realize you were interested in engineering. If so then I would highly recommend Stony Brook. I have a sister who graduated from there with a BS in ME and a MS in ME. Its probably the best of the SUNY’s for engineering. I don’t know where you live but Stony Brook has the Long Island Railroad right on campus so its very commutable to NYC then theres the ferry from Port Jeff to Conn. SUNY SB is also a very safe area. No crime at all. They have done wonders with their D1 sports and tons of money has been sunk into the school. SB is by far the best of the SUNY’s for engineering. Buffalo is great too. DH got his chemical engineering degree from there. Not sure where you live but I would definitely see SB.</p>