<p>Wesleyan came off the list after our visit. Female to male ratio seemed lopsided and gender imbalance felt too noticeable. The odd thing also was the visitor center and parking lot are situated in an area right off their field so all you had was an impression of buildings circling around one huge sports field smack dab in the middle. Thought that was odd for a non-sportsy school.</p>
<p>We just finished a visit to CSUs in Southern California. It was during winter break so they were not offering campus tours (except Fullerton for dorm tour).</p>
<p>CSU Fullerton - brand new dorms which were great but the rest of the campus is a lot of buildings crammed into a small campus. Since they have close to 35,000 students we could not figure out where they would all fit. Only room for about 1,000 freshman in the campus dorms - which means big commuter school.</p>
<p>CSU Long Beach - buildings were ugly 70s institutional, campus was not inviting at all. They do not offer campus tours, it is self tour only.</p>
<p>CSU Northridge - fabulous new film/television building (her major) but again, ugly 70s institutional architecture. Also, there were numerous huge multi-story parking garages which just emphasized that it was a commuter school. Her comment was âIf I knew that film was my guaranteed major, this would be OKâ. But she wants to leave options open if she changes majors in the future.</p>
<p>This is based on the fact that she grew up in Southern California so the allure of going to school anywhere in Southern California is not important to her</p>
<p>Crossed off Swarthmore - could not see myself there at all. Something about the atmosphere/buildings </p>
<p>Crossed off Conn College - didnât even want to hear the info session </p>
<p>Added Northeastern - thought I wanted a small liberal arts school, but now Iâm not so sure, really loved it⊠</p>
<p>Added Dickinson - extremely impressed, really seems like a school on the rise</p>
<p>Why did you cross off Conn College? DS has a bit of regret not applying, but he wanted warmer weather.</p>
<p>for DS - Rider in NJ was crossed off because of the dorms.</p>
<p>@Longhaul
I immediately crossed off Conn College because I couldnât envision myself there. The library was not even up to par with my high school library (facilities - wise). I didnât like the surrounding âtownâ either. My parents got a negative feeling from it as well.</p>
<p>Crossed off George Mason University after a guided tour with a group.</p>
<p>The tour wasnât very good. We came from out-of-state and really didnât see a lot and were taken past buildings but we didnât go in them. Totally unimpressed by the freshman dorm we got into. One parent commented that it felt like a prison room. Two, two-stall, two-shower bathrooms on a floor for 30 students doesnât seem like enough.</p>
<p>We went into a freshman dorm in Presidentâs Park. We entered into what was called a lounge, which was small and had nothing to offer other than a few chairs. Small rooms, narrow hallway. </p>
<p>Admissions secretary, first person we came in contact with, wasnât very friendly at all.</p>
<p>Gunnerz, thanks for taking the time to post that. DS has been admitted to GMU but we have not visited yet. Sounds like we definitely should before deciding. Was the two, two shower, two stall bathroom on a mens floor or a womens?!</p>
<p>George Mason: the freshman dorms are the normal cinderblock type dorms. We saw something similar at UDel. The honors dorms (Eastern Shore) are the ones you want to get into. They are suites with 4 to a bathroom or 2 to a bathroom.</p>
<p>[George</a> Mason University - Office of Housing & Residence Life](<a href=âhttp://housing.gmu.edu/general/areas/EasternShore/easternshore.asp]Georgeâ>http://housing.gmu.edu/general/areas/EasternShore/easternshore.asp)</p>
<p>I wasnât impress with the tour guide (who was an arts major) leading a tour of Engineering students. She didnât even plan to go into the engineering building but we persuaded her to visit it. Later, DS was impressed when he met with the Assoc. Dean so GMU stays on our list.</p>
<p>I attended George Mason and lived in the dorms in the late 80âs. I lived on a single sex floor with one hall bath that was in the middle with the rooms surrounding it. Now that I think about it, there were two showers. I donât recall ever having an issue with being able to take a shower when I wanted, and I took daily showers, probably in the morning. </p>
<p>I loved that school and living in dorms with hall bathrooms got me knowing everyone on the floor, and most of us became really good friends and stayed together in that same dorm the next year. </p>
<p>And funny enough, just today I got another alumni letter asking me to donate. :)</p>
<p>Yes, the traditional hallway dorms are often the best way for a freshman to develop many friendships. The suites with 4 or so students can be very limiting, and are more suitable for upperclass students who already have an established group of friends. Particularly the high security housing can be anti-social - where the doors wonât stay open, you have to be escorted into the building, and you donât see anyone unless you knock on their suite door.</p>
<p>After hearing so many rave reviews of UNC-CH and how beautiful it is, we expected to like it. There was nothing even remotely appealing about our tour experience, and every other sentence out of the tour guideâs mouth was about basketball. Furthermore, UNCâs xc/track coach and Boston Collegeâs were the only ones out of Dâs target schools that never responded to Dâs e-mail of interest stating sheâd be coming to campus for a visit and could she stop in to briefly say hello (she was in the state for high school nationals).</p>
<p>Columbiaâif it werenât such a good school, it would have been eliminated after the tour. The guide was ditzy and kept talking about how every one walks around in pajamas, and she recounted a creepy 2 AM encounter with a professor who came to find her to answer a question while she sat in a lounge in pajamas. D was not afraid of being in the city, but got the strong impression from the guide and her overnight visit later that practically all the socializing and fun happens off campus. Just didnât think weâd have the pocketbook for that. </p>
<p>Ditto Princetonâvisited 3 times and if it werenât Princeton, it would have been axed immediately for general snootiness.</p>
<p>Ditto Pennâworst info session ever, and we visited many colleges with 2 kids, and way too much emphasis on Wharton. Got the impression that if you werenât in Wharton, youâd be second class there.</p>
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<p>Yeah, Iâm afraid thatâs pretty common.
My D and I have visited many schools and Iâd have to say, overall, dorm rooms are pretty much the least impressive aspect of any tour.
(Maybe thatâs why JMU doesnât show theirs. 
)</p>
<p>And, the many of the colleges we visited only guarantee housing for just the first year anyway so we have considered âquality of the dormitoryâ to be universally neutral.</p>
<p>Though, Iâd agree, the so-called âloungesâ win the prize for being the most unimpressive. Crappy old sofas and a few metal-framed chairs on a linoleum floor.</p>
<p>I hate to talk about the âgood old daysâ but when I was in grad school, our lounges had high-back upholstered arm chairs, solid wood antique style tables, Tiffany style lamps and oriental rugs.</p>
<p>Be glad that dorm still has a lounge. At many colleges, the lounges have been converted into dorm rooms. I believe many lounges in freshman dorms are designed to be easy to clean if they get sprayed with beer vomit.</p>
<p>CMU; the combination of the poorly kept campus and downtrodden weather was somewhat unappealingâŠ</p>
<p>Unfortunately, vandalism ( by students) is very common in the lounges and common areas. This happens even at the best schools and nicest dorms. We learned this at Penn when furniture was destroyed at a brand new student high rise apartment/dorm.</p>
<p>Well at least George Mason guarantees 4 years of housing for the students. Pitt had some very nice dorms for sophomores. They were suites with private living room between the bedrooms. There was a common lounge on each floor. They were in pretty good shape when he lived in them. </p>
<p>Was not impressed with MIT â the guide along with the adcom who handled the session was a turn-off. DS preferred Northeastern. Seemed to have lots of green space although it was in an urban setting.</p>
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<p>My Dâs friend and her mom have been known to let people know that the D was admitted into the business school, which I admit is an accomplishment. What they neglect to mention is that they left the campus tour half way through, because they couldnât stand the school.</p>
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<p>Yes, as has (apparently) been discussed many times here over the years, 'Mason is trying to rid itself of its âcommuter schoolâ reputation.</p>
<p>For us, we would certainly consider GMU but my D would prefer to attend college more than 30 minutes from our house. ;)</p>
<p>My D started her search sophomore year. We have visited quite a few on both coasts (and a few in between!) Eliminated a few immediately:
Lehigh-- depressing surrounding town although the school itself was beautiful
Lafayette-- didnât like the school or the area. Facilities not up to par with the others weâd just seen (Colgate, Hamilton, Bucknell)
Wake Forest-- my alma mater. Had our worst tour of all here! A freshman who had been there half a year was giving the tour??! What are they thinking? We stood outside the buildings as she spoke; didnât go in but 2 (one being a terrible freshman dorm that hasnât changed since the 80s when I went there; it was awful then-- even worse now)
Fordhamâabsolutely lovely campus in a scary part of town! Wall around the school with guards everywhere. She loved the two-campus idea (one in Lincoln Center) but would be scared to go from the subway or train to main campus, and sheâs very much a city girl.
BarnardâSO SMALL and not what we expected at all. Great that you get to share so much with Columbia, but would feel like the ugly stepsister in comparison.
UCSan Diego-- Great surrounding area but SO big and hard to get around. Loved the Dr. Seuss-like library, but not enough to want to navigate that campus for 4 years!
On the other hand, she hadnât expected to like these so much until she saw their campuses:
Davidson
USD
Chapman
Hamilton
even loved NYU despite the lack of organization of a campus
Itâs such an interesting process, isnât it? They all have their own opinions, thank God!</p>
<p>Weâre off to see Boston U, Northeastern and Emerson next week (D got denied from BC) and I very much appreciated reading everyoneâs comments about those schools. It just helps to hear othersâ impressions even though we plan to make our own.
Good luck to all of you out there trying to make a decision for Fall 2013 :)</p>