<p>We see Georgetown and johns Hopkins today (Hopkins first). We loved Hopkins ( probably going to adopt ED) but we hated Georgetown. It felt cramped and there was no green on campus. And johns Hopkins was just much more amazing in comparison. It was interesting because we thought we would love Georgetown and were unsure about Hopkins before the tour. We are Catholic as well. Still didn’t like Georgetown.</p>
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It took me years to understand it myself, but in NYC, where people are often rude to your face, they have your back. Some other places, where they are sweetness and light to your face… well, you know.</p>
<p>I am a big fan of college visits! At the start of this process, my daughter couldn’t put into words what she was looking for but it only took a few visits (and listening carefully to her reactions) before I could recognize what kind of school would be a good fit, and then help her identify those schools. Yes, sometimes the kids can reject a school for totally absurd reasons but hey, they’re teenagers! What do you expect? (And unintentionally, I think we well-meaning parents can promote their seemingly random “dings” of a school by always asking “so, what did you think of that school?” as we drive away from a visit.)</p>
<p>I really appreciate the mix of humor and seriousness I find here. The amusing descriptions of various visits help lighten the stress of this intense ride through the college search process. However, I do also often find nuggets of factual information that I choose to investigate on my own. I certainly wouldn’t write a school off based on a comment here but it might make me curious enough to look again at a school, from a different perspective.</p>
<p>I also enjoy this thread. I find it interesting that some have similar reactions to us at certain schools and some have the opposite reaction…For example, my D had the same reaction to Wake as blueiguana’s S, the exact opposite to John Hopkins than picklechicken’s family, and she loved the over friendliness of the Southern schools that GertrudeMcfuzz’s D didn’t care for and was bothered by urban environments (even though we are from one!) For us, campus visits were the single most important factor in mt D’s decision. BTW- she is ending up going to a friendly southern school - none of us could have predicted that.</p>
<p>GertrudeMcFuzz and IxnayBob, thanks for the tip! We are New Yorkers about to head for a college tour of the Midwest. We should watch out for getting too enamored of a school if it seems too friendly, and we are not used to such treatment!</p>
<p>I enjoy this thread - it has helped us and hope it helps others. No college is perfect and I told child that we could go back and tour schools where we didn’t have great experience on another day, hopefully with different tour, etc. but I was always overruled. I am also fascinated as colleges are pouring tons of money into the admissions process, but some of them need work, IMHO, on the human interactions! (Tour Guide training, student interviewers and adult staff being considerate goes along way!) This is what turned the tide with my child anyway - and have to be honest, gave parents a really strong reaction against one. It was usually a sequence of things - tour guide that was underwelmed, uninformed or spewing inaccurate info. -Info. meeting was far too serious, long, corporate like, (child said “soul sucking!”) even rude. or they showed you next to nothing - i.e. here are slides of our brochure, this is the outside of the dorms you can see on the website, this is a beautiful dorm room but it’s only for Grad. students, etc! (Your room won’t look like this…) We left it up to child’s decision but if asked, we did give our opinion while telling we’d already selected our college/done our thing…also appreciated the schools that didn’t play games. Even though child didn’t apply ED, a few school sent acceptance and scholarship offers several months early and this was SO appreciated. Finally, being lied to – regarding special honors housing. (Housing for incoming class not built yet, no special housing available for TWO years, then only by lottery.) Thank goodness child asked lots of questions on housing! School was promply crossed off the list.</p>
<p>My D crossed Sarah Lawrence off her list after visiting. She thought the professors there were just too full of themselves and were “annoying.” We thought it would be a great school for a kid who was very self-directed.</p>
<p>Connecticut College got written off quickly after a bizarre info session during which the person from admissions talked on and on about southern barbecue. Very little info about the school. Mainly about barbecue.</p>
<p>I LOVED the friendliness of the south & I would have signed up to attend in a second. But I have to remember it is D who will have to spend 4 years there, not me. The last thing I want to do is talk her into a school, then have her be unhappy there. She has to be fully onboard for whatever school is the final choice. </p>
<p>Our big tour did give her a pretty good idea of what she likes/doesn’t like in any one school, so now she can research other places and specific programs with some experience under her belt. I felt like she’d made good progress when we visited UPenn - she absolutely loved the campus and the urban scene, but crossed it off the list because it doesn’t have the specific focus she wants.</p>
<p>IxnayBOB - Well said!!</p>
<p>One thing this thread and other threads have taught me is to accept my kiddo’s reaction to a school, even if it doesn’t make sense on the surface. As blueiguana noted, they are reacting to SOMETHING, and may not have the right words for it. It’s important to trust that reaction. </p>
<p>I find it a relief to be able to narrow down the list.</p>
<p>DS had a very unfavorable reaction to Cal Poly SLO, after picking up a copy of the student newspaper and finding an article which seemed to him to be very immature and offensive. I’d actually been privately rooting for SLO, as many children of friends love it there, but it is off the table.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we picked up a newspaper at the college which is now his first choice, and he made a point of commenting that the articles were “much more mature”.</p>
<p>Any impressions of Penn State and/or State College? With all the posters here, someone must have toured it. I just got asked a question about it by a HS student’s parents since I’m from Pa. but I don’t know much about the vibe of the school.</p>
<p>aj, we toured Penn State with our twins last summer. DH and I are alums, and we were very, very disappointed with our visit. Afterward, we couldn’t blame the kids for saying that they had no interest in attending (and they have been there for FB games, daytrips, etc). At the info session (which was huge!), it seemed to us that they used at least 50% of our time discussing the virtues of the branch campuses. My DS leaned over to me in the middle of the presentation and asked me if we were in the right session?! Since we were visiting University Park, I think it’s safe to assume that the students there were not all that interested in hearing about the branches! </p>
<p>After the info session, we broke up into relatively small groups for our campus tour (probably 6 students, plus families). DH and I were VERY disappointed that the dorm we visited (presumably, they consider it a good representative of what would be available to incoming freshman) had not been updated since we attended (and arguably, it needed updating then!)…there was not even wifi in the dorms.</p>
<p>By the time we visited PSU, we had visited two other Big 10 schools and I have to say, Penn State just didn’t impress like the others did when we toured. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s a great school and 20+ years ago, it had a great balance of school spirit, hard work, and partying, which presumably is still there. There were all kinds of students and there was something there for everyone. I think the vibe is similar at most Big 10s - pretty campuses, nice college towns, great school spirit, lots of diversity, and BIG!</p>
<p>I did an unofficial tour of the campus and town. Campus is about average Big 10. I like the town better and would put it in the upper third of the Big 10.</p>
<p>Both of my kids loved PSU but ended up choosing other options because it is hard to get to from New England…it is a full day of travel whether you drive or fly.</p>
<p>I visited PSU twice and liked it both times. It wasn’t a good fit for either of my kids however. I was very impressed with their IST program and liked the idea that they had a special dorm that students could choose to stay in.</p>
<p>One son went to PSU. He lived in one of the older dorms (McKee), in another of the Special Living Options (Engineering House). HIs room was large with nice old built-ins, plenty of storage (for a boy, anyway). The school has great rec facilities and lots of school spirit, though son went to one football game and decided there were other things he’s rather do on a Saturday afternoon. He was interested in a specific major, Architectural Engineering, that is only offered at a handle of schools and was mostly focused on program when he visited schools. Had that not been the case I think CU-Boulder would have been his first choice. (Their program was shorter, 4 years, and less comprehensive.)</p>
<p>He crossed IIT off the list after talking to the department head of his intended major and learning that there was very little collaboration between the engineering and architecture programs. At PSU the design classes are taught by architecture faculty. At IIT the department head in engineering spoke somewhat disparagingly about architecture. This was particularly disappointing because of the rich architectural history of the school. S crossed it off his list.</p>
<p>At Drexel’s Engineering Open House the Dean of Engineering spoke about the use of computers and specifically about a major project that had been entirely designed and tested using computers and simulation, nothing in the lab. As it happened the project was in my husband’s area of expertise and what the dean said was entirely wrong. DH crossed Drexel of the list.</p>
<p>Our other son crossed Princeton off his list after visiting; he just didn’t like the vibe. He ended up at Harvard where he felt much more comfortable from the get go.</p>
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<p>fyi</p>
<p>Though McKee is considered part of the “West Halls” area, it is set a bit apart from the rest of the West dorms and was built in 1949, much later than the rest which were constructed in the 1920s and 30s.</p>
<p>For a period of time, McKee was a graduate-school-only dormitory.</p>
<p>Just a bunch of useless trivia. ;)</p>
<p>DS crossed Swarthmore off the list.</p>
<p>The information session was brilliantly presented and the campus was beautiful. The student who led the tour was clever and enthusiastic.</p>
<p>However, it became clear it was not a good fit. DS is interested in ideas but there was a hothouse atmosphere. While Swarthmore is near a major city, it might as well have been in a rural area, up on a big hill away from a small town.</p>
<p>The school vibe was that there was no reason to engage with students in the consortium (with Haverford and Bryn Mawr), nor even to do much of anything off campus. That’s fine if you only live in the world of ideas. But if you want to engage with others, develop skills and make a difference, not so much.</p>
<p>Swarthmore has a huge volunteer and service program on campus. I assure you students are quite engaged with the world even if they appear studious and removed, trapped in the bubble of a campus.</p>