<p>Butler - too small. Literally 4 or 5 buildings</p>
<p>We are visiting the following schools during our annual US vacation to visit family: Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Catholic University, UVA, Northwestern, U Chicago and Notre Dame.
Do any of you have any positive (or negative) experiences of the tours. Do you have any advice on how to prepare for the tour. (by the way, my son is likely to be a Math major. </p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Londondad</p>
<p>The posts about great trips with kids got me thinking about one of our more memorable trips, which included parts of Wisconsin during the floods of 2008. We had driven up to take a look at Lawrence University and the river that runs along campus was roaring by. On our way back to southern Wisconsin, we took some back roads and had to drive through water that was over the road. There was a semi coming toward us in the water and a state trooper waving us to drive and I kept repeating to my kids that they should never drive though water. Do as I say not as I do. Cue musicâŠmemories.</p>
<p>whenwhen - my child also loved UCSC and would have attended there happily if she hadnât been admitted to one her top choices. If you donât want a small LAC according to your comments, I would not be put off by one large freshman lecture - at larger schools that is a given (including the private university my child attends), but classes decrease rapidly in size as you get into your higher level courses.</p>
<p>londondad - we did the Northwestern tour in January and enjoyed it a lot, Iâd recommend a more seasonable time of year however!</p>
<p>Snowdog, thanks. Although to be fair, if we have good tours of ND, NU and UC, I will, in good conscience, have to bring him back in January or February so he can experience the Great Midwestern Winter for himself!</p>
<p>^ Itâs cold no doubt about it, but the walkways are cleared of snow promptly. The students at NU seemed very happy as they greeted each other scurrying to a warm building for their next class.</p>
<p>Londondad,</p>
<p>The only on your list that we saw was JHU. Really good tour. Easy access from parking lot, which is right below the admissions office. Beautiful campus,although no tour of dorms, which is typical of a lot of colleges.</p>
<p>Still struck by how much impact tour guides have. We have been more affected by the info sessions, admissions offices, and the âadultsâ involved. </p>
<p>Although it never really influenced the actual decision about what college to pick, it was very irritating when getting from parking to the admissions session was confusing or a long distance, when the info session was packed with no seats left, when the admin officer was arrogant, when office staff were unfriendly, when you could not even get a drink of water.</p>
<p>Very impressed when staff were friendly, when it was well organized, when there was water or coffee/tea available, when directions from parking lot were CLEAR, when admins were interesting and did not just repeat info from the catalog.</p>
<p>Worst tour ever was at Peabody school of music. We met in the basement of the building. There was no info session at all. A grad student took us on a tour through the building, showing us the performance halls, practice rooms and classrooms. At the end, he told us that if we had any questions, we could ask an admissions counselor. They were all in a tiny office, so parents and students crammed in to ask weary staff random individual questions. I donât blame the tour guide. I blame the admissions office for their planning.</p>
<p>londondadâŠmy D visited Georgetown, UofC, NU & ND. Loved Georgetownâbecause of the shopping nearby :rolleyes: UofC: loved the architecture, but felt too serious and tour guide told her the famed âwhere fun comes to dieâ line. My H also unnerved by neighborhood. Delete. NU: again, tour guide sunk itâseemed a bit arrogant. This was also in her phase of âI need to see water everydayâ, and apparently campus being right on the lake wasnât the same as the ocean 
. Went (under much protest) to see ND as H & D were passing thru area. Self tour as it was summer and because there was NO WAY she was going to school in Hooterville, away from an ocean. YepâŠfell in love. ND âfeltâ like her home. Graduated last year. No regrets. Good luck with your visits.</p>
<p>Gosmom, thanks. Loved the Hooterville comment! I think I might a bit of that from my kids.</p>
<p>
I recently completed my first year at a combination LAC/REU and can honestly say that, for the first semester at least, I would not have done well in larger lecture classes. On the other hand, I know many people that loved larger class sizes precisely because of the autonomy and anonymity they offer.</p>
<p>UW-Madison.</p>
<p>We were driving by ND on I-80 and DD did not want to even drive through campus. We are Catholic and that is probably why.</p>
<p>riprorin⊠I think my dh would agree with you. WI was very rude when he took my son there⊠gave the impression they could care less if our Honors Son came to Madison.
Kind of opposite of EVERY other school we visited.</p>
<p>D crossed off</p>
<p>-UPenn
-Swarthmore
-Barnard</p>
<p>after visiting. She already had reservations about Barnard, and was never that into UPenn, but Swarthmore was a surprise.</p>
<p>Idavis, we are instate and Madison couldnât have cared less either whether my honor sons came to their university either. In fact the tour guide told our group that âmost of you wonât get in here anyway.â Madison gave the impression to us that undergraduates were a necessary evil and that their graduate program was much more important.</p>
<p>D2 loved Swarthmoreâs campus but not the college.</p>
<p>DD crossed off </p>
<p>Harvard- nice but feeling of congestion
Brown- liked but did not love</p>
<p>WUSTL- loved the campus and friendly students. Dean of Admissions gave DD and father his phone number to call and ask questions anytime. Food was fantastic!</p>
<p>Boston College- Did not like but was not on her list of schools just stopped by after visiting Brown.</p>
<p>Dartmouth- Fell in love with in all aspects. She was sold on WUSTL but Dartmouth blew her away! Class of 2017 starting in September</p>
<p>@ldavis- My D and I could not have a more different and welcoming experience at UW-Madison. Maybe it was just our good fortune, who knows?</p>
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<p>Thanks very much for this, i had no idea such programs existed. Am looking at fall now :)</p>