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<p>It’s this kind of image that has wiped JHU from D’s list. A shame, because it was her first choice initially. Now, she doesn’t even want to visit.</p>
<p>The tour</p>
<p>JHU - loved at first but fell off the radar (thank you)
uPenn - hated way too urban for her
Rhodes - went over Easter Break - just got this weird vibe that neither could shake
WashU - liked it but just too far from home - really wish it was closer but not sure would have gotten in truthfully
W and L - Loved it - favorite so far
UVA - really liked it but decided not to apply - I went there so would be considered in state only for admissions purposes only
William and Mary - she did not like how spread out it was - she was originally really excited
Georgetown - hated it - way too urban and being on Reagan’s flight path - just not for her
Univ. of South Carolina - like it a good deal - pretty campus - in the Honors program - nice Honors dorm</p>
<p>You have to visit Lehigh to appreciate how funny that guess of the escalator really is. </p>
<p>But, yeah, that’s the one school DS visited that he just HATED. And it wasn’t all those hills either–it was the intense focus on how much money their graduates made and some of their student presenters’ contempt for their competitors. Yuck!</p>
<p>Couple of years back we toured schools in Florida - Florida State, U of Florida, New College and Florida Institute of Technology.</p>
<p>New College of Florida - very small school, fewer than 1000 students, nice location right on the water. Very quirky vibe! Didn’t much care for Sarasota, not a lot of activities for college age. Admin people were wonderful! Basically told us that if a student wants to go to New College then they had better register for a tour! This school wants to know that you are really interested. Ultimately decided against this school due to size and limited number of faculty in son’s major.</p>
<p>University of Florida - expected to really like this school. Did not at all! UF is the only reason Gainesville exists. Campus was large, really spread out. Huge student population (about 50K). Tour is non-stop “Gator nation” talk. Can’t fault the school for lack of spirit! And the Strip malls - strip malls everywhere! What really soured it though were interactions with admin. They were not helpful at all, didn’t seem to care if he applied or not, there were more than enough other applications. Envisioning four years of dealing with them was not positive! Crossed UF off the list as soon as we left the campus.</p>
<p>Florida Institute of Technology - nice campus, not too big, not too small. About 10K students. Wanted to see how a private school differed from public. Really nice recreational facilities. Definitely a tech school feel. Admin seemed helpful and eager. Melbourne was okay, not super exciting, but beach was only a couple of miles away. Ultimately decided against due to cost.</p>
<p>Florida State - Campus was the most beautiful one we saw. Large population(about 40K) but didn’t have that sprawling feel like UF. Admin were absolutely fantastic! We went to one person to ask specific admissions questions, ended up being escorted to director who sat with us for over 30 minutes. For a state school that is essentially driven by numbers (GPA, scores) we felt like my son was wanted there. Though it is a college town (even has another school, FAMU, three miles away), Tallahassee is the state capital so has a whole other life outside of FSU. Son decided on FSU and has been very happy there!</p>
<p>(didn’t tour U of Miami. We had lived in Miami and were already familiar with the school. Son didn’t want to be in South Florida, felt campus was too urban, and cost was an issue.)</p>
<p>Interesting tour of Florida. Florida Tech is actually much smaller than, with only about 3500 undergrads on campus and maybe another 1000 grad students; they have a huge on-line program to bring the numbers up. There are probably fewer than that as it is a co-op school and some are gone for the semester or summer. My daughter will attend next year, and it is cheaper than UF because there is a lot of grant money awarded. </p>
<p>Agree that it’s a very sleepy town, but I’m okay with boring! Maybe she’ll study more?</p>
<p>Took my son and daughter on quite a few college tours and I have to say that the only university that I got a bad vibe from was the University of Wyoming. We visited Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State, University of Colorado Boulder, Northern Arizona, Arizona, New Mexico, Cal State Long Beach, Montana State and Wyoming, and while I was impressed with the others, not so much with Wyoming. It isn’t that the wind never stops (a point that our dopey tour guide made) and that everyone is bundled up in sweats and heavy jackets, but I knew it was bad when my son asked if there was actually a town there (yep, Laramie). I thought the dorms looked Soviet-era, the engineering building hadn’t been remodeled since the 1950s and the professor talking to us pretty well told my son that with a 3.0 GPA, he wasn’t working hard enough. The admissions lady also said that with that GPA, we wouldn’t be getting a WUE scholarship since those were competitive.</p>
<p>Ironically, even with the so-so GPA, my son did have a 32 composite on the ACT, so it isn’t like he didn’t know what he was doing. He was accepted into engineering at Boise State, New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Arizona and Montana State. He was accepted into pre-engineering at Colorado, Kansas and Cal State Long Beach. </p>
<p>He loved the campuses at Montana State, Northern Arizona and Colorado. Montana State was turned down just because he thought it would be too cold up in Bozeman. Northern Arizona reminded him a lot of where we live (Colorado). LOVED everything about Boulder and Colorado. He wasn’t so much into the desert and so turned down Arizona (my first choice!) and New Mexico. CSULB acceptance came too late since he had already committed to Colorado. We did not even look at the University of Denver or Colorado College since they were waaaay too expensive and more liberal arts oriented than engineering. </p>
<p>All in all, except for Wyoming, we really liked all the other colleges. It was just so interesting that when we walked off that campus, we knew right away to scratch it off the list. </p>
<p>Tulane, unfortunately, did not make a great impression. After falling into conversation with several nice students at Rice, very shy D was feeling happy and pretty confident. We drove to Tulane the next day. While walking through the campus, D found an ID on the ground. Then she saw a girl who resembled the picture on the ID who appeared to be looking for something. D screwed up her courage (did I mention that she is very shy?) and said, “I found this, is it yours?” The girl hardly looked at her, said, “yeah, it is” and walked on. D barely said another word for the rest of the day and Tulane went way down the list because D just didn’t feel like it was her kind of place. 
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<p>Oh thats a shame. Usually the students at both of the campuses you mention are pretty friendly…</p>
<p>UNC-CH. D loved the town, but not the campus. She thought it was too big. Worse, she asked 4 students for directions to the Office of Admissions building and not one knew where it was located. She couldn’t figure out how they could be at the school without having been to Admissions. </p>
<p>Maybe because they had already been admitted and didn’t need to know where the admissions office was?</p>
<p>Hey, which of the NC schools are downwater of coal ash storage sites? Is it reasonable for an OOS visitor to inquire about the water quality?</p>
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<p>hmm…I was at UNC-CH for five years as a grad student and I am embarrassed to say I have no clue where the admissions office is.
Maybe she asked four graduate students?</p>
<p>UNC-CH was a wonderful place for grad school but I agree with your daughter. It’s a bit overwhelming and large for undergrad.</p>
<p>stillwater, I’m not sure how many friends you will make with that question, and my bigger guess is you wont likely find folks who know the answer. If you are serious, you should try asking those questions at the regional govt level-in NC, it is done on the county level.</p>
<p>DD has narrowed it down to LMU’s School of Film and Television (Animation) and Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville). She’s been to LMU multiple times (and met with the Chair of the Animation program today) and seems to be gravitating toward it. The campus is safe and often called one of the most beautiful in the country–situated on a bluff overlooking the Los Angeles basin and the Pacific Ocean. The housing is gorgeous–nothing like the decrepit dorms she’s stayed in at Yale and Princeton during summer programs. The students are incredibly friendly and the professors very welcoming and accessible. As we walked the campus today, we chatted with students who were members of Magis–a club focused on social justice. They were raising money to build a school in Mexico and to provide a scholarship for a student of color from one of the Los Angeles area Catholic high schools. Another group had a massive presentation on violence against women that filled an entire walkway with its artistic rendering. A lot of socially-just focuses among the students. SFTV’s facilities are state of the art. Animation is highly funded, but small boutique program w/in SFTV and they only take about 12-15 students per year. Because of the major’s popularity, proximity and connection to the major studios, the Chair told us they get to pick from a huge array of very talented students. </p>
<p>SLC is also very focused on the personal touch for its students and personable (professors write to accepted students almost instantly to answer questions and we’ve had lots of personal help from admissions and FA), but the program is very different from LMU’s. Different educational approach (Oxford-style dons/advisors), size (really tiny), course selections fewer, etc. Gorgeous campus situated in a lovely little affluent village, but still only about 30 minutes from Manhattan by train. DD’s trying to figure out if the lack of an animation major will work for her. She remains as of today undecided between LMU and SLC. </p>
<p>Falling off the list: Emerson. Why? She loved everything about its urban setting adjacent Boston Common, that stunning park sort of like Central Park in NYC. Two things took Emerson off the list. First, she was annoyed that of all her college apps, Emerson was the only program that did NOT require an animation major to submit a portfolio. The production majors did. I think the screenwriters did. It spoke to her of the relative lower status animation had in the program overall. The deal breaker, though was FA. Just not enough. </p>
<p>Our family is finally all done with college visits. But over the last 4-5 years, here are some that stood out to us… </p>
<p>Bowdoin - What else can I say but absolutely amazing in every way! Gorgeous campus, charming little college town, food was OMG!, beautiful spacious dorms… Just yes!</p>
<p>UVM - I wished I was 18 again and could go here. A really fun, happy, beautiful, healthy, active, environmentally forward place. You gotta love the B&j’s ice cream shop in the student center:)</p>
<p>College of Wooster - this college blew us away in every way! They definitely have their ***t together! Just Wow!</p>
<p>Occidental College - too close to home for my kids, but impressed the heck out of us! </p>
<p>St Lawrence - My S attends and this college has done nothing but leave us wondering why the heck it isn’t a top 20 LAC?? SUCH an impressive school! Alumni network that is rabid!!</p>
<p>Tufts - got a very ‘cold’ vibe, presenter kept talking about how selective it was
UPenn - indistinguishable from the city, nearby areas are not very good
Dickinson - not enough to cross it off the list, but it felt like the tour guide was more concerned with her cup of coffee than with giving good info.</p>
<p>On a positive note, UMD College Park turned out to be quite nice and have good vibes. School’s on my ‘apply’ list now.</p>
<p>Another vote for Lehigh!!!</p>
<p>D never had Lehigh on her list of top contenders even before setting foot on campus – she marked the school as being too big (she wanted and is attending a LAC), having TAs, jokingly for its “awful” school color (brown) AND that was before she saw the huge hill in the center of campus!. My H and I convinced her to go through with the afternoon as planned since we were there, but she was completely turned off by the presentation and tour guide as well. And to top it off, she thought the students all looked miserable. All in all, she couldn’t wait to leave.</p>
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<p>Location, location, location? I think it’s a wonderful school too. But a good 2 hours to a highway and that highway far from most anything…</p>
<p>^Yes, that’s what took St. Lawrence off my son’s list.
<a href=“Colleges you/child crossed off the list after visiting - #3624 by Sue22 - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>Colleges you/child crossed off the list after visiting - #3624 by Sue22 - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;
<p>To be fair, the location relative to the Adirondacks is very appealing to a lot of students who ski, board, hike, climb,etc etc.</p>