<p>And another thing we didn’t like was that 1/4 or 1/2 (can’t remember which) of the freshman students end up at a separate campus. So much for feeling integrated with the campus if you’re part of that unlucky group.</p>
<p>^^^ Same! And they had to take the bus to get to class. For us, there were too many “things” that just didn’t work together. </p>
<p>@OHMomof2 I liked Northeastern’s campus better, it was more diverse, and the co-op program was amazing. For tufts, I guess I wasn’t really feeling the hilly sort of campus. The people I met were nice, but they were all wearing polos, colored pants, and had neatly shaven legs. I don’t know I guess I just didn’t “feel” it there, and as a laid back type of guy I guess I wanted more diversity than a place which my first impression was kind of preppy. Plus Northeastern has actual green space but is in the heart of boston, and you can’t beat that</p>
<p>@shawnspencer - Northeastern isn’t in the best of neighborhoods, though. I feel like Northeastern would be absolutely perfect if they just transplanted it exactly how it is right in Kenmore Square where BU is. </p>
<p>@shawnspencer - totally agree with those impressions. </p>
<p>@preamble1776 - that’s interesting. I much preferred the neighborhood around NEU to the one around BU, though to be fair I didn’t spend a ton of time in either one. I did like BU’s proximity to the river.</p>
<p>It’s just that Northeastern borders Roxbury which is one of Boston’s “toughest” neighborhoods, so to speak. That seems like to be the only qualm people have with NeU’s location. @OHMomof2 </p>
<p>It isn’t a huge deal or anything to me at least, lol, my school is in a bad neighborhood too - it just calls for more viglience than one would normally employ in an isolated or suburban college campus. But then again, such is the case for any urban university or college, regardless. </p>
<p>University of Houston. It was too urban and was under-construction all around. Roads were not in good shape. The whole impression was that it was run down. Houston has horrible traffic. Rice, though in Houston, was serene and a beautiful campus.</p>
<p>@preamble1776 I don’t claim to know anything about the neighborhoods in Boston, but I felt that Northeastern ws more central while BU was closer to the water but a little farther away from the action. To each to our own I guess.</p>
<p>@OHMom Really? I thought I was the only one that felt that way. A lot of people thought I was crazy for ruling out Tufts because it is has a good reputation with people where I live. On paper, I thought it was actually one of my top choices, but I wasn’t feeling it on campus. But yeah I just felt Northeastern was more fitting for me.</p>
<p>@shawnspencer - Oh definitely - BU actually doesn’t even really have a campus at all - they have a “block.” Not sure what you mean by action but I think Kenmore Square is pretty happening. (Do people say happening still?) </p>
<p>Son crossed off Swarthmore after a recent (summer) visit. I wasn’t there with him so can’t offer a viewpoint, but he said it reminded him of “Quaker summer camp”. Not sure what exactly that means, but at this point he’s looking for reasons to cull his too-long list so I didn’t dig…</p>
<p>My daughter emphatically crossed off Dartmouth and Colorado College after visiting. Both had very strong sporty vibes that didn’t sit well with the kiddo. I, on the other hand, loved both for their outdoorsy settings and moderate size.</p>
<p>I didn’t like Vassar. We visited it on a weekend during the college school year and Poughkeepsie was completely empty. There were no students anywhere on campus and it was oddly quiet. My d couldn’t imagine being in an environment like that.</p>
<p>LOL…I went to Vassar (for a semester, then xferred) and I can’t recall spending one weekend on campus :)</p>
<p>@OHMomof2 Isn’t it a residential school? Why did you always leave the campus?</p>
<p>It is residential and I left for a variety of reasons but mainly because I am from NYC and didn’t like being in Poughkeepsie as much as I thought I would. When I transferred it was to a school in the city. Grain of salt to take my experience with: also had a boyfriend in the city at the time.</p>
<p>what we did for b/fs!!!</p>
<p>Rice. We flew across the country to visit after signing up for and scheduling info session and tour. We arrived only to be told that we had missed the session. It was an hour earlier. When my dd stated that she had signed up for a session at that later time she was told " that’s impossible" with eye rolling. She then produced a copy of the e mail from rice confirming the later time. Response was “oh ya we changed it.” No apology. No nothing. Off the list. </p>
<p>@VSGPeanut101, I’m laughing because my son pretty much crossed off Colorado College because his impression was that the student body wasn’t nearly sporty enough and were too overly intellectual/quirky. He loved UC Boulder and quite liked Denver though. </p>
<p>He also said no to Virginia Tech because it seemed like UC Boulder without the modern facilities. Really? I thought maybe he would perceive every large state university as very similar, but then we visited UVA, and he loved that . . . go figure. I secretly think the problem with Virginia Tech is that they go on and on and on about community service in their info session, and even I, who actually do quite a bit of community service, started to feel like it was overkill for your average kid.</p>
<p>So sad to hear about your Rice experience @Jara123. That one was very high on my oldest child’s list, but he didn’t get accepted. Sounds very frustrating.</p>