We did a bit of midwestern tour. It seems DS’s reactions were tied to expectations.
Way up - Indiana University. We had zero expectations going there. We knew it was a massive public school, but the beautify of the campus blew us away. Buildings were gorgeous. Flowers everywhere. Immaculate campus. Everybody was so friendly and helpful. Kids touring seemed all happy. It went from “no way” to “I would be so happy here.”
Meh - Northwestern. The school offers all that my kid wants/needs, so he will apply, but he wasn’t a fan of the campus at all. First, the tour had so many families with middle schoolers. Positives - campus seemed compact and walkable which is good given the winters there. He hated the brutalist architecture and found the library (modern one) along with cafeteria just depressing. Even the pretty buildings had a color of gravestones he said. I loved the music building but he said it was a floating coffin on the lake. While Indiana is also all stone, the color of stone seemed so very different there.
Chicago was a big hit, but Evanston wasn’t.
Way up Notre Dame - another “OMG” this is the most beautiful place on earth. This school doesn’t have what my son needs and we have reservations on how difficult it would be for somebody who isn’t Catholic, but it does have the best campus we have seen by far. Even better than Indiana. He is unlikely to apply there, but he is tempted. We visited because it was on the way.
Vanderbilt- went down a bit. We had really high expectations but the visit wasn’t all that successful. First it took us 40 minutes to find the music building. It’s so isolated and surrounded by construction and hospitals. Loved that it’s undergrad focused, but don’t like the isolation. I don’t know how one goes back and forth to main campus, which is lovely. Our guide had a heavy accent and was very quiet, so we had a hard time understanding what he was saying. He was almost running so it was hard to know where we were. DS still likes the school and might even ED there, but it was less than what he expected.
Pomona College - neutral. I really wanted him to like it because I think it’s easier to double major at SLACs. He thinks the campus is pretty but devoid of all energy (especially coming from UCLA campus). He sat in several sophomore level classes and thought they were too easy. Overall felt like it was a high school. So all SLACs are out sadly. I thought this was going to be the one he applies given the proximity to Los Angeles and weather, but no. It’s clear he wants an urban campus and nothing small that’s isolated and buried in snow. And nothing that feels like a high school (so at least 5k students). Apparently larger schools are OK in cold climates.
U Michigan - stayed the same. We had no expectations here. Didn’t have a tour but walked around the campus. Loved the energy of the place, but just like Vanderbilt, didn’t like the isolation of the music community.
UCLA - his favorite campus. The food, the energy, the music building. But it’s really hard to double major there, so not a good fit for him.
I think at the end he will make a decision based on what is the best academic fit for him and not based on campus. At least this is my hope.