Colleges your child crossed off the list after visiting, schools that moved up on the list. Why? (NO REPLIES)

[CarNu2000]

Bates: SAME (but good). My son has liked all the small LACs he’s seen, including Bates. Campus is pretty—green & compact. Admissions officer was charming & helpful. They split the parents & kids into different tour groups—my kid’s guide was a very loud, very confident pre-med (his take: “she was super-impressive but not my people”), mine was a delightfully awkward anthropology transfer who told confusing jokes (my kid would have loved her). Their career center, aka Center for Purposeful Work, seems more helpful & focused than what we’ve seen at a few other LACs. S25’s take: “I liked it, but I’m not sure how it stands out from the other schools we’ve seen.” I agree. He will probably apply, though.

Fordham: WAY UP. We visited this bc S25 has a chance at a good scholarship there. My kid is mostly looking at small, rural schools, but Fordham has a lot of what he wants (small classes, strong humanities, no Greek system, good internship/career advising, 4 years on-campus housing). The Rose Hill campus is stunning—Hogwarts architecture, beautifully landscaped gardens. Zoo & botanical gardens across the street. Our guide was delightful—funny, friendly, brilliant. An Econ major who also does musical theater & sings in a band. Very diverse group of students there for the tour. If affordable will be a top choice for S25, I think.

[fuschiachop]

Last set of tours for our family, unless S25 comes forward with a place he’s interested to see. For context, he’s looking into engineering as a major.

University of Pittsburgh: DOWN and out. It’s clear that S25 is not going to want to be on a city campus, with streets running through it unless it is this one in his backyard. The programs themselves seemed in line with what S25 is looking for, but as he said, there was nothing new for him that would make the location worth it to him. Death blow to any notion of attending came when I asked about any movies on campus, and the guide said no, that’s something you would have to go off-campus for. (For my money, the info session was excellent, very encouraging and helpful. Quite a contrast to the next tour, for sure.)

University of Rochester: DOWN, and looking like off the list for S25. Huge turnoff to me was the information session run by a ten-year veteran of the admissions office, where the material seemed geared for an audience about 20 years ago. If you take the fifth year program, it cannot be to complete a second degree. No mention of community connections or volunteer opportunities, but heavy emphasis on your school counselor recommendation. (For those in a huge public school with understaffed counselor resources, this seemed pretty out of touch and colored U of R as quite an elitist institution … not a vibe I’ve gotten at other top tier college tours.) S25 didn’t find anything in the session or tour to make it stand out. I originally thought this could be a really good fit with his varied interests, but I’m just as glad he didn’t fall in love with it.

Penn State Main Campus: UP. Great tour, especially considering how much the guides had to cover. S25 liked the varied nature of the campus (we visited the arboretum and art museum before the tour), and definitely liked engineering school options. Lunch was included in the tour, and S25 gave a thumbs up on the food options. But his comment on the residential rooms we saw was priceless: “Those were the worst dorm rooms I’ve ever seen.” Tour guides gave great insight, though, and this felt like the kind of community S25 could connect in.

University of Virginia: SAME. This was a total mixed bag. Great tour guide giving super-helpful insights and information, which both helped and hurt the school. Guide got a total mismatch for his freshman year roommate, and wanted kids to know that didn’t stop him from having a great group of friends. Same, in that he wasn’t in a fraternity, but was adamant that it didn’t impact him having a great social life. He spoke very highly of the classes and professors and work option resources. On the other hand … he was clear it was a “work hard, play hard” kind of school. Unfiltered comments about drinking as the core of social life, along with traditions of streaking and secret societies. I don’t expect S25 will be a teetotaler during his college experience, but I also don’t want him to feel the pressure to see binge drinking as a norm. Got to talk to an engineering major, who allayed any concerns about math placement impacting engineering major selection options. Based on personal experience, the engineering major also emphasized the feeling like students would help each other rather than compete. While S25 felt like it had good opportunities, he wants to dig deeper into thinking about whether it would be a better engineering experience at UVA vs. Virginia Tech (which is one of the top three on his list).

So glad we did all the tours, and S25 thanked me for putting in the work to make the visits possible, so that was a huge win. I’ll post more on the off-topic board about specific quirky stuph we noticed, like free t-shirts and lettuce clubs.

[national_delivery]

it’s super lame but was nonetheless a reality but Brown was crossed off the list after trying to book flights to the admitted students program and the flight times and flight schedules were just so ridiculously long. I don’t even know why we did not consider this during the application period but I guess reality set in when he had to actually book the flights and he decided that while it was not a dealbreaker in the sense that if he did not have other viable choices, he would probably happily attend Brown. But being that he had other choices, when distance and travel times were factored in, it just was not what he wanted.

[Medea1]

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.

[NemesisLead]

While vacationing in the East, we did several college tours to add to our list of college tours.

University of Richmond. God, what a campus. Clean, beautiful and almost flawless. I was very impressed. My sole criticism is that students led the information tour. We didn’t see ANY professional people from admissions. The entire info session and tour was run by students. Some people would say that this is great, but actually…the student we had struggled with the presentation. Still, we managed to get a good sense of the school and academics. The school is also very classy and gracious (admissions fee waiver, personalized parking spots, etc.). Great food. Impressed and DD excited to apply.

Washington and Lee. Of the 10 or so information sessions that we have done, the presenter at W & L was the very best. By a country mile. Engaging, genuine, fun, informative and able to confidently answer any question. He checked all of the boxes and showed why you don’t have a student do this. We were very, very impressed by W & L’s academics and campus. The place just oozed intellectualism and gave off a sense of open-mindedness that many schools lack. The food was good, but not as good as Richmond. My daughter was concerned about the school’s high level of Greek life (3 out of 4 students are Greek) and the tour, unfortunately, did nothing to dispel that. Our tour was done by a student doing one of her very first tours and she was accompanied by a more experienced tour guide. Both were charming and engaging. Going into the tour, my daughter loved the concept of the “speaking tradition” where people are supposed to greet one another on campus. But we found that no one on campus said hi to us (or even looked at us) except for 2 older people who were obviously alums. Even admissions tour guides walked by us without saying hi or even looking at us. Ironically, W & L may have been the worst campus that we have yet seen for students just putting Air Pods in their ears and keeping their heads down. This was a negative surprise. Still, DD may apply.

Virginia Tech. Did not do a formal tour, but rather a self guided tour. My daughter was reminded why she is applying to LACs and not big unis. Just felt big, cold and impersonal. Campus was a very weird use of space with a giant drill field and then a campus that has buildings clustered together with very little green. Removed from consideration.

[MistySteel27]

Down - off: Rutgers NB Mason Gross school of arts. It’s a very nice location with easy access to the dorms for the arts kids. The buildings were either very beautiful or old and musty, no ac in many places. The presentation was informative and maybe a bit too long since they go into specifics for dance, theater and music programs separately. There’s so much offered for each within the majors, you really wouldn’t ever run out of opportunities. The students who talked do seem to love their respective programs. One student talked about being in the honors college as a music major plus a scholar. He doesn’t mind the bus system at all.

All other college/uni visits touched on the different majors and the overall campus where this was arts specific with a short campus overview. D25 loves interacting with other arts kids but felt like here you’re too closed off from the rest of the campus. She really does prefer the LAC model so Rutgers is officially off the list. It was valuable to know not to add any more big universities.

[whale-shark-lover]

Brandeis was completely crossed off of my list after visiting, it seemed like a school with great academics and a passionate student body but I just couldn’t get over the fact that the ugliness of the campus made me feel like I’d be depressed living there for four years.

[Calliemomofgirls]

UVM – up!
I visited a week or two ago with my daughter and we were so surprised by how much we loved it! I am an alum from the 80’s, but am not super connected as I was from OOS. I had a perfectly lovely experience at college, but truth is: UVM wasn’t really a natural fit for me, and it was just luck of the draw that I ended up there – it was right after the first “Public Ivy” list came out and when UVM was on it, it was a hot school and so I applied and went, rather blindly.
In the decades since, I’ve lamented a bit its decline in the ratings (even though I don’t believe in ratings…). And, I’ve lamented stories I’ve heard here about weed/party culture, and the “decline” of the city of Burlington.
I was prepared to be completely underwhelmed and even a little sad.
It was the opposite!
We stayed in a dorm overnight (possible in the summer) and the dorm room was HUGE by dorm standards.
The 5 young women who led a short student panel at the end of the admissions session were so involved, thoughtful in their answers, doing super cool things on campus and in Burlington. I sat there and thought: I would love for any of these young women to be in my daughter’s life. They were smart, studying cool subjects, multiple majors or minors (even the engineering major had an unrelated minor).
We loved the city too. yes, it’s an urban city with all the normal issues of a city, but nothing shocked me at all.
We had a frank conversation with a couple of students about party and weed culture and it actually sounds like it is actually less of a party culture than there was back in the 80’s when I was there.
The dorms seemed to be thoughtfully created, all of them fitting into a lifestyle theme. (back in the 80’s only a few specialized dorms were themed).
Ski buses. Walking to downtown. Greek if you want it, but not overwhelming. Smart kids but not toxic stress. Smaller classes for a midsize state school made it feel more like a larger private. Lake front gorgeous location. And what sealed the deal for us: a visit to the dairy bar for the best ice cream hands down of my entire life. (I had remembered this from my own college days but wondered if perhaps my nostalgia had me remembering wrong. it had not. best ice cream ever.).
Ratings – I realize why the acceptance rate has climbed so high over the past decades. UVM is now 80% OOS students according to the admissions presentation. My guess is that such a low population state as Vermont kind of led them to decide to pursue more high tuition OOS students as a strategy. Right or wrong – it definitely seems like a different model than back in the 80’s. So, I do think that Vermont students have probably found it harder to get in unless they are really solid students. (again just my guess). But meanwhile, out of state students seem to have a much more forgiving acceptance rate as a result now, which had made UVM go from “public ivy” with low acceptance rate to a likely/safety for OOS kids with high stats.
From where I sit, it seems like UVM is such an amazing choice, even better now than it was back when it was a “public ivy.” Both daughter and I agreed.
anyway – UVM shot WAY UP for us.

[tjd0829]

DS25 and I did a one day Poughkeepsie school tour last week.

Vassar (SAME): I knew DS would love Vassar and they did. It’s a reach on their list, but I had talked it up so much since it was one of the schools I had to choose between back in my day and it was a tough decision. The campus is still beautiful and the less structured requirements are a bonus for DS. Our tour guide was PHENOMENAL. I loved that Vassar had two tour guides that introduced themselves, they shared a little about their majors and hobbies, and then the group got to pick which tour guide was a closer match to their interests. Catherine was funny, full of fun facts, and DS was very impressed with her and the real insights she shared. We then went to the museum and my art loving DS was impressed. Walking out of campus we saw a patch of clover and DS said “If I find a four leaf clover, then I am getting in” AND THEY FOUND ONE. All in all, we knew going in it is a reach and a reach they would love. SIGH

Marist (UP): This is a low target/safety for DS and I knew little about it going in other than they are always on all sorts of lists for happiest kids and they have great retention and job placement rates. Now I see why. The campus is gorgeous, most of the dorms have river views, and everyone we met was incredibly friendly. We stopped to get a drink in one of the open food courts and met a lovely woman who has worked there for 34 years. We asked her what her favorite part of Marist was and she said the kids, “they make coming to work everyday a joy.” She then shared that the Marist football team helps with lawn care and gardening during summer practice and that’s why the campus looks so pristine. All in all, DS said that they would be perfectly happy going there and what more can you ask for from a safety?

[goldbug]

We did some quickie campus visits in the last two weeks while on the East Coast and I thought I’d report on our rather thin impressions in case they are useful to anyone.

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Same/UP. My son just did the two-week Frontiers program, focusing on robotics (new for him but apparently not for many of the other kids in the program). My hopes for both the program and the school were high and neither disappointed. It was a neat, quite diverse group of kiddos and they seemed to enjoy each other. The academic component of the program was exploratory w/out being too intense (they had class each day but evenings were about social activities instead of homework). The campus made a good impression – hilly, diverse architecture but somehow cohesive. It appears to be within walking distance of a handful of shops/restaurants and also downtown Worcester. The dorm our son stayed in was unremarkable but not a turn-off. This school is going on his list.

• Holy Cross: N.B. this was a very unofficial visit on a weekend. Our very thin impression of the campus was that it was hilly and more isolated from walkable things than WPI. It was also deserted on the day we visited, so hard to really know what it would feel like during the school year. The buildings are beautiful. Catholic iconography is prominently featured and I wondered what it might be like to go to school there as a religious minority. This one was a “maybe” and at this point I’m not sure it would make the list over, say, St. Olaf.

• Bowdoin: We were visiting a friend at the music festival and stayed overnight in the Park Row apartments, which are apparently designated for upperclass students. They were spacious, accessible, and included full-sized beds! Bowdoin was never on our list – too rejective for our kiddo – but I found the campus lovely, heard good things about the dining hall from our friends who were eating there every day, and was especially happy about the proximity to town. Brunswick has a great used bookstore and outdoor gear shop, a coffeeshop with good sandwiches, and some terrific food trucks, all within 10 minutes of campus. If your kid is interested in rejective liberal arts colleges, this one might check a lot of boxes.

• Colby: We drove to Colby with friends in order to visit the art museum. Our impressions of the campus are limited to the museum (which had some impressive exhibits) and a walk around the deserted campus. I noted some good sledding hills, a lot of brick/Georgian/colonial architecture, and the fact that the campus is comparatively far removed from town although there’s a jitney that seems to take students to town. We heard that the college is investing in the greater area and has built dorms downtown. Similar to Bowdoin, Colby was never on our list. so this one didn’t move up or down but I personally found Bowdoin more appealingly situated (both within town and within Maine). YMMV. (I am disappointed that we didn’t make it to Bates, which was originally on our son’s list. But I think it’s likely to be out of reach and our travel plans didn’t allow for it. Alas!)

• Brandeis: We stopped by Brandeis on an impulse, given a couple of extra hours. The admissions office was open and a tour was just starting; however our son was pretty tired and wanted to explore on his own so that’s what we did. Having read extensively in these parts about the ugly campus, I was prepared to find it depressing but in fact, honestly, I was impressed. It was larger than I expected, and hilly, with some nice views of the greater Boston area, and yeah, the architecture is modern but they do a nice job of landscaping and it’s at least varied. We roamed the halls of the science complex (some buildings newer than others) and noted that there are PhD students in addition to undergrads (unusual for a school this size). The location feels suburban but proximity to Boston is a definite plus. I wouldn’t describe the surrounding neighborhood as super walkable (not like Bowdoin) but it seems at least theoretically possible to get to a local drugstore/supermarket getting into a car. Might not be a very pleasant walk/bike ride, though. I was surprised to see an on-campus Einstein Bagel shop (surprised b/c in my experience Einstein is to bagels as McDonald’s is to burgers, and it seemed to me that a college with a plurality of Jewish students on the outskirts of a major Northeastern metro area should have more authentic bagels – no?). The admissions staff were friendly and helpful but didn’t know that the art museum was closed (too bad! I was excited to see their collection of Kandinsky and Chagall). Our son was interested in their badminton and cycling club sports. I think this one is going on his list.

[Publisher]

Meaning of N.B. ?

[happy1]

N.B. is typically used as a abbreviation for “nota bene” or note well (be aware).

[tamagotchi]

Lewis & Clark - D26 thought the L&C campus was very pretty, but she assumed that she must have missed a big chunk of the campus on the tour, because it seemed like she had only seen a few buildings, and could that really be all of them? We looked at a map together after the visit, and she was surprised to find out that she had in fact seen the whole campus. This was her second visit to a LAC (she had previously visited Reed) and both schools felt way too small to her, “like a summer camp rather than a college.”

[COMom3]

Virginia Tech moved to #1. He loved the campus, the football stadium, the town, the food! But he’s got borderline stats so we shall see. Hopefully OOS far west will help.

[fiftyfifty1]

UMN-Duluth (UP): D25 brought a friend. A classmate of theirs had recently toured and complained it was “hideous” so their expectations were low. Instead they found a lovely, modern, well-maintained campus set high in the hills overlooking Lake Superior with a great view! (Apparently the classmate had been hoping for a “Hogwarts” look; UMN-Duluth definitely is not that.)

We signed up after all the tour slots were already filled, so we started with a self-guided tour. But then when we had questions, a kind and enthusiastic admissions worker stayed late (on a Saturday!) and took us on a private tour of the areas we had questions about. She is a recent grad of UMN-Duluth, and what a great representative of the school!

The campus is well planned for the local climate, with nearly all the buildings connected. Living on campus is not required, but most students do. Even first year students have the option of traditional dorms vs. apartment style dorms with kitchens, which is very appealing to my student. We didn’t tour the dining halls, rec center, or sports facilities as my student doesn’t care about those.

UMN-Duluth has a lot to recommend it. Duluth is a fun small city with plenty to do including nearby nature for recreation. Duluth is handsome but not overly gentrified; it’s still a working industrial port. You either like that vibe or you don’t–D25 does. The school itself is just under 10K total students (7.5 K undergrads) so a nice midsize. It offers a ton of majors, including strong programs in all the potential majors my D25 is considering. It just renovated the studio art wing and has an art museum on campus (unfortunately not open when we visited.) It offers a handful of ABET accredited engineering programs, and the students I know who have majored in engineering have been happy. There are good transfer programs with various community colleges as well as with UMN-Twin Cities (Minnesota’s flagship.)

[txfriendly]

We just came back from our first series of visits with D26, who is a future humanities major (possibly something in linguistics) looking for an LAC or small university.

U of Tulsa - WAY UP. D26 hadn’t really heard of Tulsa and wasn’t thrilled with the idea of living in Oklahoma, so this one wasn’t high on her list to begin with. But she really enjoyed the campus tour, which was arranged just for us by Pres. Carson on short notice after I reached out to him through this site (!). The campus has a consistent architectural style that D26 liked, and the amenities are impressive - beautiful gym facility, the nicest freshman dorms we’ve seen, new-ish on-campus apartments for upperclassmen, huge food court with plenty of options aside from the regular cafeteria food, and even robots that deliver food to the dorms (!!). One interesting note that D26 picked up on - Tulsa has Greek life, but the houses are relatively small cottages tucked away in a certain corner of campus, rather than the stereotypical enormous mansions lining a prominent boulevard. She’s not interested in Greek life and ideally wanted a Greek-free campus, but the Tulsa approach didn’t bother her so much. Academically, the huge National Merit community (25%+ of all students) ensures a strong student body across disciplines. There’s not a linguistics major, which is potentially a downside, but she is really undecided on major at this point anyway. Honestly, my big takeaway was that Tulsa is really investing in the student experience in every possible way. We will be coming back later this year for a formal preview event.

St. Olaf - UP. Another beautiful walkable campus. I expected a very Midwestern-heavy student body, but the overall tour group on our visit was less than half Minnesotans and featured kids from CA, NV, ID, TX, etc. (Maybe word is getting out about CC favorite Olaf?) This was the best info session and most organized tour of any college so far, and the music emphasis was a big hit for choir-centric D26. No AC in the dorms, which is common in MN and only relevant in September, but it was very unfortunate on an unseasonably hot July day. Food is reputed to be excellent and did not disappoint. Only real drawback is that it’s pretty far from home, but still very much on the list.

Macalester - DOWN. Perhaps it paled in comparison to Olaf earlier in the day, but Mac just didn’t register. The info session was bland and boring, and the facilities were fine but not quite on the level of Tulsa/Olaf, esp. the dorms. The neighborhood is nice, with lots of walkable stuff nearby. The only real draw is the outstanding linguistics program, but if D26 doesn’t firmly settle on ling before applying, I’m not sure Mac will make the final list.

Grinnell - DOWN SLIGHTLY. Stunning campus in a lovely small town. The modern atrium wrapped around the 19th-century humanities building may be the single most impressive space I’ve seen on any campus. The huge endowment allows for great facilities in general, from Victorian homes for language-based living groups to a gorgeous natatorium available to all students. D26 loved the campus but was a little skeptical of the academic emphasis on research with professors, which was such a focus of the info session that it wasn’t clear whether students can get credit for taking normal classes with normal tests and papers. D26 isn’t big on “outside” projects and would need some reassurance that the academic environment will work for her. (As an aside, I did have an AO confirm that Grinnell will do financial pre-reads and that merit money is applied toward a student’s financial need, so no stacking of merit beyond need).

U of Kansas (drive-through) - I’m a big fan of KU generally, but it didn’t interest D26. Just bigger than she wants.

U of Missouri (drive-through) - See U of Kansas. Though I enjoyed seeing the campus, having never been to Columbia. For students interested in a flagship, it has a lot to offer - auto-merit, big campus, big Greek, great shops/bars/restaurants within walking distance, etc.

Truman State (drive-through) - I wish that we’d had enough time for a tour, as this campus was much more impressive than I expected. It’s a large campus for what is essentially a public LAC, well-maintained and architecturally cohesive. The town of Kirksville is fairly non-descript, but I don’t know that it would really be a negative. With auto-merit, this is an interesting option for a student wanting an affordable LAC that isn’t hyper-competitive for admission.