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

[NemesisLead]

D26 and I made a quick trip to Texas where we visited SMU, TCU, Baylor, Trinity U, and Rice.

This was the first trip where my perspective differed significantly from that of D26. But I usually just keep my opinions to myself and let D26 drive her own college list.

SMU has an absolutely beautiful campus and everyone we met, from dining hall staff to the admissions people, were wonderful. People were constantly asking if we needed directions and engaging us in conversation. The food was really good. The only issue with SMU was that it is incredibly business focused. The Cox School of Business is an INCREDIBLE facility, among the very best business schools that I have ever seen. But my daughter wants to follow a pre-med STEM path. SMU had lesser facilities and clearly less emphasis on STEM. After the admissions tour, we were asked to meet with staff from the school of Arts and Sciences who were very nice and trying to get us to apply. But D26 knew that she wants to go pre-med and wished that SMU was at the same level in the Arts and Sciences as it is in business. So SMU is, regretfully, probably off the list. One interesting note, in the info session SMU talked about getting “the death penalty” in football back in the 1980s. It was an odd segway, but an interesting history lesson for the kids. At least the school is owning up to it, I suppose, but I don’t think that they need to be apologizing for something that happened 45 years ago.

TCU was interesting. They did not have an info session and just asked you to view their info session online. We took the student-led tour. TCU also had a beautiful campus and facilities. The Greek Village housing is brand new and looks absolutely incredible–but D26 does not want to rush. The people were also very nice, but not as nice as at SMU which was just over the top. TCU also seemed more business focused with a beautiful business school and a horrid biology building. The food was good and the facilities, like SMU, were top notch. But D26 could not see herself going to that biology building (it looked like a bunker) everyday, lol. So TCU is also off the list.

Baylor has a welcome center that is right out of Disneyland. Look it up on YouTube. Just amazing. I reminded D26 that she would never again come to this building and to consider that. However, Baylor had an incredible Life Sciences Building. Like TCU and SMU, it also had an absolutely amazing business school. The facilities for other majors, however, were not nearly in the same league. I hated the Baylor student center and dining hall, but D26 loved them. Baylor was the only school of the TCU, SMU and Baylor group that was overtly Christian. D26 actually likes that, however, so Baylor scored some points. Baylor asked us to interview while on campus and I (the parent) was invited to the interview. Our interviewer was a delightful person, but she did something that I hate and have seen before. She asked D26 what her standardized test scores were. D26 answered immediately, but I really hate when schools do this. If a kid wants to disclose, they will disclose. Don’t ask them, because you can’t “unhear” their answer. The housing at Baylor was great, just as it was at TCU and SMU. I was not crazy about Waco, but D26 did not care. The school also seemed large as walking distances were great to get from one side of the campus to the other. As a result, you had to take golf carts during the tour. I was not a fan of Baylor, but D26 really liked it and immediately wanted to include it on her list. However, 2 days later, Baylor had a student call D26 to ask if she was applying. The Baylor student also engaged D26 in another interview. D26 and I felt ambushed and we really didn’t like this. D26 was shaken, but still wants to apply. I wish that she would drop Baylor, but I have kept my opinion to myself and D26 will still apply.

We were off to Trinity U. the next day. Again, D26 and I were on different pages. I really, really liked Trinity. The people were super nice. The facilities were good (the science center and humanities buildings were great). The food was good. The housing was good (we got into a dorm and every dorm room in the building was open, so we explored for about 20 minutes). Trinity is a school on the rise and did, perhaps, speak a little too much about their big endowment, but they were trying to signal that great things are coming. We also really liked San Antonio and we spent some time in the Pearl District and on the Riverwalk. I firmly believe that D26 was just tired on this day. D26 and I regularly do our own walking tour the night before and then do an info session and tour during the day. According to my phone, we usually walk 15 to 20 miles a day and this was Day 4. Our visit also had 100 degree temperatures and high humidity. D26 might be down on Trinity just because she was exhausted. So Trinity is in the “maybe” bucket for right now.

The shocker of this trip was Rice. First, Rice has an AMAZING campus. Very beautiful and unique exteriors. The insides of the buildings ranged from amazing to badly in need of rennovation. Gorgeous oak trees all over the shady campus. Lots of orientations and camp activity on campus. So the campus was bustling for a summer visit. D26 and I HATED Rice’s horrid security culture. We went into the library, for example. To get in, they needed to see my Driver’s License. The kid at the front desk typed ALL of my DL information into his computer. This took 5 minutes. I seriously wonder what was so valuable in this library that they needed to take all of this information from me. I also wondered why they couldn’t just take a picture of my DL or swipe it. Both D26 and I were annoyed at the delay and the invasion of privacy as identity theft is a real thing. We then walked through the library in 5 minutes and it was actually not that great of a library. When we went to the Campus Recreation Center, the same thing happened. But this time they wanted to KEEP my ID until I left. We toured the (below average) facility and then, on exit, they could not find my ID. They found it after about 3 minutes, but again, we were annoyed. When we went to the dining hall, they did not have a POS system to process credit card payments and did not accept cash. I had to scan a QR code and pay for the meal that way. Rice again asked for way too much information that was totally unneccessary for D26 and I to get a meal. In the meantime, huge lines were forming behind us. I asked people to go ahead, but the lady manning the counter said “no.” So I entered all of the required information with people in line behind me staring daggers at me. Sorry. Not my fault. Rice’s fault. The food, however, was very good. Rice was also lacking the great southern hospitality that we had seen at all of the other Texas schools. The kids were very “nerdy.” I don’t mean to be insulting, just stating what we saw. Lots of kids were wearing thick glasses with awkward mannerisms. A couple of the kids we talked to would not look at us when we were speaking with them. D26 kept looking in the direction that they were looking to see if we were missing something. There is definately a kind of kid that Rice seems to recruit and/or attract. We also heard a woman in admissions complaining about how she was let go in a restructuring and rehired as a temp. By this point, we were getting sick of Rice and what appeared to be a culture of distrust and angst. The info session was unique. Rice focused almost 100% on their Residential College System. Lots of talk centered on campus traditions and the hijinks of college kids. I enjoyed this, but then I am a veteran of 20+ college tours and appreciated something different. However, many parents were new to info sessions and wanted to hear about “all of the usual things.” So while I loved the info session, I sensed that many parents did not love it. They wanted to hear about Rice’s “test recommended” policy and not about campus pranks. As we were getting ready to tour, D26 grabbed my arm and said, “I hate this place, let’s go.” I was disappointed because I think D26 was reacting to Rice’s bureaucratic nature without considering what a great school it is. But OK kid, you got it. We skipped that school campus tour and went to the airport. Rice–down and out!

[twoboysinpa]

Duquesne - Up and on the list. Did a tour a few weeks ago. My son liked it. This was surprising since he was so opposed to the location before the tour started. He really doesn’t want a city school but the campus is pretty contained which he was okay with. The dorm we saw was much nicer on the inside than the outside. Rec center was pretty nice.

Temple - He hated it. Found out he isn’t a city school kid. He couldn’t get passed the surrounding area. We are in PA and this was my pick because of price and the fact that I think that he should get in. Probably should have visited St. Joe’s.

[fiftyfifty1]

UW-Stout - Way up

Stout is located in Menomonie, Wisconsin which is a cute town located an easy ~1 hour drive east of Mpls/St. Paul MN. Lots of cute shops, cafes, and thrift stores close to campus. The campus itself is well planned and attractive with a mix of building styles from multiple decades. No attempt to create a “campus gothic” vibe which is fine with D who rolls her eyes at that.

UW-Stout is Wisconsin’s public polytechnic, and the entire school has a philosophy of hands-on project-based learning. The day started with a pretty typical general info session and tour followed by an outstanding breakout session by the head of the school of Art and Design, D’s likely area of study. This tour revealed well-resourced and up-to-date studios. The guide highlighted all the opportunities for cross-pollination among the various art and design BFA majors as well as with other departments (e.g. engineering.) A terrific Packaging Science major that blends elements of art, engineering and business–apparently graduates are in huge demand. Lots of opportunities for internships. Stout nurtures a lot of ties with local industries,especially in the Twin Cities.

The dorms are basic. The gym/work-out/athletic facilities were not toured (D’s art-focused group was not interested) but I hear they are fine.

Overall a terrific option for students looking for a down-to-earth polytechnic approach to learning. Nice mid-size school (about 6K students.) Very reasonable costs, even for OOS students. Also of note–a well regarded program for students on the spectrum. Someone we know is attending with those extra supports and is really thriving.

[NemesisLead]

D26 and I finished our 2 year “college visit project.”

D26 visited 33 colleges total–27 colleges with Dad and 6 with Mom.

Our final visit took us to Northfield, MN to visit Carleton and St. Olaf.

First, I was shocked at how pretty the drive was from MSP airport to Northfield. I was expecting wide open plains, but it is actually a green area of rolling hills. I am sure that the winters are bleak, but in the summer it was lovely. Northfield is also a very cute town with a lot of “Old West” history that was great.

Our visits to Carleton and St. Olaf reminded me a lot of our visits to Davidson and Furman. In both cases, the “lower ranked” school tried a lot harder and made a much better impression than the “higher ranked” school.

Carleton was visited first.

First, I was a big fan of the culture of Carleton. The people were as advertised. Quirky, irreverent, and truth telling. When our group asked our tour guide about the food she said “the food here sucks–we go to St. Olaf for food as often as we can.” Wow. The info session and both of our tour guides grimly warned us about the academic rigor at Carleton. D26 was told that medical school would be easy compared to Carleton. Our tour guides told us that the rigor was way worse than they expected. I really appreciate this kind of honesty. I also loved the humor. Lots of jokes posted on walls. Professors each had a humorous tagline on their office doors. You could really feel the culture at Carleton. Someone described it to us as “Hogwarts with a frisbee” which I thought was funny and apt.

What did I not like about Carleton? Carleton was a lot like our visit to Davidson. We found the campus buildings beautiful on the outside and rather ugly / out-dated on the inside. Carleton has clearly not invested in its buildings. The dorm we were shown was pretty bad. The student center and workout facilities were just “meh.” The library was out of the 1980s. The “new” science building is just a recently built atrium that was built to connect two old science buildings making one (bigger) old science building. There looked to be some newer upperclassman housing, but that was about it.

Like Davidson, D26 and I were again wondering “what Carleton does do with all of that money?”

We were than off to St. Olaf. St. Olaf reminded me of our visit to Furman. The “lower ranked” school that beat the socks off of the “higher ranked” school. St. Olaf has a prettier campus than Carleton both on the outside and the inside of buildings. You could clearly see the heavy emphasis on music at the school. We had two meals at St. Olaf and the food was good (Carleton had an open dining hall, but you had to buy a summer meal plan to eat there, which was silly–so we didn’t eat at Carleton). St. Olaf was also trying to impress in a way that Carleton was not. St. Olaf Admissions provides a big spread of drinks and snacks. They also give you a personalized tour with one tour guide per family. Our tour guide was awesome. The admissions staff at St. Olaf are kind and just went out of their way to make D26 feel special. By comparison, Carleton pointed families to a water bottle filling station. If there was even coffee offered, I didn’t see it.

D26 is now doing her final rank sorting of schools. She placed St. Olaf just above Carleton. I tried to get her to rethink that particular ranking. After all, as impressive as St. Olaf admissions was, D26 would never deal with them much after admission and Carleton sits so much higher in the “rankings.” But D26 just felt that the schools were on different trajectories–St. Olaf rising and Carleton staying level or even falling. After reflection…I would have to say that D26 is correct. I saw a lot of evidence pointing toward a bright future for St. Olaf and saw lots of signs of an institution “resting on its laurels” in Carleton. Time will tell.

[Excel_Dad]

A few visits, focusing on engineering schools:

Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston). UP. - Both D27 and I really liked it. It gives off a quirky, laid back, cooperative vibe which is what D27 is looking for. I liked the facilities for the most part. They have a very impressive maker space that D27 really focused on. The freshman dorm was not that impressive to me, I thought it was really small compared to what I’ve seen at other places. The non-freshman dorms looked nice, though. The school itself is in near Fenway Park in Boston (the rail system runs right by campus, which is very convenient), and it’s a nice part of town (away from downtown, so not that busy), so there’s not a lot of open-space campus but for an urban campus I thought it was nice and there seemed to me plenty of places to sit outside and sit, read, or do work. Additionally, WIT is part of the Fenway Consortium, and is literally surrounded on all sides by other colleges, four of which are in the FC, so students have access to their facilities, buildings, dining operations, and campus spaces as well. So the “feel” is that you’re at a far larger school since the other FC members are right next door. The fifth school (not in the FC) is Northeastern. I liked WIT’s co-op system for mech-e, seems to me well thought out (four years + 2 summers, with 1 full year of co-op internship). Will definitely apply.

Manhattan College (Bronx, NYC) - DOWN and OFF. Although MC ended up “down and off” this was likely idiosyncratic to D27, so if I were you I’d visit. We both thought that MC’s campus was nice (in Riverdale, Bronx), which is a nice area right off the Hudson River, and if you don’t know the area it’s separated from the parts of the Bronx that might intimidate other students (my other kiddo, D23, attends Fordham, which is in the other part of the Bronx). So, the MC campus is not urban, it’s closed off, and Riverdale is a nice spot with good food, and easy transport to the city via subway or rail. The campus is pretty, and we both liked the freshmen dorms. What D27 didn’t like (and led her to cross MC off the list) was that the engineering building is off the main campus. You have to leave the front gate, and walk down a hill and then up a street, and the building is there. Building was fine, nice labs, and we had a great talk with some MC engineering seniors. No co-op system like at WIT. D27 just couldn’t get over the fact that she’d be spending so much time in a building that’s not really “on” campus. OFF for us, but if this aspect is not a problem, I think MC is worth a look for engineering.

Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, NJ) - UP. Steven is in Hoboken, the campus is right on the Hudson facing lower Manhattan. Easy to get to by PATH from the city. The campus is very pretty, though the central building (which I think is a dorm), which is several stories high and looks like a glass office building, does not match the red-brick old-style architecture of the rest of the school and looks very strange. Really odd. Once you get past that, there’s a lot here that is impressive. For engineering, the lab spaces are quite impressive, as are the maker spaces. There’s a co-op system at Stevens for engineering, which right now requires 5 years but they are adjusting it to make it 4 years + 2 summers, which is what WIT does. D27 liked Stevens, but she thought it seemed less laid back (in comparison with WIT, or even Manhattan College). Felt competitive as a vibe, which she didn’t like. Stevens (at least the day we were there) also didn’t strike us as very diverse. Overall, we liked it (thus the UP) but not her favorite.

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla, MO) - UP. We’re located in MO, so we figured we’d look at the “local” area schools. S&T was far more impressive than I thought it would be. The campus is nice, lots of green space. The dorms were very, very impressive (nicest ones I’ve seen). The amount of resources put into engineering at S&T is really amazing. They have a lot of engineering-majors, and it seemed to me that almost all of them had their own dedicated building. The labs were some of the nicest we’ve seen. Really an impressive school, if you’d dedicated to engineering (they don’t do much else). The three drawback for S&T: (1) it’s in Rolla, MO. Rolla is, well, Rolla. It’s ugly, tiny, and there’s nothing to do. You’re stuck on campus, or you drive to Saint Louis, which is 90 min away. So, you’re isolated. (2) No diversity. S&T is a very white campus. Since it’s engineering, it’s also 80% male. So there are a lot of midwestern white guys. Maybe that’s a plus, maybe a negative. Worth mentioning. (3) The vibe felt “sink or swim” to me. Again, that could be a + or a -, YMMV. It stays on the list, because the facilities for engineering are impressive to say the least.

Cooper Union (Manhattan, NYC) - UP. I’m from NYC, but we live in MO. So, I’m all about the city, and definitely the east village (where Cooper is). D27 is not much of a city-person, but she was very impressed with Cooper, and said she could overcome her dislike of large cities to go there. I can see why. Cooper is a tiny urban campus (just two-three buildings total, housing engineering and art/architecture). The engineering building is very impressive, as were the labs. The campus student guide was amazing - best I’ve seen. No co-op system at Cooper, it’s more focused on research/theory. The vibe felt “hard but collaborative” which D27 was good with. Overall, Cooper is very impressive if your aim is engineering. The main issues that I see with Cooper are (a) there’s no campus at all; if you know the area, it’s literally a few buildings in the east village. You leave a building and you’re in the middle of a NYC street, not “on campus”. For some, a +, for some a -. (b) Cooper has no dining facilities. It only has a coffee shop. This is a big problem, I must admit. You have to find your own food. If your kiddo is good with this, no problem. But if you have a kid who needs regular meals available, it’s a problem because you’re either cooking or eating fast food. (3) After (I believe) freshman year, no guaranteed housing. In NYC, there are plenty of apartments, but not cheap and so this could end up a source of stress.

Saint Louis University (Saint Louis, MO) - UP. St. Louis itself isn’t terribly nice, particularly downtown, but SLU is in “midtown” not downtown, which is a nicer spot. That said, what a beautiful campus it has. SLU has a huge endowment (2 billion) and they are definitely spending $$ on landscaping. It’s an enclosed campus in St Louis (not gated, though), so there are tons of green spaces to sit, read, do work, and it definitely felt plenty safe. The admissions talk was awful (bad presenters), but the campus tour was informative and well done. Dorms are nice, good dining options. We ended up getting a personalized tour of the Engineering buildings by the chair of the department, not as part of the setup, but because we ended up talking to her at a campus fair and she just offered to do it. Which was a great personal touch. She talked to us (and another family) for about an hour, showed us all the labs, talked about the programs, and we were impressed. Vibe: very personalize education, lots of attention, not overly competitive. Lots of diversity on campus. High on D27’s list.

D27 is a rising junior, so we have plenty more visits to go (University of Tulsa next week). At this point, WIT and SLU are probably her favorites, followed by Cooper, and MC is at the bottom, with Stevens next up from the bottom. S&T is in the middle somewhere.

[tamagotchi]

Northeastern – Oakland campus. (Formerly Mills.)

D26 opinion: “Campus is pretty, a lot nicer than Stanford. Otherwise, meh. 800 students is way too small for what I want even for freshman year, and I don’t like the selection of majors at this campus, but I did my job by demonstrating interest in NU.”

D26 parent opinion: Campus is gorgeous, it is just a pleasant relaxing feeling to be in this little green oasis in Oakland. Lots and lots and lots of trees (redwood, eucalyptus, and other trees) and green open space. Buildings are attractive. Most of campus seemed pretty flat, the dorms climbed up a small hill which seemed nice. Dorms are small scale buildings and felt pretty nice inside with lots of windows. There were zero students visible on campus at this time and it felt pretty deserted (which didn’t help my D’s opinion).

We were able to go inside a science lab building which is fairly new and seemed nice. Tour guide showed us some research posters that were taped up in the hallways and emphasized that it is very easy to do science research your first year because the school is so small. If the professors don’t have research that interests you, they will hook you up with researchers at another campus that will work with you remotely, so you don’t miss out on doing research your first year. (Tour guide had an anecdote about a student who did this.)

Tour guide emphasized access to greater bay area. Shuttle bus takes students to BART. School organizes many outings and offers students free tickets to some bay area events. Students are also allowed to have a car. (We live near UCB and it’s about 15-20 min drive from this campus.)

We asked about music (important for my D). This was historically a strength at Mills, and we noted that the music building is one of the biggest buildings on campus. Also Mills had the Center for Contemporary Music which was historically important for electronic music. We asked about this and the tour guide said there wasn’t much of a music program at this time, because “Oakland campus focuses on STEM,” but “students can get together and play music together if they want.” Yeah of course they can do that… Anyway, I did not find out what they do in the music building now, because the tour guide did not know.

There was a 30 min admissions presentation. We learned that the Oakland campus has about 800 first year students, and a handful of others. The presenter said that they do not plan to increase the number of students, because they require first years to live on campus and that is the capacity. They do have a list of majors that theoretically you can complete on the Oakland campus, but it sounds like almost all students go to Boston after the first year. This transfer to Boston is guaranteed for everyone. For comparison, the presenter said that the London campus has about 3000 students (she said these were all first years that transfer to Boston for second year, although apparently this was incorrect and only about 1000 of them are first years), while Boston has about 14000 undergrads.

[beefeater]

So this might be the last one for D26’s visits (until we get to admitted students days, I hope!)

Georgetown: Down for D26 and Up for me. So D26 wanted to see if maybe she was more interested in policy versus STEM, so we tacked on a trip to Georgetown while we were traveling for summer vacation. We went to the school of foreign service information session first. Just a few kids in this and the admissions officer was great at explaining what SFS was all about. Talked about the school, the vibe (everyone’s days here are FULL as students want to do as much as they can), and the majors. Overall, they gave the impression of a dedicated, focused group of students that wanted to engage with the DC foreign policy community. It was, frankly, pretty awesome from my perspective. They have such a unique feel and viewpoint. D26, on the other hand, was less impressed/inspired. She thought it was interesting, but not for her. Thought maybe she was more interested in public policy versus the SFS international focus. Ok, good to figure out!

Then we went to the main admissions session. This was CROWDED! Probably 30+ students with lots of family members in tow. The admissions officer here was less inspiring and really felt like she was playing it safe. A lot of the messaging downplayed what I think would be really unique parts of their curriculum and their values. She said a little bit about their Jesuit values but really emphasized that they’re not religious. Then she talked about the required theology courses, but again talked about all the ways you could sort of get around this with courses that were very theology light. I always personally hate when schools shy away from things that they’ve chosen to do. Tell me why it’s great! And then she talked about the application and underplayed their move to accepting the Common App. Again, I always think these are opportunities to tell us why you’re doing what you’re doing versus downplaying the significance.

Then, we took the tour. We were surprised to see that we’d have just one tour guide for the 30+ students. This was pretty tricky since if you ended up near the back of the pack then you really couldn’t hear anything at all. That said, the student guide was great at answering questions and generally being pretty engaging. She spoke about her experience as a first gen student there and addressed questions about wealth inequality on campus, what social life was really like, the competitiveness of clubs, etc. All in all, she really sold the school to me - I would have loved it! That said D26 wasn’t so interested. She caught the pre-professional vibe and internship, internship, internship mantra that the school really pushed and realized it wasn’t for her. I think I agree with her - it’s not for her, but it was good to go through the experience.

One final, funny thing - both the admissions officer and the student guide made the same joke. They both asked (separately and without knowing each was asking this), “Who came the farthest today?” It was funny when we all heard it the second time and immediately pointed to the person that came over from Germany. They need to coordinate their icebreakers!

[James_West]

Marist way up. What a difference a day makes. We had driven through the campus a few months earlier on a dreary rainy day, and were not overly impressed. Our tour last week was on a picture-perfect day, and we were more than impressed. The setting is right on the Hudson River and offers stunning views. The campus itself is meticulously maintained, and the school’s self-described architecture is Modern Gothic—greystone buildings throughout the campus, where the newer buildings blend in well with the long-standing ones.

Our D26 is looking for a mid-sized school. Dickinson was a little too small, and Syracuse was way too big, with around 5K students and a nice-sized campus that didn’t feel too small or too big. What stood out to parents who have been to a fair share of info sessions was the emphasis that they put on and, and not on or. They emphasized the flexibility to study across different majors and schools, as well as a top-ranked study abroad program, which very much appealed to our daughter. Again emphasizing flexibility, you can do one semester abroad, two, three, or even all eight because they have their own campus in Florence.

The school is exceptionally strong in computer science and fashion. IBM has a huge corporate presence in Poughkeepsie and a long-standing relationship with Marist. Mainly because of its campus in Florence, Marist has a well-regarded program in Fashion Design and attracts top students nationally and internationally who want to pursue that major.

Her list seems to be all set. It will probably come down to whether she goes early decision in one of her top choices. Right now, Marist is her favorite, but she’s 17, and that could change by later on this afternoon.

[James_West]

My wife and D26 toured the University of Rochester, and did a short drive through SUNY Geneseo. Rochester was not on her initial list to visit because it was a reach. Still, they decided to do a last-minute trip because our daughter’s counselors thought Rochester might be easier to get into due to the situation with International Students. Rochester has about 25% of its undergrads as International Students.

On paper, Rochester checked off most of the boxes our D26 was looking for: easy to get to, not too big, not too small, socially liberal, intellectually curious students from a diverse background. I guess this is why you visit, because it’s totally off her list. Fair or unfair, but two of the main reasons they didn’t like it were the presenter of the info session and the tour guide.

Both my wife and daughter said the info session was confusing, and it seemed to drag on. Two weeks before at Marist, we were totally engaged, and the info session seemed to fly by. I know a lot of colleges have these superstitions that if you walk on the crest, you won’t graduate, but there was a place where if you walked, you wouldn’t get accepted, and another place you won’t get financial aid. Also, due to the winter weather, Rochester has a system of tunnels, and they spent most of the tour traveling through them on a day that was 85 degrees and sunny. The other negative, according to our daughter, was that the kids didn’t look that happy.

When they were above ground, they said the campus was very pretty and well laid out. They liked that it was a diverse population of students. It might have been different if they had another information presenter and guide, but it’s officially off her list.

Geneseo was not really under serious consideration, but they had the time, and it was close by. It was just a drive-through with a map they downloaded, but they liked it more than they thought. From what they both said, if it’s the type of school on your list, it could be worth a look. My wife called it a cute little campus.

[TheMonaLisa]

Denison University - UP for S26. He’s looking at colleges with an English/Creative Writing major. Many here suggested to look at Denison since we are also looking at Kenyon College. S26 wishes that he can bring the off-campus surroundings of Denison and wrap it around Kenyon. The town of Granville reminded me of a New England town. Very quaint, walkable, and friendly. Denison University is at the top of the hill so students hike down these paved trails to get to Granville for either a bite to eat, a stop at the bank or at CVS. S26 loved that about Granville, something he wishes Kenyon had. Clearly, S26 loves the creative program and the Kenyon campus and feels a little meh about Kenyon’s surroundings.

The parking garage was easy to find, located below the visitor’s center/admissions office on the 5th floor. We were greeted warmly and their waiting area had lots of water, coffee, and a few candy. Big floor to ceiling windows offered views of one part of campus.

The info session was 30 minutes long. It was concise and very informative. DH loved the presentation and how they presented what Denison has to offer through the lens of a student - from how the student’s extra-curricular activities and internship interests evolved throughout their 4 years at Denison. It wasn’t boring, and they provided more than just what’s on the website.

The campus tour was also 30 minutes long. It hit all the major places - one of two dining halls, a dorm room tour, library, an academic building, and the chapel. There were just two families led by two tour guides. They could have just accommodated all visitors under one tour guide, but they split us up which made for a great one-on-one at some points. However, we felt rushed at some places like the chapel and the dorm room tour to allow the other tour guides to come in. It wasn’t a big deal, though.

The main part of campus was on top of the hill and the fine arts buildings and some academic buildings were below. The tour guide kept us all on top of the hill for a reason, lol. I cannot imagine all the hiking involved going from lower campus to upper campus. This did not bother S26, however. S26 loved the paths through campus, the trees, and overall he said it felt “comfy,” lol. For a writer to say that a campus felt “comfy” tells me that he felt comfortable that he liked it a lot.

Unfortunately, we didn’t hear much about their creative writing program, but hopefully another visit we’ll learn more.

After the tour, S26 did an interview which lasted 25 minutes. He said the interview was good. Interestingly, it’s supposed to be a conversation, but it felt more like a Q&A sesh. After Denison, we drove to Kenyon for his Kenyon interview. The interview lasted 50 minutes and S26 thought it was more comfortable, more organic, and the minutes flew by.

S26 will definitely apply to Denison in addition to Kenyon.

[Joshdent]

It’s so exciting to finally be able to post something after lurking in these forums as the college search for S27 has officially begun!

Trinity College (CT)- UP We wanted to start the college search process a little early due to a busy schedule next spring and fall, so this was the first college visit for S27. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for in a college, but I thought this was a good jumping off point since we live within an hours drive and it would start the ball rolling on evaluating urban vs. rural, small vs. big etc.

We had a really good experience here- the gorgeous weather certainly helped. The admissions office staff was extremely welcoming. The info session was two current students giving an overview of the college. It was a bit dry, but I appreciated that it wasn’t a rehash of what’s on the webpages, that there was no power point presentation and that it only lasted about 25 minutes.

There were three tour guides for about 15 prospective students, so we were broken up into small groups, which was great. Our tour guide was the right mix of informative and funny, enthusiastic but not over the top. While the tour was nice, one major frustration of mine was not being shown a dorm or a classroom. The campus is compact, but feels spacious in places. There are some truly gorgeous parts of campus with impressive gothic architecture, other areas not so much. There’s a brand new athletic center (Trinity is wild about their squash team) and a relatively new arts/neuroscience building. I was really unimpressed with their student union building- it was old and not well lit and frankly I thought a bit depressing but S27 didn’t seem to mind.

S27 liked the size of the school, but what he liked most was something I picked up on too- students were out and about and looked happy. They were more often in pairs or groups than alone. They smiled and said hello when they walked past you. S27 could really see himself fitting in here.

Hartford is a mixed blessing. The campus is a beautiful oasis in a sketchy part of the city. It seems like a bubble separate from its immediate environs. Some benefits seem to be more focus on campus activities since there is not much going on off campus. I just wish there was a commercial strip right off campus with cafes, restaurants, shops. Students are eligible for a free city bus pass, and there is a free shuttle to the mall and other local stores but that’s not the same. The location is beneficial in that a lot of internship and collaboration opportunities are available through the school in health care, law, business, urban planning and other fields that just wouldn’t be available at a liberal arts college in Maine, Vermont, or the Berkshires.

We left with S27 liking the school a lot and while it is very early in this process for him, he said if this is where he ended up he would be happy about that. I’m relieved that our first experience was positive and that we have one school already on our list!