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

[Ewost]

Thought I’d add the impressions from the final two admitted students day visits with my S26.

Tufts - we had visited before, and it had not at the time made a great impression, but stayed on the list. Since getting in, the school quickly rose to the top, so we had to revisit. The admitted student day made a completely different impression! The energy was so different. The campus was busy, and the kids seemed friendly and happy, and the vibe was apparently just right. Lots of quirky/arty/alternative kids, but plenty that looked/dressed in your standard teen fashion. It was a gorgeous spring day, which certainly lifted the mood. They did a great job organizing the activities, with student and faculty panels and sample classes you could visit. S26 found the two classes he visited interesting and engaging. We ate in the cafeteria, which was busy but not too crowded. The resource fair had students from numerous clubs and organizations, and my kid got a chance to talk to many of them. He was so excited, he was ready to commit on the spot. Oh, we also learned that they schedule their regular tours when the students are in class, which is likely why the campus looks so empty during most prospective student visits.

Wesleyan - this was a last-minute addition to the list, mostly because they did not have any supplemental essays. It was the only school we had not visited before applying. S26 enjoyed all the sessions he attended and liked the kids he met. He did not love the campus, which seemed a little odd, with a baseball field right in the middle. With the events in different buildings, we kept walking back and forth across the field. While the campus was otherwise quite pretty, it seemed to be surrounded by strip malls and did not seem like it was actually in town. Several kids we met talked about how quiet it was and how there’s really not much to do. My kid was done after a few hours, as it was clearly not a fit.

[ali-ice]

Two more colleges in our admitted student visits

Macalester - good visit - location is great. In residential area but city (and city opportunities) with 10-15 minutes. Small compact campus - you can walk from one end to the other in 10 minutes(possibly less). Daughter loved both location and campus size. Kids seem super nice, faculty seem to care a lot. Perhaps a bit on the serious side - not pretentious at all. The food in the dining hall had lots of options, and it was decent. First year dorms randomly assigned - pretty typical but no AC. Some have sinks, some don’t. Random fact - you can learn to play the bagpipes.

St Olaf -off- we never got out of the car. My daughter did not like the small town vibe at all. Campus was lovely and sprawling. Not my daughter’s cup of tea BUT it could be your kid’s!

[tigerish_mom]

Just visited Lafayette and Villanova for Admitted Students Days.

DD went in thinking that Lafayette was her top choice. We were very impressed with the academics. The campus is pretty. In the end, the vibe was just a bit off. We revisited Easton and the shine had worn off. It’s just a bit too isolated for her. No public transport home other than a bus.

Villanova was very impressive. She may end up there. We still have a few other schools to revisit. These Admitted Student day events have been really helpful for my DD and my older DS.

[COMom3]

I’m sure some will find this surprising, but we just returned from IU Bloomington and we were so disappointed. This is my 3rd child and I’ve been on at least 12+ official tours and this had to be bottom 3. The auditorium overview was long winded and hard to follow and the woman sounded like she was reading from a chat gpt search. The walking tour didn’t even take us to Sample Gates and the 2nd stop focused on a blue light security pole for at least 10 minutes. We also didn’t feel like kids were happy and relaxed but this may have to do with how close to finals it is. The campus itself is gorgeous and we loved the town of Bloomington but it definitely moved down the list when it had been top 3 prior to our visit.

[ali-ice]

I wanted to wait a few days before posting -because for some reason, I got really iritated by some of the panels at our last admitted student visit -and I don’t want that to color the commentary!

Occidental - DOWN - sigh - my daughter and I both wanted to love this school -we really really did. First -let’s talk about all the positives! The campus is beautiful, it smells nice -and you know, it’s southern california so the weather is perfect. The people were nice, and helpful. My daughter called it ‘cool (temperature) nice’ vs ‘warm Macalester nice’ –which is funny, but I guess accurate? The campus has a lot of energy.

Cons -please as always take these as individual opinions -your kid might fit perfectly here, and what bothers my daughter might not bother your kid! – The campus was described as ‘vertical’ by one person. The freshman dorms are HIGH on the hill and it’s a steep hill. The theater classroom was also up there. However, the tour did not go up the hill -which was one of the things that bothered me. I think it’s important to 1) see the freshman dorms (which we didn’t) and 2) get a real feel for daily life. If you have to go up and down the hill to get to your dorm - you are unlikely to leave it once you get back to it -which means socializing for freshman is likely focused on their dorm location. (The dining hall was also down the hill.) The dorm we did see was a sophmore dorm -and the dorms don’t really ‘improve’ as you become more senior - the better dorms are more ‘by chance’ than anything. (Again - maybe for your kid, this is a non-issue!)

The bigger issue –> lack of good public transit. No one used the bus -either students or staff or faculty. Everyone pretty much agreed that SOCal public transit was mid (at best-some described it as bad). There was a light rail you could use to get to the beach, but again - you’d have to get to the light rail. 50% of students have cars –and while this alone is not a factor —> gas is crazy expensive, and the traffic is kind of brutal. It was even busy at 630 in the morning.

The surrounding area was described as cute and suburban. I’m not sure that I entirely agree with this assessment. Right around campus was residential but unlike Macalester, the nearest off-campus coffee and food shops were about a mile away. And they were okay (I guess it just wasn’t as cute and close as Macalester’s local shops so it suffered in comparison.) It wierdly felt ‘urban-ish’ to us -but we are from the suburbs so again - to a city kid, this would be suburbs!

We unfortunately didn’t get to talk to STEM kids -there weren’t any on any of the panels. It just gave the impression (perhaps quite wrongly) that this wasn’t as strong for STEM as some places. (I would not hold me to that -it was likely the day we were there.) However -bigger issue, it would be difficult/impossible to assess internship sites during the school year from campus and that really bothered my daughter. The other schools she has visited have better ‘during the school year’ internship/research opportunities. Probably the biggest reason for this moving down the list.

Still though - my daughter wanted to love it and I think many students would be happy here. I just don’t think it’s a great match for mine. It hasn’t dropped off the list yet -but I think it is likely to.

I hope that wasn’t too negative. We both wished it had been in Pasadena -that even though was much more urban had 1) cuter, walkable neighborhoods and 2) easy access to the metro.

[ali-ice]

I know this is a no-reply thread -but I wanted to update some of our thoughts on Colorado College. It’s moved back up the list for my daughter due to these factors:

1. Really strong academic approach for my daughter - the block plan seems like it would work really well for her learning style. The class she took during orientation was the strongest of all her visits. As a parent -who works in academia - I really, really liked their teaching approach. It was based on best pedagogical practice.
2. More opportunities to study abroad than any of her other schools. She really loved this aspect
3. An EMT class -which would be really helpful for her future career goals
4. Generous financial need support -including for trips and study abroad.
5. Bridge Scholar program

It still has the same negatives mentioned above -and those aren’t small -but the academic support is very strong. I just wanted to give it a fair read based on further analysis.

[beefeater]

So, D26 went to four admitted students days. Here’s the feedback from those visits:

Rutgers: Way up for D26, neutral for parents. We did the big Rutgers open house admitted student day. It was VERY busy, but in a good way. First, we did the honors college tour. This was overall pretty good. We saw the building, but most of the conversation in the tour was about the program, how students liked it, what they engaged with, etc. The students were pretty positive about their experiences. They did note that the food on College Ave wasn’t great, and they recommended a couple of other campuses for better food. We appreciated the honesty. Then, we went to the honors college info session. This was in a relatively big auditorium and was packed. The info session was useful, but I mostly I liked that all the questions for the info session had to be asked by the students. No parent questions were allowed. This is actually refreshing and D26 quite liked that approach, especially since then dad has to keep his big mouth shut! After the info session, we went to the activity fair, where D26 checked out a few of the tables. Then, we grabbed the bus to Livingston campus for the arts & sciences majors fair. The bus was CRAZY. We couldn’t get on the first one, so D26 went ahead with another student and mom and dad caught the next bus. Once at the major fair, D26 went and talked to a few different majors. She noted that the physics major was busy and active with a bunch of students and a professor. The chemistry major next door had no students and no professors - just an admin from the department that could talk about the course sequence. D26 thought that was a little strange with no one to really “sell” the department. Then we went to lunch at the diner on campus, which was great. Overall a good experience for D26. We thought it was fine, but the challenge getting between campuses did remind us that you live and die by that bus.

Wellesley: Way up for all of us! Started as a pretty gloomy morning as we went to the admissions office. Got checked in and went to the info session/panel. This was great with three students and two professors on the panel. The students ranged from a first year to a fourth year, and they all talked about their experiences, warts and all! It was refreshing and good to hear how the school has supported them. They allayed some concerns about potential competitiveness, but it was pretty clear that all three students were motivated and excited to be there. The professors added some nice color about how they liked to engage students in class and support them after. All-in-all, a good experience/session. We then broke up into smaller groups for a tour. Our tour guide was EXCELLENT! It really is amazing how much a good tour guide impacts the experience. Talked about her experiences in classes, what she liked, how she used the resources of the school, and what the inter-personal dynamics were like (friendly, but sometimes hard to make friends in class. She tended to make friends in clubs & extracurriculars). Saw a residence hall and a dorm room. I am a real sucker for the classic, older buildings with character and the one we saw had it in spades! Very cool. After the tour, we did a little extra walk around campus and by the lake. Yes, it is VERY summer camp vibes! Overall, it made a great impression with all of us.

Wesleyan: Down for both D26 and us. I’ve noted this already in a question about the new format for Wesleyan admitted student days (Say Yes to Wes), so I won’t rehash it all here. I think D26 just didn’t fit the vibe of the students she met and heard from. The speech by the president was inspiring, but he definitely said a few things that gave us pause. The science center tour was PACKED! That tour guide was good and really told us how things worked, which was great. Lunch in Usdan was good too. But, overall this wasn’t really the place for D26, and I think we all realized it by the end.

Haverford: Down for D26, Neutral for us. This was the last of the admitted student day visits for D26. We checked in and then decided to take a walk around the campus on the beautiful nature trail. Always a pleasant walk, and D26 and I have now done this three times! Then we went to lunch in the dining hall. They had students come by the tables and chat with students over lunch, which was great. The student D26 spoke to was really excellent telling us what he liked and what he didn’t. He did make mention of how the parties were mostly held at the houses that various athletic teams lived in. It was casual, as in you didn’t need to be an athlete to participate, but D26 didn’t really like that idea. This was somewhat reinforced as we were leaving when we saw what seemed like most of the school on the athletic fields at 4pm. We did attend the admissions info session, which had a student and someone from career services. This was overall maybe a little more career-oriented than D26 cared for, but it was great to hear a student’s experience in moving from STEM into a consulting career. He talked about the strength of the alumni network, but D26 again caught a little of the athlete vibe when he mentioned that he was a soccer player that spoke with a recent soccer graduate. I’ll say here that I don’t think I necessarily got the overly athletic vibe, but it’s D26 going to college, so she gets to feel what she feels. After that session, we split up and she went on an admitted student tour, which was EXACTLY the same tour she went on when we toured last time. She thought maybe they’d do a little bit more about the student experience with the spaces and take more questions, but it wasn’t that. During this time we went to a Q&A with the admissions dean, which was great. He really makes Haverford feel special and specific, especially with the honor code and the community orientation to solving problems. Anyway, now somewhat down for D26, although perhaps it’s not down for good as she thinks about her options.

[momofboiler1]

Reminder that this is a no response thread. There is an “off topic discussion” thread to comment that I linked above.

[Ephmen]

UP: UVA. Kids seemed really happy, and out having fun. DId not seem overly stressed and seem to really love their school. Amazing “grounds” (UVA for campus) and awesome city are a bonus. Kid- “This is my place”. UVA 2030. Wahoowa!

[mimieliza]

My daughter just finished her first year at University of Idaho. We toured schools during her junior year.

Off the list: Washington State University

It just felt too big and very impersonal. Despite arranging tours months in advance, we weren’t able to tour the buildings where my daughter’s specific academic programs were housed. Our student tour guide just said “I think they’re locked.” In fact, we didn’t go into any academic buildings - just walked around outside. The campus felt like a small city. It was very hilly. All the first-year students lived in two towers. When asked about any type of specialized living community (honors, academic interest, LGBTQ+) the tour guide said that they don’t have that - everyone just lives in the same place. My daughter’s major (Fisheries) was housed in the agriculture department, and would have been a major in Fish and Wildlife.

Off the List: University of Hawaii

Again, the campus was large and felt impersonal. Lots of construction. The dorms were across a busy street from the main campus. They were hot (it’s Hawaii) and surrounded by concrete and red dirt. They did not have a fisheries or fish and wildlife major - daughter would have had to do marine biology.

Off the List: Colorado School of Mines

I loved the campus and the town of Golden, CO. The size felt just right. Academic buildings and student housing seemed updated and very student-oriented - lots of space for work and creativity (lounges, maker-spaces, etc.) Amazing student work, research, and projects. But touring helped solidify for my daughter that she did not want to major in engineering. She thought the vibe of the students seemed stressed, overworked, and competitive.

Up: Colorado State University

Although the school is very large, both the admissions/tour process and the campus itself felt very personal. The campus had lots of lovely open space with trees, fields, forests. Lots of choice for first-year housing. Great performing arts facilities and departments. Our tour included time to visit the College of Natural Resources. Although we weren’t scheduled to meet with any students, students inquired about our visit and were excited to talk to my daughter about what they loved about the natural resources degree programs. Daughter liked that her major was under the umbrella of natural resources rather than agriculture. The only drawback was the price - out-of-state students could expect to pay about $38,000 after WUE and merit scholarships.

Up: University of Idaho

The campus felt almost like a small liberal arts school - beautiful buildings, big trees, very walkable. Because it is smaller than most of the others we toured it just felt cozier and more personal. Tons of options for first-year housing, including very nice, newish suite-style dorms that housed Living Learning Communities. There was an LLC for the College of Natural Resources. Our tour was extremely specializing, including a scheduled meeting with a professor from the Fisheries department. The major that they offered - Fisheries Science - was the most tailored to what my daughter wanted to study. It also had three different potential concentrations. They let us tour the research areas, and the prof talked about all the research projects going on and how involved undergrads are. Research labs involved big tanks of fish, and my daughter was thrilled. We also learned about a program called Semester in the Wild where students spend the semester at a very remote research station in the Idaho mountain wilderness, which sounded like an amazing opportunity (my daughter is headed there this fall). And with WUE and academic scholarships, our OOP cost is around $21,000 per year - far cheaper than even our in-state options.

[Joshdent]

WESLEYAN- same

My S27 and I took a campus tour. I understand that there are compromises with taking a summer tour, and I do really appreciate that Wesleyan is one of the few schools I’ve come across that offer guided campus tours on a Sunday, but I was really frustrated at how little we actually saw. We didn’t see the inside of the student center, or a dorm room, or the dining hall, or a single classroom. We walked through the library briefly and stopped in an air conditioned atrium to get out of the heat, but the tour was mostly seeing the exterior of buildings.

The campus is pretty with an interesting mix of various architectural styles. The football field in the center of campus is being replaced and under construction. There are some really unpleasant motel looking dorm rooms that I remember from my own college visit back in 1991 (!)- and was one of the reasons I didn’t apply back then, although there are some nicer additions now. The tour guide was great and charismatic and well spoken but as a film student didn’t have a lot of insights my social sciences/techie son could relate to. My son liked the school and it is staying on the list for now but wasn’t a top choice.

[DogMom72]

Virginia Commonwealth University. We were in Richmond a few weekends ago so wandered the campuses of VCU and U Richmond. D28 nixed VCU and any urban, undefined campus before we even parked the car. Didn’t surprise any of us, but the visceral reaction reaffirmed what we suspected.

By contrast, U Richmond was empty other than a wedding going on. To be expected on a Saturday afternoon in late June. The campus is beautiful but hilly, and more in line with the typed of setting she wants. Pretty, traditional and most importantly a defined campus setting. We will keep it on the list to learn more about and possibly come back for a tour next year if it seems like a potential.

[Joshdent]

Skidmore- UP

Summer Saturday info session and tour with S27. The info session was pretty boring, rehashing what anyone who has done their homework would already know. One of the student reps was very funny telling some great anecdotes- unfortunately the admissions rep kept hogging the spotlight and didn’t let the students talk enough.

The campus looks different from any other campus I’ve been to- the architecture is… hmmm… modern yet dated at the same time? 80s ski village chic maybe? It’s so hard to describe and I could see it being very polarizing- you may love it or hate it. It’s very cohesive looking and my son and I actually didn’t mind it and found it very “cozy” feeling. Maybe we are just sick of Gothic architecture after so many tours. The fact that it is an enclosed campus nestled amongst lots of trees also added to the appeal.

The tour guide was a nice guy but I didn’t think he seemed too bright. He went on about how great it was that Skidmore had a amazing program that if their library didn’t have something they were in a “special” program called interlibrary loan where they could get a book from somewhere else! (I enjoyed watching everyone’s eye rolls at this!).

The buildings were nicer on the inside than the outsides would suggest and it seemed like a fun, comfortable place to go to school. We toured athletic facilities and the dining hall as well as the student union.

Then we went to see a dorm. Housing is sort of an Achilles heel at Skidmore with freshman being assigned to triple rooms. There are other reports on this forum of the triple rooms being very tight and the dorms not being so nice. I was extremely frustrated when the tour guide explained that the triple room they normally show on the tour is being renovated and so we would be seeing a double room today, which freshman are unlikely to get without special needs. I told the tour guide I was really disappointed to hear this as I drove 3 hours to see this and I find it difficult to understand that during the summer there is not one triple room to peek in to see the size (doesn’t have to be made up). Even though I said it calmly and politely my son was mortified that I spoke up. The double that we did see I thought was very nice but who knows how that translates to a triple.

All in all my son liked the “vibe” and will definitely apply. I agree that it looks like a nice place to spend four years but still have some concerns about the quality of the education that can be revisited if it ends up a serious contender. Unfortunately after the tour the admissions office was locked and so had no bathroom access at the tour conclusion which was not a great last impression.

[Joshdent]

RPI- UP for S27, Dad is not so sure.

This tour was an example of how I have no idea sometimes what goes on in my son’s head. Summer Saturday info session and tour. We were a few minutes late to the info session so at the back of a packed auditorium where it was a little hard to hear what was going on. Info session didn’t seem to offer any new information.

My son is interested in business. RPI isn’t as known for business as it is for engineering but it has a business school and I thought it would be interesting to check out because it is a business school with a unique technology/innovation perspective. I looked at the kids on the tour and thought to myself- this is not my son’s crowd, to which he muttered something similar to me. The tour guide was great which was no small feat considering the teeming rain and how she managed to keep us as dry as possible in the middle of a downpour. The overall campus look was just ok to me but there were some nice views of the downtown area and the Hudson River. I was surprised at how old and worn some of the buildings looked inside- for a state of the art campus it certainly didn’t show off that way and I thought some of the hallways looked depressing. We had just come from Skidmore and it was amazing to me how I thought the science building there looked a lot more impressive than the buildings at RPI (or at least more modern and esthetically pleasing). I am not a tech person and so a lot was lost on me. We saw the only IBM quantum one computer on a university campus- it was on display behind glass and it felt like we were visiting the Mona Lisa. Later the tour guide was excited as she exclaimed “if you’re into polymers- this is the polymer and biopolymer building!”. I’m sure some people would be excited about it- just not me, and I couldn’t imagine my son being interested. He kept asking me how much longer the tour was and I offered to leave early, sensing that these weren’t his people and this wasn’t the campus for him. He wanted to finish the tour.

We went to a fantastic nearby BBQ restaurant to debrief. If only you could see my jaw hit the floor when my son said he loved RPI and it was in his top two schools now! I thought it was completely off the list after the visit! He said he never considered going to a tech school but he loved the thought of being with classmates who were researching things and creating things and who were studying things on the cutting edge of technology. He also really liked the extracurricular activities and was excited to hear about the clubs that work on formula one cars, develop rockets, and explore the adirondacks with the latest technical gadgets. He doesn’t want to major in tech but he likes to be surrounded by it and he likes having tech savvy peers and the thought of studying business at a tech school was really exciting to him.

I’m glad he found something to get excited about. We will apply and investigate further. I think he’s romanticizing it a little too much and I’m concerned about the social scene for him- I’m not yet convinced a tech school is the way for him to go but I’m open to the possibility.

[Joshdent]

Bentley- DOWN

DS27 and I did a weekday tour during the summer. There was a lot of traffic and we arrived 20 minutes late. I’m not sure if there was supposed to be an information session and it was super short and we missed it or if the tour started late, but we were just in time for the start of the tour. The admissions office staff was super friendly and welcoming.

The campus is nice- most buildings are a cohesive red brick, but yet you could still tell the buildings were a modern updated version of red brick. The tour guide was lovely- she was informative and enthusiastic.

Bentley is for business and it certainly comes across on the tour. They have broken ground on a $85 million entrepreneurship/innovation center and the trading room looked impressive. I really enjoyed learning about the User Experience Center where companies bring products for students to test and give feedback sort of like a focus group. You do get to see a dorm room but not the athletic facilities.

Most of the tour the guide talked about internships, externships, co-ops, career advising, and job placements. They take that stuff seriously here. It’s sounded great…. but my son felt they talked so much about outcomes and about the professional side of things and almost nothing about campus life. Also the interiors of the buildings were more modern and equipped with office furniture. It felt like you were always in a conference room instead of a traditional classroom. There was no character to the interior of the buildings. My son said he felt like Bentley would prepare him well for what came after college but he’s not sure that he would enjoy the four years that got him there as much as at other places.

My favorite part of Bentley is that classes are capped at 35 students (!!!) I think that’s great. I also enjoyed the ice cream dixie cup at the end of the tour. A nice touch was the application fee waiver emailed to my son as thanks for visiting. I think Bentley has enough going for it to stay on the list for now, and perhaps a revisit when students are around may give him more of a sense of campus life.

[Joshdent]

Bentley (continued)

I know this is a no reply thread but I wanted to add that a week after visiting Bentley my son received a handwritten note in the postal mail from the tour guide thanking him for going on the tour. It also included her email to contact her with any further questions. It was a really nice touch.

[Joshdent]

Brandeis- DOWN and OFF THE LIST

This one hurt. As an observant Jewish family trying to navigate the campus culture for Jewish students at various schools during these times, Brandeis looked great on paper- 35% Jewish students, campus outside of Boston with a commuter train stop on campus, “Goldilocks” not too small not too big size- but it wasn’t meant to be.

Driving up to the school the initial impression was that it was not an attractive campus at all- but sometimes you are approaching the campus from a different direction and the “parking lot view” doesn’t equal the “pedestrian view”. We were somewhat relieved to see a beautiful admissions center.

The admissions center is modern and the staff was welcoming. It was exciting to see displays regarding the brand new dorm complex being built and the new Jewish center also being constructed on campus. You got the sense that things are happening on the campus and that exciting developments are in progress.

Our tour guide was super nice and knowledgeable. He was unfortunately 180 degrees opposite my son in terms of personality and interest- but my son is pretty good by now in not letting that influence his opinions on the school- sometimes it just happens that way.

I’m going to be blunt- we thought the campus was ugly. Some buildings were more attractive than others. We walked in some buildings that were so old and outdated and in need of TLC that I would have been disappointed if this was a high school I was looking at for my kid. I was shocked- although glad the tour did let us see the school “warts and all”. They had these outdoor patio seats that highlighted the worst of 1970s design and they were everywhere (iykyk). It just added a depressing feeling which isn’t what you should get on a beautiful sunny day in the summer.

My son also felt that Brandeis felt like “just a school”. According to him there wasn’t anything that stood out to distinguish it from other schools- no unique features, no fun traditions, no “hooks” or special offerings. Nothing special about curriculum or course offerings. I realize now that he’s right in the sense that even after visiting I cant remember much about the school except sizable Jewish population and location just outside Boston- which is what I knew before the visit.

Glad we visited. Off the list and on to the next school….