I dropped American after visiting. It look too similar to a HS to me, and kids who gave us tours looked immature.
I will be 20 in my freshman year, so I’m looking for a school with more mature students.
@Dustyfeathers - Haverford just finished a construction project. Construction was still there in early February, but the building opened soon after. It’s on the main Quad…near the library I believe. It was a renovation…not a new building.
Over here silently doing the “Happy, I-told -you-so” Mom dance. DD’18 has steadfastly refused to took at U of Colorado-Boulder for at least a year, despite it seemingly being a very good fit, her reasoning -the weed culture. I have pointed out to her that several other schools she is seriously considering are also in legalized weed states so her arguement is moot. DD’18 went to a NACAC National College Fair today, 8 schools she is considering were in attendance, it seemed like an excellent opportunity to get her motivated as she is taring down the home stretch. So this morning, as she was headed out the door, I said U of Colorado-Boulder would be in attendance if she wanted to check it out if she had time. Low and behold she came through the door after school and said “Guess what I checked out today… (holds up the UC-Boulder brochure, grinning) not gonna lie, recruiter dude sold it, I am gonna say it is in the solid #2 spot today. I think I just may apply!”. Solid #1 school today was Auburn, #3 Loyola Chicago/High Point U, #4 Clemson. Schools that left her with no impression either way but will stay on the list #5 Florida State, #6 University of Tampa…off the list Tarleton State (it really wasn’t on her list they dropped by with a friend) and University of Central Florida.
Lafayette, after driving through the town, didn’t even want to drive up the college driveway…
We did not love UCSC when we looked at it in the fall. We looked desparately for a quad and all we found was nature. Don’t get me wrong as the nature was beautiful but we prefer a more traditional campus with quad, nice architecture, etc. Excellent school . . . just not for us.
The design of UCSC traces its origins to the desire within the Reagan administration (that’s Governor Reagan back in the 60s) to create a university that unlike Berkeley could not be “taken over” by students, so it is intentionally devoid of a central gathering point. Living a few blocks away from campus I’ve noticed the result is that protests typically shut down one of the entrances, which typically leads to our street being used for parking, city bus drop-offs etc. Personally I kind of like it when that happens; it shows the students are motivated about something beyond getting a job when they graduate.
@eclpts thank you - good to know - certainly a beautiful area!
@SoCalDad1961 - we had the exact same reaction when we passed through Easton two years ago. Ready to head home without checking out Lafayette campus. Glad we didn’t though- D16 is finishing up what has been a truly amazing year for her at Lafayette- campus is beautiful and we’ve even become quite fond of Easton…
@myjanda - I wasn’t on the trip but know that great things happen “after the gates”. Glad you D16 is enjoying it. Central PA is dying a slow death (I’m a native long relocated), but when you get past the shuttered buildings it’s full of wonderful people - and obviously wonderful colleges!
@lebegg, your daughter shouldn’t worry about weed at CU. Yes, of course there is some but not more than there used to be when it wasn’t legal. A friend transfered to CU from Reed because there was too much toking going on at Reed.
@SoCalDad1961 Perhaps a typo on your part but Lafayette (and Lehigh) are actually in Northeast Pennsylvania, not Central. By no means Nirvana but a decent area with a fair amount going on and reasonable proximity to NYC and Philly. You are correct, though, that there is a fair amount of general decay in rural PA (or what city folk call Pennsyltucky).
Ah yes, Reed and weed. I do have some thoughts…
I was going to let the school speak for itself by linking to the online school paper, but it looks as if that now requires a login. And now wondering if there’s a reason for that…
Maybe just me but if just one AO would say “Holistic Review? With 10s of thousands of applicants? No way!” that school would move way up my list.
@pantha33m LOL - seeing as I was born in Altoona many years ago, everything is Central PA to me except Philly and Pittsburg
When I read this pithy little comment by @RustyTrowel a few months ago, I chuckled to myself and thought rusty to be a clever writer. Fast forward a few months, and upon completion of a Swat visit, and I know exactly what he was talking about!
It truly was a Mars-Venus moment. To be fair though, if you are from Mars, the campus was beautiful, the location was great, and the honors program seemed very compelling. It just was not my D’s tribe.
Just back from our PNW tour:
Willamette, off the list. His words: it’s a really nice campus but I’m not coming here. I found this a little bewildering because I thought it was great. Much more updated and well-kept facilities than many schools. He was so sure that we left campus for lunch and he threw away his folder on our way out.
University of Puget Sound, stayed on the list, but second from bottom. He thought more highly of it than he did at age 13 when we toured with D15. Then we did the music tour, which DH and I thought was great, but was a big turnoff for S18. Who knows why?
Lewis & Clark moved into the number 2 spot behind College of Wooster. Phew! We can see him there and so can he.
Although my kid will be attending Stanford, didn’t like this particular Stanford tour guide for the following reasons:
- He took tips from people, which I thought was very unprofessional. I was going to say something to him, to tell him how unprofessional that is but I didn't want to ruin my good mood, so I didn't do anything. [The reason some Asian parents who were probably from abroad offered tips to this non-Asian tour guide was because he kept on saying how he was on work program to earn his tuition and living costs etc., they probably felt sorry for him. This tip was not because he was a good tour guide.] Other tour guides at Berkeley and UCLA were fabulous. If this tour guide was a representative of Stanford, my kid would not have decided to accept offer of admission, but fortunately, my kid met enough other people at Stanford to know this tour guide was an exception. Our tour guide from UCLA put her heart and soul in her presentation so that her voice was hoarse from speaking loudly, and our tour guide from Berkeley was so knowledgeable and wanted to answer every question that he stayed 20 minutes after the official tour to answer questions. When we offered to buy him lunch or coffee because we were very grateful for his detailed tour and answering our questions, he said it was against Berkeley rules to accept anything. A wonderful, professional tour guide.
- He didn't know too much about school even though he had been there 2 or 3 years. He really should research and do a better job. He kept on telling us how he has to do these tours as part of his work study program and how he met Obama etc when he visited. He needs to increase his knowledge about his own school rather than impress people with whom he met.
- My kid was so unimpressed by this tour guide that he told me if he gets into Stanford he wants to work as a tour guide so he can give better tours and impression.
To be fair, this tour guide seemed to be an exception.
Hi! Longtime lurker… I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s posts over the past year or so. Now that our son has finished his search, I thought I’d weigh in on our experience…
I’ll preface it by saying that my son wanted a small LAC, not in a city. I would describe him as curious, outdoorsy, nerd-ish and social. He has a variety of academic and extra-curricular interests and is not interested in Greek life. We live in the Boston area but he refused to even consider places like Northeastern or BU (“too big and urban”). Here are our impressions…
Tufts: Moved down. I love Tufts but my son said it was “too big” and “urban”. (We live not far away so my interpretation is that it was too close to home!)
Brandeis: Took off the list. Great tour guide but the campus just seemed sad and shabby. It was a beautiful spring day and yet there were no students outside enjoying the weather. It just struck us as odd…
Clark: Moved up the list. We loved Clark. I was surprised at how much we both liked it! Nice compact and clearly-defined campus, but still part of Worcester. Students seemed smart, friendly, quirky and down-to-earth. No frats/sororities (a plus for my son) and nice emphasis on working in the community and social engagement.
UNH: Stayed the same? Really beautiful campus. We were really impressed with the facilities. My son liked the woods and student center with the movie theater. But he thought it was “huge”. He said he could probably be happy there but would go if he “had no other choices”.
UMaine Orono: Stayed the same? Campus was smaller than UNH which we all liked. The Honors College program looked interesting! He also liked the outing club and the hiking trails right around campus. Some buildings are a bit shabby and overall not as nice as UNH. I think my son preferred it to UNH? (He loves Maine.) Not sure though.
Skidmore: Moved up. We all loved the campus and Saratoga Springs. Son loved the woods and that it was a nice campus but you could get to town. (And a beautiful town at that!) We determined that Skidmore had the highest student to squirrel ratio of any of the schools we visited. 
He was concerned that it was a bit more focused on the arts than on sciences (which is more of his interest) for his taste. I personally loved the campus vibe - posters and leaflets everywhere inviting people to come to clubs, auditions, events. Seemed very friendly.
Union: Crossed off the list. Absolutely gorgeous campus - top-notch facilities. We were particularly impressed with the theater and science programs. But we all really disliked the predominance of frats/sororities on campus. (Fine for some people but just not the right thing for my son.) In contrast to Skidmore, every single sign that was up around campus was for a frat or sorority-sponsored event. I looked it up later and about 40% of the students are members of frats/sororities. That was a big turn-off for all of us. Son felt he wouldn’t be happy here.
Colby: Moved up. He LOVED it. We visited twice. He loved the woods (what can I say, he likes woods!), the campus, everything. The art museum is absolutely gorgeous. We ate in one of the dining halls (ask for a voucher at admissions!) and he had fried chicken served in a Colby frisbee. He enjoyed that! It seemed a bit preppy (which my son is definitely not) and very isolated from Waterville. It would not be possible to walk anywhere off campus. But he still really loved the school.
Bowdoin: Crossed off the list. He loved the campus and location but ultimately felt like he had little chance of getting in, so didn’t really consider it as a realistic option.
Bates: Moved up the list. He had visited several times (both my husband and I are alums). We weren’t sure what he thought about it until after the official tour. I loved that they divided the parents from the kids and took them on separate tours. It was good that he didn’t have to hear us reminiscing about the “old days” while walking around campus! Anyway, he ended up liking it a lot. Liked that it’s a small campus - it is much more compact than Colby even though they have about the same student population. He loved the Outing Club and Commons! (Again - ask for a voucher at the Admissions office.) He will eat them out of house and home with their all-you-can-eat system… Bates is down-to-earth, friendly, low pressure, and he feels like he’ll be able to try many different classes and activities there. He applied ED and got in! So he didn’t need to apply anywhere else. He is thrilled. I really think it’s a great fit for him!
Good luck everyone!
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@SoCalDad1961, I have very, very few linguistic pet peeves, but you triggered one of them: Pittsburg is the name of several towns (including one in Kansas with a couple colleges). Pittsburgh is the city (with a lot of colleges) in Pennsylvania.
Yeah, I’m from Pittsburgh but decided to let that pass!