Given the lack of activity on what’s been a historically active conversation (college visits), are people doing fewer of them… talking about them less… or both?
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We aren’t doing any right now, because my son really wants to see the campuses during the school year. But it’s one of my favorite threads, and gives me insight into other schools that I might not otherwise have. So I really hope people come back and share more.
We have done a couple so far this summer – and have 2 more planned (1 in July and 1 in August). I was waiting to report until I had a few under our belt.
I have actually done way more tours with my D26, than with my S20 or S22 at this point. For S20 we just didn’t realize how much time touring would take, and waited too long. For S22, COVID made in-person touring nearly impossible until his senior year.
I expect any lack of posting is mostly due to getting in the groove of a summer schedule. That’s definitely the case for us.
However, I do have high hopes for posting on our mid-summer trip “up north” for S25’s continued exploration of schools with engineering options. (It’s not especially northernly like hitting up Clarkson or University of Maine would be, but compared with our spring break trip to TN, AL and SC, it will offer some potential for different scenery.)
I promise to post in about a month with impressions of Pitt, University of Rochester, Penn State University Park and UVA. And I promise to leave off the gory details of visits with my in-laws along the way. 
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I’ll go post a few now!
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OMG chick-fil-a right off campus at W&M?!?!?! What I wouldn’t have done for a chick-fil-a 30+ years ago when I went to school there! 
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And a Wawa next door to that. Practically on campus for both. But that’s been there forever. I remember the Wawa runs as I’m sure you do.
Isn’t the Chick-Fil-A craze funny?
W&L, in tiny Lexington, has been “surviving” on a CFA food truck. I’ve heard they are finally getting a standalone restaurant. My kid is so excited, even though she’s going into senior year.
It cracks me up but then I’m far removed from being a college kid. I was so happy when I no longer “had to” get fast food… as soon as my D could drive that was all on her. 
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Am I really the only person in this nation whose reaction to Chik-Fil-A’s food is a decidedly strong meh?
Like, not that it’s good, not that it’s bad, just that it’s kind of forgettable.
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I feel the same way! Their customer service is great. But for me, the buns that the sandwiches are made with are always just so-so. The fries aren’t life changing or anything. Sometimes the way people talk about their food, you’d think it was almost a religious experience.
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You are not alone!
Admittedly I’m not a fan of fast food and was happy when my kid outgrew the phase where every party and sport seemed to include it. I had a little “me” party when she decided to go vegetarian in 5th grade after seeing a documentary on what actually goes in McD’s chicken nuggets. But since she became a meat-eater again in high school Chick-FIL-A has been her go to. 
It actually opened in December!
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Thanks for the update! My kid studied abroad winter/spring semester so hasn’t been in Lex since mid Dec 2023. But that explains why she made a big deal of it! I bet everyone was talking about it during finals. 
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Popping in to say that I was worried about this too but my daughter did not apply ED to Muhlenberg and did get TE here. She was initially waitlisted for TE but I reached out to the FA office and let them know it was her top choice but that she could only go if she got TE, and within a week they contacted us with an offer. It has been a great school for her so far (she just finished her first year). Also, she had earned some Talent Grant money for dance, theatre, and music, and they gave that to her on top of their very generous TE award, making this our most affordable option, even over our state flagship.
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That is great to know! We will put it back on the list, then. Thank you.
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Rutgers really needs to re-think its tour program. Either that, or the type of students they are hoping to appeal to are very different than the type I think are disproportionately represented here. It’s our state school so its always on the list to look at, and we know more people who have than probably any other school (with one exception). And I’ve never met anyone who goes away impressed. Which is not a reflection of the quality of the education so much as the failings of the tour and the inherent failures of the “campus.” My two older kids didn’t even apply as a safety they were so turned off by it. The youngest did only as a safety. Yet they all know others who ended up going there and felt in hindsight it would have been a fine choice (though they don’t regret where they each went instead).
On the plus side, it has a nice dedicated building for the start of its tours. End of the pluses…
The con list starts with it’s the only college we ever toured using coach buses instead of on foot. Massive turn off. And in this regard Rutgers is in a tough spot since their “campus” is spread out all over the greater New Brunswick area with half of it on the other side of a river and highway from the other parts. Add to this that you have to go through downtown New Brunswick to as well to get between those halves and it doesn’t show well. My suggestion is that they instead ditch the dedicated visitor building and start the tour on the Douglass campus which feels the most classic college campus-like. Do that part on foot, then transition to the buses to head over to Busch and Livingston.
I’d also hire and train better tour guides. The one who led our tour was embarrassingly bad. He represented the school so poorly not only in his lack of knowledge about the questions being asked but in being representative of the a student at the school. He knew two things and only two things: the school sports teams and the frats. Whenever anyone asked an academic question he was completely clueless and disinterested. At one point as the bus was traveling through Douglass someone asked what one of the major buildings was and he made up a totally incorrect answer – didn’t get the name or the function right, and also didn’t just admit he didn’t know. He was probably a major reason two of the kids didn’t apply.
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Our tour guide was part of the Rutgers Honors College. He and the HC dorm were very impressive. My high stats kid was accepted to the honors program but not the honors college and chose a different college but if he were accepted to the honors college might have chosen Rutgers.
We asked our guide about the honors college and he had no idea. Again, one of my suggestions was better training and quality control. Or, perhaps there is a subset of students who would prefer to person who only knows about sports and frats, but then they should survey the prospective students/parents so they can self-select into the appropriate groups.
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UGA put us on a bus too. Some campuses are just too big to cover on foot in a reasonable amount of time. I’d rather see the whole campus from a bus, than miss half of it.
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Bama too although in real life my kid never saw most of campus. But it exists and they drive you.
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