<p>I know there are Williams people and Amherst people. I am a fence sitter but S is not. We went to info. sessions the same day. Williams was right across from admissions center in an unpretentious room with folding chairs. Next, at Amherst we walked across campus to a very upscale room with deep red-shag carpet and huge leather barrel chairs arranged on rising tiers w/speaker in a pit. My S felt this was more appropriate to a boardroom than a college. He felt this an especially mixed message given Amherst’s active recruiting of URM’s. This room was reserved for faculty under normal circumstances. Then, admissions director launched into jokes about info. session “at our Northern Rival.” We also saw kids wearing ****Williams T-shirts. (At Williams there had been no allussion to rivalry. S developed unshakable preference for Williams.</p>
<p>I seem to like all colleges. I teach at three (one full-time). I fall more into the category of irrational loves. I got crushes on so many schools I was sorry S & D couldn’t go to them all.</p>
<p>I actually kind of liked the way CMU looked. :)</p>
<p>I love the college of Fine Arts building. The interior especially - gorgeous murals and inlayed floor plans of famous building on the floors. The best of Beaux Arts architecture.</p>
<p>Re: mythmon: “I fall more into the category of irrational loves. I got crushes on so many schools I was sorry S & D couldn’t go to them all.”</p>
<p>I agree. I saw a lot to like in most of the schools we visited. S. really clicked with one in particular, so applied ED, and the visits were done. I didn’t love the hours of driving, but really did enjoy the campus visits-- much more extensive than when I went looking a million years ago.</p>
<p>Hi! lspf72. I’ve always gotten lots of crushes. </p>
<p>I agree Mini. Library ewwwwwww. Compare to Vassar’s library.</p>
<p>Forgot to mention administrator for <a href=“mailto:summer@brown”>summer@brown</a>. She told kids during orientation they were “la creme de la creme”. Thought that went out with Jean Brodie. Talk about elitist; I’m pretty sure anyone who could pay could come. But as per previous post one silly administrator does not a college make, especially in the face of fabulous crepes on Thayer St. Favorite NYC Creperie closed!</p>
<p>Vassar was beautiful, even in the pouring rain! And I didn’t think Poughkeepsie seemed anywhere near as bad as people warned. Another that didn’t click with S, though… :(</p>
<p>To those turned off by Stanford’s Country Club appearance, I can direct you to plenty of shabbiness.
Because it is so large, they hide it well. The financial aid is excellent. And, it is Stanford!</p>
<p>mythmom, are you talking about the red room at Amherst College, in Converse Hall? I love that room!</p>
<p>It’s funny, I got the opposite impression when I was applying to schools - Williams students alluded to Amherst far more often, it seemed. I was definitely a fence-sitter, too, though.</p>
<p>OK, I didn’t visit colleges until after my kids were already in… but my d’s description of the gothic architecture at U. of Chicago left me drooling (and set a very high bar for all the other colleges she visited) – and when I went to visit my d. at Barnard this year and took a walk on my own to see the Columbia campus, one look at Butler library from the outside had me convinced that I was very, very envious of my daughter.</p>
<p>(Sorry – I guess I’m OT with things that I like… but since I didn’t see the campuses my daughter dropped from her list, I don’t have much to comment on for turnoffs. I know my d. didn’t like one LAC because it had “too many trees” and the buildings “all looked alike” – meaning she was turned off by architectural consistency. I can report that Columbia/Barnard definitely does NOT have “too many trees” )</p>
<p>calmom: No, a la Goldilocks, just enough! Barnard is amazing in Spring and the trees of College Walk, Columbia are lit with fairy lights at Christmas. My one complaint: How are you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree? D stayed in city to work this summer (but comes home weekends).</p>
<p>unregistered: Yes, that’s the room I mean. I guess that’s why these reactions are irrational, or at least very personal. My S, in his own quiet way, can be quite mulish. (Made all the more so because he’s a left-handed musician and composer and often can’t put things into words.) My D who wants to be a lawyer makes all her biases sound objective and convincing.</p>
<p>calmom: Yes, I would like to have their choices, too! and almost cried when S turned down U Chicago.</p>
<p>One college in CA (fabulous ocean view…) had students who all looked the same…same clothes, same hair, same walk, same faces…it was like the stepford wives…Another very prestigious college (part of a consortium)…the tour guide was dressed like she was getting ready to wash her car. She looked absolutely like a slob. DD dropped both schools from her list. I didn’t even have to say anything!!</p>
<p>P.S. unregistered: I meant to say that Amherst was fine with me – no distribution requirements. Whahoo! But S surprised me by saying that he didn’t believe in that. Go figure. I think Williams/Amherst rivalry is really just for fun anyway.</p>
<p>Oh, the “country club one can’t afford” atmosphere has to be Colgate. To me the campus was idyllic; the perfectness combined with its remoteness turned my son off, and he will be happily attending McGill, the epitome of the “gee, it’s a little shabby but pretty cool” look. I, too, fell in love with each school we visited and am still in mourning he cannot attend them all; thank goodness my level-headed son was capable of making his own decision.</p>
<p>Turn offs: “We can’t show you a dorm room”. Why not? It’s important.</p>
<p>“Well, it’s too hot today, we’ll do the short tour”. That included walking past the (air conditioned) student union, auditorium, library, etc. All we saw was one dorm, one old math building and the foyer to the new science building. Plus a filthy patio at the ‘closed, I thought it was open’ coffee shop. </p>
<p>The worst was the tour guide who kept using BIG words to impress us, but used the wrong word. I wanted to say “I don’t think that means what you think it means”.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone about Harvey Mudd (Loved the attitude of the guide and the admissions officer, maybe when the trees get bigger, it will look better?). Ditto with Pomona comments- the condescending attitude 'don’t waste our time by applying" was irritating. Pitzer tour was better, and lunch there was great.</p>
<p>Oh, I really hated the tour group size of 50 people at Cal Poly SLO. </p>
<p>Sorry, none of the above are irrational- but I’ll post them anyway.</p>
<p>No distribution requirements was definitely a scale tipper for me. I remember a talk with my advisor, who informed me that he disapproved of my “lopsided schedule”. I responded, “well, isn’t that the point of an open curriculum?!” “Yes, but I’m supposed to tell you I disapprove!”</p>
<p>I got irrationally turned off by admissions offices. ie if a school admitted someone I didn’t like, I wouldn’t apply there the next year.</p>
<p>mathmom, that’s actually a flattering picture of Wean (post 57). IRL when you enter under that massive concrete projection on the left, you pray it won’t break off right then and there, and smash you to smithereens…I walk fast under it.</p>
<p>My entry for ugliest campus building (any campus), or at least ugliest dorm: DS’s freshman dorm. There’s a large jail you pass on the way into Pittsburgh that’s actually nicer. </p>
<p>Karen Colleges - I love your comment about the not showing the dorm rooms during tours. </p>
<p>However, I have one child at a school that showed a beautiful dorm room during the tour. He has spent four years living in the most unbelievable housing dumps. I remember the day we dropped him off, four years ago. Before we could unload the car, I had to spend several hours cleaning his room.</p>
<p>Saw Stanford one summer- disliked the parklike atmosphere with matching buildings (same color, architectural style, low…), boring, manicured, no hills/water… to break the monotony. Sculpture artfully placed- boring. Campus is isolated from the nearest town, which is ritzy, as is the local mall. How boring for their distance runners…maybe one reason son seemed to prefer UW…</p>
<p>Same trip- Berkeley was a fun place to see, nice just off campus area… Saw both schools sans many students, know young grads from both; impressions had nothing to do with academics, or people.</p>
<p>Years before saw the Northwestern campus, seemed preppy, parklike, they totally missed the opportunity to utilize their Lake Michigan shoreline when building their student center…</p>
<p>Some of the 1960’s buildings on the UW campus are scheduled for demolition in the master plan, they made some terrible mistakes then, it is cheaper to redo than remodel them… Some much older buildings have been successfully remodeled.</p>
<p>H and son did the northeast visit without me; they skipped some schools on their way to another I would have seen just because I would otherwise never see them…</p>
<p>I’ve got to agree - Sawyer Library at Williams is awful. Ugly building, labyrinthine interior layout. And while the monkey carrels may sound interesting, they are very small and not for anyone who might be the slightest bit claustrophobic.</p>