<p>Patsmom- my kid felt the same way about William and Mary and we also live in a tourist town.
Mulhenburg- wouldn’t take the tour after having lunch in the cafeteria and seeing all the sweatshirts with greek letters. But then liked Lafayette which didn’t look all that different to me.</p>
<p>Colgate – S didn’t like it that one of dads in the tour group was an alum who kept chattering away to the guide.</p>
<p>Tufts – Had an elephant as the mascot.</p>
<p>Swarthmore – Bricks on one building looked too much like his high school.</p>
<p>edad:</p>
<p>Actually, I learned that despite what might seem to you to be trivial reasons without much logic, my Ss knew exactly what they were looking for. When they found it, we all recognized that the school was a perfect fit. Thankfully, they both got in ED.</p>
<p>Washington & Lee - D wasn’t sure what was more unsettling; Robert E. Lee and his whole family buried in the basement of the chapel or his horse buried right outside. She found the idea too bizarre to even consider such a school.</p>
<p>WashDad your kid sounds sooo much like mine! Maybe your kid and CountingDown’s kid will all end up in the same place. If either of you are in Pasadena don’t miss Pie n’ Burger a few blocks from campus - it hasn’t changed since 1963.</p>
<p>edad, sometimes a person has a “gut feeling” and you have to respect that</p>
<p>my D visited a very well respected college, she walked on campus, her instincts and gut told her “this is exactly like my highschool, down to the clothes” it felt wrong</p>
<p>and often, what feels wrong is something that may, on the surface feel trivial, but it often represents an intangible that you can’t quoite put your finger on</p>
<p>for instance, the erson who was annoyed with oother students on the tour…if student was annoyed by those that are interested in the school, potential classmates, they imagine spending 4 years with them…</p>
<p>or some kids just don’t want an “old” school, want to hve that more modern feel- look at homes people buy</p>
<p>the starbucks thing I “get”- to some that means having what they percieve as civiliaztion nearby</p>
<p>the facial hair- maybe the school is to “funky” for them, but feels right to others</p>
<p>the school that my D rejected becuase it reminded her of her HS, she got that feeling within about 3 minutes of being on the campus</p>
<p>the school is lovely, great reputation, many kids are really happy there, but when my D saw so many kids dressed alike, with little individuality, in her eyes anyway, she figured not the place for her</p>
<p>it is funny that we don’t want kids to trust their guts…we need to repsect them, we can perhaps talk about why they rejeccted a school to get to the deeper concerns</p>
<p>not seeing a lot of students at a football may show lack of school spirit, in the way the student would like to have</p>
<p>LOL - S, now happily a Phi Khaki Khaki at W&L (and yes, he went to school with many pairs of khakis and two blue blazers - for variety), ruled out any school where the snow was likely to be higher than the soles of his ever-present size XXL Rainbow flip flops (we live near the beach) for a period of more than one week in any school year. A funny measure, but not altogether irrelevant . . . .</p>
<p>Oh, and he finds comfort in the ritual of placing a penny on Traveller’s grave for good luck before every exam . . . . to each his own :)</p>
<p>Son ruled out any school with a large number of guys with long hair. Also ruled out any school where weather might require hats, gloves or shoes more than flip flops or sneakers. Also ruled out schools whose campuses looked like “industrial parks”.</p>
<p>Daughter ruled out any school that did not have horse boarding facility on campus and indoor ring. She also ruled out “popped collar” schools.</p>
<p>Although I don’t think this is trivial, since others mentioned similar reasons:</p>
<p>My d spent 3 weeks at Cornell. Dorms at the bottom of the hill, classes at the top. On the second day, I received a call - “Mom, I don’t want to go to Cornell. I don’t want to deal with this in the winter!”</p>
<p>Mere observations - NOT decision-makers or breakers—</p>
<p>Cornell-- too big
Conn College-- too small
BC-- “the girls are really pretty… but they all look the same.”
Williams-- like momof3sons’ S’s observation above-- too spread out and segmented by the roads.
Yale-- “none of the kids are talking or walking together” (my take on this was it must have been mid-terms or something-- a lot of them looked very intense!)</p>
<p>Mathmom,
OK, I am making a list of these burger joints in Pasadena! We will probably be back out there so DS can sit in on a class or two at a couple of schools in the area, so this time I am prepared! Last time we wanted to beat rush hour traffic (hahaha) getting out of LA, as we were driving to NorCal that afternoon, so we didn’t have lunch til much later.</p>
<p>Cadets at the Air Force Academy look like bus drivers in their uniforms.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ditto! I can’t believe that D has a soul mate! :D</p>
<p>U of GA – All the students had ipods or were talking on cell phones. No interaction or friendliness.</p>
<p>U of KY – We were on campus for 2+ hours on a Saturday morning and we did not see ONE student walking on campus, and we were near dorms. I asked if they all had cafeterias in their buildings. Nope, none of them.</p>
<p>
roflol. Thank you for that, that made my week. Living very, very close to Vandy and rarely hearing country music, that statement is awesome.</p>
<p>And no, only a couple stations play country music. But it is something to get used to. :D</p>
<p>I saw GW advertising on It’s Academic and knew that there was no way I could go to a college that advertises on local TV at 10:30 Saturday morning.<br>
UMBC is the #2 state school in Maryland for sciences, but there is no way I’m going to a college named after Baltimore County.<br>
Columbia fell off my list because the tour guide was really *****y.</p>
<p>snoopyiscool~D just knew that the Grand Ole Opry is in Nashville, and Opryland, and for her that was too much country/western. I couldn’t convince her otherwise. But, they get things in their head and…there’s nothing you can do. </p>
<p>Our nephew flat out refused to look at Tufts (sounds like “puff” tissues) or Colgate (toothpaste school)–it didn’t matter what their strong programs were!</p>
<p>Older son and I toured a small liberal arts college that shall remain nameless. After the tour, we had lunch in a dining hall and observed the students. My son leaned over to me and said quietly, “Mom, the kids here aren’t - ummm – very – umm – attractive!”</p>
<p>He was right. And while even he knew that he wasn’t going to pick a school just because all the girls were cute or all the guys were handsome, as I looked around I realized they just weren’t “his type.” Not sports-y, not intellectual – just kinda dull. And it showed.</p>
<p>A couple…my kid didn’t like the red brick buildings and the flowers at U of Richmond…actually said she wasn’t going to get out of the car (we hadn’t even driven into the campus). AND she didn’t like William and Mary because of Colonial Williamsburg which she says is like “Disneyworld for Senior Citizens”. She would not have been accepted at either school anyway…but she didn’t want anything to do with either one.</p>