@MDtheatregirl it’s been 30+ years since I visited Villanova on my own college visits. I remember exactly two things from my visit and interview 1) the campus was exactly as you described, mostly concrete and unpleasant and 2) it was the same year Villanova won the NCAA championship for the first time. The interviewer gave off a snotty and condescending vibe about how selective they were going to be that year. The next day my father and I drove onto the beautiful campus of a different Catholic (Jesuit) school where I immediately felt welcome. I hadn’t said anything to my father after we left Villanova but when leaving the campus the next of the school I eventually attended, I told him my thoughts about Villanova. He said he had felt the same way but didn’t want to say anything to influence my opinion.
Coincidentally, the year my oldest was applying to college was the next time Villanova won the NCAA championship. I thought she might consider Villanova so was curious to get back and see if it had changed at all. She had no interest though in going to school in PA for some reason so I have yet to go back. It sounds like it hasn’t changed much aesthetically.
Least favorite - JHU hands down. Now, this had been preceeded by my mother relating how much we (apparently) hated the campus when we visited 25 plus years ago for MY college tours. I have NO recollection of that visit so I really went with an open mind.
Part of it has to be the architecture. If you LOVE collegiate gothic (think Oxford) then you probably are not going to LOVE the look and feel of federalist architecture with its straight clean lines. The red brick buildings were simply monotonous and boring.
It was the ONLY tour we went on where the guide and the presentations focused almost exclusively on academics with almost no mention of activities/fun/clubs/etc. We get it - smart kids working hard. But really, college has to be more than that, right?
Also, did not love the discussion of how campus security extends so many blocks out from campus so you can feel safe living in the area around campus - was not a great way to sell Baltimore.
All in all it came across as a dull, boring place with hardworking students. We visited during HS spring break so there was a very large group of families for the info sessio - most of whom were on their cell phones because the presentation was so dull.
So, in conclusion, my mother did an “I told you so dance” after the visit and JHU came off the list.
And she posted about it three times! Wonder if that will work similarly to calling up Beetlejuice? Since she trashed JHU 3x, the JHU grads (and worse - their parents!) will come swarming down upon her to vent their wrath…
We’re about to go to an Admitted Students Day at William and Mary, a school my kid dismissed as having “too many red bricks” a couple of years ago. Maybe it will make a better impression now? Or maybe not!
Speaking of Villanova, 2 years ago when they won the championship, they pimped out the team for accepted students day and had a meet and greet with them and then apparently had kids signing their deposit checks on the spot!
@doschicos@SwimmingDad We had absolutely NO problems at Yale - the surrounding area felt safe and we did not experience anything that made us feel even remotely worried for our safety. We walked all over the surrounding areas, and other than some weird local guy on a bicycle, we didn’t see anything to cause concern.
At UPenn, we had a person either ODd or passed out drunk literally next to our car, and we were parked in front of the Wharton building!!! The campus itself was gorgeous, but everything surrounding it was BOARDED up, abandoned, run-down, or peppered with homeless and drunk/drugged-out people. I’m from the city, and it bothered ME. I couldn’t imagine what was going on in my son’s head when he’s been raised in a relatively small town. Everything around UPenn screamed DANGER! And to boot, two weeks later, UPenn and Philly officers were shot because this was right during the BLM protests. He had already crossed it off his list, but it certainly confirmed his decision at that point.
Tufts is just bleh! For me, it’s like going to a school right down the street from where you grew up. It feels like no one has spent any money on the upkeep. But S18 was enamored and he applied.
Villanova was just a disaster. We couldn’t even park our car, there was such a mess with construction and parts of the road being closed off. It was just off-putting and unwelcoming.
BUT at the end of the day, someone’s nightmare visit is another person’s dream visit, and I know as many people love each school as there are those who hate it. It’s why admissions rates keep going down, after all.
One college that S18 was initially crazy about that ended up falling from grace was UDelaware. He was being recruited there and went on an official visit. Up until then, he was really excited bc the campus was beautiful and we had really enjoyed our time with the coach. However, during his official visit, his Latin book was stolen (seriously, who steals a high school Latin book???). Then he sat through two days of classes where he was the only one answering questions in class, even though these were not first-year classes. He said most of the students were either sleeping or playing games on their phones or laptops. He also felt that, as a high school senior, he seemed to know more about molecular biology than the biochem majors in that particular class. He still applied to the honors college hoping it would be different, but his guidance counselor said it might not be a good academic fit. It was the first school he turned down.
Marist was one of the first colleges we toured and it was an absolutely beautiful campus. We were the only ones who showed up (it was pouring rain) and the girl took us on a very tailored tour of the campus. But there was literally ONE classroom for physics (they don’t have it as a major so S18 would’ve had to choose a different one). And the whole science building had the feel of a regional college.The only positive thing that my son could say after we left was how much he loved the groundhogs that were popping up all over campus.
Another surprise for us that S18 HATED but I actually was hoping he would like was Bowdoin. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but he did mention that the entire science building was smaller than the one at his high school - and he goes to a relatively small private school. Because he is a STEM major, he was really worried the school wouldn’t have a good enough physics program.
And we were really put off by the admissions info session at Colgate. The two girls they chose for their student panel acted like airheads (even though they professed to have these super impressive resumes and internships) and they have these particular classes that everyone has to take, which seem intent on pushing a particular agenda rather than helping students become free thinkers. S18 doesn’t like to be TOLD how to think, so that made it fall off the list rather quickly. Our tour guide was super young and admitted that Colgate wasn’t his first choice, that he went ED somewhere else. Then changed his mind and asked Colgate to take him, which they did. He didn’t know a whole lot about the school and seemed more interested in pointing out all the ways he “beats the system” around campus than in giving us useful information about academics, dorm life, etc. The campus was beautiful, though!
Oh, and how can I forget Holy Cross? We went to see it just after visiting BC (same day), which was probably not fair to HC. We’re from New England so I’m pretty familiar with Worcester (we see HC from the highway all the time), but the school looked gloomy and sad. And it didn’t help that the tour guide told us she didn’t want to go to HC but her family wouldn’t help her pay for college if she didn’t go there - and how GLAD she was that they MADE her go there, bc she loves it. I know she meant it as a positive, but both my son and I left feeling like… “WHY on earth would they hire a tour guide that didn’t even want to go to that school in the first place??? NEXT!”
@cleoforshort Thanks for the reassurance about New Haven. We have friends that live literally five minutes from Yale and they absolutely LOVE living there. They said it’s become much more gentrified in the past few years and that yes, there are issues as there are in most cities, but nothing like it used to be. They said the city has worked very hard to improve. I feel like there are way worse places to go to college than New Haven, and bad things can happen even in the safest of college campuses.
I’ve heard the boathouse is beautiful but we haven’t seen it yet. We are hoping to catch a glimpse when we go down for Bulldog Days. S18 has already been in contact with the coach and it sounds like he’ll be able to jump in. His really good friend from his club team is a recruit for the women’s team, so he’ll at least have one friend on campus who also happens to be a rower
@moosiechica88 Enjoy New Haven and make sure you go for pizza at Pepe’s, Sally’s or Modern - the best in the US! My D14 is just finishing up her college rowing career (not at Yale) and has loved every minute. My D21 is a Freshman rower at her high school and her home regattas are at Gilder Boathouse, it is beautiful! Also, they are just completing a gorgeous new community rowing center in New Haven called Canal Dock, it’s headed up by former Olympian and Yale coach John Pescatore. The sport of rowing will hopefully be prominent in New Haven again.
We are looking forward to our daughters’ first and last races, a bittersweet time. Rowing has been a gift to our girls, I love the sport. I am heading to the Knecht Cup this weekend. The coldest, windiest race on the planet, LOL. I hope your son has an amazing experience - and that it warms up a bit before Bulldog days, there was black ice today!
My son did a summer NSLC program at Yale and loved it. He really enjoyed the vibrant atmosphere of this small city. He would never get into a school like Yale, but that experience opened his eyes to the type of college town that appealed to him and he will indeed be going to school in a small city environment! As an interesting anecdote about Penn, my best high school friend went there and was robbed at knifepoint outside her off campus house. This was 30 years ago, but not sure how much things have changed if at all.
Update: Despite the prior assessment of “too many red bricks,” my daughter has confirmed attendance at William and Mary in the fall! We are all delighted!
For me it was Duke, and Cornell, although my kids were not deterred. I expected to love both, but I just HATED them. Duke for my son. Construction everywhere, mud, and the info session was a really annoying slide show of “aren’t our funny traditions just so fun and funny?” Like, I want to pay thousands of dollars in room and board so my kid can spend six weeks living in a tent so he can get basketball tickets. Yay! SO fun!
And Cornell, I went to school an hour from there. I know the weather, I know rural…but what is the point of being in the middle of nowhere AND almost getting run down by buses and cars everywhere you go on campus? It felt like Rutgers. And everyone seemed …bit so much stressed as …resigned?
