University of California Berkeley. Not a fan of the campus or surrounding area and both visits the vibe was rather depressing. Lack of ethnic diversity isn’t exactly appealing either. This in an issue with majority of UCs so not at all surprising but its definitely more obvious here. Applied based on proximity but would not be at all disappointed with a rejection.
UCB does have some of the most interesting major and course options I’ve come across.
Carnegie Mellon, for sure.
Because of its academic reputation and sticker price, I expected it to resemble an Ivy, but left without being the least bit impressed. About anything.
Princeton, for us. It had been at the top of DS20’s super-reach list until we toured it. We had a bland, listless guide who mentioned almost nothing about social life, but emphasized the history and bragging rights of the school (the room where Einstein taught, etc.). The campus seemed joyless and, upon inquiry, the guide couldn’t say she had any meaningful contact with professors. It was easy to take off the list.
For us UT (Austin).
No, we are not sour grapes. My D18 was an auto admit. Post stalkers go ahead and verify.
We lived in Austin at the time so my comments come from also being a resident.
On our first tour, our group was accosted by a drunken homeless man along west campus (known as the drag). Austin has a massive homeless problem that the mayor caters to and homeless scary people abound on campus. Even in the daytime.
UT was the highest ranked school that my D18 was accepted to so she (and we) really wanted to love it.
On our second tour, this was reserved for accepted students only who had also been accepted to CNS. The presenters were arrogant and solely focused on discussing their own personal research and not what they had their offer these newly accepted kids. Everyone in the room had a dropped jaw while they patted themselves on the back for their own personal accomplishments.
Still really wanting to like this school, which was by far our best value with the best T something ranking ,we tried again on our own on a Saturday afternoon.
We grabbed smoothies just outside the fitness/gym area and walked outside only to be accosted by blue haired nose pierced students shrieking at the top of their lungs how the US was oppressing North Korea. I am not joking. They were yelling at people to sign their petition to fire, replace, not exactly sure some person within our government who was in talks with Kim Jong Un. We we said no thank you and they swore at us.
That was it for us.
I can find something that I like about almost any place but a few of the Ivy’s Cornell, Princeton, Brown really did nothing to make you feel special. I guess they don’t have to court prospects because of the demand. Literally didn’t have to check in for tour and info session which made me feel that they don’t care whether you show up or not. It felt so impersonal when so many other colleges went over and above to personally address and greet. It left a bad taste in my mouth. There is not late of Ivy’s as my son graduated from Princeton in 2014 and I felt the exact opposite then. When I left him there on that first day I felt confident that he was in the right place. Seems that things have changed.
Would you mind elaborating? I was looking at stats about their engineering and computer-science graduates and was a bit surprised (not in a good way) by what I saw.
It can be hard to overcome a bad first impression. We too encountered homeless on the edge of UT Austin’s campus, and that was it, the end for us. Too bad, as it really is a fine university, and a great bargain in state.
Lewis & Clark - it looked perfect on paper, and D20 would LOVE to be in Portland, but we were both ready to ditch the tour within the first 15 minutes. It was just dumpy and run down and nobody looked happy.
@Sarrip - that’s how I felt at Georgetown - like they were doing us a favor to allow us to tour (although D20 liked it) I didn’t get that vibe from Brown.
If seeing homeless people around or even on campus is a deal breaker then you had better exclude all urban universities, including Harvard.
She did. Or at least, urban campuses in the US.
I did not like the physical environment at Stanford. There were no dead bodies, no homelessness, and no non-wealth, but I soon became tired of seeing detachment from reality, for example, the water wasted in the maintenance of their green lawns aplenty, especially in the context that this visit was in 2018, near the end of the 376-week drought that lasted from December 2011 to March 2019 in sunny California.
@tgl2023 When I toured Stanford my first thought was Stepford University.
When we toured Stanford our first thoughts were - “home” 
@Coun2316 With Brown I was only referring to the visiting process but DD20 really loved how friendly the students were and she is not the most outgoing person.
Circling back…my D ruled out Villanova due to the highway running through it, and Clemson, due to the weather, vibe, too much Greek life, no surrounding town to speak of.
About our Stanford visit. While I found Stanford campus to be beautiful, I found its environment to be rather cloistered and sterilized. All the campus needs is students riding bikes in monk’s cloak to pass as a balmy California monastery with tall palm trees. I prefer a college campus with easy access to restaurants, cafes and other places that provide students comfort and de-stressing. Harvard has Harvard Square, Berkeley its Telegraph Ave, Princeton Nassau Street, etc. etc. just to mention a few from top of my head. At Stanford, you’d have to either rely on a long bike ride, which isn’t suitable for a search of midnight quick comfort food, or drive a car out.
When did a 1-2 mile bike ride become a long bike ride? 
Town & Country Village, University Avenue and the Stanford Mall are all around 1-2 miles away. And there’s also a Starbucks, Panda Express and Jamba Juice on campus.
If I have a daughter as a student at Stanford, “1-2 mile bike ride” at night would seem longer than the Revere’s Midnight ride for a bite of comfort food other than what Panda Express, Jamba Juice and Starbucks provide on campus. 
When we visited Stanford, it was full of tourists having picnics and walking around. Just seemed a little weird to see more tourists than students.
There’s some really good casual eateries in the strip malls across the street, but I guess they are down a very long driveway, so it would be around a mile to walk from the front of campus.
I have a daughter. She visits friends at Stanford. Somehow they make it home at night, without breaking a sweat from the bike ride (or walk). 