One of the schools our daughter and us least liked on our visit was John Hopkins University. We stayed 15 minutes away in downtown Baltimore, which was a mistake. Maybe because it was a Sunday afternoon in late August when we arrived but the city was almost like a ghost town. Not too many people walking around. The hotel we stayed at was a nice hotel. But it’s location was horrible, away from everything and surrounded by unsavory characters, making us not want to leave the hotel, except to get into the car and exit fast! We had never been to Baltimore before and should have asked around for recommendations on hotels in better locations instead of picking the hotel on our own. At the campus info session the next day, on Monday morning, the admissons representative, a young woman, did not have good public speaking skills. She appeared to be speaking as if she had memorized her speech. She appeared a little nervous. Maybe she was new. We were surprised there was no use of PowerPoint slides or video technology for the presentation. It was straight talk and was boring. The student who she presented with appeared more relaxed and comfortable speaking to the audience off cuff, which was appreciated. But this student, who seemed brilliant, was like a wonderwoman–involved in so many extraordinary academic and research projects and extracurricular activities that we wondered how she found any time to study for all her classes and find time to sleep. Then, on our tour of the campus the students we saw were walking around texting into their iPhones and they did not seem comfortable. But this likely was because it was their first day of school in late August when we attended. And then after the tour when we drove 5 minutes to an area recommended for lunch nearby the school, several restaurants were closed down and windows shuddered. Not too many folks were walking around except a homeless person that seemed to follow us. Unfortunately, we felt glad to leave.
The disclaimer about the college that we both didn’t like is that we weren’t able to fit a general tour in. With our schedule and theirs, we were only able to visit the Engineering College. We both found it to be cold, sterile and really felt like the students were made to be robots. This was Upenn.
Unfortunately, DD was rejected from the college we both loved. Carnagie Mellon.
Davidson-summer visit- dull, tired and weedy
Kenyon–Dark, odd, and tour guide dressed like Waldo
Washington & Lee-- We didn’t have to like them because they love themselves
Cornell- The surrounding area and campus grounds are surpassingly beautiful. We enjoyed exploring waterfalls and gorges.
But the college is HUGE. The tour guide said that class sizes range, but there are some with 850 students in them. It was also like a mini-city, with vast distances between parts of campus.
After freshman year, students are not guaranteed housing. There is a lottery for on-campus housing. Starting sophomore year, students may have to rent an apartment somewhere in the town. Yes, the town is very nice, but it felt like there was not much of a community feel to the campus.
Everywhere we went, we passed students walking alone and wearing earbuds. In the dining hall, students were sitting alone, with their earbuds or laptops. Does anyone talk to friends on this campus?
Not that this matters, but it contributed to the feel: other tours offered parking vouchers, souvenir folders and pens, coupons to local stores, ice cream sandwiches at the end of the tour… At Cornell, prospective families have to pay for parking.
The info session after the tour was a summary of Cornell for the illiterate-- absolutely nothing new that was not on the website. I was just drifting off to sleep when my son whispered, “Let’s go,” and we stood up and walked out of the info session.
The next gloriously happy day touring Colgate and Hamilton clarified that a smaller college would be a better “fit.” (Although the large SUNY Binghamton was much, much more appealing than Cornell, and remains on the list of possibilities while Cornell fell off.)
We recognize that others might love pretty Cornell and its opportunities. But for us, it was the surprise least favorite of the 13 colleges we have visited so far.
“At Cornell, prospective families have to pay for parking.”
That’s ridiculous. It’s not Manhattan.
@TheGreyKing I am going to refute what you say. Most of what you said was incorrect.
Huge campus: yes, over 900 glorious acres built into natural gorges, so by default, the campus had to be built around that in order to not ruin it natural beauty.
My D is a soph at Cornell.
- 850 students in a class. You must have heard wrong. Maybe a few hundred in some intro courses but not 850.
- Students are guaranteed on campus housing thru soph year. Yes, the join the lottery, but sophs are guaranteed. My D joined the lottery for junior year for on campus housing and had absolutely no problem securing housing, and actually got a single. In addition, many students live in Collegetown and absolutely love it, albeit it expensive.
- Yes, people talk to each other on campus and in dining halls. This is a ridiculous statement IMO.
- As for tours, my D is an ambassador, and they do hand out parking vouchers for visits. Don’t know why you didn’t get one. At info sessions, there is literature they hand out, but maybe it depends on what info session you go to.
To each his own, but our experience was 180 degrees the opposite of yours. This probably is the point of this thread, though isn’t it?! On any given day things can be so different.
No defensiveness allowed on this thread. No need to rebut.
We (parents) hated Harvard…dirty, run down and snooty attitude (not just saying that as a current Yale parent 
but kid liked it.
By contrast, we (parents) thought Cornell’s campus gorgeous and well planned but kid was terrified by thoughts of suicide bridge, snow piles the size of small buildings and feeling trapped in upstate NY.
Goes to prove variety is the spice of life…
@momofthreeboys
There’s a reason many of the UC campuses, especial ones built 1960’s+ have a certain institutional feeling…there was a concerted effort to construct buildings that were “protest proof”. You can see this clearly at UCSC. It’s a shame really because the UC system has some of the most gorgeous locations in the nation.
Sometimes I wonder how much of the “protest proof” talk is just legend and myth. :-??
A lot of the butt ugly architecture was because it was built during the brutalist period.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture
Our DD’s didn’t like Colgate. The campus was stunning to us, but I guess the book in the admissions office that listed the current students by HS turned them off (too many for their liking) before we even got out the door for the tour - I told them I would attend in their place.
@doschicos
You’d have to ask our lovely governor Reagan…oh wait
Disliked Pomona and UMich.
I loved CMC though, but Pomona just seemed so boring and “bleh.” It seemed like nothing was happening around campus, and it felt like the equivalent of eating a stale piece of bread.
UMich was just way too big. We were there during a time when kids were all out of class, so it felt very crowded with the walking students looking like ants. Not to mention, the walkways were smaller, so you definitely noticed how big the school was (contrast to USC which was large but roomy).
@doschicos It is true that double doors on the outside of UC Berkeley buildings do appear to have handles only on one of the two doors throughout campus (to keep the doors from being chained shut with the employees inside).
@TiggyB62 and @doschicos : I just looked back at our confirmation email from Cornell before the tour and it clearly states that we will need to PURCHASE a parking ticket and provides a link to where to purchase one online in advance-- which we did. Maybe it is a new practice.
Tiggy, I am glad your child loves Cornell; I am sure many do. And it is one of the most prestigious and hard-to-get-into colleges in the world, so one negative review from me will not harm the school. It just was my surprise least favorite, which was the goal of this thread. Different people like different colleges. Many people on this thread disliked my alma mater, Williams, which I adored. It is about “fit.”
@TiggyB62 Just a reminder we have come here to bury Colleges, not to praise them. Btw, Cornell did have a lecture hall in the 70s that held over 1000.
No refuting allowed here. Haters only, k? Thanx.
(and props to @dustypig for the most hilariously hatery post so far)
I remember being told during our Cornell tour that they renovated a building for the sole purpose of holding Intro to Psych lectures. The legendary prof teaches everyone in a single section, several hundred at once, and no one seems to mind. The guy is apparently spellbinding.
@TiggyB62 Yes, there are classes that big according to Cornell. https://ezramagazine.cornell.edu/WINTER15/CoverStorySidebar5.html
Those classes sound great, though! 