@WalknOnEggShells well, if you just went in the Business building and the student center, you saw the two newest buildings. We saw the library (really, really outdated with its low ceilings and 70’s looking furniture) and a dorm (probably built in the 40’s and very dingy and old looking).
Husband (Army) remarked that the interior of several buildings looked like government buildings- mismatched furniture, bad lighting, funky smell, just…old.
It didn’t help that it seemed like the tour went through parking lots and going in buildings felt like we kept entering back entrances. It wasn’t impressive at all.
They are in the process of building a huge new residential area across the street…so i’m sure it will improve, but we were totally unimpressed.
I can understand why WashU has the Stepford look. Nicely manicured campus with seemingly happy students. Of course their focus is on Biology/premed so some prospective students may get left out and not get a good vibe from it. To each his/her own. I say go for the best fit school. Maybe that was the feeling that @Mnacttutor got.
I saw someone mention Santa Clara in a previous reply. As an alum, I feel they could do things better, especially with the facilities. The food isn’t the greatest and the cafeteria closes too early. Some of the dorms do need some renovations. My son wasn’t impressed when we toured and I wasn’t going to make him apply.
@doschicos I know-my kid goes there and got in as a History/Biology double major (with more focus on the history part for now though). He might know more history people than actual premeds.
The stereotype is that premed is the all pervasive thing there. It does seem that about half of Arts and Sciences kids are premed or considering it. And the tour guides we had were either Bio premed or BME. Nothing wrong with that although most people would get the impression that WashU is too focused on that aspect.
Olin is a top rated business school. Engineering isn’t as well known and maybe that’s why the focus of the construction is to improve the facilities.
Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. I disliked the Stanford campus when we walked it a bit a long time ago. So boring with that “Taco Bell” architecture. There may a Rodin collection but the campus did not draw one’s eye to anything beautiful…
WUSTL seems to be a fine school but many others offer better choices in many fields. I looked at their math and chemistry intro level courses- only one size fits all…
We toured WUSTL and the engineering info session was lame. We understood that WUSTL is a 3/2 engineering school for about 100 liberal arts colleges around the USA where physics students with three years at their home college, come to WUSTL for two years and get two degrees. The engineering options are weaker than many other schools so it got crossed off , but I remember the campus as lovely and the administrators were just gems. Very friendly and classic looking campus. Apparently the social sciences and fine arts are very strong at WUSTL. I wish one of my sons applied there but neither did. It just was not a strong fit for their interests in math, physics and computer sciences.
Great topic, as a High School Guidance Counselor, I have visited many schools across the country, and student or adult, first impressions and vibes matter! For my D, it was UCSD, it was overcast and cold and the student store featured lab coats, not much in the way of school spirit. Our tour guide was Canadian and she talked about fun times throwing pumpkins off the physics building.We ducked behind a tree and left. Also disliked University of San Diego-quiet as a tomb, but nice architecture, but loved UCLA. She thought Chapman too small and too much like her small high school, but returned as a graduate for her post-baccalaureate before grad school. Boston U under construction, no campus feel, not welcoming. Although we are from California she ended up at U of Alabama, great academics, fun student life, beautiful campus. I always encourage my students to visit-it’s so important!
On paper, Swarthmore was perfect match for my D. Then we visited.
First was the information session where the admissions staffer made it clear that engineers didn’t really belong at a premier liberal arts school like Swarthmore. Well, props for the honesty.
Second was the tour. We got a candid picture of both the typical admit (very smart, poised, and accomplished) and the difficulty of the curriculum (yikes!). The administrators at the school seem to not comprehend that part of their job is to strike the right balance between ensuring that the education is rigorous without crushing the students.
Third was the classroom visit. I still don’t know exactly what happened in that class (only prospective students can be classroom visitors), but the post-classroom visit verdict was immediate. “When are we leaving?”
We visited 19 schools in all. Of these 19, no school crashed and burned with more violence than Swarthmore. The pages of my college visit notebook are still charred from the experience.
Same experience here at Swarthmore. My kid and her best friend couldn’t leave the campus fast enough. She was so soured by the experience that she swore off visiting any more LACs. After 22 college visits at midsize to very large universities, I did strong arm her into looking at just one more LAC. She’s happily matriculating there currently.
University of Florida- was really looking forward to it (as we are in state). The info session was just a repeat of the admissions web site landing page. Total focus on being a gator / sports / fandom. Had the mascot come in at the end for a gator chomp. The tour was not any better. Very crowded, talked about a few things and finished in the football stadium (literally) where they had us stand up and “practice” doing a gator chomp. I’ve lied in FL for 24 yrs, I get he whole SEC sports thing. It is exciting. but that’s not THE reason you attend a university. they spent very little time on academics and a ton of time on national championships. Total turn off.
Went back for a more “intimate” detailed look based on an invite we got for an event. Turnout was so large we had watch the presentation on a screen that was linked via video conference from another auditorium. Then the housing guy gets up and tells us “I’ve run housing at several universities including, most recently, University of MD and the first thing I’ll say about housing at UF is it’s very confusing”. Really- nice sales pitch. I could see my kids shoulders slump immediately. Couldn’t wait to get out of there. Way to massive with no real campus plan.
Did not care for Cal Berkeley. Knew about transient situation,having visited years ago long before this past year of college tours. Really was hoping things improved, but no. Just a brief walk around the immediate area and we were verbally abused, pan handled, people lying on the sidewalk, a park a few blocks from campus looked like Skid Row.
I’ll add one more. Duke was unexpectedly ruled out quickly. Thought it could be a top contender, but was stuffy and students seemed very intense and stressed, not particularly happy. Also did not like that the Freshman dorm is isolated on another part of campus. Liked UNC better but S ruled out both Carolina schools.
Going with the theme of this thread - I got something …
My S16 toured schools his junior year and half of his senior year. It’s funny how kids get so fixated on the major they think they should have opposed to the major that actually is a good fit for them. Anyway my S16 thought he wanted to be an engineer, so we toured a few engineering schools in the NE for a few months. Then a really bad overnight at his top choice school helped wake him up that he was pursuing the wrong major.
World’s Worst Overnight Visit Ever: Webb Institute. Look it up. Smallest school located on Long Island but super elite for naval engineering. His scheduled overnight was for arrival mid Sunday afternoon - departing late Monday after classes. During this overnight my son was paired with a student who didn’t care one hoot about him - this kid was totally inconvenienced and let it be known. The “Webbies” referred to my son - as the PF- which my son sooner learned was “potential freshman”. They mostly did not talk “to him” but over his head as if he was not there. When they did speak to him, he was ridiculed for being an Eagle scout and a rower on his school’s crew team. (Side note: he later became co-captain of his crew team his senior year and his V1 boat won States in CT - not too shabby, eh Webbies?). He followed them to dinner because what else could he do, but he was all but ignored at dinner. At 930pm that night I got a text from him while in my hotel room - he wasn’t even sure where he was sleeping- no one told him yet. (He did eventually get a bed). The next day he met the admissions officer who was stern and cold. He attended 1 class and the professor did not even great him (there were 20 kids in the class, really, was she blind or just rude?). At 11:30am he called me and told me to come get him - Webb was off the list - he wasn’t finishing the day - he just wanted to leave.
I will tell you that he is now a thriving sophomore finance major at a top business university in the Boston area (a very happy Falcon). I can confidently tell you he is at the perfect school for him AND he goes out of his way to be very helpful to any kids he sees touring the school - because he was not raised to be rude or mean.
One last poor tour to add: Babson. We could not leave fast enough!! Our 2 tour guides were first semester freshman (seriously). Tour was on a Friday - campus was dead - no school on Fridays - ever. Are you kidding me? This is where tuition money goes- to a four day school week? The tour guides pointed out the parking lot where each student was allowed to have 2 cars (for real) - and they joked that up until recently it was 3 cars. But the kicker was a very wealthy international student in a red expensive foreign convertible - top down - (in January) slowly drove by the tour group two times (with “cool” sunglasses on to boot) - even turning around to intentionally go by us again. I asked our tour guide in private what that was all about and I was told that it was just one of the (many) wealthy students showing off to visitors as usual. What a waste of a morning Babson was!!!
Now my D19 is a high school junior and the fun begins again. Although she is leaning toward being a Falcon too.
@janiemiranda I think whoever describe it as a Stepford campus described it well. It felt very packaged. Like every group of students had one white person, one Asian, one African American, etc. I won’t say people didn’t look happy because they did - but the weight of stress also was very apparent. It also felt like everyone dressed similar and it felt super preppy.
My daughter was interested in the Neuroscience department - which they have a strong one - and premed - which is also considered strong there. The department was super unhelpful and not really clear on the substance of the program - it was very much evolving and changing. The general “pitch” of the school presentation was all about come here and discover yourself and change your major or maybe have 3 or 4. It was very much find yourself in liberal arts oriented which we were not expecting.
What was most difficult though was our impression that the school was a research institute not being met. She scheduled an appointment with the undergraduate research office which basically told her there is a website you can find positions on. They do not seem to help students and expect them to find their own positions. Also as she communicated what she was looking for: medical shadowing and clinical experience and it was made clear that is not typical or likely. It felt like we were an inconvenience and like my daughter would be an inconvenience because they had a system and it was not what she was looking for. Fine, not for her.
Overall it just was not the right fit for. We kept feeling like the line in Ferris Bueller " It’s very beautiful, it’s very cold. and you can’t touch anything". In the end she described it like a magazine - very pretty, meets all the eye candy goals but did not meet any of the expected academic/research goals she had for a school. Could have been the particular guides, coordinators, department heads we met with. But it consistently felt like that all through her day, to both of us.
I know people who are happy there so it is the right fit for some. For my daughter, in the end it always came down to department and research fit. She went into WUSTL with high expectations and was surprised to see that so many public institutions ended up being so much better when it came to research opportunities and depth of a neuroscience program.
Hope that helps clarify. I know it is a great school for many!
^^I think that schools like Stanford that have zillions of applicants are going to be much less accomodating and welcoming to prospective students who want to make connections prior to being accepted. If you think it might work for you as a school, apply and then really dig in with the acceptance in hand. I suspect the reception will be different.
But if you are looking for that level of nurture and are at all concerned that you might need to be a superstar to get it, other schools may be a better fit. My son had a friend who was admitted to Duke and UNC honors college aND who chose the latter for that reason - guaranteed research opportunities vs ones that he might get. Exactly to your point, @Mnacttutor!
On the topic of a college not giving a nurturing vibe, Duke and Georgetown seemed like schools where a student needs to be a self starter. S liked the latter, not the former. I suppose it’s all in the eye of the beholder. I thought WUSTL had a warm Midwestern feel and seemed to offer tons of support to students.To the point of @Mnacttutor, many public schools do have fine research departments as well. I agree that sometimes a student needs to dig deep at a school if one knows specifically what they want to study and research and choose the best fit.
University of Richmond. It’s a larger LAC with just over 3000 undergrads, near a large city, near I 95 with easy access to Amtrak from campus, and the city has an international airport. Began biological research before matriculating as a freshman, and continues to engage with her professor in research that excites her during the year. And most importantly, it seems to be the right fit. Somehow she was able to predict that she would be able to have friendships with an international and economically/socially diverse group of kids, all the while being utterly challenged and satisfied by the academic experience. She fell in love with the gorgeous campus. It would have been her preference to attend Columbia, where she was deferred. But she couldn’t be happier. Her best friend, on the other had, who was along for the visit to Swarthmore, is happily matriculating at Columbia.