University of Michigan. We visited in April and it was snowing. But that was not the reason. My DS is interested in Engineering. All they spoke about, in order, was how awesome Michigan is, how lucky you are even to be on campus, and football. But the biggest thing for us was the distance from main campus to West campus, where all the Engineering classes are taught. It’s about 2 miles. The west campus had a completely different vibe than main campus.
We had just come from Purdue. The campus was integrated and great. And, surprisingly, the Engineering buildings were more vast and, simply, newer, nicer, and better equipped. And they weren’t egomaniacs.
Funny people mention Harvard as a tourist attraction- it’s so true! My brother lived on the first floor in a freshman dorm, and more than once he caught curious moms and dads staring into his window- even if he was just wearing a towel!! :))
I personally only find the Harvard campus pretty in the late spring/summer, but that’s how it is with many schools in snowy New England…
Time for my report. And I fear much less snarky than I want it to be. GRRRR.
Skidmore: visited on a Sunday…on a whim. Saw the main quad and went looking for the rest of the campus. Looked at Google Maps and said “no this is it”. Son liked it…but it is smaller than his high school and I was pretty sure it would be too small. Walked through downtown Saratoga. He thought it was nice. I felt like I was on an episode of the Real Housewives of New York. Far too many couples with fabulously oddly named children saying how everything was cute or quaint. “Whitaker, Ainsley, look they have a cheese shop. Mummy never thought there’d be a cheese shop all the way up here!” Yeah lady…why would there be cheese in dairy country? Skidmore fell down the list later on the trip…precisely because it was too small.
RPI: Our arrival was highlighted by a younger sibling who kept doing this guttural cough/hack/gonna vomit thing in the parking lot. We are seated in the auditorium and his parents bring him in and sit two rows in front of us. The kid starts up again and literally an entire section of people run…and I do mean run…to the other side of the auditorium. Finally, the dad takes him out of the auditorium. My son Daniel looks at the daughter and says “Oh God I think she goes to LHS” (his high school). We both burst out laughing. Now…the presentation starts and shockingly my son physically leans in. He wants to be a video game marketer and he feels like he found a place that can help him get there. He loved, loved, loved it. High on his list.
Syracuse: The day started with my son saying he didn’t want to do the tour. “It’s just a sports school”. Shockingly, I stayed calm and we went. The presenter was totally snarky and the LARGE (200-300) crowd didn’t get him…but my son and I did. At one point he actually said “I’ll just talk to these two because they get my humor”. Short, good talk. Tour guide: when your tour guide talks for 15 minutes 10 yards from admissions you know it is going to be a long tour. He literally told us about each building. And yes, he made half a dozen Harry Potter references. And offered far too many details about everything…including each of the campus bus routes. And mentioned the mall four times (“Did I tell you that Destiny USA is the 6th largest mall in America? And you can take a bus there!”) After 90 minutes we peeled off. Still my son liked it a lot. On the list.
So actually a very successful trip. And my son told his girlfriend I was “well behaved”. (Literally the phrase he used.)
@SwimmingDad “well behaved” is high praise indeed, and not a phrase my kids would have used to describe me on our trips. “Hysterical” or “insane” would have been more apt . . . so congrats!
I’ve toured a few schools in California and I was surprised by which school I liked the most/least. Please keep in mind that it’s my opinion and not everyone will agree.
Favorite: USC
I was never a big fan of USC… until I saw the campus. I know that the area around campus is supposed to sketchy, but I didn’t really observe any of that. I’ve visited twice now and each time there was a large police presence to keep everyone safe. Anyways, let’s get to the interesting part: the campus. The campus is really really gorgeous. Each building is a sight of its own and the new USC village looks amazing as well. There were people standing around everywhere offering directions and help… even students have randomly offered their help. The vibe overall was very outgoing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any trash on campus. Not even a shred of paper. Being on campus sometimes makes you forget that you’re in the middle of LA. I just wish it was more enticing for a finance student.
Neutral: UCLA
I am not saying that it isn’t a good University, but I liked it a lot less after the tour, than before. I found the buildings to be very beautiful and clean. The library was amazing and generally it had a great feel. Unfortunately, I see the size of the campus, or rather the intertwining of the city into the campus an issue. I enjoy a campus that is it’s own “environment”, such as most schools. UCLA, however, is half city and half campus. There is lots of tumult and it’s pretty chaotic, even though we visited during summer break. Definitely not a bad school, but I’d imagine it to be challenging to find a quiet and “comfortable” retreat. Furthermore, some of the dorms are very far from classes, which adds to the chaos.
Neutral: UCI
I live very close to UCI, so I’ve been there more times than I can count. The buildings are neat, it’s clean and even though it’s in the middle of Irvine, it doesn’t feel as packed as UCLA and USC. There are hiking paths, beaches and other things very close by. On a side note, I wonder who came up with the idea of making an anteater the mascot :)). Nevertheless, the school doesn’t have a University feeling like USC, UVa, or UMichigan would have. It’s known to be a commuter school, which is too bad. As a result, I feel that networking isn’t a big thing here.
Spiders are cool, according to D’s mascot hierarchy. Any weird human-looking mascots, on the other hand, immediately doomed a school. Vanderbilt, UVA, Purdue were all docked major points on her college scorecard based on their creepy mascots.
You get used to it. I watch a Tars game last night and the announcer is pretty good. They were playing a ‘panthers’ team and my daughter plays on a Panthers team, so that was more confusing to me.
We loved the spider! That was the main downside when my son decided not to apply to Richmond. It was his second favorite mascot next to USC’s (South Carolina one) Cocky for their team the Gamecocks! I personally don’t care for Tulane’s Green Wave – seems weird to have water as a mascot.
I visited LMU and USD over winter break, both were shockingly clean, I have no idea how it is even possible to have a campus that clean. Personally USD left me w a better impression than LMU; I liked their buildings more, the whole campus was gorgeous but I wouldn’t say LMU’s campus was bad at all. USD was up on its own hill, and was removed from the rest of San Diego as a result which I thought was pretty cool. The campus was also gated and monitored which also seems like a potentially necessary and cool aspect of the campus. USD’s campus is also pretty close to the beach which I am sure students take advantage of. I think this goes w/out saying given their location but the weather was perfect the entire time at both.
@ProllyBrokeSoon While I always appreciate compliments for one of my hometown schools, have you read this thread? We are positively feral here, your comment is positively, um how do I say this…positive.
Princeton " the rare student that has to use a restroom typically has it bronzed"
Brown, worst parking EVER. On an open house day they schedule the visitor lot to be closed for work.
S has Cornell on his list still, but middle of nowhere would be cosmopolitan by comparison. And google maps took us down a road that reminded us of an abandoned mine shaft
Brown again, what’s with those sculptures? Quidditch was of course being played while we were there. Is there a group for hire that just pretend to be students and actually make a living by playing Quidditch during prospective student visits?
@Sarcasmordeath The local (Massachusetts) phrase for the person that passed you on the right in the garage at Tufts: Masshole. This word is also used as an adjective…and can be “verbized” as well. I’m a card carrying member of the Masshole club myself.
@SwimmingDad: Massachusetts drivers like you aren’t found just at Tufts. When we lived in upstate N.Y we discovered many of those Massholes making the circuit around both outer rings of interstate surrounding Boston. I’m glad to finally have a chance to communicate to one of you – verbally, anyway. We might have seen each other before, even if you wove past our car too quickly to notice our fearful faces.
