Add us to UCSD haters. I was SURE, S, a beach lover, would love it there. As mentioned, there is no beach feel at all. He really hated it, despite our adorable perky tour guide. It just didn’t have any soul, hard to describe. As an engineering student, he also hated the separate colleges with the “weird” requirements. It was also a big turn off to have to park in a far away lot, wait in long lines and then catch the bus to the campus. We chatted with some students on that bus back to the car and I think DS was thinking how crummy that commute would be once you are forced off campus.
Funny you say that - it happened to us at UCLA. 3 different groups of students, yes 3, approached us during our tour and yelled out (one group whispered) “Don’t come here”. It must have just been a huge topic of discussion on campus because it appeared the reason had to do with “overcrowding.” Otherwise, we walked away loving the tour and overall the vibe was great - kids were having fun and they were friendly.
A lot of folks also mentioned UCSD, I personally liked the campus, or parts of it anyway. My daughter, however, did not care for it. Also, she was turned off by the information session before the tour. The first thing the speaker asked the audience was “Has anyone here already been admitted?” It was a pretty full room, maybe 150 or so people. A few students raised their hands. The speaker went on to say “You should feel really honored to have been accepted.” That just rubbed my daughter the wrong way - no “we’re lucky to have you” or “we would love for you to choose us” to counteract it.
Both daughter and I very much disliked the tour at Rutgers. The campus is too spread out and dorms and classrooms were very dark and dreary. That said, we toured prior to many new renovations. They built and opened dorms/facilites for a new Honors college, new student apartments, an upgraded/new research facility for biomed and health sciences, not sure what else.
VaTech- both I my kids were instantly turned off by architecture and campus. My daughters good friends showed us around campus the first night and stayed in the dorm with them. She didn’t like it. They had too many kids accept admissions and had kids living in the floor study spaces. We still can’t figure out how our friends love it there so much.
We went to to the presentation the next morning then left. It really is in the middle of nowhere.
Dang! I was so hoping Va Tech would go unscathed in this thread. Oh well. :))
@STEM2017
If you wait long enough you’ll find that every school will eventually be trashed. As my friend in Texas says, “It takes all kinds to fill the freeway.” Now back to the hating!
UCSD was also a disappointment for us. We were thinking the Southern CA vibe would be present and the scenery beautiful. Wrong on both counts. The school was bland and uninspiring, except for the library named for Dr. Seuss.
“Dang! I was so hoping Va Tech would go unscathed in this thread. Oh well.”
But don’t you feel good about all the smack downs being directed at UVA and its “Grounds”?
VT is only a couple miles off I81 and about 10 minutes from the Roanoke metro area (pop 300K +). not MON in my book.
Harvard - My daughter hated Harvard Square and the highway that runs under the campus.
UPenn - Surrounding area was too congested
D and I visited UVA - on paper great school. Got there, just didn’t like it at all. The area that you drive through to get to campus reminded me of the area in Kissimmee, FL - like 6 lanes of traffic, strip mall after strip mall after strip mall. Kept waiting to see mouse ears and a castle. Drove around trying to find the highly touted ‘downtown’ area for the campus - missed it a few times.
What sealed it was we walked around, finally found somewhere to eat that wasn’t closed. First impression - expensive - really wanted to know where the ‘broke’ college students hang out, that’s what we usually look for - didn’t find anywhere at UVA. What we did find was a table full of overly dressed, preppy frat boys getting drunk on bottles of white wine. Loud, unbearably pretentious - D wouldn’t even tour afterward. For a kid wanting a great downtown scene for her college and outgoing, nice, earthy, non-preppy kids - that table of boys totally turned her off.
For my son, it was a visit to JMU. I loved the school, took my daughter back there. She at least kept an open mind throughout the day, he felt the whole place was creepy. It was like ‘Stepford Wives’ nice to him. He’s a weightlifter and hockey player and the overly excitable, super friendly tour guide was a bit too nice for him. He kept asking me why everyone was so nice… he kept looking for some balance but everyone we saw just loved the school and was very enthusiastic about it. One of his classmates is very much like the tour guide we had, she ended up there, loves it - she is a perfect fit!
@mominthemiddle Interestingly enough, your post just made me think that we should put JMU on our list of places to visit:))
We thought Vanderbilt might be D’s favorite, but we all couldn’t get out of town fast enough. We arrived on a beautiful Saturday night in August and stayed downtown. The main drag felt like Mardi Gras with packed sidewalks and guys yelling rude, offensive things to the women drinking on the peddle carts. D was not impressed that the uniform for women seemed to be cowgirl boots and short jeans skirts with curled hair. The next day we did some shopping and had to step over three piles of vomit. In the stores, my D said, “I always wondered where people bought Confederate flag stuff.” Campus has many beautiful trees and buildings but felt very dark because of the tree canopy. We stayed for info session but skipped the guided tour. Great school, just not our taste.
@mominthemiddle , you put into words my son’s dislike for JMU better than I did a few pages ago! Stepford Wives is so accurate. The students were uniformly happy and wholesome. They all looked happy to be there. So naturally that turns off my kid. 8->
Hated…
The creepy turtle pond at CalTech …not to mention the fountain with no water (EVER!)(yes, yes I know…water conservation, but really whatever is the point then)
The cigarette butts strewn all around the dorms at Swarthmore (kinda messes with the arboretum mojo to have butts in the hellebores)…sacrilege truly
What the freak with all the weeds and unkempt interior courtyards at MIT…there has to be more to life than PSets and Pranks
Okay…feeling better now
That’s interesting. I remember being shocked at how ugly the MIT campus was. Visiting in February may have had something to do with that, though.
I mentioned that once to a friend who went to MIT, and he laughed and said, “Yeah, it’s oppressive.”
Berkeley is disappointing because it’s in such a great location, but so shabby. It’s like every trail and pathway through campus leads to a parking lot.
I thought U of Florida was pretty bland and generic, too.
We were all convinced Brown would be the one until the tour guide started referring to the “Sexual Pleasure” Center on campus. Damn if I could not find it on my map but my guess it is near the G spot! I had a good laugh with another mom–“Did she just say what I thought she said?” There was way too much of a wannabe hipster vibe and coming from the Northwest, we can tell a poser a mile away.
For me it was URochester. Even in nice weather it seemed dreary, and the student union was downright unwelcoming. Made the mistake of using our free coupon for lunch at a dining hall. Yuck. The ChemE labs were dirty and old. Nice admissions center though, I liked the free coffee. Did not like campus or vibe at either Seton Hall or RPI.
The most unexpected one was Pomona. The students looked pinched, stressed and very anti-social. Most of the ones we saw were walking around alone with earbuds in, ignoring everything and everyone around them. I thought it might have just been an off day (it was cold for LA) but when we walked over to CMC and Scripps the vibe was completely different. This was the first LAC we toured and my D wouldn’t even go to the info session after the tour (which was actually quite good). I think the super-snobby “you’d be lucky to get in here” speech the adcom game before the tour didn’t help. I really thought she was going to like this one.
Brandeis just didn’t click - lackluster tour guide and a campus that didn’t feel cohesive. Penn was a big no, due to the pre-professional vibe, but that really didn’t come as a surprise.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Hampshire sees a surge in people wanting to tour the campus…or am I the only one intrigued by yurts and an atmosphere likened to a gulag without the whimsy?
I’d take yurts over Stepford Wife atmosphere. 