Where can I find good reviews on campuses? Could you answer questions about some you visited?

College Search & Lists
1

I am a student looking at schools all over the US. The problem with that is I wont be visiting any of them unless I get admitted. However, there are certain criteria that need to be met in order for me to feel at home at a college. However things like “Do students ever laze out on the lawn at x school” dont really turn very useful.

Perhaps the most poiniant exmple would be two of the schools I visited.
UW Seattle
and
UT Austin

Both looked great on paper, however when I visted there was a clear winner. While UT Austin seemed clausterphobic, plopped in the middle of the city, forboding, with very little grass UW Seattle just felt more like what I hope “home” to be. Buildings were well spaced and creative, there was plenty of grass and trees, buildings had space to think in. Because of its campus it does not matter how good UT Astin is I won’t go there because I cant imagine it feeling like my home for years. UW Seattle I could imagine lazing out on the grass with a textbook, or plotting the next startup in the dining hall.

UW Seattle felt like an oasis in the midst of a big city.

Also I care how well kept up the dorms are, do they feel old? Do appliances break often? Is the building about to crumble? Is wifi steady? This is especially hard to generalize as many schools have a range of hosuing.

This is all stuff that is really hard to search without actually going there. How can I better figure some of these things out before applying?

If you are willing here are some schools I am interested. If you have an experience with one of them if you could chime in with a review covering the following areas. Perhaps use a 1-10 scale (10 being exceptional) but also elaboration is appreciated.

A. Nature: Are buildings well spaced, and are there good grassy spots to relax on? Are there lots of trees?
B. Do major streets cut through a lot of the school? Do you still feel like you are in a city?
C. If I needed to get away how far is good nature trails, or a lake or something? Can you easily get away from it all?
D. How well are the dorms kept up? Do provided appliances break?
E. Do the buildings feel open with windows and space to think? Bonus points if the building is many floors but there is no ceiling in the entryway. Does it feel like a dungeon?
F. Are there good places to work and study?
G. Do the buildings in the school look like typical buisness skyscrapers/buildings?
H. Are students friendly and a bit nerdy?
I. Are parties with substances and loud music the only form of social interaction? (10 would be a school where there were plenty of other ways to hang out, 1 would be a party school)
J. Do people, students professors advisors and staff, know eachother at least a bit? Knowing names is a plus.
K. When it is warm do people use the fields presumably on campus to study?
L. Is there good restraunts/activities/things to do in the nearby town, city, or wilderness?

California:

  1. Caltech
  2. University of Southern California
  3. UC Berkley
  4. UC San Diego
  5. California Polytechnic
  6. USCB
  7. Harvey Mudd
  8. Stanford
  9. San Jose State
    Georgia:
  10. Georgia tech
    Illinois:
  11. Knox Colleges
  12. University of Illinois Urbana
  13. Northwestern
    Indiana:
  14. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts:
  15. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  16. Northeastern (Boston)
  17. MIT
    Michigan:
  18. Michigan Tech
  19. University of Michigan
    Missouri:
  20. Washington Universtiy ST. Louis
    Montana:
  21. Montana State University
    New York:
  22. Rensaler Polytechnic
  23. Rochester Institute of Technology
    North Carolina:
  24. NC State
    South Carolina:
  25. Clemson
    Pennsylvania:
  26. Drexel
  27. Carnage Mellon
    Texas:
  28. Texas A&M
    Vermont:
  29. Cmaplain College
    Virginia:
  30. Virginia Tech
    Washington:
  31. UW Seattle
  32. Digipen
  33. PLU
  34. SPU
  35. Washington State University
  36. Western Washington University
    Wisconsin:
  37. University of Wisconsin-Madison
2

Try posting these questions in the school specific forums: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/colleges-universities/
Many schools have online virtual tours and youtube tours.

Niche.com might answer 1 or 2 of your questions.

3

See if you can get your hands on some of the good guide books that describe a number of US colleges. Some good ones are Fiske, Princeton Review, and Insiders Guide.

4

You seem to be more into the architechture and landscaping than the programs, but everyone has their own priorities. Google satellite images or images of school in general to see the buildings, campus layouts or you can look for youtube videos of dorms or other random student posted info.

To get personality of school, these books are good: 376 Best Colleges and Fiske Guide.

5

I second google earth for getting a good feel for the physical layout of the campus. You can zoom in and even “walk” around some. As for dorms, most campuses have some new and some old. They will usually shows you the nice new ones on a tour, but the old ones are there for student’s who don’t get good lottery numbers (or whatever method they use to assign housing).

That’s quite a long list you have there. You will probably will get more responses if you focus it down a bit. Right now it seems like you haven’t done enough research on your own yet.

6

Why can’t you visit? If you are a sophomore or a junior, you have plenty of time to schedule visits. If you are a senior, can’t you explore different college types (large public, LAC, urban/rural) on the weekends to at least determine whether Knox College is a better fit than NC State. Sure, visiting schools can cost money but so can plonking down $85.00 for an application for a school which had you visited would have turned out to be unsuitable.

7

All good suggestions, you could also try https://colleges.niche.com there.

But I’ll bite…only school I have enough info on is Harvey Mudd.

A) Yes, there are trees and grassy spots. But the campus is small so it may not seem like much. However, if you want really beautiful grassy and tree locations you can go to Scripps or Pomona campuses–they are beautiful!

B) No major streets go through Mudd or any of the 5C’s , there are some areas (particularly between campuses) with small neighborhood streets. You will not feel like you are in a big city at all. Claremont is a nice suburb.

C) I haven’t been there, but there is a botanical gardens just across the street from Mudd. You could probably reach the mountain (and lakes) or the beach in about an hour (maybe 2) by car (depending on traffic or exactly where you are going).

D) There is a brand new dorm, so I suspect that one is pretty nice (but I haven’t seen it first hand as yet). The other dorms are older and nothing to brag about. On the other hand, I don’t think they are in disrepair or anything–they just more functional than fancy. They can be a bit of an eyesore, though, as students like to put old sofas out on the quad areas. The big plus on the dorms is not the buildings but the students themselves. There is a lot of social interaction and sense of community in the dorms.

E) There is a relatively new building where many classes are taught. It’s beautiful, open and spacious. There are older buildings as well, including one where there is a basement (so that might feel more like a dungeon).

F) Of course!

G) I don’t think any building is higher than 3 stories. There are no skyscraper type buildings on any of the 5C’s.

H) Yes.

I) There are definitely parties on campus, both with and without alcohol. There doesn’t appear to be any pressure to drink, and, yes, there are plenty of other forms of entertainment (video games, being a favorite I think, but certainly all types of others as well).

J) Yes, absolutely. It’s a very small but welcoming community. From what I’ve observed, the teachers love to teach and be with students. There are lots of social occasions to hang with profs as well. Any staff I’ve interacted with has always been friendly.

K) I would assume so, but I don’t really know. I think they might use the dorm quads more often than fields.

L) Claremont Village is a great little downtown area with shops, restaurants and a theater. It’s within walking distance. most of the restaurants are probably a little on the expensive side for a college budget but there are some that aren’t bad. Plus, there are ice cream shops etc. There is also a train that picks up in the village and can take you straight to downtown LA. And, as I mentioned before, you can get to the beach or the mountains within and hour or two. Lots of things to do if you like surfing or skiing.

Being a residential campus (along with 4 other campuses) there isn’t much need to leave campus. There is always something going on.

8

I visited a number of these schools but I’ll give you the info for the one I’m attending. Stanford
A. Nature: The campus is beautiful with lots of trees around(it is the mascot so there better be trees).

B. Do major streets cut through a lot of the school? Do you still feel like you are in a city? No you feel like your in a different world than the city.

C. If I needed to get away how far is good nature trails, or a lake or something? Can you easily get away from it all? You can get to the mountains or lake with just a little travel.

D. How well are the dorms kept up? Do provided appliances break? I just started but the dorms are okay. Nothing fancy just a desk bed and gender blind bathrooms because its in vogue now.

E. Do the buildings feel open with windows and space to think? Bonus points if the building is many floors but there is no ceiling in the entryway. Does it feel like a dungeon? Like I said just started classes but the class size is much bigger than I was lead to believe. Buildings are well designed.

F. Are there good places to work and study? Work? Don’t know Study Yes!

G. Do the buildings in the school look like typical buisness skyscrapers/buildings? Red brick buildings. The main church building is nice though.
H. Are students friendly and a bit nerdy? Very!!

I. Are parties with substances and loud music the only form of social interaction? (10 would be a school where there were plenty of other ways to hang out, 1 would be a party school). I don’t know if I’m qualified to answer this but I will say a 9.

J. Do people, students professors advisors and staff, know eachother at least a bit? Knowing names is a plus. We have about 2000 freshman but at least in my dorm we know most of the names.

K. When it is warm do people use the fields presumably on campus to study? Yes

L. Is there good restraunts/activities/things to do in the nearby town, city, or wilderness? At Stanford everything is right there. You don’t even have to go off campus and I like that. But if you want Palo Alto has everything you need close by.