For fun: first impressions of colleges based on tours...

[Anonymous]

Cornell: Bleak, grey and truly in the middle of nowhere with the wind whistlin' on thru

Sarah Lawrence: Looked like a large junior high school

Dartmouth: The campus reminded me of a prim, wintry retirement home

[Anonymous]

HS Sophomore at the time:

UVA: "dirty" (I still don't know what this means)

W&L: "too hilly" (98 degrees in July)

[Anonymous]

U Chicago: too hot (August)

Swarthmore: too pretty

Muehlenburg: too isolated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS Sophomore at the time:

UVA: "dirty" (I still don't know what this means)

W&L: "too hilly" (98 degrees in July)

My kid also doomed Cornell and Bryn Mahr because they were “too hilly.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cornell: Bleak, grey and truly in the middle of nowhere with the wind whistlin' on thru

Sarah Lawrence: Looked like a large junior high school

Dartmouth: The campus reminded me of a prim, wintry retirement home

RPI: Troy is covered in algae.

Brandeis: My high school sent spores out and multiplied.

Williams: Truck vibrations in the library every minute.

Brown: a. The toad. b. The guy at the diner downtown who wanted me to “come live at his house and he one of his girlfriends.”

UVa: The dome thing.

Stanford: The United Federation of Planets’ shopping mall.

Berkeley: Hilly.

The University of Iowa: The Haunted Bookstore.

UNC: Woods full of fireflies; dark, ax murder-y roads.

Duke: Left no impression at all.

Some European universities: They sell the same types of sweatshirts U.S. schools do.

MIT: The line of cocaine that went up the girl’s nose. Which seemed to explain why the students in a fraternity house there that rented out summer lodging were so grouchy, so completely uninterested in talking about anything, and so generally unlike the Trekkies I’d expected.

Harvard: You could sneak into their computer labs and use their PCs. Tourists would go on tours there as if it was the Eiffel Tower.

[Anonymous]

I made the mistake of doing my college tour during the Summer. As a Californian , I was drowning from the humidity of southern schools. Immediately took Duke, Vandy, and Emory off the list. I couldn’t even pay attention as I was so miserable.

[Anonymous]

UMass - Brutalist and massive

Tufts: Hilly

[Anonymous]

Michigan - Dated. It was probably gorgeous in the 60s, but they need to spend some money on something other than the athletic facilities.

Purdue - Well kept/new. Kind of the opposite of Michigan in this regard.

Virginia Tech - Prettier than I expected. Well organized campus.

[Anonymous]

Pomona: awesome

Claremont: really cool

Georgetown: too bad it’s so close to home

UNC: great college town

Wake Forest: too isolated

Brown: prettier than expected

[Anonymous]

Harvard: Bland and a little drab, too touristy.

Yale: Stunningly gorgeous in every way. A+

Princeton: Also beautiful but felt like it lacked patina/character and felt a little too pretentious.

Columbia: LOVED this campus. Gritty, beautiful, classic. NYC.

Northwestern: Another favorite - great mix of modern and classic, and absolutely stunning location on the lake.

UChicago: So classically beautiful. Felt almost European, or stately, but felt extremely gloomy and gray, even though we visited same day as NU.

Cornell: Another great one - stunning location. Friendly, collegial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michigan - Dated. It was probably gorgeous in the 60s, but they need to spend some money on something other than the athletic facilities.

Purdue - Well kept/new. Kind of the opposite of Michigan in this regard.

Virginia Tech - Prettier than I expected. Well organized campus.

+1 for Tech. Passed through this summer and was nothing like I remember from 30 years ago. Then again, it was 30 years ago...

[Anonymous]

Mary Washington - are there any men on this campus?

William and Mary - oh what an adorable Wawa.

UVA - love Charlottesville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard: Bland and a little drab, too touristy.

Yale: Stunningly gorgeous in every way. A+

Princeton: Also beautiful but felt like it lacked patina/character and felt a little too pretentious.

Columbia: LOVED this campus. Gritty, beautiful, classic. NYC.

Northwestern: Another favorite - great mix of modern and classic, and absolutely stunning location on the lake.

UChicago: So classically beautiful. Felt almost European, or stately, but felt extremely gloomy and gray, even though we visited same day as NU.

Cornell: Another great one - stunning location. Friendly, collegial.

I need to know more about this confident superstar ^^^

[Anonymous]

W&L. Where is everyone?

W&M. Cannot for the life of me figure out what people do here except attend school?

UChicago - Harry Potter. Frank Lloyd Wright. Do. not. leave. campus. No really. Economists

Wake Forest-> Ralph Lauren

[Anonymous]

DC quotes on visit a week ago:

Rutgers - “New Jersey is weird” (Yup but you don’t have to pump your own gas!)

Temple - “Edgy and kinda cool. Not sure if I want my next four years confined to five city blocks…” (Actually was way more impressive than expected.)

UMBC - “Where is everyone? School is in-person, right? Is this one big circle all there is? Where is there a coffee shop I can walk to?” (Answer to that last Q is none.)

UMD - “College Park isn’t that great. But it doesn’t matter I probs won’t get in anyway.” (Truth)