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

[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

Sarah Lawrence looked run down and kinda sad. But can't confirm because DC literally refused to get out of car. What DC could see from the parking lot was enough.

[Anonymous]

Love this thread.

Rutgers: "Doesn't feel like a real campus and I don't want to take a bus from my dorm to to my classes"

UMD: "I hope I don't get in because I'm afraid you'll make me go here" (we're in state)

Temple "I can see myself here. Wasn't expecting to like it so much"

UVA; "I don't see myself here and I can't figure out why"

[Anonymous]

We toured a lot of colleges with our kid. Almost all were immediately and often illogically hated and these are the reasons why. This was in spring and fall of 2019.

JMU: the highway and bus system
VT: hokie this and hokie that all day long
CNU: The walmart down the road had the kitchen knife sets locked behind glass
UVA: hated the campus
URochester: yellow jacket mascot
Lafayette: tour guide referenced Harry Potter and a quidditch team
Marist: tour guide mentioned free tutoring too much
Cornell: everyone was walking and eating alone with airpods in
Ithaca: lots of blue and burgundy hair and black clothes, decided to skip the tour completely
Skidmore: there was some festival in town and lots of guys wearing skirts
UVM: too many beanies for a 60 degree day
Colgate:we literally had to stop the car because a bear was in the road
Villanova:kid misheard the tour guide and spent the whole tour thinking the school had 60,000 students, so had already dismissed it

[Anonymous]

My son hated UNC Charlotte from the first step. He couldn’t even explain it. He wanted to leave so badly. It gave him generic brick stepford college vibes and creeped him the hell out. If I mention it, he still cringes. I didn’t think it was that bad. Boring and unremarkable maybe, but I’m sure there are worse.

[Anonymous]

Cornell - "Let's put a building here. " All kinds and shape of buildings seem placed everywhere on the fly.

Princeton - "Little countryside cottage yard" Quiet, safe and idyllic. Campus lacks depth.

Penn - "Found any building intersting?" Seems not any particular one is worth writing home about. The university bookstore is better than most schools'

Columbia - "Only place to sit is the steps in front of the building"

Carnegie Mellon - "Let's walk the campus a little. That's it?" Walk around the green from one end to the other, you have seen it all.

Northwestern - "Nice modern building on the lake"

Chicago - "This means serious academics, but what's the danger if I wander off across the street?"

Stanford - "Nice colorful spot. Too many buildings, I am lost"

Harvard - "Want to find an inspiring building or yard to admire, but are they all the same?" All bland.

Yale - "Oh yeah, finally a campus that an elite school is supposed to look like"

[Anonymous]

Michigan. Tons of newly renovated classic buildings. Impressive town bustling with activity.

[Anonymous]

Clemson: Too rah-rah

????????

[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.

So, where is your kid applying? Sounds like great choices!

[Anonymous]

Tufts: hilly, architecture eclectic, grim bordering neighborhood.
BC: beautiful buildings, but seemingly populated entirely by lax bro Catholics
UMBC: depressing, isolated (we also drove around when no students were on campus, which can't have helped)
GWU: lots of students hanging out and conversing in small groups-- my kid noticed that no one seemed to be alone or lonely. But too close to home.
UC Berkeley: go bears, go bears, go bears. Visited during finals week so students all looked stressed out.
USC: Gorgeous campus, much prettier than we expected, but the vicinity is grittier than we anticipated and right next to major freeways too

[Anonymous]

VT: Sport, Hokies, Sport, Hokies, oh and guide kept mentioning she got in on alumni parents with no APs. Buildings were bland and the campus just too huge for DD

W&L: Campus looked nice, cute town but too small.

UVA: Campus beautiful, tour guide horrible. Town okay, left with a 'yeah its okay I guess' feeling

W&M: DD fell in love with. From the campus looks, to size, to tour guide. Everything clicked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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)

Yikes. Please tell me your DC is looking at schools besides these!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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)

Yikes. Please tell me your DC is looking at schools besides these!

Yeeeesh! Just when I thought I found a fun thread where no one was gonna be mean...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son hated UNC Charlotte from the first step. He couldn’t even explain it. He wanted to leave so badly. It gave him generic brick stepford college vibes and creeped him the hell out. If I mention it, he still cringes. I didn’t think it was that bad. Boring and unremarkable maybe, but I’m sure there are worse.

My daughter got that vibe from high point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We toured a lot of colleges with our kid. Almost all were immediately and often illogically hated and these are the reasons why. This was in spring and fall of 2019.

JMU: the highway and bus system
VT: hokie this and hokie that all day long
CNU: The walmart down the road had the kitchen knife sets locked behind glass
UVA: hated the campus
URochester: yellow jacket mascot
Lafayette: tour guide referenced Harry Potter and a quidditch team
Marist: tour guide mentioned free tutoring too much
Cornell: everyone was walking and eating alone with airpods in
Ithaca: lots of blue and burgundy hair and black clothes, decided to skip the tour completely
Skidmore: there was some festival in town and lots of guys wearing skirts
UVM: too many beanies for a 60 degree day
Colgate:we literally had to stop the car because a bear was in the road
Villanova:kid misheard the tour guide and spent the whole tour thinking the school had 60,000 students, so had already dismissed it

Ok but seems a little harsh for CNU to be judged based on a Wal-Mart’s display decision.

My kid refused to get out of the car at Roanoke College because the buildings seemed old, after we had driven all that way. I was so annoyed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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)

Yikes. Please tell me your DC is looking at schools besides these!

Yeeeesh! Just when I thought I found a fun thread where no one was gonna be mean...

NP I read that as hoping the kid finds a school he likes then.