Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Penn state— this one was the worst. Admissions presentation just seemed to just keep talking about how large the school was. Over and over. DD hated it and was in tears by the end of the tour.

In tears, seriously? I can understand someone nit liking a school but what is wrong with your kid that a college tour brings her to tears?

Seriously, just cross it off the list and move on! Only excuse would be if someone had been putting heavy pressure on the kid to attend Penn State and she realized it would be a bad fit.

For real. Just cross it off. We actually enjoyed our PSU tour. Yes, the general session was pretty blunt and straightforward- much less touchy feely than other schools. But the individual tour group was one of the best we had. The student leader was very knowledgeable, answered all questions (including touchy questions about ranking the difficulty for admission into certain colleges on campus), easygoing, and likeable. She had about 40 people in the group, which was huge compared to other tours we’ve attended, and she had everyone’s attention for the whole thing. DS left loving the place and it’s now, surprisingly, in his top 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC- Strongly disliked -
University of California San Diego - DC thought it was directly on the beach but it is not easy to get to the beach since it requires walking a considerable distance. It has an ugly concrete, cold feeling about it with no central campus. So many of the students seemed depressed and even the tour guide seemed sad every time he looked away and wasn’t directly addressing the people in the tour. University of Irvine seemed similar.

Pepperdine. In the middle of a burned out small town far from any actual city. Students seemed rich and entitled.

Pomona/Claremont McKenna- it was really hot when we went and it is in a far far off area of LA. Not sure how to describe some of the Pomona students.

University of Santa Barbara- Campus seemed so run down. So much deferred maintenance needed. Great that campus is actually on a beach so that part was amazing, but so many students seemed really into partying.

DC liked-
UCLA- nice campus, students seemed friendly. We try to eat in the dinning commons just to get a feel for food and students. DC liked diversity of food and vibe.

University of Utah-DC wasn’t thrilled about the lack of diversity, the new dorms and new buildings on campus were really nice. Everyone was over the top friendly and helpful. Super close to skiing and hiking. Students didn’t seem ultra competitive and seemed like they would collaborate.

UC Berkeley- thought it would be grungy with homeless all around but that wasn’t our experience at all. Had a great tour and saw a beautiful campus in an urban setting.

UC Davis- fantastic college town, students were friendly and seemed happy, such a great campus to bike around. We ended up renting bikes because there were so many amazing bike paths and the campus has a lot of very flat land. Biked to pet a goat and cow, biked to a small lake and small river that runs through campus, biked to town to get ice cream, bikes to raptor center, bikes to student union, biked to an athletic event. Helped the tour guide was really personable and fantastic and it was a gorgeous day. So hard to know how it would be different if it were a dreary rainy day with a bad tour guide.

Pepperdine isn’t in the middle of any town and the fires were far away. Strange also that you don’t mention its spectacular location and unspoiled views of the Pacific. It’s usually at the top of everyone’s list of most beautiful campus.

What a crazy thing to say the fires were far away. Pepperdine is in Malibu where over 700 homes burned down. Drive from Pepperdine to the west side of LA/ Westwood/ Santa Monica and you pass so many burned out houses and buildings. I don’t call that a spectacular location as it stands right now and for years to come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Liked Drexel much more than anticipated. Gettysburg showed DC they did not want a small college. Pitt was their favorite of the ones we visited.

What did you like about Drexel? My dc is interested and plans to visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those who loved Columbia, what did you love about it?

My child was admitted off the waitlist last year and we never toured. The most we ever visited was a 10 minute walk across campus a few years prior.
They ended up taking another waitlist offer so I'll forever be a tiny bit curious about Columbia.

The buildings are majestic, but not gothic, gives a sense of history but isn't gloomy. It's also much more green than you might expect given its urban location. No through traffic so students are hanging out, studying on the steps etc. The size, about 35 acres (for comparison Northwestern's is over 200 acres), means that students are constantly passing each other which gives it a sense of community.

[Anonymous]

Loved Dartmouth/Hanover. Too remote for my kid though and they didn’t apply.

[Anonymous]

Tufts: before the visit, I was thinking that my kid should ED. After the visit, he did not even apply and I completely supported that. Was depressing, dark, constant virtue-signaling.

Georgetown: was rundown and unkempt. Air traffic was unbearable for me, personally. OK, he did apply there, he still liked it.

UMD College Park: I was very, very surprised how much I liked it, both on the tour and admitted students day. Very well organized and very nice.

JHU: went first time on admitted students day. I thought it would be too intense and depressing. I was surprised how nice the campus was and how relaxed the students looked compared to what I expected.

[Anonymous]

Tulane was underwhelming. Tour was not great and the campus was a bit rundown, very old classrooms with chalkboards.

Syracuse was beautiful. Great tour, great guide, great facilities.

UIUC was good. It’s a big school and there were lots of us visiting that day. Campus and town both nice. Big school

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My daughter was pretty much convinced she was going to go to ED to Williams…until the tour.

The horrible weather that day and a very stressed out tour guide talking about how intense the school was did a double whammy on her. I know that both of those factors were random fate, and who knows, if she would’ve had a beautiful spring day and an upbeat tour guide, maybe she would have applied.

A week later, we found ourselves touring. Davidson on a warm day with a lovely guide, and that’s where she is now.

+1 Davidson is an amazing place to spend 4 years! Very strong academically, friendly students, engaging and supportive professors, charming campus/town, and a variety of activities/sports to support! I'm happy for your daughter!

I think it was about 2 years ago now, a student was down to these two and there was a boyfriend going to charlotte. The parents asked for advice and everybody was like "she should absolutely go to Williams-it's a better school" I understood the concern about picking a school to be closer to a boyfriend, but in terms of the schools, I honestly thought they were both solid choices. Picking Williams just felt like it was all for the bragging rights of going to "the #1 LAC". I think Davidson is also an excellent school AND the weather is better. I think about that post so much.

I guess it depends on the type of weather and scenery you prefer. The scenery around Williams is stunning and North Carolina can be hot and humid.

DP. North Carolina isn’t hot and humid during the school season. I have a kid at Davidson, and he has remarked that the weather is essentially ideal.

I am a 7th generation North Carolinian so I know about the weather in the state. The temperature can be nice, so on any random spring day it might be warm in Davidson when it's freezing cold up north. But you could have bad stretches at other times when students are in school, especially in August and May.

Also, Davidson isn't Asheville or Boone, so you've got some nice hills and a lake nearby, but it's not knock-out stunning like the Berkshires.

Different strokes for different folks! I love western nc but find winters there depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tulane was underwhelming. Tour was not great and the campus was a bit rundown, very old classrooms with chalkboards.

Syracuse was beautiful. Great tour, great guide, great facilities.

UIUC was good. It’s a big school and there were lots of us visiting that day. Campus and town both nice. Big school

Tulane doesn't rely on chalkboards ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin: I thought my daughter, who’s interested in liberal arts and music, would like it and I loved it, but she felt very “meh” and crossed it off the list. I think she wasn’t sold on the idea of going to college in Ohio.

My kid could not get out of Oberlin fast enough!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown

Same - it checked every box and I thought would be top of dd’s list. We skipped out halfway through the tour. Great school, but presented itself as more preprofessional and less intellectual than she was looking for. As I hear they are skimpy with FA I was glad to drop it too.

I hated the Georgetown tour. We were herded through in a huge group. I couldn't hear the tour guide. It all felt so impersonal, like they didn't even care enough to give us a tour where we could hear the guide. My kid liked it. I didn't.

[Anonymous]

exceeded expectations:
Vassar
Amherst
Claremont Colleges
Colgate
Northeastern
Occidental (the campus, didn't love the general area)

about what we expected:
Georgetown
William & Mary
Bowdoin
Swarthmore
Haverford
UVA

meh/came up short:
Wesleyan
Tufts
Middlebury
Bates
BU
Babson
Lehigh
Hamilton
Brandeis
Colby
Bard

[Anonymous]

PSU Clemson and UMD. All 3 had a lot of kids out and about, hanging out, studying. Didn’t think she’d like a large school.
Her top choices BC, Villanova and ND were crossed off due to lack of “energy”.
PSU honors college is now #1 due to busy dorm and very nice kids/staff. UMD food was surprisingly good and their honors dorms were the nicest.
Duke and Brown still on list for prestige but she wasn’t wowed by campus.

[Anonymous]

Skidmore was a pleasant surprise, once you get past the boring architecture.

We went to visit Hamilton and Colgate. We threw Skidmore in, just because it was on the way more or less. Students there seemed really happy; the facilities are impressive; and Saratoga Springs is fantastic. For an outdoorsy kid, it’s right outside the Adirondacks too.

It has a reputation for being overly artsy. There’s an arts influence for sure, but not over the top. Nice STEM facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours did not like UMW at all and was pleasantly surprised by how much she liked University of Richmond, which is widely hated on this site. She ultimately went somewhere else but Richmond was in her final mix.

I was surprised how much I liked Mary Wash. My spouse, who is a UVA grad, liked it a lot too. Said it felt like a little UVA.