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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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 group 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.

The Palisadez fires were 3.5 miles away as the crow flies. Pepperdine was not impacted because of its careful conservation methods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

And really good food! I liked it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought Furman’s campus was beautiful.
Davidson wasn’t as attractive as I thought it would be but I loved that our tour guide seemed to know a lot of people we passed by during the tour.

I was surprised how much I liked Furman. I thought it would be too Southern and fratty for my taste. And it is Southern and fratty. But there was a mix of kids and it seemed very friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Just to caution you, UMD honors dorms are dependent upon WHICH LLP you end up in. My kid was placed in the 4y Gemstone program. Students are assigned to Ellicott Hall. Great location, but old and NO AIR CONDITIONING.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surprised we liked:
-Binghamton: Campus was nicer than we'd imagined based on reviews, and the vibe felt relaxed.
-Clark U: Brimming with intellectual energy, at least in my dc's desired field (STEM). Seemed like a place where a bright student would really be seen, would receive personal attention, and would be given opportunities to shine.
-Muhlenberg: Campus was lovely, tour guide was great, and everyone we interacted with gave us a good feeling. Hard to explain, but the "vibe" was just good.
-Fordham Rose Hill (Bronx): Campus is gorgeous! Totally its own enclave, and beautiful in a classic way. Students seemed earnest and smart.

Is your child in one of the above or still deciding? Just curious if it’s Binghamton or Fordham and how they like it ?

Still deciding. I think Fordham might come off the list just because they're not as strong in his desired major, but the campus was wonderful. If you have a student going for business, pre-law, pre-med, etc., it seems like you couldn't go wrong there. Meanwhile, Binghamton is still a top contender for my student.

Good luck to your child. I know of many happy Binghamton students.

[Anonymous]

Really didn't like Barnard. Something about the vibe was off and the location was terrible. It's like you get the worst of NYC but nothing great about it. The neighborhood doesn't have interesting things to walk to and you have to get on the subway to get to the good things in NY. A dorm was literally above a Shake Shack.

[Anonymous]

Did not like Union College. The tour guide literally warned us not to walk a couple blocks in a certain direction off campus due to high crime. Then we asked an admissions rep about the most popular major, and he couldn't answer the most basic questions about it. Told us to look on the website.

[Anonymous]

Wellesley was a huge letdown. We visited years ago when things had started to open up after the pandemic but were not completely back to normal. Oddly they had an in person info session in a room inside with us all crammed in (wearing masks at the time), but did not offer outdoor tours "due to the pandemic."

It was so illogical that they were obviously using the pandemic as an excuse not to offer tours. So we wandered around in a "self guided tour," got lost, got nothing out of it, and were bitter we went all that way. Did not apply.

Also turned off that they are not welcoming of gender expansive students. No that doesn't apply to my kid, but I didn't like the non inclusivity. Nor did she.

[Anonymous]

I added Smith onto visits to other schools as almost an afterthought. Well, it's a good thing I did. My DD just fell in love. Actually we all did. It just checked all the boxes. She's there now and very happy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not impressed by UVA tour.
VT tour was 100% better.
Kid still ended up at UVA and loves it there!

Our first UVA tour was a miss but it was our fault because we did it during summer (fewer students running around), it was miserably hot and humid, and we were tired having seen Wash & Lee (also miserably hot and humid) earlier in the day. But DC was up for a Jefferson Scholarship so we returned for a second tour during the school year and the experience was like night and day. Kid picked UVA over two Ivies and Georgia Tech for aerospace engineering and loves it there.

Subtle brag. Nice.

I dont think is is a brag at all. It's the reason they went back for a 2nd tour after not really liking it. Free + Stipend + network + special programming can make a real difference when looking at schools! BUT there were still more than a dozen kids this past spring that didn't chose UVA even with the Jeff offer.

[Anonymous]

Wide lists - 3 kids.

exceeded expectations:
Claremont Colleges
UCLA
GW
Bowdoin
Columbia
Middlebury
JHU
UNC
Yale
Rice

about what we expected/all positive:
GW
Princeton
Penn
Holy Cross
USC
Davidson

meh/came up short:
Villanova
Tufts
Amherst
UChicago
Bates
Colgate
Hamilton
Georgetown (x100)
Dartmouth
Harvard
BU
Swat

[Anonymous]

Many years ago now, but loved Dartmouth (campus, energy, tour); Mount Holyoke (beautiful campus; incredibly dynamic tour guide); Brandeis (ugly-ish architecture and Waltham is ho-hum, but really appreciated our tour guide and breadth of courses!)

Sarah Lawrence seemed like a high school. Just very unimpressive facilities. Vassar - got a cold, weirdly eerie vibe. Skidmore - ditto, plus the 1970s architecture. Kids seemed sleepy/low-energy.

NYU - no "there" there, but the location and access can't be beat for the right kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really didn't like Barnard. Something about the vibe was off and the location was terrible. It's like you get the worst of NYC but nothing great about it. The neighborhood doesn't have interesting things to walk to and you have to get on the subway to get to the good things in NY. A dorm was literally above a Shake Shack.

It's odd because Morningside Heights may not be the most interesting part of NYC, but if the amenities in that neighborhood were in any other college town it would be considered great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loved both UVA & WM. Kid attends UVA and is super happy with all aspects of her Hoo experience. She chose it over other top admits. Virginia residents are blessed to have great in-state options.

DD had the opposite reaction to UVA. She said it felt like a giant frat-party and also felt extremely impersonal. She compared to other large, state-flagship schools, which gave off the vide of being “diploma - mills.”

UVA is hardly a diploma mill. Good grief, do you even know what that means?? Giant frat-party - how would she get this feeling from a tour? Loads of Hoos don’t frequent frat parties or the bars, but rather they find entertainment in the vast happenings on Grounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wide lists - 3 kids.

exceeded expectations:
Claremont Colleges
UCLA
GW
Bowdoin
Columbia
Middlebury
JHU
UNC
Yale
Rice

about what we expected/all positive:
GW
Princeton
Penn
Holy Cross
USC
Davidson

meh/came up short:
Villanova
Tufts
Amherst
UChicago
Bates
Colgate
Hamilton
Georgetown (x100)
Dartmouth
Harvard
BU
Swat

How did Dartmouth come up short?