S/O - any disappointing tours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mixed feelings on Bates tour. They separated the kids from parents on the tour. Interesting concept but it didn’t over especially well. Kids were silent. Surrounding area also not a draw.

We toured Bares a couple of years ago and they did not do this. However, we toured on a Saturday morning and saw only 2-3 students. I would caution against Saturday morning tours!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We toured Smith and Mount Holyoke same day last summer. The former barely let us go inside (maybe a quick peek at library even though most buildings were empty) while the former let us into to multiple buildings. Big impact on my daughter’s impressions.

I have a Smithie. They have been very strict on covid protocols until this past year when they loosened a bit. Great school and my DD really loves it, but her experience has been so disrupted by Covid (she was HS class of 2020).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We visited multiple northeast colleges last summer and while most were perfectly decent, we were disappointed by two:

1. Vassar. Beautiful trees in the central part of campus but the buildings there were quite poorly maintained. Window-sills had flaking paint, and it gave the impression they were barely making ends meet.
2. Bard. We knew it had a quirky reputation, but the campus was downright ugly, both buildings as well as the "art" on the lawns. Nothing attractive about any of it.

Agree on Bard. Maybe it was the time of year but we did not see one smiling kid the whole tour. The campus did not feel welcoming either. It came off the list. I’m sure others might like it, but it was not for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M - wanted to love it, but it was the worst visit we had. My kid asked if we could leave halfway through the session - before we even had a tour.

CNU - seemed so quiet. The only place we saw kids was the dining hall and this was on a Friday afternoon.

Exact same experience for my daughter at W&M. She pretty much immediately wanted to leave.

[Anonymous]

Drexel. Huge disappointment. Embarrassingly bad valley girl-type guide. Questions couldn’t be answered. Congested walks. Unpleasant. Uninformative. Got in car and went home. DD did not apply

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M - wanted to love it, but it was the worst visit we had. My kid asked if we could leave halfway through the session - before we even had a tour.

CNU - seemed so quiet. The only place we saw kids was the dining hall and this was on a Friday afternoon.

Same for CNU. Also it was a turn off for DD that all the tour guides (I think there were 6 or 7 that day) were in Greek life and she doesn't want to do that. Adding to that they didn't even visit a science building on the tour, giving her the impression that the sciences are not a priority. It didn't make her list.

DP. CNU absolutely takes the sciences seriously. Our neighbor was in the Presidential Scholars and Pre-Med Scholars track and is now at Drexel for med school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to WVU for a tour, but we went so my husband could go to a game there and take our older daughter (the little one was a toddler at the time)

I agree with the assessment of the area - so run down. We eventually found the mall outside of town, but it was a very disappointing visit.

My husband went back with our then-teen a couple years later and some drunk townie who was probably our age was mouthing off to my daughter who was minding her own business. It was so bad that even the home fans (my family was there supporting the opposing team, but not obnoxiously) were telling the woman to shut her mouth and sit her behind down. I know it took everything in my husband, who is ex-military, not to grab that chick by the throat.

Yeah those townies really tell you what it’s like to be a student on campus. Same thing could’ve happened at Fenway if you were wearing Yankees garb. Bet you wouldn’t blame it on Harvard or BU.

+1
Same with Johns Hopkins, UChicago, Yale, etc. Every school has its own townies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to WVU for a tour, but we went so my husband could go to a game there and take our older daughter (the little one was a toddler at the time)

I agree with the assessment of the area - so run down. We eventually found the mall outside of town, but it was a very disappointing visit.

My husband went back with our then-teen a couple years later and some drunk townie who was probably our age was mouthing off to my daughter who was minding her own business. It was so bad that even the home fans (my family was there supporting the opposing team, but not obnoxiously) were telling the woman to shut her mouth and sit her behind down. I know it took everything in my husband, who is ex-military, not to grab that chick by the throat.

Yeah those townies really tell you what it’s like to be a student on campus. Same thing could’ve happened at Fenway if you were wearing Yankees garb. Bet you wouldn’t blame it on Harvard or BU.

+1
Same with Johns Hopkins, UChicago, Yale, etc. Every school has its own townies.

It does not reflect well on the school when a fan that is a grown woman gets tanked at a game and decides to scream at and loudly insult a 13 year old unprovoked

And how many townies go to games at the 3 schools you mention?

Look, I was sharing the impression our family has of the area based on a few visits. I think the surrounding area is pretty depressing. I just added the story because that further turned us off to the area. It isn’t a school we will be pursuing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M - wanted to love it, but it was the worst visit we had. My kid asked if we could leave halfway through the session - before we even had a tour.

CNU - seemed so quiet. The only place we saw kids was the dining hall and this was on a Friday afternoon.

Same for CNU. Also it was a turn off for DD that all the tour guides (I think there were 6 or 7 that day) were in Greek life and she doesn't want to do that. Adding to that they didn't even visit a science building on the tour, giving her the impression that the sciences are not a priority. It didn't make her list.

DP. CNU absolutely takes the sciences seriously. Our neighbor was in the Presidential Scholars and Pre-Med Scholars track and is now at Drexel for med school.

They definitely need to emphasize that more in their tours. All we seemed to hear about was "leadership", business, sports, Greek life. DD came away saying it seemed like the place the sporty, popular kids from her school would go.

[Anonymous]

Northeastern: Too scattered, felt like all they talked about was Co-ops. Did not feel like an academic institution and did not like the "campus." Liked BU a lot more.. felt more like a serious academic institution.

Dartmouth: Just came of as being too "fratty." Loved the town though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to WVU for a tour, but we went so my husband could go to a game there and take our older daughter (the little one was a toddler at the time)

I agree with the assessment of the area - so run down. We eventually found the mall outside of town, but it was a very disappointing visit.

My husband went back with our then-teen a couple years later and some drunk townie who was probably our age was mouthing off to my daughter who was minding her own business. It was so bad that even the home fans (my family was there supporting the opposing team, but not obnoxiously) were telling the woman to shut her mouth and sit her behind down. I know it took everything in my husband, who is ex-military, not to grab that chick by the throat.

Yeah those townies really tell you what it’s like to be a student on campus. Same thing could’ve happened at Fenway if you were wearing Yankees garb. Bet you wouldn’t blame it on Harvard or BU.

+1
Same with Johns Hopkins, UChicago, Yale, etc. Every school has its own townies.

It does not reflect well on the school when a fan that is a grown woman gets tanked at a game and decides to scream at and loudly insult a 13 year old unprovoked

And how many townies go to games at the 3 schools you mention?

Look, I was sharing the impression our family has of the area based on a few visits. I think the surrounding area is pretty depressing. I just added the story because that further turned us off to the area. It isn’t a school we will be pursuing.

And the point is that you don't have to attend games to encounter townies - just venturing out into some of these towns/cities will produce the same effect. Your one anecdote about one woman doesn't reflect on WVU as a whole - and I have no affiliation with them.

It reminds me of when a driver pulls a boneheaded move and people see the college sticker on that car and then badmouth that college - because of the one bad driver.

[Anonymous]

Northwestern. I really wanted to like it. Thought it might be a great fit. The guide was informative. But so full of himself. Can ignore that because he's one of thousands of students. The geographical location is great. On Lake Michigan. Can see Chicago in the distance. But the campus felt dismal and very cynical. The nice buildings on the lake are the meeting center for parents and potential students and the football complex, which is basically the Starship Enterprise. The rest of it seemed bleak. Students didn't seem particularly cheerful or happy. I know that's not a fair judgment, but first impressions are what they are. Evanston seemed fine. But that's the best I can say of it. It's fine.

WashU in St. Louis. Felt like a country club. I'm sure it's a very pleasant place to study. Wouldn't be surprised if students use golf carts to go from class to class. But, no.

Penn. Again, not a wonderful tour guide. Very privileged and not hiding it either. If you don't go to Wharton, there is no point to Penn. It dominates the school. I liked the campus, but the vibe seemed very stressful. Definitely for the type As who want to go to a target school and a pipeline to Wall Street. And no one else

Columbia. Even first time visitors can breathe the misery. That's after you walk through the clouds of cigarette smoke from the Chinese students

Schools we liked were Vanderbilt, McGill, Rice, and Notre Dame. The all seemed like pretty grounded places, but in different ways

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually was surprised how much we liked Vassar. But I think that Wesleyan does a tour that does not show itself in the best light. Have toured it with more than one kid and it seems great, but not because of the tour. Second time was during last year in the last days of Covid restrictions so we could not enter any buildings. That always hurts. But even pre-Covid, they did not seem to put their best foot forward.

I went to Wesleyan and took my kid on a tour last year and agree with that. Not being able to enter buildings made it hard to really see the campus and I thought it was odd they didn’t even mention the student center or go by it.

[Anonymous]

Dickinson and Lawrence were lackluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to WVU for a tour, but we went so my husband could go to a game there and take our older daughter (the little one was a toddler at the time)

I agree with the assessment of the area - so run down. We eventually found the mall outside of town, but it was a very disappointing visit.

My husband went back with our then-teen a couple years later and some drunk townie who was probably our age was mouthing off to my daughter who was minding her own business. It was so bad that even the home fans (my family was there supporting the opposing team, but not obnoxiously) were telling the woman to shut her mouth and sit her behind down. I know it took everything in my husband, who is ex-military, not to grab that chick by the throat.

Yeah those townies really tell you what it’s like to be a student on campus. Same thing could’ve happened at Fenway if you were wearing Yankees garb. Bet you wouldn’t blame it on Harvard or BU.

+1
Same with Johns Hopkins, UChicago, Yale, etc. Every school has its own townies.

It does not reflect well on the school when a fan that is a grown woman gets tanked at a game and decides to scream at and loudly insult a 13 year old unprovoked

And how many townies go to games at the 3 schools you mention?

Look, I was sharing the impression our family has of the area based on a few visits. I think the surrounding area is pretty depressing. I just added the story because that further turned us off to the area. It isn’t a school we will be pursuing.

How does it reflect at all on the school? The school isn’t responsible for her!