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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We loved Virginia Tech. The campus is cohesive and contained, even for a larger school - very walkable and beautiful.

Beautiful but very remote.

Blacksburg is remote? Weird.
You must not get out of the D.C. area much.
There’s much more to Virginia beyond Northern Va and so much more to see past Charlottesville.

It's remote

+1 we couldn’t even work up the will to visit. It’s so far out there and it’s not really on the way to anything. I know it’s a great school that many, many people love, but the location was a big factor for not applying for both my kid and myself back in my day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We loved Virginia Tech. The campus is cohesive and contained, even for a larger school - very walkable and beautiful.

Interesting. I didn't like it much. The bus station ruined it for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA- all of us did not like it.
Pretty campus- but vibe all wrong and students didn’t seem that intellectual on a whole. The latter really surprised us. We had been to several admitted days from other schools so had a lot to compare.

Honestly curious how you rate the "intellectualism" of a student body while on an admissions tour?

[Anonymous]

I really liked McGill. We toured at the end of summer when freshmen first arrived on campus. And they had all these activities and competitions and what not for the new students to quickly build community.

And of course the weather was perfect and Montreal is such a cool city. The tour guide was very chill and very funny. The school is great. The location is perfect at the base of Mount Royal. It's a city school, but you get a good nature hike just going up the hill.

If DC hadn't gotten into his ED school, I would have pushed hard for McGill. Of course, it's probably more useful for potential students to visit Montreal in January and not the end of August when everything is glorious.

[Anonymous]

DD applied to JMU, at my behest, regular decision. It was the last school she applied to, and the last school she was admitted to. And the last school she visited.

We put our deposit down today, and couldn’t be happier. We loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Toured a lot of schools between all kids and have to say I genuinely liked all. Some had prettier campuses, locations, better tour guides, impressive admissions presentations and the like, but all had something to appreciate. I found that comforting, most kids can be very happy at many places. We’re fortunate to have so many options.

I agree also! I think people are nitpicking. Most of the schools named so far are excellent. Admissions tours and facilities have never been better on campuses. My DD had a very difficult time narrowing her choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disliked BC. The admissions presentation wasn’t a presentation, just an hour where 200 people had the opportunity to randomly ask questions that only mattered to them.

Left feeling like BC’s perspective was “if you feel like you deserve a presentation on what makes us interesting or unique we are too good for you.” Blech.

We had a similar impression with SAIC. The admissions director giving the presentation was so dry. She was an alum but for all the “we’re the most influential art school” talk, she was very, very corporate.

We did a DePaul visit on the same trip and were blown away. Super supportive, amazing film and theatre schools, and students who were “not weird” (dc’s words).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did a lot of tours. We liked these schools less after the tour, mostly because the vibe and campus was different than imagined:

Wisconsin-Madison
Virginia Tech
Northeastern
Washington & Lee

We liked more:
UCLA
Boston College
Northwestern
UVA
William & Mary

Are you serious about UW Madison? The lakes! The terrace! The AMAZING farmers market!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We loved Virginia Tech. The campus is cohesive and contained, even for a larger school - very walkable and beautiful.

Beautiful but very remote.

Blacksburg is remote? Weird.
You must not get out of the D.C. area much.
There’s much more to Virginia beyond Northern Va and so much more to see past Charlottesville.

There is nothing going on in Blacksburg. It’s a very sleepy small town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really liked McGill. We toured at the end of summer when freshmen first arrived on campus. And they had all these activities and competitions and what not for the new students to quickly build community.

And of course the weather was perfect and Montreal is such a cool city. The tour guide was very chill and very funny. The school is great. The location is perfect at the base of Mount Royal. It's a city school, but you get a good nature hike just going up the hill.

If DC hadn't gotten into his ED school, I would have pushed hard for McGill. Of course, it's probably more useful for potential students to visit Montreal in January and not the end of August when everything is glorious.

Yeah you fell into the trap! Montreal is so, so glorious from mid-May or early June through early October. And then, it's the wind, rain, snow, freezing rain, windchill olympics. Never understood why the academic year was run from Sept-April only. Most students who go home for summer miss the best 3-4 months of the year weatherwise when all of Montreal comes out of hiding and the city comes alive and the poor kids have to live through the worst Nov-March.

But yeah, barring winter it's a fantastic city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We loved Virginia Tech. The campus is cohesive and contained, even for a larger school - very walkable and beautiful.

Beautiful but very remote.

Blacksburg is remote? Weird.
You must not get out of the D.C. area much.
There’s much more to Virginia beyond Northern Va and so much more to see past Charlottesville.

+1
We loved the location of Blacksburg. The mountains are so beautiful and it's such a nice place for a college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We loved Virginia Tech. The campus is cohesive and contained, even for a larger school - very walkable and beautiful.

Interesting. I didn't like it much. The bus station ruined it for me.

That's... interesting. Such a non-factor on a very nice campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD applied to JMU, at my behest, regular decision. It was the last school she applied to, and the last school she was admitted to. And the last school she visited.

We put our deposit down today, and couldn’t be happier. We loved it.

We love JMU too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We loved Virginia Tech. The campus is cohesive and contained, even for a larger school - very walkable and beautiful.

Beautiful but very remote.

Blacksburg is remote? Weird.
You must not get out of the D.C. area much.
There’s much more to Virginia beyond Northern Va and so much more to see past Charlottesville.

There is nothing going on in Blacksburg. It’s a very sleepy small town.

DP. There's a lot going on in Blacksburg for the students at VT. My DC was just detailing all the things she did this weekend. A lot of people aren't interested in going to an urban school. Aren't we lucky there's something for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We loved Virginia Tech. The campus is cohesive and contained, even for a larger school - very walkable and beautiful.

Beautiful but very remote.

Blacksburg is remote? Weird.
You must not get out of the D.C. area much.
There’s much more to Virginia beyond Northern Va and so much more to see past Charlottesville.

It's remote

Ok. I get that you think it’s remote, but thousands of students love Blacksburg. Sometimes getting away from metro DC for four years is really nice.

Yeah, but it’s remote. It's OK to admit that.