Anonymous
Post 03/04/2021 09:05     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:This thread is making me want to cancel our college visits on spring break. The weather won’t be good enough for the schools to get a fair consideration! Can’t decide.


Don't cancel. We've hit up a couple in the past two weeks, and it is SO MUCH NICER seeing at least some kids on campus compared with the fall, when there was barely anyone. What they're seeing now isn't the full picture, but we're getting there.

Just make sure your visits don't coincide with the colleges' spring break.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2021 08:30     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Harvard. One of the most unimpressive, inarticulate tour guides we had anywhere. The overall event felt like they were phoning it in and didn't care what people thought.


Interesting- I expected to hate this tour/info session and to my surprise was really impressed by ours. It’s not like Harvard needs to put a big effort in to these tours, but I thought they did a great job. Only thing I didn’t like is the crowd size, probably at least 800 people so it really did feel like the tourist activity that it is. My dd didn’t end up applying there in the end but we both came away with a more favorable view of Harvard than we expected to.


Harvard and Cambridge are incredible. And who decides on a school based on the tour guide? I’m surprised so many people are swayed by that instead of the feel and look of the campus.


My DD literally loved/hated schools based on tour guide. Drove me crazy.
Brown: "She was so nice!"
Dartmouth: "He was sooooo weird, no way am I going to school with people like that."
CMU: "I liked her clothes and she was friendly."
Case: "He seemed normal."

A little bit of an exaggeration on my part but not that far off.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2021 08:25     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Davidson College. Don’t know why exactly but my DCs hated it.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2021 02:53     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We visited Chicago and Northwestern on a very cold weekend, and both those schools dropped off DS’s list. DD crossed St. Lawrence off her list because it is so remote and Clark because it is in a pretty gritty part of Worcester.


It's true St. Lawrence is difficult to get to and there is nothing there. My kid struck it off the list after attending their committed student's day. Kid is very mature and serious about academics and kid's field of interest. The school counselor who was kid's contact was so bad that it influenced him to drop it off the list. They clearly have a hard time hiring staff and hire people who have no clue about dealing with college students. Some of the staff acted like it was a boarding school for jeuvenile delinquints and were very unpleasant to the students and parents. Kid had arranged to speak with a professor in kid's subject area and missed the meeting because of counselor. She actually tried to stop me from walking outside after the parent's lunch as if I was in high school. It was just bizarre.

We had the exact opposite experience with SLU. Very organized and friendly orientation and tour. The admissions director who led it remembered a little something about each prospective student and addressed that interest in her talk. The tour guide also went to certain locations she knew would interest the kids (for instance, she made sure to point out the science building to the one who said he wanted to major in chemistry and we spent some time in their beautiful hockey arena for the sports fans). The real winning point for me was that it is a true SLAC. The Freshman Year Program with its built-in living communities is just what DD was looking for. It’s in a remote location, yes. If you don’t love the outdoors and rural environment, it’s not the school for you. However, it made quite an impression on DD and she’s strongly considering it.

As for Clark and Holy Cross, neither of us liked Worcester and we couldn’t justify either of them. It seemed like a big city with nothing to do.





Anonymous
Post 03/03/2021 01:04     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Harvard. One of the most unimpressive, inarticulate tour guides we had anywhere. The overall event felt like they were phoning it in and didn't care what people thought.


Interesting- I expected to hate this tour/info session and to my surprise was really impressed by ours. It’s not like Harvard needs to put a big effort in to these tours, but I thought they did a great job. Only thing I didn’t like is the crowd size, probably at least 800 people so it really did feel like the tourist activity that it is. My dd didn’t end up applying there in the end but we both came away with a more favorable view of Harvard than we expected to.


Harvard and Cambridge are incredible. And who decides on a school based on the tour guide? I’m surprised so many people are swayed by that instead of the feel and look of the campus.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2021 00:01     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Florida State - we went over Christmas because we were already in Florida. It literally rained the whole weekend and was chilly. And of course the campus was deserted. I was able to see past that, but my daughter was not. We weren't too impressed with Tallahassee either. Funny thing is that my niece went to FSU and absolutely loved it.

UNC-Wilmington - campus was nice but there was nothing nearby. It was like right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Also saw little diversity. Drove to downtown Wilmington and lots of homeless were walking around. Expected to really like it. Didn't even apply.

Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 23:32     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:We visited Chicago and Northwestern on a very cold weekend, and both those schools dropped off DS’s list. DD crossed St. Lawrence off her list because it is so remote and Clark because it is in a pretty gritty part of Worcester.


It's true St. Lawrence is difficult to get to and there is nothing there. My kid struck it off the list after attending their committed student's day. Kid is very mature and serious about academics and kid's field of interest. The school counselor who was kid's contact was so bad that it influenced him to drop it off the list. They clearly have a hard time hiring staff and hire people who have no clue about dealing with college students. Some of the staff acted like it was a boarding school for jeuvenile delinquints and were very unpleasant to the students and parents. Kid had arranged to speak with a professor in kid's subject area and missed the meeting because of counselor. She actually tried to stop me from walking outside after the parent's lunch as if I was in high school. It was just bizarre.






Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 21:49     Subject: Re:What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
I thought Fordham's Rose Hill campus was lovely, but the surrounding neighborhood was awful. Garbage piled sky high. Ditto at LaSalle and Seton Hall, depressing neighborhoods with a not very appealing campus.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 21:30     Subject: Re:What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
UMD
GW (and my DH is an alum)
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 20:31     Subject: Re:What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Dartmouth, that crazy racist SOB Theodore Seuss Geisel went there. Crazy old white man impersonated a Doctor and was in a "frat" which probably contributed to his racist books. Dartmouth is a low class Ivy and complete trash, totally turned me off.


Really hope this is sarcasm, but considering it’s DCUM, probably not.


It was sarcasm...the fact you questioned it says a lot about the people on this site though...sad.


PP here. Exactly what I meant! Glad it was not serious.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 20:07     Subject: Re:What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Dartmouth, that crazy racist SOB Theodore Seuss Geisel went there. Crazy old white man impersonated a Doctor and was in a "frat" which probably contributed to his racist books. Dartmouth is a low class Ivy and complete trash, totally turned me off.


Really hope this is sarcasm, but considering it’s DCUM, probably not.


It was sarcasm...the fact you questioned it says a lot about the people on this site though...sad.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 19:57     Subject: Re:What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:Dartmouth, that crazy racist SOB Theodore Seuss Geisel went there. Crazy old white man impersonated a Doctor and was in a "frat" which probably contributed to his racist books. Dartmouth is a low class Ivy and complete trash, totally turned me off.


Really hope this is sarcasm, but considering it’s DCUM, probably not.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 19:40     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:This thread is making me want to cancel our college visits on spring break. The weather won’t be good enough for the schools to get a fair consideration! Can’t decide.


Is your child a junior or senior? If a senior then that could be an important trip. Junior? Up to you.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 19:30     Subject: Re:What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
Anonymous wrote:Dartmouth, that crazy racist SOB Theodore Seuss Geisel went there. Crazy old white man impersonated a Doctor and was in a "frat" which probably contributed to his racist books. Dartmouth is a low class Ivy and complete trash, totally turned me off.


The post above is a drastic exaggeration but DS and I felt the same when we visited Dartmouth. Dropped off his list pretty fast.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2021 17:16     Subject: What school dropped off the list because of your visit?
This thread is making me want to cancel our college visits on spring break. The weather won’t be good enough for the schools to get a fair consideration! Can’t decide.