Anonymous
10/27/2025 18:45
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
We were blown away by Duke. Beautiful campus, great tour guide, and what seemed to be happy students out and about on the quads.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 18:12
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid loved Mizzou. The two tour guides (one for general campus, and the other for area of interest), both sent post cards with their contact info. The campus is beautiful (and flat!- no steep hills to hike), people are friendly, academic buildings are not too far apart, indoor lazy river, and cute downtown area is right next to campus. Also, rolling admission is great. Got accepted in ten days.
I know some Mizzou journalism grads. Talk about school pride! And they were from the NE which surprised me
That is my kid’s major. Automatic scholarship (gpa / sat scores) brings tuition to in-state (VA) price. Also, if student stays and works over the summer, they can get in -state tuition. Still going to wait for other results before commiting, but it is a wonderful choice so far.
Nice!! Congrats!!
Anonymous
10/27/2025 18:10
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:We all loved Colorado College. The two student tour guides were delightfully dorky, even the one that was a varsity athlete. DS said he could really see himself being friends with them. The location is incredible and the block plan is great for the right student.
I know many CC grads. All are from wealthy families. Make a good first impression, but all--without exception--were and are unusually self-centered. Too much privilege/wealth and too little real-world experience.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 18:07
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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?
so pretty - but admission session was very blah, then the tour was this guy who kept saying how really impossible it was to get in - and also the kids there were POPULAR and SOCIAL and EMPLOYABLE and COULD LOOK PEOPLE IN THE EYES unlike all the other Ivy League schools (I guess those Princeton and Harvard kids aren't popular or employable). Then we had lunch and - nothing changed my kids' minds. It was a v pretty day and a pretty campus in a pretty corner of the world
This is an accurate depiction of Dartmouth College in our experience. Kids acted like jerks when touring families passed by them. The admissions officer, female Dartmouth graduate, described the school--as a big cocktail party during the main presentation to a packe to capacity room. She was a touch condescending to some who asked questions. Went from top of the list to off the list.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:54
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid loved Mizzou. The two tour guides (one for general campus, and the other for area of interest), both sent post cards with their contact info. The campus is beautiful (and flat!- no steep hills to hike), people are friendly, academic buildings are not too far apart, indoor lazy river, and cute downtown area is right next to campus. Also, rolling admission is great. Got accepted in ten days.
I know some Mizzou journalism grads. Talk about school pride! And they were from the NE which surprised me
I have 2 friends from my college days who are married and professors at Mizzou. They seem happy there.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:54
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:“ VT has a hulking fortresssy military vibe.”
Yes! We felt that way about it too. We were shocked because we went in expecting to love it and because DD wants a STEM major. Nope. I felt like we were crossing Tiananmen Square when we had to cross that big military quad.
I didn't really like that either. Also the bus station was a turnoff. Who wants to spend your college experience commuting on a bus?
The buses are to take kids who live off-campus to and from their neighborhoods. You know, like at most major universities. The campus itself is very walkable.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:51
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Surprised how much we liked Davidson. We were in Charlotte for a wedding and took an extra day to tour the campus.
The tour guides were wonderful - we had two. Down to earth, knowledgeable, and really personal and open with details about their experiences there.
DS isn’t overly focused on SLACs - he just wants solid academics with strong school spirit and lots of other sporty kids who are interested in club and intramural sports.
Davidson seemed to fit that perfectly. Not nearly as “quirky” as we expected (sorry for the SLAC stereotype) and the whole vibe felt more down to earth than the other private schools we’ve toured (no excessively renovated buildings or silly extras that make us feel like they’re wasting money on superficial things.)
People seemed happy and we noticed that the groups of kids hanging out at the student center and in the library weren’t all homogenous. Kids had so many different looks/styles, which felt different than Wake Forest, for example, and weren’t segregated by type.
Curious what others experienced when visiting Davidson, or even better, what your kids are experiencing if they’re current students there.
+1 Your description is spot on! Our daughter just finished there and loved it!
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:50
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid loved Mizzou. The two tour guides (one for general campus, and the other for area of interest), both sent post cards with their contact info. The campus is beautiful (and flat!- no steep hills to hike), people are friendly, academic buildings are not too far apart, indoor lazy river, and cute downtown area is right next to campus. Also, rolling admission is great. Got accepted in ten days.
I know some Mizzou journalism grads. Talk about school pride! And they were from the NE which surprised me
That is my kid’s major. Automatic scholarship (gpa / sat scores) brings tuition to in-state (VA) price. Also, if student stays and works over the summer, they can get in -state tuition. Still going to wait for other results before commiting, but it is a wonderful choice so far.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:49
Subject: Re:Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Bowdoin
Bowdoin is an attractive small school in a nice, but very small, town. More like an elite NE prep boarding school than a college, but, if the student wants small, then Bowdoin should be given consideration.
High-schoolish aspects include administrators/teachers who will call the student if the student misses class. Also, everyone knows everybody else & their business. And you will see the same faces day-after-day as well as the same social cliques. Nevertheless, strong academics and a good fit for a cliquish type student.
Did not like Bowdoin College because it was/is too small (fewer than 1,800 students) and all the admissions director/ass't director ??? talked about was getting Goat's Head Soup in a different college town in Maine known for its Somali refugees. Weird. We wanted to hear about Bowdoin, not Lewiston, Maine (home to Bates College).
We felt a level of weirdness at Bowdoin too. By comparison, the Bates kids and admissions team feel pretty polished and charismatic. My expectations going in were completely the opposite.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:48
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Tulane. Terrible tour. There were 800 people there. It must have been unexpected because they had to move the tour from one auditorium to another. They started talking and kept referencing without explanation some film no one had seen. (Best guess, it was the opening but because they have to move everyone they didn't show it but also either didn't tell the speaker that or didn't adjust for this fact.). The actual tour was short and literally walked up and down one sidewalk with 800 other people in the way. There was nowhere to go and no one could hear the tour guide over all the other tour guides. Would we have liked it better if we had seen anything else (and I mean, we didn't see the inside of a single building other than the auditorium, we weren't walked outside a cafeteria, no dorm room, nothing)? I am not sure, we walked a bit on our own and it was not a pretty campus.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:43
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:My kid loved Mizzou. The two tour guides (one for general campus, and the other for area of interest), both sent post cards with their contact info. The campus is beautiful (and flat!- no steep hills to hike), people are friendly, academic buildings are not too far apart, indoor lazy river, and cute downtown area is right next to campus. Also, rolling admission is great. Got accepted in ten days.
I know some Mizzou journalism grads. Talk about school pride! And they were from the NE which surprised me
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:41
Subject: Re:Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:A lower ranked school that doesn’t get a lot of love on here, but my entire family loved Rhodes. I was surprised myself.
Stunning campus, small classes and engaged teachers and students, great pre med to med school track, a service/volunteer requirement to graduate, friendly kids who are neither too conservative or too ‘woke’ seeming, and in an interesting vibrant city, Memphis. (And yes, we know there’s crime in larger Memphis, the admission tour addressed it and advises students on what areas to avoid). Dc thought she wanted a SLAC, but so many of them are in small, boring towns. This school really hit the mark in so many ways.
+1 It's a great school, and I know quite a few grads--all very nice and smart! I so think Memphis crime is a big issue that's not being adequately addressed by Memphis leaders.
Memphis & New Orleans ranked as the bottom two out of 182 cities for safety issues. Both are quite dangerous, but New Orleans has a lot of good attributes as well.
And Memphis doesnt? Apparently you don’t like music! But yes, those cities - overall- have high crime rates. But Rhodes, as example, is enclosed and in a nice area of the city. I’ll note Berkeley is right by Oakland, an unsafe city by stats. Same with Washington U- St. Louis is one of the least safe cities in the US. And obviously USC gets no shortage of apps even though it is in a very sketchy part of LA.
The schools make safety a huge priority.
The reality is that if your kid wants to leave the nest, and live in a vibrant place with jobs and culture, they are going to likely end up in a place you’d call ‘unsafe’. My dc would never want to be in a small boring town.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:41
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:“ VT has a hulking fortresssy military vibe.”
Yes! We felt that way about it too. We were shocked because we went in expecting to love it and because DD wants a STEM major. Nope. I felt like we were crossing Tiananmen Square when we had to cross that big military quad.
DP. Oh, this is funny to me! Both my kids loved the gothic buildings and large, open green space. Different strokes!
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:40
Subject: Re:Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Still looking to visit ODU and UVA this week. Due to affordability, we are only looking in-state and I would welcome any other tips and suggestions.
There are states that offer OOS tuition, room & board that is equal to, if not less than, in-state VA prices. These schools are more along the lines”prestige” lines of ODU, UMW, CNU, etc not UVA, VT, etc however. And obviously there’s additional travel expenses.
But UNC-Pembroke & I think Western Carolina as well as the non-UGA/GT GA schools are $30k or less. Then the non-flagship Midwest state schools (one or 2 in MI, many in WI, I think I saw some in MO, etc) often are as well but that’s definitely a plane ride
Slippery Rock in PA has fairly affordable oos tuition.
My child also applied to Northern MI which had a grant for oos students to make tuition reasonable. I think Eastern Michigan has one tuition rate.
Others I remember looking at-I was looking at schools with a specific major from coast to coast, so these will seem random (not exhaustive, just the ones I remember):
Bridgewater in MA
Southeast Missouri (SEMO)
University of New Mexico
Colorado Mesa
Certain SUNY campuses
Salisbury in MD
Commonwealth in PA
Stockton in NJ
Some TX Universities (just found these last week trying to help another parent looking for sane major) - I think TX State and SFA
Southern Mississippi
Some privates also give enough merit to make them more reasonable. If your child isn’t shooting for top of the top, there are so many options.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 17:39
Subject: Schools you toured that you were surprised you liked or didn’t like?
My kid loved Mizzou. The two tour guides (one for general campus, and the other for area of interest), both sent post cards with their contact info. The campus is beautiful (and flat!- no steep hills to hike), people are friendly, academic buildings are not too far apart, indoor lazy river, and cute downtown area is right next to campus. Also, rolling admission is great. Got accepted in ten days.