So much depends on the day you go. When we showed up at Duke for our time slot, we were told that they would have no presentation available and only three tour guides for hundreds of people. Forget hearing the tour guide, we couldn’t even see her. Most of the visiting families dropped off and walked around independently.
We ate lunch in one of the dining halls, and a student cut in front me to order and another let a door slam on my kid. Very crowded.
Given the crush of people, my takeaway here would be to maybe wait for accepted students day to visit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takeaways from this- (have just seen multiple people report in this thread)

Schools that surprised people in a positive way:
Pitt
UMD
Columbia

Schools that surprised people in a negative way:
Tufts
Carnegie Mellon
Duke

Schools that went both ways- both exceeding expectations and falling short for different families:
Chicago
Northwestern
VTech
William and Mary

Takeaways from this

1. Schools that spurned my kid were much worse than we thought when we toured.
2. Schools that admitted my kid were just wonederful and much better than anticipated. Kid loved it!

BRAVA! Especially true re UVA bashing .. no surprise.

Why are criticisms of other schools valid but criticisms of UVA are bashing? It's ok that not everyone likes every school.

Baffled with this too. People are different. For example, my 10th grader really liked UVA and my 12th grader wasn't crazy about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takeaways from this- (have just seen multiple people report in this thread)

Schools that surprised people in a positive way:
Pitt
UMD
Columbia

Schools that surprised people in a negative way:
Tufts
Carnegie Mellon
Duke

Schools that went both ways- both exceeding expectations and falling short for different families:
Chicago
Northwestern
VTech
William and Mary

Takeaways from this

1. Schools that spurned my kid were much worse than we thought when we toured.
2. Schools that admitted my kid were just wonederful and much better than anticipated. Kid loved it!

BRAVA! Especially true re UVA bashing .. no surprise.

Why are criticisms of other schools valid but criticisms of UVA are bashing? It's ok that not everyone likes every school.

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.

Ffs, it’s a big open area! Like big open areas everywhere. No tanks.

Right??

Tiananman Square: https://www.historyhit.com/app/uploads/bis-images/5158109/Tiananmen-Square_Shutterstock-1576x1074.jpg

VT Drill field: https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-google&sca_esv=6b0b75a31f80727a&sxsrf=AE3TifNAUpzt5psqh4EV_BJFgOCs6Hvtag:1761660126419&q=drillfield+photos&uds=AOm0WdH-wIrabr5mvplj19WaF4t1HjDfk-MGRH4QSOFMVQim3M5q3npCtT4Vqqtip_YQV04krbH_aCu-9bKHmL0Rs_qPnD819iE8GOMeW4t6ebPSaaSlVkUAe6g1H2pfEFePrWTKerPOfYrNo9ZrfXp5onz-i_oHBwdMZd74iU6IVawcy89AeoDVPcpm3ND6SNPuMal5iIGT7lOOt3TBBTm2BTISVurZv---DUslXnU6OcZmjYv5tzyJFIqQ1rtN87ZT3B2N2PuD4bRAgwavtk0hmnWxYRN8cESjUpfEzWfKB77s0anPXjozqB7E0a7niW8XxJA-GtgG1kz_fv0isfKSnbuVVXcQFK5SZ_-ZvAvJr8VVJ5TZroB8_aNt1XpV8zrqKg30rjEWheAxd6FT2oFlcPeRGA5_RrwevmJyuYCY7PGw-gLSkMrrnFQPl6yPSkt6B8J9D55A2BIV8RxT3eRU0VoFYi10BemSA1jweWGpnWOs2_jmh7kGHYxzXaVtPIQ4_Iok-ZWR6adppUpULsEWJvt5RPUIb6d1VLVXqpYowrM-iHQhecdN-XkGFcIfWN1EcIkqVAPEf-fAryuyODqxrECQb0O9Zmjv5_7qB3J3G1DiFQUZbYXwsoXXLZSWkzgJrI_dc6Nv&si=AMgyJEt2EwVz6zeEPK_5VxVPECBZln5g4T05eb1Q8l0UsjkESE9eiW0Tv1nXxTmk_jsCzW4mibSk8NYS8IMP6trEUENyC09w1Em72miOHZkYiEamEa0Aw6j0T0IAmGSzCRgV4ykK0u4D&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiojrOwh8eQAxVwF1kFHSGTHYcQk8gLegQIHhAB&ictx=1&stq=1&cs=1&lei=3swAaainGfCu5NoPoab2uAg#ebo=1&lpg=cid:CgIgAQ%3D%3D,ik:CAoSF0NJSE0wb2dLRUlDQWdJQ2UxZUNPNEFF

Anonymous wrote:We were blown away by Duke. Beautiful campus, great tour guide, and what seemed to be happy students out and about on the quads.

Same - so impressive!

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.

Ffs, it’s a big open area! Like big open areas everywhere. No tanks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely loved Stanford.

-Mediterranean weather
-Spanish architecture
-proximity to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe
-palm trees galore
-non football sports culture

Stanford is very close to SF but not that close to Tahoe. It's 4 hour drive without traffic.

It’s not even that close to SF. It’s like 45 mins if you have a car?

Caltrain goes from Palo Alto to SF in 30 minutes- no need for a car.
As for Tahoe, it’s indeed a 4 hour drive but I can’t think of any peer college that can get you that close to alpine skiing (sorry Vermont doesn’t come close)

um Dartmouth has it own ski area.

Not in the least bit comparable to skiing in the Sierras

A bit closer though

Anonymous wrote:JHU: we thought this would be an intense and dull campus but not really. we saw kids in coffee shops and lunch places, and we can see light in their eyes.

Tour guide was super energetic, but not polished like at other places Georgetown or Williams.

Prospective students in our group are on the more nerdy side. Interesting contrast with current students on campus. Maybe they screen out, or maybe they change them.

We were also impressed by JHU.

Anonymous wrote:Brown - we didn’t like it.

Wesleyan. Assumed it would be too woke for dc, but dc loved it

Too woke? your DC wouldn’t have been accepted to Brown anyway.

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely loved Stanford.

-Mediterranean weather
-Spanish architecture
-proximity to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe
-palm trees galore
-non football sports culture

I didn't love Stanford. Campus is sprawling and architecture felt fake. Just felt odd. I did like the sand volleyball.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takeaways from this- (have just seen multiple people report in this thread)

Schools that surprised people in a positive way:
Pitt
UMD
Columbia

Schools that surprised people in a negative way:
Tufts
Carnegie Mellon
Duke

Schools that went both ways- both exceeding expectations and falling short for different families:
Chicago
Northwestern
VTech
William and Mary

Takeaways from this

1. Schools that spurned my kid were much worse than we thought when we toured.
2. Schools that admitted my kid were just wonederful and much better than anticipated. Kid loved it!

BRAVA! Especially true re UVA bashing .. no surprise.

Anonymous wrote: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.

On recent visits, Vassar was, indeed, weirdly eerie; Skidmore gave a positive impression, however.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVM - almost skipped visit, we knew would be lovely to look at but I guessed would be too lefty/crunchy for my kid who I perceived to be more middle-of-road. It ended up being his top choice (choosing between there and UMass) and so far he is loving his first year.

My kid is a freshman at UVM too and it has exceeded our expectations, especially in how accessible professors are. Introductory math and science classes are smaller and more participatory/less lecture-y than we expected too.

Agree - it was love at first sight at UVM!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takeaways from this- (have just seen multiple people report in this thread)

Schools that surprised people in a positive way:
Pitt
UMD
Columbia

Schools that surprised people in a negative way:
Tufts
Carnegie Mellon
Duke

Schools that went both ways- both exceeding expectations and falling short for different families:
Chicago
Northwestern
VTech
William and Mary

Takeaways from this

1. Schools that spurned my kid were much worse than we thought when we toured.
2. Schools that admitted my kid were just wonederful and much better than anticipated. Kid loved it!

Most people tour before acceptances

Anonymous wrote:Takeaways from this- (have just seen multiple people report in this thread)

Schools that surprised people in a positive way:
Pitt
UMD
Columbia

Schools that surprised people in a negative way:
Tufts
Carnegie Mellon
Duke

Schools that went both ways- both exceeding expectations and falling short for different families:
Chicago
Northwestern
VTech
William and Mary

Takeaways from this

1. Schools that spurned my kid were much worse than we thought when we toured.
2. Schools that admitted my kid were just wonederful and much better than anticipated. Kid loved it!