Jon Stewart is a WM alum who has famously said he hated his time there.

Anonymous wrote:William and Mary- loved, thought it would feel kind of provincial, instead felt a bit nerdy, academic and charming, in a good way

W&M is a nerd school in the best possible way. I've never run into a W&M alum who had negative things to say about it, but "sweet, lovable nerd" would be a great description for most of them. Being from that corner of the commonwealth, I'm also a sucker for Colonial Williamsburg lit up for Christmas.

Anonymous wrote:MIT was underwhelming.

Did you think the students looked unhappy?

Anonymous wrote:Did not like RPI. On paper it checked all our boxes, but DC was really turned off by the campus (and Troy).

Really liked Clarkson. One of the best, most welcoming tours and the students were so friendly -- DC was invited to dinner and ended up spending the whole evening with one of the tour guides. Wasn't a top choice because of location, but it came close.

Really liked WPI, despite Worcester not being the nicest city. Strong campus feel and the IQP and ability to go abroad is really unique among engineering schools.

RPI gave me really bad vibes. I can’t explain it. I had a strong feeling that my child should not go there.

Anonymous wrote:What are good times to do college visits? These posts make me realize we really need to visit a bunch of schools on the early side. DS thinks he know what he is looking for (big state flagship with great sports (as a fan) and great academics) but it sounds like so many people were so wrong about what they thought they wanted. I think it is just that so far my kids' only exposure to colleges in any way has been college sports.

Plan to go during the college school year when the kids are there!

You’ll get a much better sense than if you go in the summer when the campus is empty.

Start fall of Junior year. Unfortunately, colleges don’t tend to do tours on the weekends, so use your three day weekends. Be sure to check the college calendars to get sure they’re giving tours the day you plan to be there. And book those tours in advance.

As you build a list, pay attention to which schools highly weigh “demonstrated interest.” Do your research on-line first, and if you think DC is interested in a high DI school, make it a priority to go visit!

Finally, we did three different trips during the fall of senior year. All during long weekends. DC missed a couple of days of school because of travel time, but I’m glad we made the effort vs. visiting over the summer. Very different vibe when you get to see a busy and full campus.

To be fair, if cost was actually the driving factor and the schools were competitive, it would almost certainly be more cost effective to apply widely (paying the application fee) and then limit the visits to accepted place. Again, I’m not advising it but I’m not sure that the application fee is terribly relevant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are good times to do college visits? These posts make me realize we really need to visit a bunch of schools on the early side. DS thinks he know what he is looking for (big state flagship with great sports (as a fan) and great academics) but it sounds like so many people were so wrong about what they thought they wanted. I think it is just that so far my kids' only exposure to colleges in any way has been college sports.

If it is not because of ED or REA, I see no urgent need to visit schools before receiving acceptance. Kids can apply to many schools without visits for EA or RD. This is why at some level I really think that ED or REA is just putting unnecessary pressure on kids and families, to find out as much information before hands and commit to that. The Rice admission director basically said that when a kid apply ED, they know that you are committed to come, so they are trying to build a case to admit you, by focusing on the positives and giving credits of doubts on the negatives.

I'm not paying for application fees for schools my kid isn't at all interested in. I see too many kids who just start applying like they're free apps when they get bored waiting for their first choice to get back to them. Waste of time and money, and creates pointless work for admissions to get back to the kids who actually want to go there. It's not that hard to visit a few schools to get a sense of what your kid's target schools are rather than spamming applications out sight unseen.

This is for my two kids who are very different.
Miami - gorgeous campus. Great area. Very pricy

Tampa - gorgeous campus but no school spirit and students seemed focus on the beach

Flagler - too small. Very closed in feeling.

Duke - did not like that freshman lived “off campus”.


UVA - expected to love it but just liked it. Vibe was not what they were expecting.

JMU - too big. Campus was too spread out.

W&L - surprised by this school. Nice campus. Walkable to town. Liked the academic feel.

CNU - gorgeous campus and easy access to professors/deans.

W&M - no views here. They have grandparents that live nearby so they knew school very well, before the tour. Said no to it due to familiarity.

Mary Washington - DD loved it. I found it to be average. But the area is nice.

Gettysburg- mixed feel. Liked the campus. But seemed that the layout was hodge podge. Cute town.

Lebanon Valley and Elizabethtown. DD and I were surprised by these schools. DD liked the attention by the schools and I think DD likes the idea of a big fish in a small pond.

Lafayette - great school and campus. DD is not STEM so not the right fit.

Vassar - I loved it. DD felt like it was way too academic focused. This is surprising as my DD is very focused on school.

Williams - loved the campus. Great views. Cute street. Worried about being out of place from an economic perspective.

Randolph Macon - the best of all of them. That is me speaking not my kids. Gotta stand up for my alma mater. Kids have said no to it, as they are too familiar with the school and want to go somewhere “new”. Which is understandable.

DS is a freshman at one of these schools and DD is a junior in high school. We finished a big tour weekend at the beginning of November with her.

I thought my kid would love Middlebury but not urban enough for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Went with my kid to Rice. I think this is it, it has it all and I am a very picky people. The nice safe campus with big old trees, friendly and curious students stopping to ask if we need help finding our way. Clear blue sky with mild weather. Eventhough it is in the middle of Houston, off campus Rice Village just looks like a college town with student friendly food and shopping. I suddenly felt sad that it is real now that my kid is leaving me. He has a good chance getting to get in if he ED2. I just felt a bit overwhelmed that this could be it!!

+ Loved Rice.

I posted way earlier in this thread. My kid is at Rice now and loving it. Good luck to your son!

I was surprised how much my kid hated tufts. They also didnt like northeastern. Pleasantly surprised by johns hopkins campus - not sure what i expected but it was really nice. Penn was an instant hit with my kid - they loved the campus, the academics, vibe, the city. Had great tour guide and weather. We made a 2nd visit early fall of senior year to confirm before applying ed, and kid still loved it. Kid is currently a freshman there!

Anonymous wrote:Went with my kid to Rice. I think this is it, it has it all and I am a very picky people. The nice safe campus with big old trees, friendly and curious students stopping to ask if we need help finding our way. Clear blue sky with mild weather. Eventhough it is in the middle of Houston, off campus Rice Village just looks like a college town with student friendly food and shopping. I suddenly felt sad that it is real now that my kid is leaving me. He has a good chance getting to get in if he ED2. I just felt a bit overwhelmed that this could be it!!

+ Loved Rice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are good times to do college visits? These posts make me realize we really need to visit a bunch of schools on the early side. DS thinks he know what he is looking for (big state flagship with great sports (as a fan) and great academics) but it sounds like so many people were so wrong about what they thought they wanted. I think it is just that so far my kids' only exposure to colleges in any way has been college sports.

If it is not because of ED or REA, I see no urgent need to visit schools before receiving acceptance. Kids can apply to many schools without visits for EA or RD. This is why at some level I really think that ED or REA is just putting unnecessary pressure on kids and families, to find out as much information before hands and commit to that. The Rice admission director basically said that when a kid apply ED, they know that you are committed to come, so they are trying to build a case to admit you, by focusing on the positives and giving credits of doubts on the negatives.

There is no way my kids could have built a list without visiting in person. Some schools that looked good on paper were a vehement no after a visit.

Same here. I’m glad they didn’t waste their time and energy applying to schools that they absolutely did not like in person.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are good times to do college visits? These posts make me realize we really need to visit a bunch of schools on the early side. DS thinks he know what he is looking for (big state flagship with great sports (as a fan) and great academics) but it sounds like so many people were so wrong about what they thought they wanted. I think it is just that so far my kids' only exposure to colleges in any way has been college sports.

If it is not because of ED or REA, I see no urgent need to visit schools before receiving acceptance. Kids can apply to many schools without visits for EA or RD. This is why at some level I really think that ED or REA is just putting unnecessary pressure on kids and families, to find out as much information before hands and commit to that. The Rice admission director basically said that when a kid apply ED, they know that you are committed to come, so they are trying to build a case to admit you, by focusing on the positives and giving credits of doubts on the negatives.

There is no way my kids could have built a list without visiting in person. Some schools that looked good on paper were a vehement no after a visit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are good times to do college visits? These posts make me realize we really need to visit a bunch of schools on the early side. DS thinks he know what he is looking for (big state flagship with great sports (as a fan) and great academics) but it sounds like so many people were so wrong about what they thought they wanted. I think it is just that so far my kids' only exposure to colleges in any way has been college sports.

If it is not because of ED or REA, I see no urgent need to visit schools before receiving acceptance. Kids can apply to many schools without visits for EA or RD. This is why at some level I really think that ED or REA is just putting unnecessary pressure on kids and families, to find out as much information before hands and commit to that. The Rice admission director basically said that when a kid apply ED, they know that you are committed to come, so they are trying to build a case to admit you, by focusing on the positives and giving credits of doubts on the negatives.

To be fair, I worked in admissions at a couple of universities, and we also took the overall approach of focusing on the positive and building a case for each student, even in regular decision. We didn't open a file with the goal of finding disqualifying information. It might be different at a school with a 3 or 4% acceptance rate, though.