It’s silly, but agree with PPs that the weather can make a big difference in perceptions.

I remember doing one of my college tours at Bucknell during a snowfall. You would think that might have made me dislike it, but I liked it more because it just made everything look so pretty. I didn't wind up there, but I have fond memories of my tour that day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dickinson and Lawrence were lackluster.

We actually really were impressed by Dickinson unexpectedly. I think so much depends on when you tour and whether kids are walking around, the weather - I took my kid to the school we were hoping he would like on a good weather day (we cancelled a previous trip when I realized it would rain)

+1 Last spring break, DD saw Allegheny college in a rainstorm and thought it was blah and two days later saw Dickinson on a sunny Spring day with all the trees in bloom and thought it was great. We definitely talked about separating out the weather impressions from specific aspects of what the school offers. We also had earlier done a summer tour at another college and learned not to do that again -- nobody around and blazing hot. Not an accurate read on the vibe of the school.

Loved the actual city of Boston but Boston University did not feel like a college. You can't tell what part of the city is BU and what isn't. You'll walk down a busy city street and happen to see a "Boston University" sign on a building and realize it's BU and then walk down another block and see another BU building. There is no campus.

Anonymous wrote:Leigh - didn't like the physical layout of the school at all, tour guide was nice, but we got the impression there is a tension between the townies and the students

Tufts - similar layout to Leigh, guide was okay, but more notably the only school who didn't have an AO meet with the tour group before or after the tour for an information session/Q&A. That was a turn off.

UVA - we'd always heard it was such a beautiful school and were shocked after the tour when we all agreed it was meh

This was our exact reaction. We were shocked because we had always heard UVA's campus was so beautiful. But IF dc gets into UVA, she will go. Good price.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dickinson and Lawrence were lackluster.

We actually really were impressed by Dickinson unexpectedly. I think so much friends on when you tour and whether kids are walking around, the weather - I took my kid to the school we were hoping he would like on a good weather day (we cancelled a previous trip when I realized it would rain)

We had an underwhelming tour guide at Dickinson but liked the info session a lot and really enjoyed the surrounding town. That exceeded expectations.

That was meant to be “depends on”

Anonymous wrote:Dickinson and Lawrence were lackluster.

We actually really were impressed by Dickinson unexpectedly. I think so much friends on when you tour and whether kids are walking around, the weather - I took my kid to the school we were hoping he would like on a good weather day (we cancelled a previous trip when I realized it would rain)

Leigh - didn't like the physical layout of the school at all, tour guide was nice, but we got the impression there is a tension between the townies and the students

Tufts - similar layout to Leigh, guide was okay, but more notably the only school who didn't have an AO meet with the tour group before or after the tour for an information session/Q&A. That was a turn off.

UVA - we'd always heard it was such a beautiful school and were shocked after the tour when we all agreed it was meh

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited multiple northeast colleges last summer and while most were perfectly decent, we were disappointed by two:

1. Vassar. Beautiful trees in the central part of campus but the buildings there were quite poorly maintained. Window-sills had flaking paint, and it gave the impression they were barely making ends meet.
2. Bard. We knew it had a quirky reputation, but the campus was downright ugly, both buildings as well as the "art" on the lawns. Nothing attractive about any of it.

Agree on Bard. Maybe it was the time of year but we did not see one smiling kid the whole tour. The campus did not feel welcoming either. It came off the list. I’m sure others might like it, but it was not for my kid.

Mine thought the campus was too spread out. But, man, the view from that mansion/lawn -- absolutely stunning!

It felt like a boarding high school to us for some reason. The surrounding area was beautiful, though. It was definitely spread out, especially if you went to the arts section.

UVA. I felt that the campus and immediate surrounding area was very overrated.

W&M pre-tour presentation given by admissions staff was incredibly boring and full of jargon, sleep inducing and did not give this amazing school it's due.
However, the tour itself led by students was fantastic, the campus is stunning, the instruction, internships etc etc are tops, and my DC is now attending & very very happy!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Princeton. The guide was disinterested and seemed to know they had no need to sell the school. He wasn't wrong though. Dartmouth seemed to emphasize how depressing the weather was, but I appreciated that because I think those winters can really blindside kids from this area.

Our Princeton tour wasn't disappointing, but didn't appreciate legacy guide whose legacy parents married at chapel. Now given admissions results at our school, just adds to message that it's a club. Too bad, the school seems like a great idea. (ps - DC didn't apply based on location - so no sour grapes here)

Luck of the draw with tour guides. Our guide at Princeton was great and the school is gorgeous. UPenn was terrible but in 2022 they were still not doing in person tours and most buildings were off limits, allegedly due to Covid. It looks like the in-person tours have resumed now.

our upenn tour was terrible too, but i assumed it was just a luck of the draw tour guide.
columbia tour had about 80 people on it; was kinda crazy. guide was great but didn't get a good sense of the school with 80:1 ratio.

We toured Columbia and it was at the end of spring break junior year school, school #6 of the week. We ended up seeing a classmate of my kid's and we skipped the actual tour of campus and went to an amazing Italian lunch with them. Columbia was not interesting to either student (both NMFs), and didn't apply. Interestingly- both ended up at UMD honors. LOL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited multiple northeast colleges last summer and while most were perfectly decent, we were disappointed by two:

1. Vassar. Beautiful trees in the central part of campus but the buildings there were quite poorly maintained. Window-sills had flaking paint, and it gave the impression they were barely making ends meet.
2. Bard. We knew it had a quirky reputation, but the campus was downright ugly, both buildings as well as the "art" on the lawns. Nothing attractive about any of it.

Agree on Bard. Maybe it was the time of year but we did not see one smiling kid the whole tour. The campus did not feel welcoming either. It came off the list. I’m sure others might like it, but it was not for my kid.

Mine thought the campus was too spread out. But, man, the view from that mansion/lawn -- absolutely stunning!

Anonymous wrote:Drexel. Huge disappointment. Embarrassingly bad valley girl-type guide. Questions couldn’t be answered. Congested walks. Unpleasant. Uninformative. Got in car and went home. DD did not apply

Interesting the influence a bad tour guide can have. We were so impressed with Drexel. I was expecting something gritty or even sketchy and I didn't get that vibe at all. Our tour guides were enthusiastic and took the time to answer all of our questions. I loved the different architecture, from the Italian Renaissance-style main building to the engineering building designed by I.M. Pei. The College of Media Arts and Design and the College of Business were also impressive. The co-op concept is unique and would be great for a student interested in getting work experience. I'm not 100% sure that is my kid, but he put it on his list of schools he wants to apply to.