What colleges/universities did you visit before deciding? Rank them

Mine: (yeah it’s sad)

Visited:

Wilmington (Ohio)

Ohio University

University of Rio Grande

I chose Wilmington but basically only because they wanted me for baseball. I was like 12….I lasted a semester and was home constantly. Tried to get Ohio University but they wouldn’t accept  any transfer credits so I said screw em and went to nearby Rio Grande where I went the rest of my time.

Have enjoyed other visits as my daughter has already went through and my son in his senior year.

I’d rank them:

1. Pitt (truly surprised me, almost shocked. Love the east coast feel with incredible campus buildings. Very safe and much higher end than I anticipated. We’ve had two visits there.

2. UK…..Kentucky feels really comfortable and has a great southern feel but just 3 hours away. Lexington a cool city. I imagine we’ll return.

3. Marshall….again a very comfortable feel to it….but rough just off campus and Huntington isn’t great. 

4. Carnegie Mellon….impressive little engineering school just 1 mile up from Pitt

5. Ohio U

6. UC….both kids visited (daughter 2x) and we are 0-3 in good experiences. Campus tours felt like we were in Punk’d. Rough area around too.

7. Wilmington

8. Rio Grande

I think I just visited UC and Marietta. Didn’t like UC 20 years ago. Campus is MUCH nicer now. 

1. Indiana
2. UNC
3. Stanford
4. Wake Forest
5. Ithaca
6. Ohio U
7. Marquette
8. American (for potential basketball)
9. Carnegie Melon
10. Xavier (for soccer)
11. Syracuse
12. Miami (Oh)
13. Washington and Lee

1. Case Western Reserve - best school that I could get into and play football. Got a great education. My left knee tells me most days about the wisdom of making life decisions based on not giving up contact sports.

2. Northwestern - I must have checked some demographic box of theirs, as they came after me pretty hard. In hindsight, I probably would/should have chosen to go here for undergrad. Did get my MBA here.

3. Ohio State - always a Buckeye.

4. Bowling Green - knew a lot of people who went there, would have been fun, perhaps too much.

I got my undergrad and Master's from SNHU online. Since I had spent a lot of time on the internet prior to starting school, I felt extremely comfortable in the virtual campus. Hope this helps. 

Only B-W and that's where I went.

1. Ohio Wesleyan. I guess I should say 1A. It was down to here or Denison that I liked the most and they just gave a little more scholarship money. 

2. (Or 1B) Denison. Was second choice. Sometimes I think back that it was my top choice.  But money was and always will be a determining factor for me. Probably liked the campus a little more. 

3. Ohio Northern. Was the original top choice and first place I visited. Thought for sure it was where I’d go before visiting schools. After visiting… it wasn’t bad, just dropped on the list. 

4. Capital. Wasn’t bad. Pretty campus. Just wasn’t for me.  

5. Miami. Was like Denison but bigger and douchier. Also pretty campus. Also wasn’t for me. 

1. Case Western Reserve

2. Washington and Jefferson

3. Baldwin Wallace

4. Slippery Rock

Ended up going to Muskingum

1. Columbia - loved the city when i was 17. can't imagine how my life would have been different if i'd have gone there, thankfully their  financial aid package didn't make it feasible.

2. Case Western - awesome engineering school - again financial aid didn't make this feasible.

3. Ohio State - my most likely school. loved that campus, loved the kids that took me on the tour. went to an engineering class to sit in and was amazed at the technology. got scared by the accents of the professors and didn't go there.

4. Ohio U - friends were all going here. campus was meh, but was nice overall.

5. Marietta - grew up essentially on this campus, so i don't think i appreciated it. when i look back it's underrated.

6. WVU - hated the town, liked the campus.

posted by geeblock

1. Case Western Reserve

2. Washington and Jefferson

3. Baldwin Wallace

4. Slippery Rock

Ended up going to Muskingum

Sister went to Muskingum so I spent a little time there. Wasn't a fan lol. Understand its a good school if you want to be a teacher like she is and you are though. 

posted by kizer permanente

Sister went to Muskingum so I spent a little time there. Wasn't a fan lol. Understand its a good school if you want to be a teacher like she is and you are though. 

I think i went there the last year it was pretty fun.  95-96.  The fraternities got kicked out after that and to this day I dont know how people go there. They constantly harass students about alcohol.  Just had some friends drop off their kid there last week and i know we all went there together but it has to be super boring there.  They did just build the best football facility in the country outside of division 1 schools tho.  I didint even go there to be a teacher lol they sucked me in.

posted by kizer permanente

Sister went to Muskingum so I spent a little time there. Wasn't a fan lol. Understand its a good school if you want to be a teacher like she is and you are though. 

Yeah my sister went there as well. It’s ok…..she went to be a teacher and graduated but hasn’t taught a day. Runs the Dick’s Sporting Goods in Lancaster

As mentioned above Denison has a very nice campus.

posted by geeblock

I think i went there the last year it was pretty fun.  95-96.  The fraternities got kicked out after that and to this day I dont know how people go there. They constantly harass students about alcohol.  Just had some friends drop off their kid there last week and i know we all went there together but it has to be super boring there.  They did just build the best football facility in the country outside of division 1 schools tho.  I didint even go there to be a teacher lol they sucked me in.

She graduated in 02 there. There were still frats but i remember you had to wear a bracelet if you were under 21 and cops were roaming the parties the entire time. Wasn't a fan lol.

1. Ohio State 

2. Ohio

3 Miami 

Went to Ohio State. Was a no brainer as I liked their humanities and international studies program is some of the best in the state. 

1.  Harvard

2.  Yale

3. Cornell

4.  Duke

They were all mediocre.  Went to Wright State.  

posted by Fletch

1.  Harvard

2.  Yale

3. Cornell

4.  Duke

They were all mediocre.  Went to Wright State.  

Right state, wrong university

Northwestern, Case Western, MIT, Akron U, and Ohio State.

Got accepted to all of them but only scholarships for Ohio State and Akron U. Since I was paying for it out of my own pocket that answered where I would go.

Went to OSU for Chemical Engineering a year and decided I wanted to do polymer engineering. Akron U is the best in the nation (sometimes second behind UMass Amherst) so I transferred (plus could live at home/cheaper). 

2 years later took my first polymer class (BS in polymer engineering vs Chemical or Mechanical are so close really only some last 2 year electives are different), and HATED it.

Decided to finish with just the Chemical Engineering (and applied math, but that's a whole other story). Wish I had stated at OSU, oh well.

Actual Campuses for what I liked/wanted I would have ranked them:

1. MIT

2. OSU

3. Northwestern

4. Case Western

5. Akron U

Had a second chance at MIT for grad school, but had a baby and needed to work/make money. Live throws curve balls.

When I graduated from high school in Columbus, half my class went to Ohio State.  You needed an Ohio address to get in there and many who went there got shitty educations from GAs.  I went to OU and loved it.  It wasn't perfect, but I loved the college town atmosphere and got a quality education.  I did go to graduate school full time at Ohio State, so I'm an actual alum from there too.  But I'm glad I went away to school.

I also liked:

• Denison - too expensive
• Kenyon - too expensive
• John Carroll - Liked the school, but east side winters were intimidating

Did not like:

• Miami - Hated the overemphasis on Greek like and the popped collar / pastel bros everywhere

• Bowling Green - I liked the campus, but the location was ugly and the town was not charming

Rutgers - For Soccer

Ohio State

OU

Knew early on I wanted to go to Northwestern College.  I didn't even visit before applying and being accepted.  

My only college visit was attending the two-day freshman orientation at Ohio State, two months before classes started.

However, I took my son to visit four colleges before he settled on one:  OSU, Columbus State CC, Rio Grande, and Ohio Christian U (where he ended up).

I forgot defiance their soccer coach was promising me everything if I woulda went there. I basically coulda went there totally free thru alumni scholarships and they were going to have me live in the coed dorms with upper class man but their campus was god awful and I watched the team and was immediately turned off