Web sites and publications can describe a lot about the academics, opportunities, student achievement, and physical settings of different colleges, but there is something these resources can not begin to convey: How does it feel to be on that campus?
We call it fit, vibe, and culture.
When you walk through academic buildings, residence halls, and social gathering places, eat in the dining halls, talk with students and teachers and admissions officers, and observe interactions among students and between students and faculty, you learn things you would never know from photographs and descriptions.
My obligation to my students and their parents is to have a deep knowledge of campus culture. As much as my counseling skills and decades of experience give me the tools and instincts to understand students, I also need to know colleges in order to make expert recommendations for fit.
I make several trips each year to visit colleges and universities in different regions of the country while school is in session and the campuses are buzzing with student life. I attend information sessions and student-led tours, eat meals with current students and faculty, attend receptions for counselors, and talk with admissions officers with my students’ specific interests in mind. I often return to the schools where my students matriculate to have them show me around and tell me about their experiences. I have visited the following colleges and universities, listed by region:
Northeast
- Adelphi University (NY)
- American International College (MA)
- Amherst College (MA)
- College of the Atlantic (ME)
- Babson College (MA)
- Bard College (NY)
- Barnard College (NY)
- Bates College (ME)
- Bennington College (VT)
- Bentley University (MA)
- Berklee College of Music (MA)
- Boston College (MA)
- Boston University (MA)
- Bowdoin College (ME)
- Brandeis University (MA)
- Brown University (RI)
- Bryn Mawr College (PA)
- Burlington College (VT)
- Cambridge College (MA)
- Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
- Champlain College (VT)
- Clark University (MA)
- Colgate University (NY)
- Columbia University (NY)
- Connecticut College (CT)
- The Cooper Union (NY)
- Cornell University (NY)
- Curry College (MA)
- Dartmouth College (NH)
- Drew University (NJ)
- Emerson College (MA)
- Emmanuel College (MA)
- Endicott College (MA)
- Fordham University (NY)
- Franklin Olin College (MA)
- Gordon College (MA)
- Green Mountain College (VT)
- Hamilton College (NY)
- Harvard University (MA)
- Haverford College (PA)
- Hobart and William Smith College (NY)
- Hofstra University (NY)
- College of the Holy Cross (MA)
- Iona College (NY)
- Ithaca College (NY)
- Johnson State College (VT)
- Lafayette College (PA)
- Landmark College (VT)
- LeHigh University (PA)
- Lyndon State College (VT)
- Marist College (NY)
- Marlboro College (VT)
- Marymount Manhattan (NY)
- Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MA)
- Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MA)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
- UMass Amherst (MA)
- Merrimack College (MA)
- Middlebury College (VT)
- Montserrat College of Art (MA)
- Moravian College (PA)
- Mt. Ida College (MA)
- Muhlenberg College (PA)
- New England Culinary Institute (VT)
- University of New Hampshire (NH)
- New York University (NY)
- Northeastern University (MA)
- Norwich University (VT)
- Pace University (NY)
- Pine Manor College (MA)
- Providence College (RI)
- Quinnipiac University (CT)
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY)
- University of Rhode Island (RI)
- Rhode Island School of Design (RI)
- University of Rochester (NY)
- Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)
- College of Saint Joseph (VT)
- Saint Michael’s College (VT)
- Salem State College (MA)
- Salve Regina University (RI)
- Sarah Lawrence College (NY)
- School of the Museum of Fine Arts | Tufts (MA)
- University of the Sciences (PA)
- Simmons College (MA)
- Skidmore College (NY)
- Smith College (MA)
- Southern Vermont College (VT)
- Swarthmore College (PA)
- Syracuse University (NY)
- Tufts University (MA)
- Union College (NY)
- Ursinus College (PA)
- Vassar College (NY)
- University of Vermont (VT)
- Vermont Technical College (VT)
- Villanova University (PA)
- Wagner College (NY)
- Wellesley College (MA)
- Wentworth Institute of Technology (MA)
- Wesleyan University (CT)
- Western New England University (MA)
- Wheelock College (MA)
- Williams College (MA)
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA)
- Yale University (CT)
Southeast
- American University (D.C.)
- Belmont University (TN)
- Elon University (NC)
- Eckerd College (FL)
- Emory University (GA)
- Duke University (NC)
- George Mason University (VA)
- The George Washington University (D.C.)
- Georgetown University (D.C.)
- Goucher College (MD)
- Guilford College (NC)
- James Madison University (VA)
- Lynn University (FL)
- UNC Chapel Hill (NC)
- Old Dominion University (VA)
- University of Richmond (VA)
- Savannah College of Art and Design (GA)
- Sewanee: The University of the South (TN)
- Towson University (MD)
- Tulane University (LA)
- Vanderbilt University (TN)
- University of Virginia (VA)
- College of William & Mary (VA)
Midwest
- Beloit College (WI)
- Carleton College (MN)
- Case Western Reserve University (OH)
- University of Chicago (IL)
- Columbia College Chicago (IL)
- DePaul University (IL)
- Gustavus Adolphus College (MN)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (IL)
- Indiana University (IN)
- Lawrence University (WI)
- Macalester College (MN)
- University of Michigan (MI)
- Michigan State (MI)
- Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MN)
- University of Minnesota (MN)
- University of Notre Dame (IN)
- Oberlin College (OH)
- Purdue University (IN)
- St. Olaf College (MN)
- University of Wisconsin (WI)
West
- University of Arizona (AZ)
- Brooks Institute (CA)
- California Institute of Technology (CA)
- California Lutheran University (CA)
- University of California Santa Barbara/The College of Creative Studies (CA)
- California State University, Northridge (CA)
- Chapman University (CA)
- Claremont McKenna College (CA)
- University of Colorado, Boulder (CO)
- University of Denver (CO)
- Fort Lewis College (CO)
- Harvey Mudd College (CA)
- Occidental College (CA)
- Pitzer College (CA)
- Pomona College (CA)
- University of Puget Sound (WA)
- University of Redlands (CA)
- Reed College (OR)
- University of San Francisco (CA)
- Scripps College (CA)
- University of Southern California (CA)
- Stanford University (CA)
- Westmont College (CA)
Canada
- McGill University (Montreal)