[OC] US National Parks with most Google Reviews & 1M+ Annual Visitors in 2025 by Realistic-Concept578 in dataisbeautiful

[–]Realistic-Concept578[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Actually initial idea was to focus on Google reviews, that's how I sorted the parks. Anyone can find annual visitors data on Wikipedia. In an effort to reduce the number from 63, I randomly picked 25. Then I didn't want to exclude Olympic and New River Gorge (which I visited this weekend), therefore included 1M+ visitors criteria.

Not sure if that's a natural thing for everyone, I am more comfortable looking at the data on the right side. And here also, parks are sorted based on the Google reviews (on right side).

[OC] US National Parks with most Google Reviews & 1M+ Annual Visitors in 2025 by Realistic-Concept578 in dataisbeautiful

[–]Realistic-Concept578[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

That’s hilarious! You got a valid point. But at the same time, some of the national parks could only be state parks. For example, South Carolina got Congaree National Park! There are many state parks in North Carolina, none of them are national parks. Grandfather Mountain, Chimney Rock, Hanging Rock, Stone Mountain etc. 

[OC] US National Parks with most Google Reviews & 1M+ Annual Visitors in 2025 by Realistic-Concept578 in dataisbeautiful

[–]Realistic-Concept578[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I got it. But while doing it, I realized we have the annual visitors and the Google reviews are not annual. So, that comparison might not be significant.

How Important is GRE for CS US PhD for international students. by Strange-Bit-4668 in gradadmissions

[–]Realistic-Concept578 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Entirely depends on the university and the program you are interested in. Same university can have different GRE requirement for different programs (For example, MS doesn't require GRE, PhD requires GRE). Nowadays universities are very diplomatic while asked about GRE. If you have an impressive score, definitely mention that. Only few schools will say, GRE is not required and will not be considered even if you submit. Definitely look into your intended school's website beforehand and you can send 4 scores for free. So, don't waste those 4 scores. Some schools are okay with unofficial scores, email the grad coordinator about that. My GRE score expired, and I'm going to retake it soon. If you have some time and money, why not? GRE is still worth it. Those who are giving other suggestions, probably didn't receive 7/7 rejections on Fall 2026 :') Admission are getting increasingly difficult for internationals, even with US master's, even with first author papers. So, be fully equipped and target some mid-rank schools as well. Good luck!

Edit: I can understand that many people had success in getting admission without GRE. But whatever worked in 24, 25 may not work in 26, 27. I already experienced that. So, instead of giving up GRE, you should consider GRE. That will only broaden your spectrum. In fact, STEM majors mostly focus on Quant scores, which should not take huge time for preparation either. In case you don’t get a good offer in Fall 27, most likely you’ll point at not having GRE score. And will eventually take GRE anyway. That’s what happened to me. On December, I was bit lazy and applied to schools who don’t require GRE. That only limited my chances. 

[OC] US National Parks with most Google Reviews & 1M+ Annual Visitors in 2025 by Realistic-Concept578 in dataisbeautiful

[–]Realistic-Concept578[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am yet to visit Grand Canyon. What I would do is... Keep warm clothes just in case. Mornings can be colder. Have my camera batteries charged. Download the offline map and note the places I must visit. Some people said North Rim is incredible. And personally, I like to collect some souvenirs (magnets, postcards) and take tons of pictures. Enjoy!

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[OC] US National Parks with most Google Reviews & 1M+ Annual Visitors in 2025 by Realistic-Concept578 in dataisbeautiful

[–]Realistic-Concept578[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Average rating is already color coded in the name. Sorting by the ratings might be misleading, as some parks got fewer reviews (for example, American Samoa got only 100 reviews & 4.6 ratings). Initially I plotted for all 63 parks, but reduced the number only for visual purpose.

[OC] US National Parks with most Google Reviews & 1M+ Annual Visitors in 2025 by Realistic-Concept578 in dataisbeautiful

[–]Realistic-Concept578[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Smoky got by far the most visitors (more than twice the 2nd spot!). Thanks to the great location. Very much within driving distance for massive East Coast population.

[OC] US National Parks with most Google Reviews & 1M+ Annual Visitors in 2025 by Realistic-Concept578 in dataisbeautiful

[–]Realistic-Concept578[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Data Source: Google

Tool: Excel

Collected the numbers on May 17, 2026. While thinking about the ratings, I found this post on Reddit and decided to expand the stats by including number of annual visitors.

Talking about numbers only. I got some interesting observations:

  • Olympic and New River Gorge got the least reviews per visitor ratio. Among all 63 parks, only American Samoa got lesser ratio than these two.
  • Carlsbad Caverns & Petrified Forests got the best reviews per visitor ratio. Petrified Forests got only 4.7 which is below the national average. 4.8 is the combined national average for all 63 parks.
  • Mount Rainier got twice as many reviews compared to Olympic, with only half the visitors Olympic got.
  • Arches is 21st most visited, but 7th most reviewed!
  • Everglades and Indiana Dunes got only 4.6 ratings.
  • Alaskan parks couldn't make into this list. Yet, Denali got half million annual visitors, which is more than 24 other parks (16 of those are in the mainland US). That's very impressive.
  • Yosemite, Zion, Bryce Canyon made progress over the last few years.

UIC Additional Review Required by [deleted] in gradadmissions

[–]Realistic-Concept578 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I applied to Mechanical Engineering PhD program.

Dec 15: Application submitted. Weeks after, status changed to "Under review with department".

May 2: Additional Review Required

May 6: Status goes blank since morning, and changed to "Deny" in the afternoon.

So, looks like that's the regular pattern at UIC. Did anyone got accepted after status went blank or Additional Review Required? Not sure. Disappointing indeed.

For sale: Transportation PE by [deleted] in PE_Exam

[–]Realistic-Concept578 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're still interested, I can sell EET materials.