<p>I wanted to revive this thread, so I’ll mention that my DS has received another acceptance today. Things are truly looking good for this late bloomer. :)</p>
<p>Nice! We are waiting on the final 4 schools and all the FA packages. Hopefully will know everything in the next 2-3 weeks…</p>
<p>Congratulations!
S got into Pace. This was supposed to give him a local option when it looked like he wasn’t getting in to Hofstra. He doesn’t seem at all interested now, which is okay with me. He is still waiting for Ithaca and Drexel. Right now his favorite seems to be Roger Williams, sight unseen. We are going to Accepted Students Day this weekend. RWU is about twice the size of the small LACs but half the size of Hofstra, so this seems like a reasonable compromise. And also I think he should get out of Long Island, so I’m hoping he likes it when we visit. He had agreed to keep an open mind about McDaniel and visit again, but now I’m getting some pushback and attitude (too small, middle-of-nowhere). Not sure if I should force it; I really don’t want to waste my time and put up with his irritability if it’s a lost cause. I guess we’ll wait and see how much love he feels for RWU after the visit.</p>
<p>RWU in Providence, sort of?</p>
<p>It’s half an hour from Providence, according to google maps. Twenty minutes to Newport. It does seem like a nice location. Four hours from home, which is certainly far enough to feel like he’s gone “away” but closer than Plattsburgh or McDaniel.</p>
<p>Looks nice! Prov is a not-bad train or bus ride to NYC…my D15 may go to summer school there and we have family in NYC so I looked it up. If you’re on LI there might be a ferry? That would be cool…</p>
<p>Enjoy your visit.</p>
<p>Yay for having options! :)</p>
<p>Last week, we did a 3-state, 6-college visit, and boy am I tired! But, it was well worth it. My son did 2 overnights (Goucher and Hiram), meetings with professors, class observations, and of course, many campus tours.</p>
<p>I want to share our visits here, but don’t know where to begin (hmm…maybe at the beginning, heh?) </p>
<p>Baltimore - We arrived at night, and made the mistake of following the GPS - which took us through the part of the city you DO NOT want to see. A bit scary, but made for a lot of laughs later. We stayed at Sheraton Baltimore North in Towson, which is directly bordering Goucher College. Hotel was fantastic, especially with Club Floor access (free soft drinks, snacks 24 hrs/day.) Large, upscale mall across the street is very convenient.</p>
<p>School #1 (McDaniel) This was a poorly planned visit. I had tried to schedule a tour for Monday, but was told it wasn’t possible. No worries… we figured we’d just drive there and check it out ourselves on Sunday morning. Didn’t realize that the worst possible time to check out a college is Sun AM. Campus was virtually empty, most buildings locked… no kidding, I guess I forgot that Sunday mornings are for sleeping in— especially for college students. The few students we did encounter were friendly and helpful, but my son was “not impressed.” Moving on…</p>
<p>School #2 (Goucher) This was a well-planned visit. DH, DS and I met with coach, who took us to lunch in vegetarian dining hall (delicious!) Next, we had an info session with head of admissions and the very personable college president. Then, my son sat in on a class in his proposed major. A campus tour followed. Lastly, DS did an overnight in a dorm. </p>
<p>Goucher has such a cool vibe. Everyone was super-helpful and friendly. Their focus on study abroad is impressive (it is mandatory!) Sounds like it would be very easy (even encouraged) to try your hand at whatever may pique a student’s interest. DS is interested in “the arts” but is not an artist.</p>
<p>Campus is lovely and surrounded by woods in an upscale suburban part of Baltimore. There is a fantastic new student facility (Athaneum) that combines the library, cafe, meeting space, and even workout area. Apparently, it is THE place to hang out on campus.</p>
<p>DS did an overnight with a great kid, who introduced him to his friends. All in all, it was a great visit, and a wonderful school. The safe, wooded campus located close to a major city makes it all the more compelling… at least for me :)</p>
<p>…to be continued.</p>
<p>Simpkin, please post after you visit RWU. I’m very interested to hear about it.</p>
<p>Familyof3boys, wondering if we overlapped! We visited McDaniel on Monday (Washington’s B-day)–is that they day they told you you couldn’t visit? Strange. We were at Goucher on Tuesday and had the same impression you did.</p>
<p>EastCoast, I checked my emails… my bad. I had originally been looking to visit on McDaniel on Monday. When Goucher was scheduled for Mon, I tried to change McDaniel to Sunday, but that was not doable. Since Goucher was the school DS was more interested in, we decided to do a quick self-led visit. Did you like McDaniel too?</p>
<p>eastcoast101, what did you think of McDaniel?</p>
<p>I think I might be the only person on CC who has toured Goucher and didn’t love it! I think I may have been overly influenced by our tour guide – always a problem for me. Actually, it was mostly that I just could not imagine my son there. Or maybe people who really like McDaniel feel lukewarm about Goucher and vice-versa. </p>
<p>ohiobassmom, there are definitely ferries from the north shore of Long Island to Connecticut . . . I’ve never really looked into this but it could be a good option. And Amtrak is another good option. </p>
<p>I will definitely post impressions of RWU. My kid is so lazy that if he really likes it, he may refuse to visit anywhere else. It’s a little frustrating. I think I may bribe him to take another look at Lycoming, which we could do (somewhat painfully) as a day trip.</p>
<p>ey Simpkin, To be honest, my son didn’t really give McDaniel much of a chance. He was hungry, so not into the visit. The only real turnoff really was their pool, which was old and dingy, and in the basement. This, for a swimmer, is a dealbreaker.</p>
<p>One negative my son mentioned that there seemed to be a lot of kids smoking (a lot to him may not really bother another kid.)</p>
<p>DD liked McDaniel, but not as much as Goucher. DD is into theater and loved their little theater–it had a Globe Theater look. Our tour guide was a music major, which was nice too, since D is into the arts. When we stopped to look in a science class, the professor came over and talked to us about what the students were doing–nice touch. Didn’t see the pool, but that wasn’t really an issue for us :). It is a very pretty campus, and very compact. D liked some of the first year seminar topics they mentioned during the presentation. I liked that the upper level writing requirement was targeted to your major. We did not eat on campus so I can’t comment about the food. One of my concerns is how she would get back and forth–it’s not near a big city and she will not have a car. I think they might have said something about providing transportation to BWI for breaks. I did not notice kids smoking. The dorm room we saw was fine–not the best we’ve seen, but far from the worst. Decent size. It is staying on the list and I expect she will apply.</p>
<p>Ooops! Just reread my last post. The problem with the smoking was at Goucher College, not McDaniel. Honestly, we didn’t check out McDaniel long enough to form any opinions.</p>
<p>I’ll just weigh in on McDaniel/Goucher since DS#1 looked at both. His opinions on schools were primarily formed from the kids he saw walking around campus. The Goucher kids seemed very politically active, fairly liberal. The McDaniel kids seemed a little more regular. In the end, he didn’t apply to either. (As for me, I found the town McDaniel is in a little depressing, and thought Goucher was one of the few schools I saw that was kind of unattractive.)</p>
<p>Has anyone on here ever looked at Hood (in Frederick MD) or Bellarmine (in Louisville KY)? Impressions?</p>
<p>Mamaduck, I was at Hood the same day I visited McDaniel (did Hood in the AM, McDaniel in the PM). Nice school, but wasn’t right for my D. I got the impression they are making improvements to their athletic facilities/teams in an effort to attract more boys. Not my D’s thing. We met with an admissions counselor one on one before the tour so you really have the chance to ask pointed questions. I was disappointed that the library staff went off duty at 9:30PM–the library itself was open later but with only students manning the desks. I also noticed that the books out on display were fiction, not professor-authored books like I usually see. While we didn’t eat in the dining hall, we did go to it, and it didn’t appear to have nearly the choices other schools had. The town of Frederick is adorable and looks like a great place to be in school. Lots of little cafes, shops, restaurants, etc. Very historic. I can’t remember specifics about the dorms, which probably means they were fine. We just weren’t feeling the fit.</p>
<p>simpkin - DD and I will be at RWU’s accepted students day this weekend, too! We’ve visited once before and really liked it. It’s one of the 3 schools my DD is trying to decide between. We visited it in the summer - let’s see what she thinks of it in winter!!!</p>
<p>We visited Hood last fall; both S and I liked Hood but liked McDaniel much better the next day so Hood came off the list. Nothing wrong with Hood, it just had a quieter, smaller feel somehow. McDaniel’s campus is nicer but as eastcoast101 wrote, Hood is in a really great town. They are close together so it’s easy to visit both in the same day or maybe even the same afternoon.</p>
<p>Hey newtothismom, maybe I will see you – look for the sleepy-eyed boy and the annoying mom asking if the bathrooms in the dorm are co-ed. 
What other colleges is your D considering?</p>
<p>Simpkin, RW is pretty popular around here. I have not visited, but heard it is very pretty. Also, Providence has many wonderful restaurants. Enjoy your visit!</p>
<p>simpkin - I’ll be the mom of the blond girl who looks like she’s trying to distance from me!!</p>
<p>She’s narrowed it down to RWU, Quinnipiac and Bryant. Bryant’s offered the most merit money so far, and has offered her honors college. so it’s the front runner. We’ll go see it again mid-April - wish we were going sooner, but they have a scholarship dinner for the award she got, and she wants to attend.</p>