<p>Heck, after reading these posts, I want to go to Allegheny!:)</p>
<p>You know, I think son going on his own to see Allegheny will be the BEST way to visit. Today is the last day to register for the overnight so I talked to son this morning (he had to listen while he shoveled in his cereal) about how good the college is and read him some of the responses from this thread. Explained that being accepted there is a big deal. Talked about how inexpensive the trip will be (They will reimburse $100 for flight when students fly alone!) and all he would miss would be one day of school. He agreed to go! </p>
<p>texdad, you are right, he did apply here because I wanted him to. I'm really warming to the idea though of him discovering the campus on his own and seeing if it's THE college. I truly don't know which one of his great choices is the right one but Allegheny has always seemed so good that I'm glad he's not going to pass up the chance to see it. Thanks all for such persuasive responses.</p>
<p>I wish I could go to Allegheny too!</p>
<p>Fantastic, KathieP. That's all you can ask for.</p>
<p>congrat's to your son, kathyp :)</p>
<p>i'd tell him to visit that school if he gets a chance too.</p>
<p>Kathie - please post when your son returns. I'd like to hear his impressions.</p>
<p>I'll do my best! Interestingly enough, at the end of the week we're going to drive 6 hours south to visit Roanoke and son will have an overnight there. I think it will be good to have such a short time between both colleges to compare and contrast.</p>
<p>Having been to Pittsburgh countless times, I'd let him know that 20-30 minutes out of the city it's pretty boondocky....that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's actually hilly beautiful country....just not like being 20 minutes out of center city Philly or NYC....you may want to mention this just so it isn't a shock to him.</p>
<p>I also had an underachieving son who stepped it up when he went to a tough college---that could certainly happen to yours, and Allegheny might be the perfect place for him. It's the best of the bunch on your list, a well respected school. Good luck and I hope he likes it....</p>
<p>233, We're not city slickers ourselves- we live over an hour north of Philadelphia, so will probably look like home! One of the things that appeals to him about Roanoke is that it's set in the smallish town of Salem but is close to the city of Roanoke. Son used to LOVE the outdoors and has many, many miles of backpacking under his belt as a boyscout but traded his hiking boots in for computer games. I'm hoping that being in a rural setting will reignite that passion too.</p>
<p>Glad that your son gets to do a couple of overnights - it will be fun and help him truly own the process.</p>
<p>is your son no longer interested in becoming a computer science major?</p>
<p>Fendergirl,
Yes, He's done a complete 180 in regards to being a computer science major. I like to joke that he would really like to get paid to play world of warcraft all day. Knowing that he's bonded so well with his computer he thought of a game design career and maybe a computer science major. So, at first we focused our college search on just those two things. He took two computer programming classes his junior year (basic and C++) and did pretty well at them. But after visiting Drexel, and contrasting that with Juniata and York, he thought he would prefer a liberal arts education and perhaps major in information technology instead of computer science since he was also thinking that he did not want to be a programmer and math was starting to be not so much fun. Many of the colleges that offer an e-game major have a very strong programming and math component. Champlain is more focused on the story telling aspect, a strong point for my son.</p>
<p>So we visited quite a few LAC's and three state schools for financial and academic safeties (one oos) that all had computer science or information technology to pin down what really appealed. When application time came he applied to 9 schools but decided to go in undeclared at all except Champlain (in VT) where they had a electronic game design major. He was accepted at 7 of the schools and waitlisted at 2. He was accepted to Champlain but NOT the game design major. That's when we found out that it is now a direct accept major and even if he re-applied next year, he would only be accepted as a freshman and without any offer of merit aid, an expensive choice. Also, this year he's taking his third programming class - JAVA- and has been having second thoughts about a career revolving around computers.</p>
<p>To help us narrow down his choices we asked him to go through all the college catalogs and highlight the classes that he found appealing. Very enlightening - The classes he chose were English, Philosophy, History and a couple in tv production and photography. NONE in computers! Our college search has been much more then a search for college, it's turned into a search into finding out if there is life outside of computers and their games....</p>
<p>My S too though about being a video design major, but realized it would involve a lot of math. Good thing is he came to this conclusion in 7th grade, not part way through his college career :)</p>
<p>haha!</p>
<p>yeah, we gave my sister a book and told her to cross out everything she didn't find appealing.. and she wound up with sociology and graphic design. so now she's just trying to decide between the two of them... which is funny because she went from "i have no clue" to "two completely different majors" in about an hour... she's been researching the majors at all these different colleges, has combed through their course catalogs, and has planned out her full four years there for each major. It's really funny. She figured out what electives she wants and everything. I told her she was wasting her time and it would all change the moment she starts. :)</p>
<p>Quick update on son's visit to Allegheny. Quick because my non-verbose son did this trip solo and I'm having a hard time extracting information. </p>
<p>As for the logistics, I took him to the Phil airport Sunday morning and my husband picked him up Monday night. Yes, husband finally saw the light. Son got the Allegheny shuttle to and from the Pitt airport.</p>
<p>The college did everything possible to entice students to attend Allegheny. They had panel discussions with current students, evening events Sunday night to suit anyone's interests including: a night hike, a dance performance, a movie played in the theatre, a comedy improv, a live band and ultimate frisbee. He got along well with his host and claims not to have seen any overt drinking. My son watched movies and played frisbee.</p>
<p>Monday he attended a philosophy class and spoke with the professor afterwards. There was a tour and meals. </p>
<p>What I got out of him was, "The dorms were pretty small and old, the food wasn't that great. I don't think there is much to do there. (WHAT! Did you not know about all the things you could do on a SUNDAY night??) I don't think I'm going to go." I thought the academics should have something to do with his decision but all he said about his class, "Ethics and the Community" was that it was fine. My hunch is that he just didn't feel comfortable. oh, well. We're off to Roanoke tomorrow morning for another overnight and this time I get to take the tour too!</p>
<p>kathiep - As a parent I "share your pain". As you have done with your son and at various times I have done with my two sons, "you can take a horse to water", but that first sip just doesn't happen for whatever complicated set of reasons (which we as parents know includes some component - miniscule to large depending on the item - of "I'm gonna show my independence from Mom and Dad by not doing x"). AArrgghhh!</p>