We are a foreign service family that has not lived in the US since our oldest was in 2nd grade. Said child will be a rising sophomore this summer and wants to start visiting colleges. He doesn’t yet have an idea of what he would eventually like to study. He is in an IB program, so doesn’t have a GPA to start to gauge his level of competitiveness. My thinking is to expose him to different types of colleges while we are on a visit to the US this summer and I would greatly appreciate recommendations for putting a schedule together.
We will be in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and Ontario. I am planning to set up a visit to the University of Pittsburgh (large urban public) and Miami University (mid-size public?; also my alma mater). I would like to add a LAC and/or SLAC and maybe another type of public.
It is worth noting that we are technically residents of VA, so I am considering a trip to UVA and Virginia Tech, but that doesn’t necessarily sync with the rest of our travel plans.
Does anybody have suggestions on visits that would help him (and his younger siblings, rising 7th and 9th grades) get a feel for what different options are out there?
It really just depends on your route. There are so many schools that would fit the bill that it wouldn’t be worth your while to go more than 20-30 minutes out of your way to see a school. If Denison is along your route it might be a good choice for the LAC. It’s in Granville, OH and has about 2200 students.
I agree with @Sue22 - there are too many schools one could suggest based on the information you’ve provided. If you want a more pointed list of suggestions it would be helpful if you outlined your travel route in greater detail or provided some more parameters regarding what you’re S is looking for in a school (academic rigor, rural/urban, frat scene, size, liberal/conservative, athletics, etc.).
There are a bunch of LACs in central PA (F&M, Dickinson, Gettysburg). Allegheny is closer to Pittsburgh. There are some lovely lacs, St. Lawrence, HWS, Union, Hamilton, Colgate, in upstate ny.
If you look at Pitt, also look at CMU, just to see how 2 schools in the same neighborhood can differ.
LACs, more than bigger urban schools, are likely to feel dead in summer.
Really agree that a little bit of preference could help, but I think your approach is solid - choosing category - , especially because it is early in the process.
If close to UVA and heading to VA Tech, Washington and lee for the very small LAC. If covering all of VA, I would check out William and Mary for another strong public. In Ohio, the most elite LACs are probably Oberlin and Kenyon. Oberlin is within striking distance to Cleveland. Kenyon is more remote. If wish to check a more urban school, CWRU is worth seeing.
If you’d like to consider upstate New York selective liberal arts colleges methodically, you could choose from the New York Six schools: Colgate, Hamilton, HWS, Skidmore, St. Lawrence, Union. For a further sense of the atmospheres of these colleges, note that, athletically, Colgate plays in the Patriot League, Hamilton is a NESCAC member, and the other four play in the generally more eclectic Liberty League.
Our route is essentially Pittsburgh - Cincinnati - Sandusky - Niagara - Ottawa - Pittsburgh. If we do Virginia, it would be on a separate route leaving from Pittsburgh and probably just for 3 days maximum.
How often can you get back here to visit? With a sophomore and below, I honestly wouldn’t visit a lot of colleges right now, and on the first go-round, and yes just look at a couple of the broad “types” (urban large, suburban small, something in between). Here’s a super simple quiz that can help your kids start to think about some of their broad preferences: https://www.forbes.com/top-college-quiz/
We only get back once a year, during the summer. I guess that is making me feel a bit of ‘pressure’ to get started early, even though we don’t really have any ‘guiding preferences’ yet. We will have two more opportunities after this one.
Be sure when you do Virginia Tech to not only sign up for the primary campus tour - but also make sure its a day that also has the departmental session (in your preferred major) you can sign up for as well.
What is your financial situation? How much are you willing to pay per year for college? You are going to have 2 in college and a school like Pitt highly unlikely to take that second kid into consideration for financial aid. If money is no object, It’s one thing, but if you have a budget, you might want to start running NPCs to find out what you will be expected to pay at these schools.
Virginia has excellent schools at great prices and sizes to fit all. UVA and Tech not the only games in town. JMU is similar in atmosphere to Miami of Ohio.
It’s still early to gauge where your riding sophomore will be in terms of selective schools, merit money. So this swing around us really to get flavor of types of schools. My kid visited Pitt and that was it for him. All of the other schools became secondary, when he really had thought PSU would be ideal. He really liked the urban setting so much more. His cousin concurred and that’s where they very happily went. Other cousins were split between the two. All of these kids had the acceptances to go to either and chose purely on preference. I know other kids who upon visits, realized smaller schools more to their liking. So a lot of generalities come up in these visits.
LACs are pretty dead over the summer. When we toured Hamilton, we found it especially dead - to the point that a number of the major buildings were either locked or completely dark and no dining options were available at all. If you do go there, at least go later in the day after they have had a chance to unlock doors and turn the lights on. And grab a bit to eat in Clinton.
I’d probably echo the comment at 10th grade and younger, I wouldn’t get too in-depth with the college visits. I’d just do a few general tours and maybe drive through/self tour a few others. For us at that age, the goal was more to get the kids excited about and thinking about college and hearing from others just what is needed to get there.
If you do head into VA from Pittsburgh, heading down I-81, you can hit several without much trouble. JMU, Washington & Lee and VMI (if at all interested in military schools), and VA Tech are all in a line down I-81. UVA is a short side trip down I64. I personally think Tech is the prettiest. UVA is the most prestigious. JMU I was impressed with just how “nice” the campus felt. but, I will echo the sentiment that the smaller LACs might be dead during the summer. That will be the case with W&L/VMI. Our first trip to W&L was when school was out and it was cold and dreary. We were not impressed. My S went later with friends and loved it and is a student now. However, it is pretty campus and town located at the junction of I81 & I64, and maybe a nice place to stop and eat lunch and drive through the campus before heading to one of the other schools.
