College visit in Philly area, want to visit one more...

Parents Forum
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<p>JHS…I’m a lazy typist. That’s why I like your screen name. </p>

<p>I will root for Temple in the NCAA tournament when they make it. And Villanova. And St Joe’s. Not Pitt though. Just can’t. </p>

<p>And I would say that if safety is a concern for your darling child, Penn is not the best choice either. I worked there. I know lots of folks who live there. It’s not North Philly but it’s NOT safe.</p>

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<p>OP, I know you’re done looking but one school your son may consider (not in Philly but in PA) is Carnegie Mellon. It is excellent in science and engineering, would probably be a good match for him and the kids I know who’ve gone there are Jewish so I suspect a decent presence.</p>

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<p>There’s a pretty big difference between the “not safe” of the Penn area and the “not safe” of the Temple area.</p>

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<p>Temple was DD’s safety. We were concerned if it would be academically challenging enough for her, and about the neighborhood, but it was the right size, and had programs in all areas of interest to her, etc. She and I thought it was a decent safety where she could get a good education if it came down to it, though her mom was not so sure.</p>

<p>She applied to nine other schools, and held off applying to Temple, when they delayed their app due to date for RD from March 1 to April 1. She got into one of her matches on 3/14, and did not end up applying to Temple. </p>

<p>I am interested to see what people have to say about it.</p>

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<p>Temple was also S’s safety. We had never been on campus before visiting last summer, and were very impressed with what we saw. I grew up in a big city so I didn’t feel unsafe, but I was surprised that S, a completely suburban kid, also felt fine being there. He went thinking he wouldn’t even want to apply (I in fact had to drag him), but he did and it was his first acceptance. While I can’t say he loved his safety (as the CC mantra goes), he certainly liked it well enough and would have been happy to attend. As it turns out he’s going elsewhere, but a large contingent of kids from his suburban high school are going to Temple - it’s become a big draw for students who might have gone to Penn State, Pitt, or Delaware in the past, either because of the greater difficulty of getting into those schools now or because of finances.</p>

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<p>I know a number of Temple law students who commute from residences in South Philly and elsewhere. They are unanimous is saying that the entire surrounding area is very bad and that they are fearful except within the confines of campus. Most are female, but some are male.</p>

<p>I think Temple is a good choice for local kids-especially ones with financial constraints. Temple has an excellent reputation in the southeastern PA/NJ area. So does Temple Law. What is now happening, though, with the economy still in the tank, is that the grads are having a lot of trouble getting jobs. A much lower percentage of the 2010 Temple law and Temple university grads got jobs than in years before 2009.</p>

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<p>2collegewego: I had read somewhere else that Carnegie Mellon was worth a look for my son so thanks for reminding me. I will mention that to him as one to go peruse (the website) this summer and give it some thought. I think that Randy Pausch taught there for a while…</p>

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<p>I’m familiar both with Temple and Penn, and the above posters are right. There is a considerable difference in terms of the safety of the surrounding areas. Penn may be urban enough to make lifelong suburban kids a bit twitchy, but Temple would make confirmed city-dwelling kids a bit twitchy.</p>

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<p>And now that I think of it, it doesn’t have the more liberal reputation of some of the other schools so he may really like it.</p>

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<p>As a Temple student from one of the wealthier suburbs of Philadelphia, I have always felt safe at school. My brother goes to Penn. Doesn’t feel any safer than Temple. More developed, more greenery and more brick roads, sure, but they’re both fine for anyone with an iota of street sense.</p>

<p>It’s really a shame that people think Temple is some kind of warzone. It’s pretty far from it. I cant wait til Temple 2020 is complete and all of the scared suburbanites change their tune.</p>

<p>[$1.2</a> Billion Temple University Construction Project - Redlasso.com](<a href=“http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=77661fbf-24cf-481a-85b3-af0e10cf7a90]$1.2”>http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=77661fbf-24cf-481a-85b3-af0e10cf7a90)</p>

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<p>Seiclan, I just read your visit report about Muhlenberg (very nice!) and just wanted to make a couple of corrections. Muhlenberg is not in the suburbs of Allentown, It is well within the city limits. Also, the amusement park is Dorney park. [Dorney</a> Park & Wildwater Kingdom - PA Amusement Park & Waterpark, over 100 rides and attractions](<a href=“http://www.dorneypark.com/]Dorney”>http://www.dorneypark.com/) When we moved up this way we bribed our older kids by telling them we would get season passes!</p>

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<p>Swarthmore’s closer to philly than a few of the others listed – namely ursinus is gonna be a trek, whereas Swat, Haverford, Drexel, Temple, Penn, are all in/really close to philly (as i’m sure you know – having done grad @ penn) – so that might enable you to get a few more into your visit (as opposed to visiting muhlenburg which isn’t exactly close – but it all depends on how badly you want to see a given school). Your son sounds a bit overqualified for some of the schools listed (though i am kind of biased against muhlenburg, ursinus, temple for extremely biased, personal reasons)… perhaps do a brainstorm session with him now and figure out where your college numbers stand in terms of # reaches/matches/safeties that way you know which group you should be seeing more of. do you know any other info about what he wants out of a college? how important is the jewish presence at a given school to him? how close would he want to be to philly if he were to attend a school in PA? what kind of balance is he looking for between between social and academic life? etc… because a lot of the schools listed have REALLY different personalities…</p>

<p>How much does he love sports? Enough to play DIII? (depending on the sport swat/hford/muhlenburg/ursinus… also f&m, washington college… basically the entirecentennial league) might be something worth considering.</p>

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<p>gc414- We are already back in Florida after having visited NYC and Philly last week. My son is a bit overqualified for Muhlenberg but the school was lovely, the people were warm and I got a good feeling from the place. We love the Jewish presence there as well (an impt. factor for our family). I think it would make an excellent safety that he could really do well at. There is something to be said for being a big fish in a small pond. That said, he has no pressing interest in attending college in PA. We just were doing some “start the thought process moving” types of visits (so it was impt to visit different types of schools). DS fell in love with Columbia U in NYC but, with a 9% admit rate…it is a long shot even if his SAT scores are within range. We, along with most of the Class of 2012, will not know his true target and reach schools until this time next year to make his final list. Just got back his June SAT subject test in Math 2 and all colleges are still on the table. SAT reasoning is a much longer test (of endurance) though so all bets are off.
Kathiep-sorry for my errors, it was a busy week and I don’t have the best recall these days. Thanks for the corrections.</p>

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<p>Oh! Wow! I’m really behind. Sorry about that!! Did you make it to Swarthmore ;)? I’m glad that he enjoyed Muhlenburg though – the people I know who are going there are very excited about it!</p>

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<p>We only got to U Penn on Thursday and Muhlenberg on Friday (we saw NYU on Tuesday and Columbia on Wednesday). We had too many family obligations (why we were in the vicinity in the first place) too fit another school in. Next June we will see more schools with planned college tour trips. I would like him to see Swathmore and he wants to see MIT (his dad’s alma mater) in Boston.</p>

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<p>^ Don’t overlook Muhlenberg’s Presidential Scholarships, and Honors Programs, should your son settle on a less competitive school. It’s nice being a big fish in a small pond, with scholarships!</p>

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<p>So he didn’t like Philly/PA, but he liked Harlem? Makes sense…</p>

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Columbia is in Morningside Heights which has tons of college students and ia very nice residential neighborhood (and it is about 1/2 mile from Harlem). To me, a parent of daughter who wanted to go in a big city, Morningside Heights is far safer and lively than the neighborhood around Penn … and it wasn’t close.</p>

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<p>Although I am sure that the above post was meant to be sarcastic, Columbia U is not technically in Harlem, it is in Morningside Heights. [File:Harlem</a> map2.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harlem_map2.png]File:Harlem”>File:Harlem map2.png - Wikipedia)
As anyone who is familiar with NYC knows, the neighborhoods vary in look and feel from block to block. That said, my son likes Philadelphia just fine. He liked U Penn very much. That he liked Columbia U in NYC the most on this particular visit/tour means only that, and has no relevance to his feeling about wanting to be in any particular city.</p>

<p>cross posted.</p>

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<p>I’m sure the parents of my friend who got pistol whipped walking down Commonwealth Ave. felt the same way about Boston.</p>