<p>We will be driving from the DC area to Saugatuck, MI (on lower lake Michigan), for a family vacation. My rising junior D will be with us and we would like to take the opportunity to stop and do some college visits, though we know places will not be operating at full throttle in the summer. So far, we have Oberlin and U Michigan on our list. What others do you think we should include?</p>
<p>D is an A student with good extracurriculars. (Hasn't taken SATs yet.) She has not yet formed a plan for a major. She is smart, but less of a bookworm type and more of a go-getter. Does not particularly enjoy intense intellectual discussions, (thinks there's no point in discussing literature, for example, and believes books should remain an individual experience.) Enjoys math and practical things. Likes drama but wouldn't major in it. Is progressive and open-minded. Does lots of work with the homeless. Would like to travel.</p>
<p>Is she checking out schools in DC? Georgetown -a typical private university? George Washington -a typical urban school? How about Northwestern when you get to Chicago?</p>
<p>You don’t say the size of the school you think she’d like. Kalamazoo College is on the way; with the school’s focus on study abroad, it might be attractive for someone interested in travel. Case Western is right there in Cleveland. Case is a good school for someone interested in “math and practical things”; also, offers good merit aid for strong students. Carnegie-Mellon, with more competitive admissions than Case, is also on your route and would be worth a visit.</p>
<p>There are a number of LACs in OH you could see - College of Wooster, Kenyon, Denison. Earlham in Indiana. Knox in Illinois.</p>
<p>Kenyon is a great school. Beautiful campus. I would also add Miami U of Ohio, Wittenberg and, if you have the time, Depauw in Indiana.</p>
<p>Maybe I was too literal, but I restricted my responses to schools that would not take the OP too far off route, given his or her mention of Oberlin and UMich. Visiting Knox College, for instance, would add several hundred miles to the trip. DePauw would add nearly 200 miles. Side trips to some of these other schools would be more doable perhaps, given how much time the OP and family have to wander. I guess I assumed the OP did not want to veer too far off course en route to the vacation destination.</p>
<p>Maybe Notre Dame and Denison University</p>
<p>University of Pittsburgh? Carnegie Mellon? Pretty much on the route you’d be taking. They are right next to each other so you can hit both in a day. Warning on Oberlin (my alma mater), it is very quiet in summer and may not give you an accurate feel of the place whereas UMichigan will still be quite bustling. I tried to show my kids Oberlin, and it was beyond ghost town on a summer Fri. night.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses so far. True – we don’t want to go too far off our route. D has no preference yet on the size of schools which is why we’re going to see palces as different in size as UMichigan and Oberlin. We will not need to look at the DC colleges, as that’s where we live and can see those any time. My sister lives in Chicago so we’ll probably see Northwestern and U Chicago on a separate trip. Yep, I realize the small places like Oberlin and probably Kalamazoo are going to be pretty gutted in the summer, but this is just a first visit, and should she like places, we can come back when they are inhabited by students. Ideally, it would be great to find a college that offers a high school summer program for a week or so, but very few still have anything going on as late as August. I haven’t checked the Pittsburgh schools, though, so maybe I’ll look at CM and Pitt for an HS summer program in August.</p>
<p>Gettysburg College?</p>
<p>I’d second Kenyon. It sounds like a good fit for your daughter. LACs are quiet in summer but admissions is up and running. You can take the tour and attend an information session.</p>
<p>If she’s practically-minded and good at math, she might want to take a look at engineering programs at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, both pretty much en route. Kalamazoo College is worth a look. Notre Dame isn’t exactly on the way but it’s only about 90 minutes south of Saugatuck, potentially a stop on the way back. If you squeeze in Oberlin, Michigan, and Kalamazoo on the way there and Notre Dame, Case Western, and CMU on the way back, that’s one heck of a college tour, all good schools of varying sizes, flavors, and degrees of admissions difficulty that should help her start to get a feel for what she likes.</p>
<p>Kalamazoo College, Ursinus College in PA and Muhlenberg College also in PA</p>
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<p>Wrong way! Ursinus is in eastern Pennsylvania, near Valley Forge (just outside of Philadelphia). Muhlenberg is in Allentown, PA, also on the eastern end of the state. Either of those would be quite out-of-the-way on a road trip from DC to Michigan.</p>
<p>Yes, bclintonk, and I’m from PA anyway and my brother went to Ursinus, so no need to visit the PA schools. Mainly interested in the ones farther afield and that I might not be aware of in Ohio and Michigan. Even Pittsburgh is not that far from DC, but we do not find ourselves in Michigan or Ohio on a regular basis, so I was thinking we’d take advantage of being in that area to catch a college or two. I think, based on the suggestions here, we will do UMichigan, Oberlin and maybe Kenyon. It is very early in the game for D, and I’d like her to get a feel for the widely varying scopes and sizes of colleges and universities. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!</p>