@mageecrew my daughter received a half tuition scholarship from Lehigh- pm me if you want more information. She chose not to attend.
@mageecrew I know quite a few Lehigh grads. One the daughter of a pharmacist, another the daughter of teachers, another the son of engineers, etc. I really don’t think it stands out as a rich person’s school. We were there last spring looking around and most of the kids we saw and talked to were pretty down to earth and unassuming. The only issue we had with the school were those darn hills. Loved, loved, loved Lafayette’s campus though.
The hills are alive with the Sound of Students, lalalala… This hill thing cracks me up:-)
@mrpractical - the hill thing can make or break a college (or any) experience for those with mobility issues.
@stlarenas You are right - I always hear the two together. Lafayette is a tuition exchange school so that’s a big reason she may be applying there. They are both beautiful campuses though. Good luck to your daughter!
Thanks @twogirls - I feel like that’s about the maximum they seem to award, right? It’s still an expensive choice though, even with half off.
@citymama9 Those hills would have helped me keep off the freshman 15, for sure! Good to hear your impression was a good one… who knows, maybe we should look into it again.
Lafayette may be tackling the “hill problem” by building a 21st century funicular. See the third bullet point:
My D graduated from Lafayette last May and loved it so if anyone has a particular question about the school or her experience there feel free to PM me.
And FWIW the college itself is on top of a hill and the campus is pretty flat in terms of day to day living and going to classes. There is one classroom building (the Williams Arts Campus) with very few classes held down the hill and the town of Easton is down the hill – it is walk-able and there is a shuttle bus to take students to and fro. In my D’s mind Lafayette was different from some of the other campuses discussed which have the hill right on campus so it would need to be hiked up and down daily.
@mageecrew I believe they give full tuition as well.
Lehigh and Lafayette often get lumped together because they are both in the Lehigh valley, are fierce football rivals, and offer engineering. But they are very different; the key difference being, Lafayette is a liberal arts college and Lehigh a university. While there are kids who will like both, you are more apt to find a strong preference for one over the other
About that hill at Lafayette - it’s between the campus and the town but there is a stairway right now that the kids walk down pretty quickly and plenty of school shuttles. The art campus is right on the bottom of the stairway/hill and my daughter takes classes there 3 times a week and its easy to get to. The town is then 5 minute walk from the arts campus - very easy to get there from the main campus as well (more shuttles, or 10 minute walk downhill). Plenty of restaurants etc and the kids like the farmers market and the new indoor food market and go in for various festivals but other than that they usually hang on campus just because thats what they do. Easton isn’t the most exciting but definitely got enough of what college kids expect outside of a large city.
However, sure everyone is psyched for the elevator they are talking about building up the hill!!
Veering off topic here, but the PHF discussion upthread got me thinking. I am a late-middle-aged woman with an empty nest and a job in a creative field. Why the heck not? So … I am enjoying my purple highlights, enjoying the looks they bring and the new optimism they have–perhaps irrationally–inspired in me. Yea PHF! 
@homerdog I have a lot of friends at CC, and one thing to keep in mind is that for science majors (especially chem and physics), the block lab schedule is absolutely brutal; class in the morning and lab all afternoon most days. It works very well for people who prefer an immersive experience; poorly for those who need a significant amount of processing time. I have a friend with pretty nasty ADD, and she finds the block plan to be perfect for her needs, since she it forces her to focus on one subject at once, but not for too long. A family friend who is now a doctor went to CC and loved the school, but said the block plan was not really the right choice for him. Its efficacy really depends on your learning patterns.
@stlarenas CC is very highly regarded; their grads definitely get jobs. This is anecdotal, but I know five CC graduates: three doctors, a very successful lawyer, and my best high school science teacher. Two of those people graduated within the last seven years; all within the last twelve.
Just wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to write a visit report, this thread has been very helpful!!
Here’s one to add: Boston U. Hated it. D spent two weeks there during the summer, and had a great time. But the campus, or lack of, was really off putting. The layout is awful. It can literally take 30 minutes to walk to class. The infamous Warren Towers is justifiably infamous. The summer classes she took, admittedly for a very short time, didn’t prove to be particularly engrossing. Other than the location, there was nothing she liked about it, except for the other students on the summer program.
Strangely, they never sent a single mailer once she had taken her SAT. Not that she minded.
Interesting to note that all the campuses where my kids did summer programs were eliminated from consideration.
Macalester–dorms were very run down, campus way too small.
MSOE–dorms cinder block towers, food terrible.
Gustavus–too small, S felt not academic enough (he was there for a sports camp and that was his impression from the student counselors)
That’s exactly what worries me about the block program: you’re cramming a semester’s worth of material into 3.5 weeks.
The idea of the block program sounds great to me, because I can hyper focus for short periods of time, and I learn best when I can really immerse myself in something. I think a couple of my kids are the same way.
But even for an OCD-type student, 3.5 weeks is really short. I think 4.5 - 5 weeks would be ideal. I’ve been ignoring schools with quarter calendars, but I’m going to give them a look. It might be better for my kids.
Is there a list anywhere of schools on quarter or trimester schedules? This article says that trimesters are
12 - 13 weeks and quarters are 10. Is that a reliable definition to go by?
https://www.studyusa.com/en/a/1235/what-is-the-difference-between-quarters-semesters-and-trimesters
I remember several midwestern LACs being on trimesters, Carleton being one.
@WalknOnEggShells My bet is that you can google a list of schools on a trimester and quarter systems. Offhand I can add that Union College (NY) is on the trimester system. Some other schools such as Northwestern, UChicago,and Dartmouth are on a quarter system which (from the article below) is similar to a trimester but they also count the summer as a term (see below).
http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/story/breaking-down-the-quarter-system/
I’m trying to imagine teaching certain linguistics disciplines on a block plan, and…no. It would hurt, both to teach and to learn.
Some things really do need to sit and ferment a bit, you know?