I’m from NW Pennsyltucky (apparently!) and always worry that I will misspell Pittsburgh, but really when I see it with out the h It screams WRONG at me so I must have internalized it.
I read that the Harrisburg Chamber of Commerce is lobbying to change the official spelling to Harrsiburgh. Don’t know why.
@TomSrOfBoston , Do you have a link about Harrisburg? I googled but couldn’t find anything about that. Seems like a really dumb idea.
@sevmom I can’t find that article now but here is one on how the "h’ was lost;
http://www.pennlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/04/harrisburgh_harrisburg.html
And I had a typo above, should be Harrisburgh.
Thanks, @TomSrOfBoston , Interesting article.
Try the Foxboro/Foxborough dilemma. Belaire Maryland - or is it Bel Air, or Bel-Air? Any way you spell it, you pronounce it B’lair Merlund.
No offense intended - we moved from Altoona PA (not Florida, Iowa or Alabama) in the mid - 1960’s. Guess I’ll have to turn in my Keystone State discount card : ). BTW my Grandmother was from Mexico (Pennsylvania). Mea Culpa on the Pittsburgh mis-spelling. But still a Steeler and Pirate fan for life.
When I think of Altoona, I always think of Horseshoe Curve. I had an Aunt that lived in Altoona. Hey, you left out the Penguins? They’re in the playoffs. Let’s Go Pens!
@PetitManan I enjoyed reading your list because it sounded so much like my D17’s a year ago, until she saw, fell in love with, and applied ED to another school. Skidmore (her parents’ alma mater), Union, the three Maine LACs were all on her list if she didn’t get into her ED school. Have fun with your journey, this was quite a year for us. 
Edit: I read too fast – you’re done, congrats on Bates!
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I previously posted about Vanderbilt but also thought I would chime in on Dartmouth and Penn. Of my numerous visits over the last seven years with my kids who all have different interests, these two Ivy Leaguers had by far the worst info sessions.
Both my D and I liked Dartmouth a lot. To me, it’s the quintessential New England college/college town. But the info session was farcical. Large crowd, and we only had 40 minutes because we had to move to another building. AO said, wow we are going to be rushed. They then proceeded to tell us first that they had a program to fly in people who could not attend. But we were all sitting there, so that seemed less relevant than some other things we could have learned. Then we were told that we probably did not know New Hampshire had beaches, which were then described in some detail. Somehow I don’t think most students will be coming to Dartmouth for the beaches. Interspersed were a dozen or more comments about how little time we had. Then we wrapped up a little before the tour guides arrived so that we would be ready for them. I think I learned that Dartmouth has travel abroad opportunities.
Penn’s info session was in some incredibly creepy auditorium that looked like there might be a hunchback lurking in the rafters. We walked over to the auditorium from admissions, where, true story, my D heard two employees talking in the bathroom about some green slime in the hallway that they had to clean up and thought it may have come from a poltergeist. After the info session, with no slides or any other visual aides, the massive group was herded into the small lobby where we waited, packed like sardines, for at least 15 minutes for the tour guides to arrive. I’ve never been so relieved to get a big gulp of that Philadelphia air as when we were finally released.
Come on, Ivy League.
^^yes that auditorium was a bit creepy! But the admissions person who did our session was very engaging despite the lack of visual aids.
To some Penn’s lack of visual aids was a turnoff. To others Northeastern’s "glossy’ visual aids was a turnoff. To each his own!
I don’t think I posted on here yet. If I’m repeating myself, I apologize.
Gettysburg - way up for me after visiting, way down for my daughter, who I thought would love it.
She hated Gettysburg because she felt it was in the middle of nowhere. I pointed out that it was only 38 miles from Harrisburg, a decent sized city, but she was unimpressed. I learned that I should be careful about which direction I approach a school from. We came from the southwest of Gettysburg, and there was nothing for miles before we got there. I think the school is perfect for her in many ways, but she won’t even consider it.
Lehigh - way down for me, pretty strongly up for her.
I just can’t get over that hill, and the town just looks depressing to me. Neither of those bothered her at all. She thought the town looked like it had lots to offer. I love the school academically, and I liked the look of the kids, She did too. There were a lot of kids out and about, playing sports. The Student Union seemed a little small, but it was lively.
Lafayette - strongly up for me, way up for her.
The first time I visited by myself, and the town seemed a little sketchy. On the second visit, with her, it seemed better for some reason. We both liked the campus, but we just drove through quickly, because we didn’t have time. We didn’t get much of an impression of the kids, but I think this was the first school that she actually liked for both its campus and its surrounding area.
Dickinson - up for me, not enough info to register for her.
We got there after dark, so it was hard to get much of an impression of the area, and we didn’t really go on campus. The town seemed very nice to me, especially compared to Easton(Lafayette) and Bethlehem(Lehigh). There were lots of very big, older houses, in very good shape. We ate at a place on the perimeter of the campus, and it was surprisingly inexpensive. I would encourage her to look at it seriously if it were a better match for her interests, but the Math and Computer Science offerings seem pretty limited.
Union - way up for both of us - the only school other than Lehigh that she seemed to immediately like for the students that she saw.
She’s pretty conservative, and not very open minded about kids that don’t look like her friends - not in a judgmental way, I think she just doesn’t think she’d have anything in common with the more artsy/liberal kids at some of the schools we’ve visited. As much as I’d like to get her out of her comfort zone, I’m not sure she’d be happy if I pushed her there. I’m curious what other parents with similar kids think about that. She’d probably be happy and make the most friends at a place like Lehigh, Union, Holy Cross, or Villanova, but is it really good to surround yourself with people who are just like everyone you’ve already met? How different will her life turn out if she goes to a school like Skidmore or Oberlin or Bard? I’m curious what others think.
Sorry for the wall.
The more college tours we’ve gone on, and the more they all seem to be trying to say the same generic things, the more I’ve come to be interested in what admissions representatives were NOT saying as much if not more so than what they were saying. For example:
Duke - Fraternities, what fraternities? (Even though we could see the dorms with the fraternity signs staring us in the face)
Tufts - Harvard and MIT? What are those? (Even though just about everyone at the info session was from a NY private school and no doubt visiting all three).
Emory - Upper class campus? Never heard of it. (Even though my son was staying with a friend who lived there).
Amherst - Huge athletic presence on campus and related issues? Naaaah. (Pay no attention to the fact that it seems like half the campus is walking around with a 'Amherst [SPORT[" jacket or sweatshirt).
Penn - Campus safety? Why would anyone care about that in a major city?
On the other hand, I was very impressed with schools that came right out and put some of their “issues” on display and tackled them head on (eg Vanderbilt - Greek life; Pitt- massive institutional-style dorms and academic buildings; UNC - 81% in-state requirement).
@pantha33m --Amen on your AO holistic review comment! One of my huge pet peeves as well. I remember attending a CC session recently where the school brought in a few AOs from nearby schools in NE. I’m not going to name names, but one particular AO whose school receives well over 50K applications yearly talked about holistic and reading applications in context and i really wanted to stand up and scream BS! If there would only be some transparency this would be such a different process…i would kill to hear “listen, the truth is that if these 3-4 boxes aren’t checked on the first page of the application/transcript, then it won’t get fully read—we may miss out on the next Shakespeare, by not reading further, but that’s the truth–We spend 10-15 minutes tops on each application–Good Luck.” While harsh, I would give that AO a standing ovation.
Why should Tufts mention Harvard and MIT? I’d find it odd if I toured a school and they spent time talking about other schools. Other than discussing any exchange programs, etc., it’s just not relevant.
@CroissantMiser DS16 and I went to any info session at Clemson several years ago, the representative for the engineering program made a point to say that engineering is a very competitive and rigorous major, and that if you are admitted it is because based on your application the expectation is that you will be able to complete the program. He said that GPA , test scores and rigor were what were assessed to determine appropriateness for the program. I appreciated his honesty, but it was clear many of the parents did not.
I didn’t mean to denigrate the fact that Penn did not use any visual aids. The speaker did a good, professional job. It’s just tough to hold the attention of a large auditorium of intrepid college adventurers for an hour or so on a hot, muggy summer day.
And I did not convey that the green slime oozing from the grand old building’s walls was apparently a regular occurrence. The employees apparently seemed somewhat disturbed about it. And, if I’m being honest, it felt less like a hunchback might be lurking in the auditorium rafters, than some sort of insane clown or evil puppet sprung to life.
The tour and tour guide were quite good, and the main part of campus has real charm.
First, we’re from NorCal, we live not too far from Stanford. So, we come from a “we wear shorts all year” perspective.
Realizing that these are all reaches for D, we visited Columbia, Penn and Princeton this week. One of my D’s friends actually visited about 10-15 colleges in IL, TN, GA, NC, MA, NY and maybe a few others. We’re snails by comparison. We also don’t care about the tour guides or visual presentations, though we took tours, but we were more just looking around and observing.
Anyway, we love visiting NY, but she’s crossing off Columbia. Too much concrete, too dreary and busy, campus didn’t feel right. Tour guide was great. Just looks like a concrete prison to us.
Penn was really very nice and Philly was fine. Much construction and the NFL Draft will be held there next week. So much traffic.
We loved Princeton. Local food was very good. Great guide. Really nothing to say bad about it.
D is a bit apprehensive about the cold weather. D doesn’t like the LAC’s, they’re smaller than her public high school, so no visits to Swarthmore or Haverford.
@sevmom (checking our linguistics) It is properly known as “The World Famous Horseshoe Curve”. Actually now a National monument.