<p>Please help...D is interested in several colleges in PA. We plan to make visits to Dickinson, Bucknell, Lafayette, Gettysburg, and Franklin and Marshall. We'll be coming from Albany, NY, so it likely makes sense to start at Lafayette in Easton. How would you advise we continue from there? Also, since we are new to the "visit scene," how many colleges would you recommend visiting in one day? Thanks in advance to all of you who have been there before us...</p>
<p>Sorry, no advice. (We live close enough to most of them that we can make multiple day-trips.)</p>
<p>I just wanted to wish you luck. My son is interested in all the same schools. He’s currently a junior. We’ll probably “bump into” each other on these forums in the coming months. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>DougBetsy, Thanks for your good wishes. D is a sophomore, but is interested in schools all over the US, so we need to get started on visits early! Likewise, I’ll look for you on these forums. I’m having more fun with this than D is…what’s wrong with that picture?!</p>
<p>Oh, I hear you about who’s having fun with this! When my younger one leaves in August, she thinks I’ll become the crazy cat lady.
Good you are starting a bit early. We did the loop about the same time with my daughter. We found that two in a day is the most you can do, and really only if there’s an early morning tour, then you leave campus by noon, and the other campus in only an hour or so away to catch the afternoon tour. She took notes at each school, and we talked a bit after each one. I would say, if you get on the campus and your child just doesn’t feel like it’s a good fit, don’t bother with the tour. Will you miss the opportunity to find the school of your dreams? Maybe, but if you are visiting several schools in just a few days, you might be happy to narrow it down somehow.<br>
We found that these tours worked to help identify what characteristics worked for her. Try to spend enough time at one or two schools to get a flavor of the surrounding town.
For each tour loop that we did (one to Boston, one to PA/CT/RI, one to NY for Cornell and Colgate), I put together a chart with available tour times and dates, which ones needed a pre-registration, and then mapquested to get directions and times. From that we set up hotel rooms, choosing the cities or areas that seemed more fun.
If you child plays sports or has a specific major of interest, get in touch with someone there to talk to them during your visit. If you know someone at any of the schools, try to have them meet you, even for just a cup of coffee. If they have a friend who is majoring in something that interests your child, see if they can join you.
Enjoy! I’m off to feed the cats…</p>
<p>Well coming down I would hit either Lafayette or Bucknell first with whichever one you don’t hit on the way back. That would be either </p>
<p>Bucknell, Dickenson, Gettysburg, F&M, and Lafayette</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Lafayette, F&M, Gettysburg, Dickenson, and Bucknell.</p>
<p>Naturally others to check along the way are Lehigh, Muhlenburg, Moravian and others (Drew in NJ or the Philly schools if you go that way) </p>
<p>I don’t know if you can do two a day on this trip but you might squeeze two in on one of the days. Lancaster has lots of places to stay and I think there are some near Gettysburg but am not sure about the other three areas.</p>
<p>In general it is difficult to fit in two schools in one day unless they are very close together. Each tour takes 60-90 minutes and it is usually a good idea to sit in on the 60 minute info session plus wander about on your own and also check out the surrounding area. So figure 3.5 hours counting parking etc. If you hit one school at 9 you can do lunch and just make it to somewhere close by (thinking two city schools really), which these really are not except maybe if you drive fast Gettysburg and Dickenson, for the afternoon session. A fair amount of interesting tourist locations in Gettysburg and Lancaster.</p>
<p>Check the tour and info session schedules at all these schools and the travel time between and you might make it. The problem is that if the morning school turns out to be worthy of more time you won’t make the afternoon school.</p>
<p>Also check the campus calendars at each college for the days you will be there as there may be some events worth going to at night. Even if a college game or performance doesn’t seem all that interesting to your child they are probably low cost or free and give you all the chance to observe the students in their “natural habit” a bit more.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>njcentconf and ctParent2006, Many thanks for the terrific suggestions. I think we’ll go with one school per day, since I think D should give each school her full attention and not be overly concerned with watching the clock to make it to the next one. Moreover, many of these PA schools sound very similar on paper, so I think it may be critical to experience them as fully as possible “in the flesh.”</p>
<p>A question about interviewing…would you recommend attempting to fit in interviews (for those schools who do them) at the time of the initial visit, or give all schools a first-time look and return at another time for the interview?</p>
<p>Many thanks.</p>
<p>If you can I would leave he interviews for a second trip. Interviews are important at some schools and they will tell you that. Even at those schools the interview is often a student intern in the Admission office.</p>
<p>Naturally if you don’t think you can make it back and he/she is sure to apply it doesn’t hurt at all. To get the hang of these interviews, which are not usually particularly probing, you could schedule one at a school that is lower on the list so that in the highly unlikely case it doesn’t go well it won’t disrupt matters too much.</p>
<p>I think you may already know this but the schools you are visiting, I think, all place a high value on applicants who express interest in going to their schools. Be sure to sign any forms or guest book when you go. That sort of thing doesn’t matter at larger schools but it does count quite a bit at smaller ones.</p>
<p>Lafayette FIRST (shameless plug since I am a proud alum!) - then take the NE extension of the PA Turnpike to the main Turnpike to get to F&M in Lancaster (forget which exit), then a scenic drive across Route 30 West to Gettysburg, then Route 15 North to Harrisburg, a little jog south on I-81 gets you to Carlisle and Dickinson, finally get back on Route 15 North to get to Lewisburg and Bucknell</p>
<p>Can you tell I already did this???</p>
<p>We found it very easy to do two in one day. We did a full week in April of two schools per day. We arrived the evening before, checked into our hotel, then drove over to campus in the evening to check it out… walk around, go to the book store, library, gym, student center, etc. and it gave us a nice feel for the school. If you do the first morning tour and info session, you can grab lunch on the road and get to your next school for an afternoon tour and info session, and then hang out awhile on your own before getting back on the road. It was a great week.</p>
<p>I would definately wait on the interviews. Most juniors aren’t prepared yet for interviews. Both Dickinson and F&M offered interviews with their admissions counselors on the road in Connecticut. So we didn’t have to drive all the way back for a second time. Good luck.</p>
<p>Hello Itsmygop- You will be a pro after a sweep through PA schools.
Are you visiting during the summer ? It is VERY difficult to get an accurate feel of a school in the summer.</p>
<p>We did summer PA trip, knowing we would revisit, so it became more of a trip deciding which would make the final cut.</p>
<p>Interview with schools you are least likely in,at first , and work your way up to the top schools on your list. Consider those first interviews, practice interviews, even the most confident kid will be nervous during the first couple interviews.</p>
<p>FYI- husband and I are Bucknell grads (long ago) D is a senior at Muhlenberg, so it’s been some time since we’ve made the PA tour.</p>
<p>If your daughter is consideirng Eng- you have rule out some of these schools. Know that many engineering kids switch majors (most kids switch anyway, so know that ahead of time) S is eng major at ND, so we are familiar with how challenging that path is. </p>
<p>Lafayette, Lehigh , Muhlenberg close together - </p>
<p>Bucknell, Susquehana, (not that you added that one but for others reading this) and Penn State,- all nestled out there in western part of PA</p>
<p>Dickinson- Gettysburg - might be doable
I did not go on the FandM visit, husband and D did, so I can’t help work that one in. </p>
<p>Try to make “official” visits to schools higher on your list, so you are demonstrating “interest” early on. This means attending admissions sessions, and tour if you have time.</p>
<p>If you are cramming more schools in, just walk the campus on your own, and don’t spend time in tour. </p>
<p>Try not to let you d be “overly” influenced by some of those random things that happen on school visits-
ie don’t like the tour guide,
the weather is dreary, hence the school appears grim-
all those random things. </p>
<p>I actually like attending the “official” open houses- which we did at Gettysburg, Bucknell, and Muhlenberg. Overnights at Dickinson and Muhlenberg. Sport camps at Bucknell, Colgate and others. All of these events painted a picture, but know they are “dog and pony” shows, but some were helpful.</p>
<p>Like I said, you will be a pro, after about …three college visits :)</p>