<p>kathiep - Those are the schools that we will be officially visiting. We will also do some drive thrus. Fortunately, we can come back and visit again if he likes the looks of things. </p>
<p>I’ll check out the state schools, but I think if he is going to attend a state school then he would probably save the $$ and attend in state. </p>
<p>Now I have to make sure that I miss the NY traffic. I’m thinking that I can take the Merritt to 287 and cross over that way. I never drive on 95 unless I have no other choice.</p>
<p>Warriorboy, not sure where you’re coming from, but the Merritt is undergoing construction between exits 52 and 44 (or something like that). It can be a real mess when they’re working.</p>
<p>Funny you should mention York, I was just thinking of it this morning. I visited York with my older son a few years ago. It has a reputation as a safety school for B students. Small college in a blue collar small city. I thought the campus was quite nice, if a bit small but the surrounding area was not the college town that many students are looking for. There’s a poster that still posts occasionally on this forum, Fendergirl, who graduated from York and had a great experience there. I’m sure you could do a search and come up with more information that way. I think I did a review too, but after a quick search, it didn’t turn up. The price is very, very good for a private college in the mid-Atlantic area.</p>
<p>A friend’s son went there for 2 years and blossomed as a student, then transferred to a bigger school. He received very good attention from teachers, which helped. He did find the school somewhat too small and isolated, however. I recall the total price being in the $20Ks, which is well below average for small private colleges. It is a popular school for NJ kids who have not achieved a 3.0 but should have and for 3.0 kids looking for a safety or low priced smaller private school.</p>
<p>gweeta - thanks, we were lucky and didn’t hit any traffic at all. We did a drive thru of Lycoming. I thought it looked like a nice campus. My son is not interested!!! He has 3 favorite schools now. One of which he is sure that he will get in because they accept 75% of their students, his test scores are in their top 25% and he’s a male. (I hope he’s right!!) After seeing this school, nothing else compares.</p>
<p>Tomorrow we will visit Juniata and Susquehanna. I’m expecting him to like Susquehanna, but what do I know…</p>
<p>Weren’t some of the popular Susquehanna off campus apartments indicated as possible cancer cluster a couple of years ago? Just something to be aware of.</p>
<p>kathiep - I’ll pm you. He wants to keep his schools a secret…</p>
<p>So we visited Juniata. I liked it, but it didn’t blow us away. My son felt that it looked like it hadn’t been updated in a while. The science program looked pretty impressive and there appeared to be a lot of research opportunities.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my son liked Susquehanna. We had a great tour guide (no one else was with us on the tour) and she was very informative. She focused on my son’s areas of interest. That was nice. We didn’t have to hike down to the football fields. I do have to say that their indoor track facility was pretty amazing. </p>
<p>I’m always amazed at how different a school can look on paper than in person. I wish we had visited more schools when he was a junior. The good thing is that he knows exactly what he wants. The bad thing is that I don’t always agree. </p>
<p>Tomorrow we visit Elizabethtown and Ursinus…</p>
<p>Lycoming has the same indoor track as Susquehanna. In fact I thought the two schools looked very similar. I would give the nod to Lycoming personally just because of the town. I didn’t think Selinsgrove was very appealing and Williamsport was larger and therefore a little more interesting. IMHO, of course.</p>
<p>I saw Susquehanna with my daughter in the summer and it was very hard to get a feel for the college without the kids. Same thing with Ursinus - no kids, hard to get the vibe. Sounds like your son might be a bit more discerning. </p>
<p>I’ve never been to Elizabethtown so am interested in your opinion there. Have fun!</p>
<p>I thought that Lycoming had a very nice campus also. I’ve given up trying to discern what
makes my son like a school. I absolutely agree that we need to see the schools in session. We were talking about this last night. When we visited Loyola, we liked evrything about the school. ( I actually wanted to go back and attend myself) but my son didn’t feel as if he would fit in socially. </p>
<p>For schools that are close enough, we will revisit in the fall. For those that are too far away then we will have to wait until he is accepted.</p>
<p>Kids are extremely attuned to vibes parents are not–it is like dogs hearing whistles we can’t! I think they pay extra attention to how the students walking around campus dress and interact with the guide. I decided not to vist schools out of session for that reason–and learned the hard way in the Spring not to visit schools Saturday morning–we could not tell if there was a “suitcase” problem or just kids sleeping until noon!</p>
<p>Lots of parents talk about kids rejecting schools during a drive through despite the campus seeming identical to one that passed–sometimes it may be kids trying to show they are in control of a process which scares them.</p>
<p>I agree with you yabeye2 but, as you know, sometimes summer is the only time a school is in session. I also think that open houses and special summer events are the exception to that rule. PSU had an excellent summer event as did Lycoming. Professors from all the areas were available as well as current students. I also liked seeing all the potential students.</p>
<p>Good point about the Saturday morning thing. I remember visiting one school for an open house on a drizzly Saturday in the fall. The dining hall just had the visiting students there for lunch time and the rest of the campus was most likely snoozing in.</p>
<p>I think high schools would be smart to pick a Fall week (and perhaps an April week) for seniors to visit colleges without missing class (and plan no athletic events that week, either).</p>
<p>^^^ Great idea! Columbus day week would be great in October and then any early April week after the AP tests. oh, except Pennsylvania schools are going to do all of their state tests (PSSA’s) in April starting in 2010. </p>
<p>Our school is actually very good about allowing Juniors and Seniors take a day here and there during the school year for college visits.</p>
<p>Having a fall week to visit is a great idea. Our school allows the kids to take 4 days for school visits, but you really can only do a local visit in a day. Plus my son has some health issues and he shouldn’t miss any more days than he already does. </p>
<p>We had a good day today. E-town is definitely not a good match for him. I knew within 10 seconds that he wouldn’t like it. He liked Ursinus and thinks that he will apply. Unfortunately, I did a drive by of Franklin and Marshall and he loved the campus. He made me drive up all the roads and around the campus. </p>
<p>I’ll write more about that on the 3.0 thread where my friends can commiserate…</p>
<p>All in all, altyhough his reactions seem mysterious to you, it seems your PA trip was a success, given his favorable impressions of 3 schools (was Muhlenberg a 4th?) and not negative views of a 4th. Added to the 3 prior favorites you mentioned-including the 75% admissions rate school which tantalizes your fans)–it seems you have a good roster, including safeties, in early August. Take a bow for your good planning (even if your son may not realize the hard work that went into your planning!</p>
<p>warriorboy~ interesting your S’s take on Etown. My S went to an open house there and we didn’t even do a tour. He wasn’t interested. We had stayed for the morning sessions, lunch, and a dept. visit and he was done. I had to agree with him after the dept. visit - no enthusiasm from the faculty member who was presenting. Very dull.</p>
<p>I never visited Etown, but I do know someone who recently graduated from the school. She absolutely loved her time there and she felt that she got a very good education at Etown. I just thought I’d chime in so that readers don’t cross this school off their list of possible colleges without further investigation.</p>