I Need Help Planning Fantabulous Mid-Atlantic College Tour

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi all!</p>

<p>I am a soon-to-be senior (what's the terminology for that? Rising senior?) from southeastern Washington, aspiring for more than WSU or the local community college (where the overwhelming majority of our graduating classes go). </p>

<p>Some of the schools high up on my college wish list are located on the East coast - more specifically Pennsylvania. Which is why my family is making the cross country trek via airplane this August; to take a gander at the grand ivy covered institutions of higher learning...and do some vacationing on the side. The farthest east we've been (not counting China) is Yellowstone National Park, so we're pretty unfamiliar with the eastern half of the US.</p>

<p>I am looking for suggestions of additional colleges to visit, recommendations of good areas to go just for fun, and travel tips. The region we are visiting includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York (the state and the city). Unfortunately, I don't think we can visit Massachusets (sorry Harvard, Amherst, Wellesley), Connecticut (bye bye Yale), or Rhode Island (no Brown). The colleges you suggest should be rather selective…I'm not going across the country for a school similar to my state U.</p>

<p>My CURRENT COLLEGE VISIT LIST
Swarthmore
Haverford
Bryn Mawr
Princeton (not really wanting to apply here…but we're visiting friends that live just a half hour away, so we decided, what the heck)</p>

<p>Other colleges I'm looking at are: Stanford (dream school), Pomona, Grinnell, and Whitman.</p>

<p>Our (really short) SIGHTSEEING LIST
Smithsonian
Some Really Cool Art Museum in DC (I love art…and museums)
Niagara Falls</p>

<p>Before you go ahead and merrily select some colleges for me….</p>

<p>MY STATS</p>

<p>4.0 UW GPA
1/475ish students
Chinese American
US citizen
Will max out s0chool's AP offerings by graduation (excluding foreign languages). Keep in mind that my school only offers 7 APs.
232 PSAT (national merit finalist?)
2280 (800 CR, 760 M, 720 W - 10 essay, 71 MC)<br>
SAT IIs:
800 Bio M, 750 Math IIC</p>

<p>-Involved in: art club (VP), math team like every other Asian (secretary, secretary, pres), science bowl, knowledge bowl, JV tennis, NHS (secretary), volunteer at humane society.
-Awards: State, regional, city, school awards in art (my passion). Regional awards/competed at state for math team. -Regional awards for science and knowledge bowl, won first place in community college sponsored area essay contest.
-Internships: Summer research internship at Pacific Northwest National Lab, 90 hour semester long hospital/cancer center internship, summer health sciences internship/camp.</p>

<p>FACTORS IMPORTANT TO ME IN SELECTING A SCHOOL:</p>

<p>Smallish (1,000-5,000 students)
Focus on undergrads
Friendly environment
Happy students
Available profs
Small classes
Research oppurtunities for undergrads
Good Neuroscience/humanities programs (interested in majoring in neuro or humanities)
Intellectual/Academic/Slightly quirky or dorky atmosphere (hey, just like me! :))
Little or no drug/alchohol/partying scene
Small Greek presence
Good admission rates for med school/grad school
Diverse
Liberal politically but not overly so
Located in a suburb/rural area but close to a bigger city
Trivial factor but still: Gothic architecture + campus with lots of greenery are def. good things to have</p>

<p>Thanks for reading (I write a lot….)…and thanks in advance for your suggestions!</p>

2

<p>How long do you have for this trip, and why did you choose those specific states for your visit?</p>

3

<p>larger than you want, but Johns Hopkins might be worth looking at.</p>

4

<p>Niagara Falls is a long way from everything else you are planning to visit.</p>

5

<p>You say you want a smallish school but Stanford (not small) is your dream school. So since you'll be near Philly why not check out U of Penn.</p>

6

<p>oops, forgot to put that in there! That might be helpful. ^^</p>

<p>We have the trip scheduled for Aug. 11-23, so we have 12 days to do vacationing and college visiting.</p>

<p>Swarthmore is one of my top choices, but I felt like I definitely needed to visit. Swat, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr are in Pennsylvania, and we have friends that live about an hour away in both Penn. and NJ. My dad thinks we should definitely go to DC, so I guess we're going to DC. Our NJ friends suggested that we should visit New York city, so we will be going there. My parents love scenic things so Niagara is a definite. I don't really want to go there because it's rather far up north and out of the way. If we're going to leave the mid-atlantic region, I'd rather visit colleges in mass. and conn. than go see some waterfalls.</p>

7

<p>How much have you read about Swarthmore because you sound like a perfect fit!! InterestedDad would be able to fill you in on all the details.</p>

<p>I know you stipulated smallish, but you will be SOOOOOOOOO close to Penn, why not take a peek? Johns Hopkins= Neuroscience and you will be a couple hours away.</p>

8

<p>hmm...point taken. I think I need to rephrase the 'dream school' part. Stanford is probably the big reach for me - not really the dream school - but the Harvard the prestige whore in me wants. Lame? Probably. But we all have our ivy dreams. </p>

<p>Who knows? Maybe I'll decide I dislike small schools like Swat and love big ones like UPenn upon visiting.</p>

9

<p>With your stats you'd get a full ride at TCNJ, tution, R & B for all four years. Somebody on CC posted the link to a recent NYT article about TCNJ. Good read. </p>

<p>TCNJ is a half hour from Princeton. So, go see.</p>

10

<p>I'll check out the schools you guys suggested for me. So far I have JHU and UPenn. </p>

<p>"How much have you read about Swarthmore because you sound like a perfect fit!! InterestedDad would be able to fill you in on all the details.</p>

<p>I know you stipulated smallish, but you will be SOOOOOOOOO close to Penn, why not take a peek? Johns Hopkins= Neuroscience and you will be a couple hours away."</p>

<p>I lurked in the Swat forum, looked it up in various places online, joined the Swarthmore community on Livejournal, and have even contacted an alumni. Basically I've been trying to find out everything there is to know about Swat, and am liking most, if not all, of it.</p>

<p>My dad suggested Johns Hopkins..I don't know very much about it other than it's a good school, great for med...but I have heard of how cutthroat the premeds there are. Is there much truth to these rumors?</p>

11

<p>"With your stats you'd get a full ride at TCNJ, tution, R & B for all four years. Somebody on CC posted the link to a recent NYT article about TCNJ. Good read. </p>

<p>TCNJ is a half hour from Princeton. So, go see. "</p>

<p>Full ride? plus food! They're that kind to out of staters? That's awesome. I'll go take a look-see.</p>

12

<p>Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive are very scenic, and they are close to Washington, DC instead of such a long way away. There are a lot of other things you could see. If you went to Boston, Vermont and New Hampshire are very scenic, and they are not too far away.</p>

13

<p>Are you driving this whole trip?? This is a LOT of driving, to say the leasts. Niagara Falls to DC is a hard days drive. Then to go over to NJ. Hey, more power to you! I second JHU. It may be too far out of the way, but St. Mary's College of Maryland is a great public liberal arts college. Also: Muhlenberg in Allentown, PA is probably a safety for you (a little heavy on the Greek side). Georgetown's a little larger than you're looking for, but not that much.</p>

14

<p>thechiiguin, if you love art, you really should consider Williams, one of the best (I'd venture to say THE best) art history departments in the country with three worldclass museums on or near campus. </p>

<p>It is also very strong academically both in the sciences and humanities and fulfills most -- but not all -- of your other requirements as well. Excellent medical school placements. The Berkshires are profoundly beautiful -- maybe you could talk your scenery loving parents into a side trip! Even if you don't get to visit this trip, take a look to add to your application list.</p>

<p>There are so many great museums along your route that it's hard to select: you could spend a day at the National Gallery alone. The museum in Philadelphia is also excellent. What period are you most interested in?</p>

15

<p>Swarthmore is only about 20 minutes (by car) from Haverford and Bryn Mawr, so it is very easy to see all three schools. </p>

<p>UPenn is near downtown Philadelphia, also about 20 minutes (by train or car) from Swarthmore.</p>

<p>Baltimore is no more than an hour south of Philadelphia. Washington and New York City are about two hours, depending on traffic. Princeton is probably 75 to 90 minutes from Swarthmore.</p>

<p>Buffalo (Niagra Falls) is a LONG drive from any of these places!</p>

16

<p>US News publishes a neat little map that only shows cities that have four year colleges. There's a city-college and college-city index as well. If you could scrounge one up, it would show you what colleges will be along the way during your travelers. Don't know if USNews sells it stand-alone, as I got it when I subscribed to the online edition.</p>

17

<p>I was going to mention Williams - you probably won't be able to make it on this trip, but you should look at it for actually applying.</p>

<p>Cool museums - the "lightning tour" of the Smithsonian - yes, you can catch all the highlights in one day, but you need track shoes and trail mix (can't stop for food!). My son was one of the first school groups to see the new Native American Museum (I'm not sure of the proper name) he said it was way cool, and it takes a lot to push his cool button.</p>

18

<p>I hate to be rude, but I was born this way. Your Pennsylvania choices make lots of sense, and I'd be glad to help with how to get around, places to stay, etc. But the DC and Niagara Falls detours--unless there are schools that interest you in those areas--are throwing me for a huge loop. You have a very unusual opportunity. Two consecutive weeks. See the schools that might be appropriate for you, and find the sightseeing opportunities that are around them....there are many. Don't do it the other way around. For a Philadelphia art experience that no one you know will have had, ask me about the Barnes Foundation sometime.</p>

19

<p>BIG second to the Barnes Foundation.
Unmissable...go go go!</p>

20

<p>Swat and Bryn Mawr and Haverford really do seem like perfect fits, given your description. Each of them is slightly different, each wonderful in its own way, but also each have far more in common with each other than differences. </p>

<p>I do also think you should see Penn - NOT because I think you'd do better there (personally, I'd choose Bryn Mawr over UPenn in a heartbeat, and Penn doesn't really fit what you've described), but because coming from southeast Washington, you've never really explored what it might be like to be in a larger urban school. And you might be surprised - you might just like it - in which case you'd probably have to add Columbia, etc. back into the lists.</p>

<p>Niagara Falls is WAY out of the way, whereas NYC and DC are not.</p>