As for your Ohio trip, probably best to start a separate thread, but I can tell you we found flying into Columbus and out of Cleveland worked well for that trip. Second considering Earlham. Also, Ohio Wesleyan is pretty close to Denison, but may or may not meet your other criteria (I was sorry we’d visited OWU in place of Denison, but the OWU visit proved useful in other ways). In any case, it’s really informative to see those schools in one trip. It was by far our most useful trip in terms of efficiently determining what my kid did and did not want in a school.
We went to Centre College in central Kentucky along with some of the same Ohio colleges you are visiting.
We are in the Midwest and will be looking at many of these schools! Can I throw a question back at you? Since you’re on the west coast and maybe know those schools well, which colleges are you looking at out west? I’d like to expand our search from the Midwest a bit. Maybe Lewis and Clark? Our S19 is not interested in music like your D but will want a school with studio art options. He will not major in Art, but will want to be able to take classes.
Sure! We looked at Lewis and Clark and the campus is stunning. We did the visitor day. My daughter liked it a lot and really helped shape her desire for a small liberal arts college. The music department though did not meet her standards. It has an “old” reputation in the West of being a party school but I think that has changed. But for my nerdy kid we did get a few raised eyebrows from locals who knew we looked at it. The student body seemed very hippyish but in a good way. The biology department has a very good reputation. We also looked at University of Puget Sound. Exceptional visitor day program and stunning campus. My daughter felt it was a little too preppy for her and we didn’t have a great student tour guide so that didn’t help. They went out of their way to make sure she could meet some music students and she even got to play in an ensemble. They offered for her to come back and have a lesson with the cello professor. They are well known for merit aid though. I thought it was a lovely school and it has a solid reputation. We are also going to look at Whitman though they are light on merit aid. A friend who is very senior at Boeing said their company is a big fan of Whitman for its academics and the interns that have come their way have been impressive.
Skimmed the posts. One stated several airports to consider. Except for the Minneapolis one all would require a flight into a major city plus a second flight. Best bet is to fly from wherever you live to the major hub of the Minneapolis airport and drive to the other cities. Usually April is spring, not winter, weather so rain, not snow.
^^ She said spring break (always March for my kids in high school and college), not April, and really, April can have a snow storm in any of these states too. She could go Des Moines (Grinnell) drive to the St. Olaf/Twin Cities, then to Appleton. No need to return to Des Moines, just fly home from Milwaukee and save an entire day of driving. If they fly into MSP and then go to Grinnell and Lawrence, it requires a circle.
Look at map, and consider adding Beloit and Knox to your list. Both give good merit aid, and you can drive a wide loop from Lawrence, to Beloit, to Knox, to Grinnell (no merit aid, as I recall), then back to Minneapolis or DesMoine to fly home.
Lawrence is in Appleton, however, so you could fly in to Minneapolis-St Paul, rent car, eventually drive to Lawrence last, then fly home from Appleton International Airport. Green Bay Packers’ opposing teams all fly in to Appleton. And Lawrence gives great merit aid.
@higgins2013 Grinnell does offer some merit aid, but not as routinely as some of the other schools such as Beloit, Lawrence & Knox.
https:// www.grinnell.edu/ financial-aid/merit-scholarships
Packers opponents also do not rely on airline schedules and stay at an Appleton hotel- very different than the rest of us. Flying into a smaller airport instead of a hub usually entails an extra flight, which requires more down time and hustling.
Weather can be a surprise with a snowfall even in May but usually the storms cancelling flights and making driving horrific are done by the end of March.
btw- being an international airport does not mean the major airlines fly there with their big planes- it can just mean you can get to Canada and vacation spots from there. Be sure to think about which airlines you use- some will nearly as much by the time you pay for things you take for granted. The upper Midwest has good roads and hills, not mountains- easy driving.
Lawrence kids fly out of Appleton all the time. One of the best Hampton Inn hotels is in appleton’s enormous mall district. If you travel to the various Midwest LACs you will soon appreciate what Lawrence and Appleton relatively offer in amenities. Wait till you visit DePauw, Earlham, Beloit, Knox, etc., just saying.
In Northfield, I recommend the Archer House River Inn http://www.archerhouse.com/ .
You need to figure out a way to get to Kenyon, which is magical. Fly one way from where ever into Columbus and then drive over to Gambier (easy peasy). Stay in Mount Vernon, Ohio here: http://www.themountvernoninnblog.com/
Then drive north up to Oberlin. Your kid is musical, you must see Oberlin. Recommend The Quarry Stone B&B. You can rent out both rooms from a retired Oberlin carpenter. Killer breakfasts. http://thequarrystonebb.com/
Then drive north some more and Hail to the Victors in Ann Arbor. Hotels in Ann Arbor are pricey. Note that some hotels south of campus are just off of State Street and are serviced by AAATA bus route 62 http://www.theride.org . Fly out of Detroit.
You can fly non-stop into Minneapolis-St. Paul from just about anywhere, generally cheaper and with better flight times than flying into smaller airports like Appleton, Des Moines, or even Milwaukee. Generally to get to any other those places is likely to require a change of planes at MSP or Chicago anyway. So I’d do a big loop.
Day 1: Fly into MSP. Visit Macalester, Drive to Appleton (3hr 58 minutes according to Google maps) via I-94/US 29, which is straight, flat, interstate highway all the way to Wausau. The last 90 minutes or so to Appleton will be on 2-lane roads, but they’re not bad.
Day 2. Visit Lawrence. From, there, it’s about a 5 hr 30 min drive to Grinnell, via Madison. I’ve never done that drive, but it looks like mostly 2-lane roads, the most daunting drive of the trip.
Day 3. Visit Grinnell. From there to Northfield (St. Olaf, Carleton) is an easy 3 hr 30 min drive via Interstate 35, straight and flat.
Day 4. Visit St. Olaf and Carleton; or spend 2 days in Northfield, to give yourself sufficient time at each school.
Day 5 or 6. From Northfield it’s an easy 45 minute drive back to MSP and your return flight home.
If that’s too much, eliminat either Lawrence or Grinnell, and save half the driving.
Whichever way you do it, I think you’re probably best off flying into and out of MSP, which is where most of your schools are clustered. No one-way car rental surcharges, jacked-up airfares, or whole days spent flying due to plane changes to get into and out of small airports.
My S16 is a freshman at Grinnell College. They definitely offer merit aid, esp to high-achieving students, and those from geographically desirable locales (ie. outside the Midwest). We are in the area, and my S16 also rec’d a nice package. They are a great school, full of very intellectually curious kids. We toured all the schools you are talking about, and they are all terrific, in their own ways. Try to hit them all, if possible. Both Lawrence and Grinnell are worth the drive! 
Will you have admissions decisions from the schools before your trip? That may affect your choices. Good luck and safe travels!
I hope you’ll report back with your opinions on the schools! All of them on S19’s tentative list…
No I have a junior. We are contemplating pushing the trip off until very late August when school is back in session or going in June. We really want to see the schools in session but I’m concerned about my ability to drive at night. I’ve been having some issues with night vision which can’t be corrected and my DD doesn’t drive yet. Does anyone have an opinion about seeing schools in session vs not? I know in session is preferable but not sure how much of a difference it makes. I saw Grinnell has a junior day in April so maybe we will just fly out for that and do the other schools in the late summer or take a few days off in the Fall. Already the Ohio trip is pushing my limits with driving. We arrive after midnight for the week tour so cabbing it to Case Western hotel then trying to pick up a rental car elsewhere during the day. We can’t go as a family as a vacation because our younger child is on the spectrum and doesn’t travel well (understatement) and my spouse can’t take the time off.
If seeing schools when they are not in session is the only time when you can practically go then it is still worthwhile.
My D is at Lawrence which we visited in the summer. We visited again after she was accepted. I recommend that if you visit in summer to ask if admissions can arrange for you to meet some students while you are there. Lawrence is fairly sleepy in the summer but there are students there working and doing research and if you go in late august some of the athletes will be back on campus. They have some open houses in the summer which is when we went so the cafeteria will be operating and they have some sessions with faculty and students during those times as well as tours.
Carleton, in particular, I would recommend touring in-session only. I think it is hard to get a sense for what makes Carleton special unless kiddo can sit in on a class.
re post #31. taking the 4 lane road all the way to Green Bay then heading south on a 4 lane road the 30 or so miles- may be worth checking.
I’d strongly recommend visiting when all students are present. Your prospective should sit in on as many classes as possible, eat in the dining hall at the busiest time, talk to as many students as possible, talk with some professors. Ideally, they should stay overnight in the dorms (usually need to be a senior for that). These experiences will help them decide whether the school is a good fit. If you visit during a school break, you’ll have a very limited view of the school.
If you are still thinking of coming in August, check the schools’ calendars for when the freshmen and upper classmen are moving in. Parking and touring could be a hassle.
Carleton is on a quarter system and their start date and move in dates are usually after Labor Day.