<p>My son is looking for a small liberal arts college in PA. He has a 3.5 GPA and 1280 SAT scores. Does anyone have any feedback on Susquehanna University, Mulhenberg or Moravian College?
Pan</p>
<p>That's so crazy! I was going to suggest Susquehanna and Muhlenberg.</p>
<p>I loooooved Muhlenberg. It was my number one school, until I was unfortunately, waitlisted. I was accepted into Susquehanna, and offered great financial aid, but I eventually chose Trinity.</p>
<p>The senior assistant admissions director at Muhlenberg was very polite, and quick to respond to my e-mails expressing interest in the school. Her name is Alyssa Rabenold. Digressing, the campus is beautiful! It's only a couple of minutes away from Dorney Park in Allentown, PA. As you enter the campus, the first thing you see on the left is an abstract, red statue. It is very large, and has been interpreted to be many things, ranging from a man flexing to some kind of insect. On the right is the gorgeous Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance. Muhlenberg is particularly strong in the performing arts. I did an overnight back in February 2006, and I loved the social scene. The people were friendly, and it was just a great place to be.</p>
<p>Susquehanna I have not visited, but I can say that the financial aid is great. I also loved that my acceptance letter included a section that was personalized just for me, regarding my interest in music and my community service endeavors. They also sent frequent follow-up packages, asking for me to take surveys and come visit the campus even though I had chosen to matriculate elsewhere.</p>
<p>Moravian... I almost applied there, but I was too superficial, and opted for better known schools. I do know that it's in a consortium with Muhlenberg, and it's one of the oldest colleges in America.</p>
<p>I juts hate the school nickname! Go Mules!? ;-></p>
<p>We did not find the financial aid to be great at Susquehanna. For us they were in the middle of the road as far as aid. My son did receive merit aid and the gpa to keep it was reasonable. We loved the camupus, but it is remote. You won't get public transit to get anywhere, so you'll need a car. They recently rebuilt the dining area, and added a social hall (I think it is called Tracks, or some similar name). They seemed very personable, and the admissions counselor could not have been nicer. They set my son for an individualized interview with the dean of their business school. He spent a lot of time with us. I was very impressed with everything about the school. The only problem that I found with it, is that the school does not offer transportation and it is so rural.</p>
<p>Might want to also consider Allegheny, Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Lafayette, Bucknell.</p>
<p>Lebanon Valley College is a beautiful, friendly, small LAC in PA. They have great teaching and music departments--wonderful faculty and very small classes.</p>
<p>Also, you might check out Elizabethtown, and Arcadia.</p>
<p>Have heard very positive things about Susquehanna and Muhlenberg. Another very good school is Ursinus.</p>
<p>pan, my daughter is a freshman at Muhlenberg this year. If you do a search for all my posts, you will find lots of anecdotal information regarding our experience with Muhlenberg (which has been phenomenal). For specific questions, please feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Ursinus in Collegeville is small but has pretty good access to Philadelphia and King of Prussia.</p>
<p>Juniata, Washington & Jefferson, Grove City, St. Vincent</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Susquehanna this year. She really enjoys the school and has made a lot of new friends. The school is small, but provides students with a great number of opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities. The administration is better than most we’ve come in contact with. The classes are very challenging. My daughter had a medical scare early in the year and they health services staff were wonderful. </p>
<p>Northeast Mom brings up an important item, however, in that the school is in the middle of nowhere. This wouldn’t be so bad if there was more public transportation. The problem is, is that there is nothing within a 50 mile radius (sometimes referred to as the Bucknell Bubble). This limits the availability of the much needed bus system. Also, we live on the east end of Long Island which makes travel to and from the campus a bit of a drag. A good trip is 4.5 hours. However, a backup either into or out of NYC extends our trip by hours. Freshmen are allowed to bring their cars to the campus. My daughter has mentioned more than once that she loves the school, but just wishes is was a little closer to home. Our intent was to hold-off on letting her take her car to school until her junior year, but it looks as though she’ll have it there as a sophomore. </p>
<p>Our other daughter is strongly considering SU, even though she has a high school resume that would allow her to attend much more prestigious schools. Her consideration is so strong because she knows that SU offers a very good merit scholarship and has a very well respected business school. Our daughter who currently attends SU was in the top 5% of her HS class and scored a 32 on the ACT and about a 1350 on her SAT. This resulted in an award of more than ½ tuition for all 4 years with a very achievable GPA requirement. </p>
<p>I asked my daughter if she were to do it all over again, would she choose SU? She didn’t hesitate with her response of “yes.” The administration (Student Life Org.) ensures that there’s plenty to do on campus. It’s up to each student to apply themselves.</p>
<p>Greyhound's D had higher stats than my son, although my son is a good student, so our financial aid/merit package was not all that attractive, but average. The transportation issue was the only big negative we had with this school. I really did not want my kid riding on a Friday or Saturday night with someone who might have been drinking alcohol and wanting to go to Walmart or a party at another college. </p>
<p>The communication at SU with faculty and administration is unbelievable and exceptional. My son did not receive the individual attention that he got at SU anywhere else, while looking at schools. How many deans sit for over 30 minutes with a potential student? We got that kind of attention at SU. I think you will get very personalized attention here, even if you are not a top student.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Moravian with similar stats. She loves it madly and they were very generous from a merit aid perspective.</p>
<p>I second the nomination of Gettysbuurg, an outstanding college.</p>
<p>I second the nomination of Allegheny, an outstanding college. US News ranked it "An A+ Option for B+ Students." It was one of the few places I was accepted to, and at least in my opinion, the need-based financial aid was great.</p>
<p>Dickinson is really big on Greek Life and partying, so if you're not into that, I would recommend it... and I'm not just saying that because they waitlisted me.</p>
<p>Pan - You might take a look at the book called "Colleges that Change Lives." There are some interesting PA schools in there, with extensive write-ups. Off the top of my head, Ursinus, Juniata, and Allegheny are all in there - there may be others too.</p>
<p>Some of those schools, like Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall, Lehigh and Dickinson have gotten very selective.</p>
<p>U of Scranton?</p>
<p>I've never heard Dickinson being characterized as "really big on Greek life and partying"--do others agree or disagree?</p>