MID-Atlantic College Road Trip - revised and ready for comment

Parents Forum
1

Thanks to the village for loads of great info, leads, comments, and encouragement as DD2 and I come to the USA for yet another college road trip. We are USA citizens working in Europe.

DD2 has 3.6 GPA, normal test scores (waiting for ACT, sitting for Oct SAT and most likely the Dec one too), good EC, interesting backstory, essay with a cute hook, looking at LAC "in the cold to study “psychology / sociology / maybe something criminal but not criminal justice”, plays guitar, trumpet and sings, captain of HS basketball team (deemed “scrappy” by coaches which she takes as a high compliment), student government, warm letters of rec from teachers/ counselors, interesting volunteer work. So all around good kid. Looking for pure MERIT aid with no strings attached for Need.

Looking to find colleges that are not overly heavy with local classmates but as long as it is not deemed a commuter school she will be fine. We have 9 days available, trying to load the front with top choices so she has time to reflect and perhaps nix any in the second half so we can re-visit any favorites.

In order of visiting as it is now… subject to change!

Fly into Newark on Sat afternoon… head to Times Square for my NY obsessed DD for her 18th bday. Of course stand in line for Hamilton lottery tickets but mostly just take it in and do some planned wandering around. We have been before so just doing Sat night and Sunday then leaving on Sunday evening to:

Ursinus College *
Dickinson
Juniata *
Susquehanna *
Muhlenberg

Need to do two on just one of the days without rushing the visits…working on that part of the plan. We like to have a few hours or overnight very close to each college so she can get a brief feel of the town and campus vibe.

Late Thursday evening “Fast” run to SC to meet up with DD1 as she drives up from N.Florida for a weekend visit. Easier than flying her to meet us somewhere on our route. Cannot be in the USA without seeing our DD1 who is 4,421 miles away until Christmas break!

Drive back up north 4.5 hours on Sunday afternoon for a Monday visit to…
Lynchburg College - has a friend there so easy visit even though most likely not what she is looking for.
University of Richmond - not feeling the Merit Money love from them so might nix in favor of a revisit
Virginia Wesleyan
McDaniel College

Try to fit in a visit with my cousin that is right on the way… but can make a 2 hour visit or an evening…

Thursday …Back to Newark for 10 pm flight so that gives us an "extra’ last day.

Allegheny is high on the list from Road Trip #1 - as is College of Wooster and Denison… but we can make it to Allegheny in 4 hours if she really wants to revisit but that will take some on the road re-scheduling.

Nothing that a SUV rental, a full tank of gas, a cell phone, mapquest and loads of Marriott points for hotels can’t take care of !

2

I still think Drew and University of Mary Washington are worth at least looking at online.

And possibly American in DC? Although it sounds like your daughter would NOT prefer an urban campus.

ETA…I don’t know what you would swap out to include these schools. But according to Mapquest…Drew is 27 minutes from the Newark Airport…

3

Merit at Richmond has become VERY competitive. If you want to see another Va school where your D is a strong merit candidate, consider Roanoke (and Hollins if she is open to the idea of a women’s college).

4

Gettysburg is just up the road from McDaniel and seems similar to some of the schools you’re considering.

5

Hi - We have friends who lived in Germany for 3 years and have been back in the US for 2 years. It was a great experience from their family and can imagine it has been wonderfuI for yours! We visited several of the PA colleges as well as Denison and Wooster with S18 over the last year. He is planning on/has applied to some. From his/our perspective:
Ursinus - Had a friendly feel but bad tour guide (more interested in talking about anything but academics) and left bad taste…seemed more local students.
Dickinson - Son liked presentation, tour…students came across intelligent, friendly, many from private high schools(read it was 70% I believe). For us NPC is much higher than others as COA is higher but merit lower.
Juniata - This was a pleasant surprise for him. The school is isolated which is not something he wants. But the students and faculty he met were great. Our tour guide was a science major looking to go into medical. She was very open and welcoming.
Muhlenberg - Strong sense of community with good mix of students (maybe not geographically as strong presence from NJ/PA accordingly to admission counselor and brochure). Theater/dance strong but not overbearing. We had a good tour guide majoring in computer science.
Wooster - Presentation and tour showed well. Friendly, diverse student body with international presence. Ate lunch with a sophomore student who resonated with my son.
Denison - Was hoping son would like it…could have been a bad day…but didn’t give him a warm/friendly feel which is important to him. Also didn’t like the big hill lol!

Of course, YMMV…Best of luck to you and your family and report back after your trip! Always great to hear other viewpoints and hope others can benefit going through the journey!

6

You may want to rethink Dickinson. I love that school but they typically don’t offer as much merit aid as some of the others on your list. Ditto the suggestion to add Roanoke, given your parameters, and Drew is less than 30 minutes from Newark and worth a look. They just announced a tuition reset and added some new programs - and they offer a variety of NYC semesters that are unique and interesting.

7

Just when I thought it was safe to book hotels… Took Dickinson off bc they also want the CSS and adv that they will count assets toward merit. Added Roanoke and love that there is actually a town by the school. Ran NPC on Mary Washington and only 6k merit was offered … I will revisit and contact them to see if that was an error. Will explore Drew.

8

@jcmom716 thanks for the run down on your visits. Isn’t it true that the tour guide can make or break the vibe of the college? Of course, we can all look past it but it is so wonderful when it all clicks and our college bound student can see themselves walking the same halls as the guide. We had the worse tour guide in the history of forever for our DD1’s gazillionth visit to her number one choice… I kept thinking how lucky we were that this was not our first visit or we would have ditched out half way through! Taking all of your comments and thoughts to heart as we continue to round out this list. What did we used to do with all our spare time???

9

Make sure you look at your net cost…and not just the merit awards your kid will receive. For example…University of Mary Washington cost of attendance is bout $43,000. Ursinas is about $65,000. Right there…you have a $22,000 savings for UMW over Ursinas.

Subtract $6000 from the MW cost of attendance…and you have $37,000 net cost.

How much merit aid will your daughter get from Ursinas, for example? Will it be more than $30,000 per year? If not…Mary Washington will cost YOU less.

10

I think a 1220 SAT gets $30,000 automatically at Ursinus. They have a competitive award above that. Website say’s it’s at least $35,000, but their brochure seems to indicate it’s $35,000.

11

I run the NPC on each school and keep a pretty detailed spreadsheet. They are all coming out about the same net regardless of the sticker price or merit. UMW somehow was an outlier but I will try it again tomorrow when I am fresh. Hoping to not find five more great schools to add to the list !!! I have been reading 2016 threads on many of these same school… with lots of the same great posters. Thanks for all the info… wishing we had three weeks to explore even more schools but at some point real life has to resume!

12

Is that a new policy at Dickinson? One kid got merit there. We submitted nothing other than the Common App as we wouldn’t have qualified for need based aid. You’re just looking for merit, correct?

13

I know you don’t want anymore suggestions, but looking back at your original post, I really think you should check into Elizabethtown and see if it’s worth a visit. It’s not too far from Susquehanna.

It’s a good option for a 3.5 gpa. Merit is good and should bring the net price down at least to the level of any of the schools you’ve mentioned if not better.

A small music scholarship might also be a possibility. There are some really nice music opportunities for non-majors.

Their motto is “educate for service” and it’s lived there in volunteer activities and also through experiential learning opportunities.

They have good outcomes for postgrad research scholarships.

Many kids are probably from PA but there are some well-regarded programs in certain fields (OT, music therapy) that bring kids in from other areas. So it will not clear out on weekends.

It’s a very supportive and nurturing community.

14

Susquehanna also has music opportunities. Is your daughter interested in music?

15

I don’t see how you can make it from Newark to Allegheny in 4 hrs. Just sayin’. Half the state of PA is under construction and Meadville is more like 5hrs on a good day.

I know lots of kids who were offered fairly large scholarships aT Susquehanna for music – none were music majors, just accomplished high school kids. It’s a great school. Juniata, though, wow, has a wonderful rep in the sciences and encourages multidiscplinary studies. Its alum are crazy-dedicated to the school. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t speak very highly of the school, although it is rural.

16

Not sure when you plan to make the trip.

But just keep an eye on the weather. It’s been a nasty hurricane season. Right now, Long Island and the surrounding neighborhoods are under a Tropical Storm watch for Tuesday, and there are 2 more storms-- one possibly major-- stacking up in the Carribean. Hurricane season ends December 1, I believe.

Not a trip buster, but just be aware, OK? You can google “NOAA Hurricane Center for updates.”

17

@bjkmom Thanks for the weather update… DD1 just returned to Flagler College in St Augustine after evacuating a week ago. We are experts at monitoring hurricanes now even though we are 4,421 miles away! @greenbutton we would go to Allegheny from Juniata which is “only” about 3 hours or so away… but at this point with so many lovely new colleges to explore I am sure we will not do that unless we have some kind of change in the plan. @thumper1 YES she is very interested in non-major music moolah as she has played the trumpet for 4 years and is quite accomplished on the guitar and sings every week in a Wednesday Wall coffee shop lunch time event that she organized. Her band teacher is one of her rec letters for some schools and has written glowingly about her music but also her leadership and dedication and “let’s make this happen” attitude. We only heard of the non-music awards at College of Wooster so love learning more about this from other schools. All the hidden gems of info that come out from the parents on CC !

18

Susquehanna has a lot of ensembles, and a music conservatory BUT they welcome students who are NOT music majors into their ensembles. It has a nice, rich music and arts culture.

19

This past April, we visited most of the schools on your initial (PA) list, in this order:

Juniata
Dickinson
Muhlenberg
Lafayette
Ursinus

So, lots of overlap. We were able to see Juniata and Dickinson in one day (it’s a 2 hour drive between the two). We stayed in Harrisburg that night, then visited Muhlenberg and Lafayette on the following day. Visited Ursinus on the third day, then drove to VA to visit U Richmond on the fourth day.

Since you have already decided not to pursue Dickinson (FWIW, it was my D’s favorite, but the limited merit aid will likely take it out of the running for us), maybe consider visiting Juniata and Susquehanna on the same day, if you decide to add that school to your tour.

20

@xyxyxx, we’ve visited Muhlenberg and Laf and are visiting Juniata, Dickinson, and Ursinus in the next few weeks. Just wondering if you did a visit report on all of those and if so, could you post the link?