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

Parents Forum
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Out of your list my S visited/applied to Ursinus and Allegheny, and looked at many of the rest but they didn’t make the cut either because the $$ didn’t appear like it would be there, he deemed the area too remote or the program in his areas of interest wasn’t strong enough to offset the rest. That said I still kind of regret he didn’t apply to Muhlenberg but he’s very happy where he is. We know happy kids at Muhlenberg and Juniata

Ursinus is test heavy with the merit monies so if above a 28 on the ACT you’ll be in good shape there. Allegheny should make a lovely offer. It sounds like she has already visited Allegheny and liked it. My S felt the music/theater options were much stronger at Ursinus over Allegheny however the program for his area of interest, far stronger at Allegheny. Both had a strong athletic vibe but he felt Allegheny was a bit more athletic/academic versus athletic/artistic mix at Ursinus.

Which is interesting given that the tour guides at both were athletes.

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@taverngirl I didn’t write any visit reports (I’m pretty new here). I would be glad to share any info you’d like or answer questions. Is there a way to communicate here via direct message?

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@taverngril…free free to jump in this thread and report in about any of these or similar college visits. We love hearing a parents take on each school “boots on the ground”.

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@DoDEAMom18, since you are the OP, I too, will assume it’s ok to share our experiences here. Especially with all the overlap in the schools. I didn’t want to hijack your thread by replying to @taverngirl here, but if you really mean it’s ok… :slight_smile:

Juniata - Very nice campus, excellent personal tour, academically impressive, especially for its size. Biggest downfalls for D: logistics of the location/difficulty getting home, not as much “school spirit” as she would like, surrounding area not likely interesting enough to spend 4 years there. Just didn’t click.

Dickinson - D loved everything about it. Everything. Loved everything they said in the info session, then followed on the heels of the tour guide, hanging on her every word. Loved the campus and was fine with the surrounding area. Very interested in some of the extracurriculars they mentioned, which happened to be a perfect fit for her. Just felt like a great fit all around. She was enamored like I’ve never seen her. Biggest downside is that max merit aid seems to be on the low side for the COA.

Muhlenberg - D ruled this one out pretty quickly, though she didn’t have any specific reason. Just nothing stood out. Plus, seems like they have an emphasis on the arts (she’s a science person) and most students are from NJ, so it felt like a regional school. Just didn’t feel like a good fit.

Lafayette - Very nice campus and seems like a great school, in terms of academics, opportunities, school spirit. She liked the facilities a great deal and the big open quad where students were gathered, enjoying the unusually warm weather. A new science building is being built - an additional plus.

Up to this point, all schools would be challenging to travel from, when coming home.

Ursinus - The one tour we had to do on a gray, rainy day. Still, she liked a lot of what she saw. Tour guide was an athlete and it felt like we saw a fair number of athletes, but that may just have been because that’s who our guide knows. She made a couple of observations - one was that students seemed to be alone more than in groups and the other was that some of the facilities seemed to need attention. A new science building is being built here, too. It’s a good school for Biology majors and she qualifies for the max automatic merit aid, both big pluses. No “college town” feel or really anything right off campus, but plenty available not far away and much easier to get to Philly for a train home.

Hope this helps.

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@xyxyxx: thanks for your reviews; they are very helpful! We haven’t seen most of the PA schools–will be doing six of them over the four weekends in October, yikes. Because dd is undecided on a major (Bio? Environmental Science? English?) she’s just looking for fit now. She wants a small LAC in the northeast, but that’s about it for now. Here are our thoughts from the visits we have completed:

Lafayette–DD loved this and it’s in her top 2 right now. She loved the campus and that quad that you mentioned in your post. The information session was great and the admissions counselor who presented was fabulous and very down to earth, not “sell-y” at all. She had great information not only about Lafayette but about the whole process. I also liked the presentation and the campus. The EFC was pretty good as well :slight_smile: The town of Easton is very cute, seems to have everything one would need from a college town. Location is great, one of the closest schools to home (we’re in CT). DD also likes that it seems academically rigorous. Unfortunately we went during the summer so she only got to see a few students around campus, but we’ll be going back so she can interview and hope to get a feel for the student body at that time.

Muhlenberg–my dd felt the same as yours. Nothing really stood out and she said the campus seemed very small. She didn’t like the surrounding area either. We didn’t tour here and there were no students on campus, so that may have colored her opinion, but it came off the list. Their EFC was one of the lowest, so I was a bit bummed, lol.

Susquehanna–we both liked this one as well. The campus was impeccable. The buildings were clean and in great condition; the landscaping was beautiful. Everyone we met was very nice, very down to earth. We had a one on one tour, and our guide was so excited when she found out that dd was interested in possibly majoring in biol. She told her about all the professors and the department head and just oozed enthusiasm and passion in a completely genuine way. She took us on a very detailed tour of the science buildings and labs. Right now it’s dd’s favorite though only safety.

Still to tour in PA: Allegheny, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Juniata, Ursinus, Washington & Jefferson, and Dickinson. If anyone else has any good input on those schools, I’d love to hear it! Feel free to PM me.

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Fabulous information and insight @taverngirl and @xyxyxx . Thank goodness for us our trip isn’t until later in October so we can continue to rework out plans. We have too many schools for our number of days… DD is looking at Lafayette now and had already been thinking to take Muhlenberg off her list. Surrounding area is a top five check box as she will be over 4k miles and an ocean away so she is not buzzing home for the weekend or even for Thanksgiving. We realized along the way that all of her visits are enrollments in the 2,000’s… yikes, that is smaller that our college Junior school of 4000 and she complains that it is too small. Trying to add a few larger but not too large options in there. George Mason was on then off due to the commuter school issue as reported by a close friend’s daughter who just transfered after 2 years on a full sports ride due to that isolated feel on the weekends. FYI we added. Washington and Lee as it on the route to Roanoke College and James Madison U … which we also added as options. Love that DD2 reported that she was showing her college visit options to some classmates and they advised that they had not even started thinking of where to apply yet (!!!)

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Every JMU graduate that I’ve known has completely loved their college experience. And I live amongst many of them.

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ESPN College Gameday was at JMU two years ago. I thought the school looked great (and I attended a rival). The show is the network’s Saturday morning intro to that week’s college football games. It’s broadcast from a different college campus each week. Students at different schools try hard to get the most outrageous signs on air, and often succeed very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWNMhqzsnIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6uOLoJolEA&list=PL5gbai5mqVoddirQ8b2eQl0vkT5oSLeDt

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I’ve had kids accepted at Muhlenberg, Susquehanna, McDaniel and Elizabethtown.

Susquehanna and Elizabethtown have small non-major music scholarships and are very generous with merit money. Both gorgeous campuses. Elizabethtown is very close to Lancaster and Hershey, which is nice.

McDaniel gives very, very generous non-major music scholarships.

My son ended up at Elizabethtown for the very specific reason that the foreign language requirements are less onerous, and because of the presence of the train.

We live in NYC and the trips from Susquehanna and McDaniel were very difficult. I’m lazy and like the fact that he can take the train from there to here!

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My D is a first year at Lafayette. A couple weeks ago she took an easy bus ride into NYC and had a great weekend visiting some friends there. The proximity to the city is a real plus for a small school, as is returning to a gorgeous suburban/rural campus.

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As always… I love getting so much first hand, real life info, suggestions, and recommendations @zoosermom and @tenniswimvball … ran both NPC and they are right in line with the rest. Looking at the websites and wiggling around the mapquest…

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@zoosermom , I felt the train at Etown was a lifesaver.

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One thing to consider about JMU is that freshmen aren’t allowed to have cars on campus. I don’t know if that would be a big deal or not. I think they do provide shuttles to shopping areas, but I don’t know any of the details. I also believe that a large proportion of students live off campus after freshman year. I don’t know if that’s because of cost savings or lack of dorm space. If I’m wrong on any of this, please correct me.

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Our son liked JMU, but I can’t see it being worth OOS tuition.

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@LeastComplicated thanks for the insight on the car situation. DD2 would most likely not have a car first year although DD1 did and it was great to help her with socializing (timid so thinking being the one with the car would help keep her in the mix of things and it did). The on campus housing is a bigger concern for us as we live 4,421 miles away and would want DD2 on campus for at least the first 2 years. Finding off campus housing for DD1 was a huge fiasco so she is in new dorms for year 3 and actually likes the easy living. This is a secondary column on the spreadsheet after learning that so many Ohio / VA colleges are 4 year residential.

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^^^^

After dealing with having to find housing for Junior / Senior year when we were in college (30 years ago), it was an early question for every school we visited. Having the option to stay on campus all 4 years helps to eliminate a LOT of potential aggravation…as you’ve experienced.

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I have a daughter at Virginia Wesleyan and she’s very happy there! It was a dark horse and a last minute add (we are local and she really wanted to go to school away from home) but after visiting, VWU won her over. They are very generous with aid and depending on your daughter’s ACT/SAT scores she could be eligible for the Batten Honors College which covers either full tuition or 2/3rd.

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I am from PA and just went through this search with my own dd and now starting over with my ds. My daughter has friends who went to Susquehanna and are loving it. They received great merit packages. cons: Susquehanna is quite remote, in the middle of farmland. There is a strip of shopping and restaurants along a highway nearby but not much else. Opportunities for internships and work experiences will be difficult to come by without traveling to Harrisburg.

I would also try to add Lycoming College in Williamsport to your list. It is about 1 hour north of Susquehanna but it is in an actual small city. It is a beautiful campus, great faculty, well respected and in a nice location. There is an a airport in Williamsport and it has major highways in the town/city or nearby (rt. 80). My dd spent time there at a leadership business camp and was impressed. She has a few friends who are attending, some upperclassman and 2 who just started, all thriving. We found the cost of Lycoming after merit was added in to be under many other options. In the end, it was too small for my daughter who had settled on a large university experience but if it is a smaller liberal arts school you are looking for it was at the top of what we saw.

I would also try to to get to University of Scranton. It is on the colleges that change lives list and offered my dd great merit. It became her in state safety in the event she changed her mind and didn’t want to travel so far. She really wanted a large school with great school spirit but surprised us all with how much she liked Scranton. Another beautiful campus in a small town/city. Busses to NYC, Philadelphia, and NJ regularly (not sure if they said every day or every few days but we were impressed). We were shocked at all they had to offer academically and left there wondering how it was not better known. It is larger than any of the others on your list but seemed like a small tight knit communtity and is not a LARGE university. In our opinion it was nicer and had more to offer than JMU, Richmond, Gettysburg, Susquenhanna, Juniata, Albright, York, William and Mary and at a better value to this full pay family.

Now that we have a college student far from home, we are understanding how important transportation options are. I imagine with you coming from overseas that having an airport and solid public transportation options available should be a top consideration. Some of these places are quite remote for visiting, moving in/out, and traveling home for breaks. While not commuter colleges, most of the smaller LACs have students who live a few hours from home and often leave campus on the weekends. Good luck and you are looking at a beautiful area of the country that will offer many opportunities outside of school and after graduation.

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Would not expect great aid from JMU for OOS student with your daughter’s stats. It’s a fairly typical state school in that respect. Check transportation if that becomes a serious contender, think the bus to DC is your best bet but likely not seamless. Roanoke seems to tick a lot of your boxes, and students I know who have gone there have been quite happy with the experience. Pretty area, city of Roanoke is growing nicely but not out of control. Transportation is better than you’d expect - airport in town with connections primarily to DC and Charlotte and new Amtrak service to begin Oct. 31. You will need to make reservations for high demand times somewhat early as many OOS students from VT use Roanoke for transportation as well.

ETA: Washington and Lee transportation would likely be a challenge. It’s possible they team with VMI for bus or something to DC? But the location is somewhat remote for transportation, maybe there’s an easy way to get to Lynchburg for the train? I’d check out that aspect thoroughly. Also when looking for DC air options, remember Dulles is international and domestic while Reagan National is only domestic. That makes a difference when considering the busses from W and SW VA schools.

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I am so thrilled that DD2 started this planning far enough in advance for us to learn so much from all your info. I am constantly amazed at the generosity of posters info, time, concerned thought, and insider information. @JustGraduate @bamamom2021 (I soooo wanted one of the girls to go to UAB so I could walk around saying Roll Tide to everyone I meet!) @beachmomof4 @EyeVeee Travel back and forth to Europe is a consideration so we are happy she did not head west. DD1 uses Jacksonville, FL airport for a seamless flight home thru IAD/DC. Agree that Roanoke does check the boxes with the cute town and the bit bigger feel. JMU did not look like a good fit to me and DD2 is starting to feel the same. VWU’s Honor Program was a big draw when she first started exploring it. We are up for some exploring but want to keep the list pretty tight to schools that will be easy enough to get to airports or highways. The closest friends-that-are-family we have will be in SC so a solid 6 hours away --which is not very comforting but it is what it is.