<p>This board has been invaluable. D is a junior and we are taking a week to visit some schools in the midwest. These will be her first college visits. Her list:</p>
<p>Hope College, Holland MI
Wheaton, Wheaton, IL
St. Olaf, Northfield, MN
Carleton, Northfield, MN</p>
<p>We are taking our time. D and I will do the college tour and info session together. She will talk to admissions and sit in on a class at each school. I want to leave her alone for a good part of each day so she can catch the vibe of the campus and try to imagine herself a student there. </p>
<p>Hope and Wheaton aren’t discussed much at CC. I will post a review after our visit. Pre visit, D is set on Wheaton. She is actually visiting St. Olaf and Carleton with some prodding from me. Curious to see if she sees things differently after visiting. A couple of questions for you midwesterners:</p>
<li><p>We will have one free day to see Chicago. We plan on taking the train in from Wheaton. Any tips for a one day tourist experience of Chicago?</p></li>
<li><p>We will be leaving Wheaton late afternoon on Wednesday and need to be at Carleton by midday on Thursday. using mapquest it looks like La Crosse WI is a reasonable place to stop for the night…seems to be about 4 hours from Wheaton and 2 hours from Northfield. Is this correct? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>You might want to consider adding Macalester to your list -- it's in St. Paul, so somewhat more urban than St. Olaf or Carleton. Northfield, I think, still has more colleges than movie theaters. Although those are both fine schools!</p>
<p>While you probably won't hit everything in a day, you may still save some money or perhaps you could hit some of the sites on your way back through. </p>
<ol>
<li>Your schedule -- LaCrosse would be a reasonable place to stop, but I would venture to guess that it is going to take you longer than 4 hours to get there. Your time is going to be dependent upon the traffic around Chicago -- which is virtually impossible to predict.</li>
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<p>It sounds like you have a good mix of schools. I am particularly anxious to hear your report on Hope College. Michigan has several high quality liberal arts schools that don't alot of play on these boards -- Albion, Kalamazoo, Hope, Alma, Calvin (interesting that your D has Wheaton and Hope on her list, but not Calvin). Good luck.</p>
<p>Interesting grouping of colleges. I think your daughter will find quite a difference in the personalities of each of those schools. My daughter is a sophomore at Carleton and loves the school. Carleton has a reputation as a fairly liberal school although they are accepting of those with a more conservative bent. That being said, the students will challenge each other's viewpoints and a conservative person will be challenged. St. Olaf tends to have a much broader mix of students across political lines although discussions will most definately occur there also. </p>
<p>As to your questions, the driving time from Wheaton is about right depending on traffic. The trip from Wheaton to LaCrosse may take a little more time as evening traffic from Chicago to Madision in particular can be heavy. </p>
<p>Finally, Chicago has some many great attractions it can be difficult to say where to go. If you like museums and the such the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium and the Art Institute of Chicago are near each other and all world class facilities. The museum of science and industry is one of my favorite places in the world although it is a little more difficult to get to than the first two which are basically downtown. If you are comfortable with buses science and industry is easy. </p>
<p>There are many smaller museums around Chicago and particularly downtown. Chicago is also very ethnically diverse and has many wonderful restaurants if you like foods from different cultures. </p>
<p>Have fun on your trip and I hope that your daughter enjoys the different schools.</p>
<p>You are right carldad...I wanted her to see a cross section of schools. People tend to connect "Christian" and "far right / conservative" lockstep. That isn't true. There a many politically liberal devout Christians.</p>
<p>My D leans towards the conservative side but really enjoys beating up an issue and exploring ideas. From my perpsective I just want her to be in an academically solid school where she can take a position on an issue wherever it may fall along the political spectrum. Debate and the ability to defend your position are expected...but there is a point where the debate becomes hostile and thats not acceptable. How well do liberal ideas get discussed at Wheaton? Are they attacked and merely dismissed or is there a good debate/discussion? Carleton has a somewhat liberal reputation but it also has a reputation for tolerance.</p>
<p>I suspect that over the next year she will run across a few schools that feel right to her but i think these are a good starting point for investigation.</p>
<p>I think you are taking the perfect approach by exposing her to a variety of schools early on. I like how you have a good mix of small and larger LACs in the mix. We did the same thing with our daughter around the same time junior year and it really helped her to crystalize what she was looking for. Only one of the "early" schools we looked at made her final list, but all of the schools she has applied to have a similar feel to that particular schoool. There's something reassuring about that, and I hope the same thing occurs for your daugther. I will especially be looking for your reports about Hope and Wheaton.</p>
<p>I'd at least drive by Calvin when you are visiting Hope. They are very close. I'm not as familar as some but I think that Calvin is a tiny bit more liberal than Hope.</p>
<p>3 of 4 from the CTCL list. (are you using that book?) We visited 6 of the 40, but not your 3. My nephew went to Carleton, #1(or2?) on the list of colleges where professors from the notheast send their kids.</p>
<p>I live 5 minutes from Hope. It is so good to see it mentioned on CC as it is my safety and a great school. As for the statement about Calvin, it is about a half hour drive north and I find it more conservative than Hope. Calvin is affliated with the Christian Reformed Church, while Hope no longer officially carries it's affiliation with the Reformed Church of America. I am not sure of your religious persuation, but I would recommend Hope over Calvin as it is like St. Olaf in the sense that it doesn't force its students, but contains great access to a religious environment if you want that.
I would like to applaud your daughter for checking out a few school off the CC monitor. Hope is a great school, will a great faculty, and offers amazing merit aid.
PM if you have any questions about travel or anything around Hope.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, when I visited Wheaton I was turned off by a lack of things to do. My friends and I found it helpful to walk around the surrounding town to discover that this was not a place for me. Make sure you checkout the campus and surrounding town for activities as that really helped me with my decision of whether or not to apply there.</p>
<p>For one day in Chicago without too much running around, go to the Art Institute and Millennium Park; they're adjacent. The Park Grille in Millennium Park faces Michigan Avenue and is a good place to eat. So is Russian Tea Time, on Adams just west of the Art Institute. You could also do one of the Architecture Foundation walking tours; <a href="http://www.architecture.org%5B/url%5D">www.architecture.org</a> There is a new lakefront Segway tour which may interest a teen more than the walk-and-point tours.</p>
<p>carldad: I have a soph D at Carleton also. She knows quite a few girls from Chicago area (it sounds like that's where you are located). If you enable your PM, perhaps we can find out if yours and mine are acquainted.</p>
<p>We will be at Hope on 11/7 and Wheaton/Carleton/St. Olaf on 11/9 - 11/11.</p>
<p>CTCL was the first college resource my daughter received from her guidance counselor. We went to an event in San Francisco. Wheaton didn't attend. The rep from Hope came off very well...he was on fire for the school. It really put the school on my D's radar. </p>
<p>2 reasons D isn't very interested in St. Olaf: they came off poorly at that event (the rep emphasized not being allowed a car on campus as much as anything else) and also a poor campus visit video. I ordered the campus visit videos for Wheaton, St. Olaf, Earlham, and Hope. I think wheaton must have paid somebody off. Their tour guide is excellent, the weather is beautiful, etc. St. Olafs is on the other end of the spectrum. I want her to visit because everything I read and the comments coming from St. Olaf grads makes it seem like a great place.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your comments. One other question for you locals: Can I just head across on I-39 / I-90 and get a room along the freeway whever we happen to wear out? Are the freeway hotels typically fully booked mid week?</p>
<p>I second (or third, I lost count) the recommendation to swing by Calvin if you can. If your daughter likes Wheaton, she might find Calvin appealing since they have a similar theological bent. I would also agree with Brownorbust that Calvin is more conservative than Hope. For example, last I heard (and I haven't checked this out in the last few years), Calvin requires the teaching of creationism instead of evolution theory. Hope doesn't have a similar restriction on its professors. </p>
<p>There's much to like at either school, but they are not as interchangeable as they were 20+ years ago when they were both affiliated with Reformed churches.</p>
<p>I second the Millenuium Park visit in Chicago. The Art Institute is adjacent to it. Also you can walk North on Michigan Avenue and see some of the shops on it. Or you can walk west on Washington to the big Marshall Fields. (better go before they change the name.)</p>
<p>There are plenty of tours by bus and boat that are great. If it is a reasonbly nice day, you can pick up a Wendela boat under the Michigan Ave bridge at the Chicago River.</p>
<p>There are several options in terms of length of trip. </p>
<p>At the very least, you can take a water taxi round trip and get a good look at the skyline from the River.</p>
<p>
[quote]
chicago visit-- go on the Chicago Architecture tour its really cool and u get to see the entire city
[/quote]
I will second this. It may be a bit chilly but you take this tour by boat on the Chicago River, and you catch the boat right on Michigan Avenue and the river (you'll see signs). If you have half a day, you can also go out to Oak Park to the Frank Lloyd Wright workshop and Wright-designed homes.</p>
<p>If you want to head south about 10 mi from the Loop, you might visit University of Chicago. And while there, you can also spend some time in the Seminary Coop Bookstore, one of the best in the country, with labyrinthine alcoves containing many fine books to discover. It's not very far from the Museum of Science and Industry.</p>
<p>The architecture boat and segway tours will have ended for the year by the time you hit Chicago. The walking tours are interesting, but truthfully, you don't need a tour to enjoy the city. Just strolling downtown, walking from the train station to Millennium Park, stopping to visit the lobbies of interesting buildings and taking in the public sculpture is a great experience. Buy a book at the architecture shop (220 S. Michigan, across from the Art Institute) if you like having reference material at hand.</p>
<p>If you are driving from Michigan to Wheaton, it makes sense to stop for a night in downtown Chicago and visit, then continue west the next day. However, it may be important for your daughter to have a longer experience in Wheaton, including the long train ride to Chicago and the truth of how quiet a town like Wheaton can be.</p>