Virtually no merit at Skidmore (outside of a handful of major scholarships for the top few students)…https://www.skidmore.edu/financialaid/merit.php
OP here. Thanks for the new comments. Re: Susquehanna. One of my sons is a sophomore there. Awesome school. He loves it; he is athletic and preppy (different than my others in every way); we were very pleased with his merit aid offer. It may be a good pitstop, but I am not sure if she would consider going where her stepbrother goes.
Dickinson. From personal experience with my older son…she will get no merit.
Juniata. Love that school. I just don’t like the location in the middle of nowhere. Should I reconsider?
Ursinus. I am so tainted because I live within minutes of it. I have many friends whose kids go there. One told me recently that the majority of kids are athletes and put academics on the side (just her perspective). Her daughter is dropping her sport to concentrate on her courses. This is NOT the first time I’ve heard this. I do think that many of these recruited athletes were never up for the rigor of the academics to begin with. Hmmm…I probably shouldn’t let that taint my opinion.
Muhlenberg will be visited next week. It could be a good match.
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It is REALLY REALLY in the middle of nowhere, so it’s great if you love the outdoors: hiking, etc. Huntingdon has a handful of restaurants and art galleries, but handful is the operative word. Definitely some interesting work being done there, particularly in areas like peace & conflict studies. Majority of students still come from PA (just over 50%) but they are working on diversifying. It’s REALLY rural. Did I mention that it’s in the middle of nowhere? (Lol)
Poor Juniata!!! It should get more attention. I just don’t think we can do it.
Forgot to mention! Wooster. She liked it! Tour guide was super friendly and articulate. Interview went very well. It is on the list she says!!!
This Wooster mom is happy to hear you had a good visit!! (And I feel bad about Juniata, too! It’s really a terrific school…if only it weren’t located in Huntingdon…OR, it’s really a terrific school for students who are looking for easy access to the outdoors!)
Oh janmom! I didn’t know! Hope you are a happy Wooster mom!
I am a happy Wooster mom (but more important, I have a child who is a VERY happy Wooster student)!
But, lol, my child is definitely not a hipster and wouldn’t be able to find the dance studio for all the money in the world…
Fortunately it’s a place where there isn’t just one “type” of student (other than generally friendly) and they all seem to get along, more or less. It’s not a socially clique-ish campus from what I can gather.
But I believe that just because one kid finds it perfect doesn’t make it perfect for the next kid. I’m glad you had a great visit. Hope you have other great visits to other great schools. It’s good to have choices at the end of the process!! (We had many…narrowed it down to three, revisited those, and then selected Wooster.)
True. In particular, fly fishing opportunities in the area are plentiful. Juniata College is situated rather centrally to a number of really excellent fly fishing streams in Pennsylvania (in particular… the Little Juniata River, Spring Creek, Spruce Creek, Penns Creek, Yellow Creek, Big Spring Creek, East Licking Creek).
I think about this sort of thing whenever we have a thread about fit and schools for “[insert type of kid here]”.
My kid is at a school known for its athletic programs, that’s supposed to have a big athlete/non-athlete social divide. Historically a rich kid preppy school. And yet, she isn’t any of those, and has friends who aren’t either…and also some who are.
Maybe the more important thing is that most schools have different social groups and perhaps at some more than others, people cross them easily, this is encouraged and facilitated in housing/dining/activities, and even someone who isn’t in the majority culture (if there really is one), will make friends and thrive.
Also, I think it’s important to realize that colleges with a reputation for having one kind of student will often place a high value on applicants who aren’t exactly that kind of student. They may be more willing to reach on admission standards, and/or to stretch on aid, in order to land a kid who is expressing a lot of interest but doesn’t fit the mold.
No college wants a class consisting entirely of white-bread preppie jocks, even if the admissions department knows that’s the college’s core constituency.
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/summer/programs/high-school/social-justice
U Penn has a social justice summer program
At Earlham now. She isn’t wowed. But, interestingly enough…
She is thinking and rethinking if she wants to be surrounded by only like-minded souls. She liked Denison this morning! She liked that it was filled with a variety of kids. She told the tour guide that it was important to her to be surrounded by those with diverse political views. She wants to always have her ideas challenged.
So the growing begins. Whew.
mommdc - thank you for that UPenn suggestion. I do know about it. If I remember correctly, it costs thousands of dollars.
Well, now I gotta drive again. Sigh. Heading East with no plan in hand. I will stop somewhere; we are just not sure where.
Here is a link to an article about economic diversity that discusses Denison:
wealthy-private-colleges-found-ways-serve-many-needy-students-without-jeopardizing-financial-health
Here’s that link 
Denison’s president writes a lot of interesting articles, usually published in Huffpo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/adam-weinberg
Are you going to Wooster? Dickinson and (a little bit further south) Gettysburg are off I 80/90; Muhlenberg? Bryn Mawr?
I always figured, it was important to figure out what they didn’t want, as that helps focus the search!
This is the best part of a well constructed search - getting to figure out who you want to be and which place will be best for that. Happy for your DD to be able to grow through this.
We loved Denison. Beautiful school, friendly people, and some of the best, most thoughtful, communications from the president. They have a vision. Very cool!
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/summer/programs/high-school/tuition/scholarship
you mentioned Philly, can she qualify for the scholarship?
Thanks all. We are tired! In WV, snuggled in another hotel room. Have I mentioned that this was last minute? We planned a one night stay in Massachusetts and it turned into a 5 night road tour. We have been wearing the same dirty clothes this entire time!!!
I think we will do Muhlenberg tomorrow. We did Wooster - she really liked it. It is number one (if you don’t count the current Mt Holyoke dream). Denison is in second place. Earlham was definitely a no go. I agreed with her. She said there seemed nothing unique about the school. I am sure there is, but we did not see it while we were there.
Re: Dickinson and Gettysburg. She wouldn’t get merit. I mentioned previously that my son - with much higher stats - got not a penny from them and he showed tons of interest.
Thanks for posting the Denison articles. I will read when I am more awake!
Oh! And thank you so much for the UPenn info. Unfortunately, we are not in Phila district.
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Wow, @lisabees, I am impressed with all you and your family got accomplished on your trip. So lucky to visit schools while the students are around, to get a real feel for the campus.
We visited Denison in the summer, for our S16, and there were only athletes and a few science-y students around. I really liked it, but we had a poor tour guide and my S just did not connect with the school. However, we both really loved the town of Granville! We were in the area primarily to tour Oberlin and Kenyon, and tried to fit in Wooster too, but the schedule was just too busy. I don’t know HOW you covered so many schools in such a short period of time, with all that driving. Bravo! =D>
You have great insight to share. Keep us all posted!