Berea was mentioned but I’m pretty sure all students there must have significant financial need, which is probably not the case here.
Personally, I say leave an outlier or two in the mix. You never know till you go. There are many reports here on cc of kids who thought they wanted this or that but after visits came up with very different priorities. In fact there’s a whole thread on just that.
Your original list sounds like a lot of schools.
The list seems somewhere between overwhelming and comprehensive. Visiting 2 places in a day makes them get all jumbled up
Throw in Miami U as a possible safety and take away Ohio Wesleyan if flexible
and with this variety some of the places should be eliminated quickly
Chiming in as an Ohio resident who grew up about 30 minutes north of Oberlin. Even if you go to Wittenburg, Dayton and Miami of Ohio will extend your trip a couple hours south and west. If you don’t want to keep going west, but are still willing to come up towards Cleveland to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, then I would think seriously about both John Carrol and Baldwin Wallace. Both are small schools with good reputations to the east of Cleveland (and hence on your way back to Pennsylvania). If you think she is a strong candidate for Oberlin and Kenyon, then I might add Case Western on Cleveland’s east side to the list as well.
I would note that you have fairly large range of selectivity in your list. Oberlin, Kenyon and probably Denison are going to be tough admits for someone with a 3.6 who does not smoke her standardized tests. On the other end, Wittenburg and Allegheny are less difficult admits, at least on paper.
As far as logistics, I wouldn’t stay in Oberlin. Cleveland is only 30/40 minutes down the road with a much wider selection of hotels/eateries on the route. I spend a fair amount of time in Oberlin still, as my daughter has done summer stock theater there the last several years. The Inn is OK. The Feve is a good restaurant. Not a huge fan of Alladdin’s although my daughter is. If your tastes are more plebian, Lorenzo’s makes a good pizza, better grinders. Agave Burrito is pretty good as well. Service at the latter two is spotty though as you would expect in a college town.
Again on the plebian side, Goeyz is a great place near South Campus at OSU. There is not much fine dining near OSU (the college is very large and kind of dominates it’s area. But if you want to get off campus in Columbus I would head into German Village and go to Schmidt’s. Not too many places you can get real bavarian sausages and an Oompah band. Sort of a quirky, very Columbus thing. Frankly Columbus fine dining is not really at the level of Cincinnati or Cleveland, so I wouldn’t make a point of seeking out “real” restaurants if staying there.
Cleveland is very much a foodie town. My current favorite restaurant is the Flying Fig in Ohio City. Ohio City has the West Side Market, which is worth a side trip if you are a foodie and like most such neighborhoods more micro brews and quirky little casual restaurants than you can shake a stick at. Johnny Mangos and the creatively named Ohio City Burrito are currently pretty hot. If you want to stay downtown (near the Hall of Fame) then 4th Street is the place to be. Micheal Symon’s flag ship, Lola, is there and very good. The Greenhouse Tavern is better. If you want old school Cleveland, then head out to the near west side and Johnny’s on Fulton. Classic Italian food, best wine cellar in the city. The kind of place that never advertises, has the same decor for the last thirty years and where if you go there twice the maitre’d remembers you. If there is going to be a St Valentine Day’s massacre in Cleveland, it will happen at Johnny’s.
^ If you do go to Schmidt’s then get the Cream Puff. Yum.
Daughter’s awards at Baldwin Wallace are not need based, covering >50%, both talent and academic awards. They probably have some need based as well, but not for us.
Agree about Schmidt’s. We loved it. As Erin’s Dad says, the cream puffs are delicious. There is a reasonably priced lunch buffet that lets you sample lots of different things. Also, great sandwiches and sausage platters.
@DoDEAMom18 , I am in Virginia. William & Mary would be tough with a 3.6 and mid type SAT’s, even for instate kids.
Have a fun trip with your daughter!
If you are staying off of 80 on the way to Oberlin, do not stay at the Quality Inn. We were full of bed bugs. It was disgusting.
Thanks for all the great college and foodie advice. FYI - we are flying from Europe and were not sure of the route when booking the flight, hence the in and out of DC flight. Plus it is faster to drive to Columbus than wait for the connection etc, no drop fee for the car rental. We have 12+ days to do the college visits and are open to dropping a college along the way or doing the shorter tour if the vibe isn’t there. I am very sure that we are not overwhelmed on our list…we are easy and can bob and weave along the way as needed while still visiting the schools daughter already feels a good connection with. D2 is muuuuch easier going than D1.
Added Baldwin Wallace and am thrilled to see over 3,000 undergrads but skipping Earlham with less than 1,000 students. She is coming from a small-ish HS with about 400 students and wants less than 5,000 but at least closer to 2,000. Most likely leaving the DC schools for the summer trip but will keep our White House and Congress tour,
Daughter 1 has very similar life story and is a third culture kid as well with lower SAT than Daughter 2 and was accepted at all 12 of her schools (don’t ask - she added on “a few” at the end) including all of the schools we are visiting including Denison. Never underestimate the URM and interesting back story, plus we found that colleges seem to really like DOD teacher’s kids.
No need aid coming our way so looking at the lovely LAC merit aid as a part of the puzzle. Any other colleges on the actual route are welcome as well as good eats. Hotels are all set.
All the college and food suggestions are so appreciated and are on the list so we don’t starve… so keep them coming!
How about the Penns. schools if you are looking for more but a little different? Gettysburg? York? F&M? Baltimore has Goucher, Loyola, St. Mary’s (the private one next to Loyola)
Honestly, I would probably dump Wittenberg. It is a fine school, but not terribly different than many of the schools on your list and it is a bit off your Columbus/Cleveland/DC track.
Gettysburg has a very pretty campus, as well as a notable battlefield nearby.
One random thing - be careful if you take i-75 during your time in Ohio. It’s a complete mess in the Toledo area (and in Michigan), but if my memory serves right, it’s not too bad near Dayton. That expressway will forever be a work-in-progress
As far as driving recommendations, be careful on the Ohio Tollroad (I 80/90), a stretch of highway where it is very easy to get over 80mph without noticing, but there are plenty of State troopers who will notice and make you pay, with very expensive tickets (so I’ve heard, no personal experience, of course!) 8-|
Since you added BW (yay), I will add that we love Sweet Mango(downtown Berea adjacent to campus) and the Tree Hugger cafe (5 minute drive on Bagley rd). If time pressed Tree hugger is not recommended tho the food is very good. BW is also very close to Cleveland airport, so will be accessible for her via uber or lyft (or student friends eventually) if she chooses to attend.
We lived in Richmond near Earlham in the late 80’s. Vibe then was very quirky, artsy, lots of clogs and beanies. Nice bluegrass festival. Hipsters even when hipster was not really a thing.
Happy travels, and happy hunting.
Lynchburg College on your Virginia leg of the trip has a lot of merit aid as well as a scholarship competition. It has a beautiful campus surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains about 3.5 hours outside DC. The city of Lynchburg is somewhat less appealing, though.
looks like you’re making another trip in the summer to add the DC schools which is good. I recommend looking at American since she’s a TCK. They were perhaps the only non-Christian school we looked at that made special mention of TCKs (they refer to them as ‘global nomads’).
Also Dickinson has been mentioned, may want to seriously consider adding it especially if she is interested in intl studies related majors.
Wooster may be a great merit aid school, and several of the others on the list may prove the same. 15k-25k/yr could be anticipated.
Sounds like you guys like to drive and squeeze many visits in per day. My vote would be to pare the list down before the trip or at least ‘rate’ the schools so you know which ones you don’t mind dropping.
Have fun.
Nothing to add other than that we made a similar trip and it was really the trip that informed all other choices. Just a really nice variety, with a number of surprise reactions. Very curious to hear how your trip turns out.
As a NoVA native transplanted to Columbus, this is my advice: Do a self-tour of GMU - the formal one doesn’t show much and it’s more of a “why I came to GMU” talk - not extremely informative. Also, remember that GMU is largely a commuter campus and it’s spread out. I have family in Fairfax, but my DD was worried that she would be lonely on weekends since a lot of kids who live on campus are from the area.
GMU is pretty, and worth a look, but you won’t glean a lot of info from their tour. I would opt for a guided tour of another school and research or do the GMU one online. Mary Washington might be a good option - not too far from DC as well.
As for Ohio. Don’t discount the “70,000+ mega campus”. My DD looked all over NC, VA, PA, and OH, and ended up there, 20 minutes from home, and LOVES it. The campus shrinks in size massively once you’re there. I didn’t feel like a number when I went there either. Go in with an open mind. The tour is worth the time.
If you’re eating there and want casual, Adriatico’s Pizza on 11th is great. Hound Dog’s, I HEAR, is a close second. For the person who said Columbus isn’t a foodie town, don’t listen. Just down High Street is a WEALTH of restaurants just north of the Arena District and downtown in an area called the Short North. I actually found Cincinnati lacking on good food when I visited but never have trouble finding a new, great restaurant in Columbus.
You might add Ohio Northern to your list. Depending on potential major.
Good luck. It’s overwhelming to do the “college world tour” but so much fun in the end!
Agree with Sweet Mango recommendation in Berea, and the Short North recommendation as well. If you’re going to the College of Wooster, my recommendation is Broken Rocks Cafe and Bakery.