<p>will be in Philadelphia and then have one day w/ son open to see a few colleges if they were near one another. </p>
<p>He wants rural or small town NO URBAN schools. </p>
<p>was looking at Le HIgh Bucknell Lafayette Susquehanna Mulhenberg Gettysburgh would any of these be close enough drive to Philly?</p>
<p>Which ones are best to see if you could only see one or two? Why?</p>
<p>Any other schools you can reccommend enroute from NYC to Philly( rt95)or back from Philadelphia? Anything that we could see on way back to NYC in a different route?</p>
<p>Also, i am a mom who will need some sightseeing in Philly in the eve by herself, any suggestions in a safe area to see?
Thanks</p>
<p>I actually visited/drove through all of the schools you mentioned. I visited Muhlenberg, Susquehanna, and Bucknell in one day (doable but it was a bit much, drove from northern/central NJ), then visited Gettysburg and Dickinson, and drove through Lehigh and Lafayette one day. Loved Dickinson so I would probably add that to your list.</p>
<p>Which one to pick depends upon interest, stats, and financial situation. Bucknell and Susquehanna are very close to each other. I know that Susquehanna usually interviews along with the tour. My son had an interview, personal tour, and meeting with one of the Deans (meeting with the Dean was not scheduled prior to our arrival). Some of these schools are sat optional, if that matters.</p>
<p>He is undecided about major right now(possible police interests such as criminal justice,forensics, but he really isn't ready to commit he is still a jr in hs)</p>
<p>He wants a rural smallish school, loves outdoors and outdoor activities, he loves rural Ny but we are looking at PA too(figured we could look since we will be in Philly anyway)anywhere that is rural and within a few hrs from NYC is a canidate. Has not taken SAT yet but has a B+ avg and anticipates 1200-1300 SAT approx.</p>
<p>Madison is a pretty small town in NJ, Drew is suburban on the outskirts of town--lots of trees and plenty of green space on campus--but not rural--it is a small university with a liberal arts orientation--they've just made SAT optional.</p>
<p>Further west in PA, thre's also Allegheny College.</p>
<p>There are six universities in the Lehigh Valley area. Three of them: Lehigh, Lafayette and Muhlenberg are located in the cities of Bethlehem, Easton and Allentown respectively. I don't think any of them would be considered rural or small town campuses. </p>
<p>Susquehanna, Bucknell and Gettysburg are good choices for rural or small town, you could also add Lebanon Valley, Elizabethtown, Franklin and Marshall and Juniata for the mid part of the state. Logistically speaking though, Susquehanna and Bucknell are doable for one day but it would be a heck of a long day driving out from Philadelphia and then going back to NYC. According to mapquest, Selinsgrove, where Susquehanna is located, is 2 hours and 40 minutes from Philadelphia. Bucknell is less then 1/2 hour from Susquehanna. While we have over 100 private colleges in PA, you really have to look at a map and do some research if you want to make the most of your time and not bother with schools that are too much of a reach (financially or academically) or might not even have a major that would interest your son.</p>
<p>A friend of my son's is a rising Junior at Gettysburg and is involved in an excellent outdoor program that he loves.</p>
<p>Bucknell, Lafayette and Lehigh would probably be reach schools (from the brief description of your son's stats) on your son's list and merit aid (my opinion) would be low.</p>
<p>If your son is a junior in the fall, I would suggest that looking at TYPES of colleges rather than specific colleges might make more sense. Visit a small LAC in the ex-urbs, a big city college, a medium size college in the suburbs, etc. For Phila, that might be Penn, Villanova, and Swarthmore. Those might not be schools your son is interested in, but it would give him a feel for what's available. It's often easier to get the feel of how to manage tours and visits without the pressure of thinking "this could be the right school."</p>
<p>My D did such a tour as a junior with a group of kids from her high school. She left thinking she wanted a large city college (think Berkeley); she came back wanting a small LAC (think Bard or Reed).</p>
<p>I would recommend against trying to do too much in one day. Yes, there are so many colleges, too little time. But in addition to a tour and info session, you need to chill for a while, hang out, eat the food in the dining hall, maybe talk to a professor, take a class, etc. Many thing go into discerning a good fit, and it takes time.</p>
<p>Also, the schools all start to blur in my mind if I try to see too much. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Maybe you could research the schools in advance, pick the one most likely to interest your son, and visit that one.</p>
<p>I am probably in the minority on this but I think fall of junior year is not too early to start touring specific colleges thinking that they might be THE one and not waste time on colleges (like Swat or Penn) that would be real reaches. Imho, the best time for touring colleges is when they are in session (Sept - May) and the best time for applying is early fall senior year. With limitations such as sports, performance events, SAT's, proms, etc. etc. there may not be that many weekends or days that a student and parent or family can take the time to visit colleges, let alone visit general "type" colleges a couple of hours away, plus visit specific colleges later. I think it's smarter to visit close to home "type" colleges.</p>
<p>We visited Muhlenberg (about 20 minutes away) and I think it might have been a bummer if we had visited a real reach school like Penn knowing that there was no way she could get in and taken the time to do so instead of seeing a doable (but great) college right around the corner. I agree with your advice about visiting general colleges, dmd, but just closer to home. As long as the op is coming down this way, I think it would be a better use of time to see colleges that might end being on the short list.</p>
<p>kathie, not at all, I think <em>many</em> of us agree that there's precious little time as a senior to squeeze in enough visits. Many colleges let HS juniors spend the night. Without exception, our D came away with more positive impressions from schools where she spent the night, having time to spend with students, absorbing more of campus culture than one gets listening to a presentation, taking a tour, and sitting in on a class. To be sure, it can be an unrepresentative bad experience due to a poor host, but the benefits outweigh such risks, I think, and starting early allows more such visits.</p>
<p>Absolutely true, vossron, although it's still a bunch of potentially misleading anectdotal evidence.</p>
<p>I really pity the families -- especially west-coasters, who almost don't have a choice if their kids are looking east -- who try to do the 5-days-10-schools marathon. The most either of my kids has ever looked at in one trip has been 5 in 5 days. And even then, the eyes get bleary, and the attention jaded, by school #5. Obviously, it's really hard to make meaningful visits to lots of schools. I'm in the party that favors doing other types of research, and visiting only when it will make a difference (e.g., do I want to apply ED?, which of the schools where I was accepted should I attend?). With maybe a "practice" visit or two as a control. (I insisted that my kids visit a couple of LACs even though each thought he or she wanted something bigger and more urban. Their conclusions: they wanted something bigger and more urban. But at least it's a semi-informed conclusion.)</p>
<p>Hey, that's me--West Coaster who dragged D to 11 eastern schools from MA to PA in 5 days. Of course, one of those was a drive-by: as in: "I don't like it, I'm not getting out of the car." "Okay, honey."</p>
<p>It worked for us only because my D is quite comfortable with going with her gut impression and doesn't overanalyze her choices. She figured there were multiple colleges she'd like and so it was simply a matter of deciding where she would apply. Besides the drive-by, she left another school's information session within twenty minutes.... and spent four hours wandering the campus of another, where she decided to apply.</p>
<p>What did she use to make her gut judgements? Well, she eavesdropped at coffee center, read the bulletin boards, wandered through the library, and stopped a student or two to ask questions. Mind you, she also checked the LiveJournal communities to narrow down the east coast list before we started, so she knew what she was looking for.</p>
<p>I'd suggest you also consider some of the PA State schools...perhaps Bloomsburg University might be the closest to your son's preferences. It is right up the Northeast Extension to Rte 80 and then a bit west. Very small town....I know my kids would consider it rural. Reasonable priced - especially when comparing it to Gettysburg, Susquehanna, & Bucknell. My D is going into her junior year and we just completed a 4 day 5 school tour.....exhausting!!</p>
<p>Hey, op, where did you go? Suggestions kept coming, but you've left the building! I thought of a couple of other colleges that might interest you but are in between Philadelphia and NYC- closer then Bucknell/Susquehanna. Three match/safety schools that would fun to visit would be Arcadia, Ursinus and DeSales. Arcadia has a great study abroad program for freshman, Ursinus offers pretty good merit aid and DeSales is about 1 1/2 hours from NYC, right next to Lehigh but the campus has a much different feel. </p>
<p>I'm assuming that the op would prefer SUNY colleges if he's looking for state schools. Most of them are rural and much more affordable then PA state schools for an oos student.</p>