<p>Iowa’s reputation for writing comes from its graduate writing program, not any undergraduate initiative. You could major in all sorts of things at Iowa, and after your freshman rhetoric course, never write anything substantial again. Obviously, if you major in English, history, etc, you will do lots of writing. At the undergraduate level, the writing instruction you get at Iowa, as say a history major, will likely be no better than what you get at Tuman. In fact, it may be worse, as grading may be done by a TA rather than the faculty member teaching the course.</p>
<p>Also, on average, Truman State has a better quality and more serious student than at U Iowa.</p>
<p>Just got back from an overnight at Truman, and we’re 95% of the way to sending off the admissions deposit. The clincher for DD was the seriousness with which students approached their work.</p>
<p>Another plug for Truman. DD visited with the coach for her sport there. The coach was talking to one player when we arrived. They were talking about how, for the third year in a row, this player was missing their conference tournament (the one that decides who goes to nationals so big deal tournament) because she had a test in a class the day they had to miss…the coach was joking about it and thought it was wonderful that she missed the tournament. These are scholarshiped athletes too.</p>
<p>Is anyone familiar with Manhattan College in Riverdale, NY? Impressions? Reputation? Is it an easy and safe commute into the city? Which would you choose: Manhattan or Seton Hall?</p>
<p>Will look forward to seeing your detailed report as we have looked at or are interested in several colleges on this list! Particularly interested in hearing about Goucher (since we haven’t been there yet) and Susquehanna. My D LOVED OWU and also really liked Wooster.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear about your D’s grades. How did she feel about it? Did this trip lead to new motivation?</p>
<p>Sorry - I know this has been discussed somewhere but can’t find it - should my DD put college codes on her act registration form if she knows she will be taking the test at least one more time? Thanks!</p>
<p>My D also LOVED Wooster (but the biggest reach for her). I wish she had liked OWU more (qualifies as a legacy at OWU). I have a flicker steam of OWU and Wooster pics if anyone is interested. I’d be happy to share the link (pm me). We also ended up doing a drive-by tour of Wittenberg. Nice campus, but surrounding area wasn’t appealing to her. We both loved Hiram College, and Ohio University. D didn’t care for Goucher or Earlham’s surrounding area, but the campuses themselves were both very nice. My D is OVERLY concerned with the towns and surrounding areas of all the schools.</p>
<p>This Thursday we leave for Warren Wilson and Guilford tours/info. sessions. I’ll post a report if there’s anyone else interested in these schools. I’ll be taking lots of pics too and will add to the flicker stream. I have a feeling she’ll love Asheville, NC…</p>
<p>@frazzlemom, no, we decided not to add any schools to her SAT “free reports” list until we knew the scores. My D has ADD, so we just wanted to be absolutely sure that she’d want to send the scores before doing so. She took Mar. SAT and did well (590 CR, 610M, 600W), and will not be retaking (subject test in Japanese in Nov. and maybe bio). I was feeling a big sense of relief when we got the scores…and then…she let her grades drop 3rd quarter, lol! I am just praying on a daily basis that she finishes this year with a 3.0-3.1 again…I really have no idea at this point which direction she will go. Sometimes she kicks it into high gear and gets a ton of work done and gets mostly A’s and B’s and sometimes it’s B’s and C’s. I never really know what the quarter will bring :).</p>
<p>Which leads me to a question, does anyone know of a school similar to Warren Wilson but with lower accepted stats? I’ve been looking at Northland College in WI and Green Mountain in VT, and Evergreen State as similar schools. If she drops below a 3.0, I feel as though we’ll have to rethink the list. For my D, a very liberal climate is a better fit (she’s VERY artsy and plans to major in art and Japanese language).</p>
<p>Hey Heavylidded, Glad to hear you had a good college road trip. We visited a number of the same schools back in Feb. We checked out Goucher, OWU, and Wooster. My S is not interested in being in/near a big city, so Goucher was not to his liking (although us parents really liked its location!)</p>
<p>OWU was great, especially the lovely new pool (DS is a swimmer) but we were a little concerned about the effect of its Greek culture and the pay-as-you-go meal program (expensive for a big eater.) Although we didn’t plan to, we stopped by Wooster on our way to Hiram. My son thought it was gorgeous. And we ran into a number of very friendly students willing to give us their impressions.</p>
<p>Wooster was definitely a reach for DS, and he was waitlisted there. He was accepted to the others. When all was said and done, he was lucky to have so many choices. I’m hoping it will be the same for your your D.</p>
<p>I’m so excited to hear all about your tours and impressions. We loved Goucher and Earlham, too. And, we also ruled out Muhlenberg. Why did you? I’m curious to learn about Wittenberg, too. What went wrong? Thanks to this thread, I will be looking into Hiram and Wooster.</p>
<p>jkiwmom,</p>
<p>I’ll PM you for the link to your photos. Thanks. We, too visited Warren Wilson, so I can’t WAIT to hear your impressions. Please let us know! I would think Earlham is the best for your daughter’s interest in Japan and Japanese. Granted Richmond isn’t fabulous, but the town is growing and trying to improve. An Earlham student told me that the campus is more active and vibrant because of it.</p>
<p>NPRMom,
have you had the opportunity yet to put together an “album” of your college
visits? Very interested to “see” those campuses! Am thinking of doing some campus
visiting with S2014 this summer in the central/midwest areas.
Am continually hoping he’ll be a true 3.0 student!</p>
<p>HeavyLidded…thanks for the great description of Goucher. We are considering visiting at the end of the summer around the time students are coming back for the school year and I had just given my S’s information as an interested student yesterday. It seems like it could be a good fit for him, although we really won’t know until we visit (and see if it’s even likely that he could get in).</p>
<p>Heavylidded, Hasn’t your daughter seen photos of Tom Brady wearing Man Uggs or Muggs, as I call them? Truth is, that would’ve turned my sons of too.</p>
<p>As for Goucher, I thought the (edge of a major city) location perfect. All the comfort and security of a small colleg campus, with all the benefits of a major city its doorstep. But, compared to all the other schools we visited (and due to our getting lost in inner-city Balt.) my son found it not rural enough.</p>
<p>I’m looking to hear your thoughts about Susquehanna, as we never did get around to visit that one.</p>
<p>@NPR mom, I will definitely come back with reports about Warren Wilson! I will add more pics to the flicker page when I get back too. </p>
<p>Earlham does makes the most sense for my DD. The quality of their Japanese program, the student body, the art dept., the accepting students…there’s so many reasons! She unfortunately puts a lot of weight on the town/surrounding areas (I guess she thinks she’ll be hanging out at coffee shops and shopping in hip clothing stores all the time, lol!). I have a feeling in the end that she’s going to have a better view of Earlham/Richmond once she’s seen all the other schools on her list. We plan to visit each and every one of the schools on her list (she may do an ED app. next fall if there’s a clear winner in the end). </p>
<p>@heavylidded, thanks for your reports and looking forward to Susquehanna’s visit. I’ll do the same for Guilford when we get back this weekend. We leave tomorrow and will see Warren Wilson Friday and Guilford Sat. Still trying to decide if we will make a stop at Longwood U. which is right on our way home back to DC area (Longwood would be an instate safety for DD).</p>
<p>jkiwmom, Have you been following the Parent of 2012 class thread? There’s a poster on there whose D just chose to attend Earlham, and is planning on doing the Japan Studies, I believe. Her CC name is woody35.</p>
<p>Just got our a packet of information from Lycoming in the mail. Their brochure looks inviting. Has anyone who has visited gotten an “artsy” feel at all from the campus? We haven’t seen boys/men anywhere in Uggs yet, but we’re looking for (all kinds of) diversity, a few skinny jeans, and some Birkenstocks to go along with the rest of the crowd-sort of an Ursinus meets Warren Wilson type of place.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I think this thread is blossoming!</p>
<p>I will post the Hiram scholarship information you gave me here too, since there are others looking at this Hiram. I didn’t realize they offered $3,000 for an out of state student in addition to the merit scholarships. </p>
How did she feel about it? Did this trip lead to new motivation?</p>