<p>NPRMom, S and I visited Ursinus yesterday. I did a quick write up about it on the regular 2013 thread. I’d love to hear about your visit.</p>
<p>My son and I visited Lycoming in one of our first visits. It reminded me of some of our PA state colleges, in a good way. Everyone we met was VERY friendly and the message that the Prof’s cared came through loud and clear. A friends son graduated from there last year and loved it. He was a B student in HS and did a bit better in college. He did get merit aid. I liked the small city of Williamsport and the college is within walking distance of the downtown area.</p>
<p>HeavyLidded–about the diversity on college campuses, it is what it is, especially on most “northern” campuses. Look at it this way, if she attends a diverse high school, what percentages of each group goes on to college? I know that in our area, the “diverse” high schools don’t even graduate half of several racial groups let alone send them on to college, yet the Asian and white students at that same school will have 80% graduation rates with pretty close to all of those students going on to college. Until you get into some of the bigger DI football/basketball powerhouse type colleges in the north, the stats for diversity are going to be pretty similar across the board. </p>
<p>As for the tourguide–that is one of our “markers” for going on the list, that the tourguide knows people, by name, along the way. Our kids want a real community feel, not just a place where they take classes for their degree.</p>
<p>Heavylidded, Sounds like you and your D had great experiences at your college visits. Does your D know what she wants to major in?</p>
<p>My son also wanted a school with diversity. Hiram, although tiny, is quite diverse, including international students from many countries. They have all the flags from the countries represented hanging overhead (in the dining hall if I remember correctly.)</p>
<p>
Yes, that is right.</p>
<p>In our search, we found more diversity at schools that were either in or near a city, or some public Us. We found Northeastern, Boston U, some state schools in NJ and NY to be pretty diverse. I see Towson was mentioned and that U seemed diverse to us as well. </p>
<p>A couple of small schools where we found diversity were Drew (even though some find it preppy, we found diversity), and Queens University of Charlotte was diverse. To a lesser extent, we found divesity at McDaniel, so I would research some numbers there, if interested. We also found lots of diversity at Earlham. I do recall flags from other nations hung up on a couple of tours. I did not recall that it was at Hiram where we saw them (it has been a couple of years since we toured). I would delve into diversity at Hiram and see how that might fit. We visited during the summer, so we did not get a sense of the student body at Hiram.</p>
<p>According to their website, current Hiram students come from: </p>
<p>Barbados…Kenya
Belize…Malaysia
Bhutan…Mexico
Belgium…Myanmar
Brazil…Nepal
Bulgaria…Niger
Canada…Nigeria
Cape Verde…Oman
Cayman Islands…Pakistan
China…Rwanda
Costa Rica…Saudi Arabia
Ethiopia…Somalia
France…South Korea
Ghana…Thailand
Hong Kong…United Kingdom
India…Vietnam
Jamaica…Zambia
Japan…Zimbabwe</p>
<p>HeavyLidded, what we found to be the biggest negative at OWU was the rather long walk between residence halls and academic buildings. There is nothing wrong with a walk on a pleasant day. We were thinking about an ice cold winter day, snow, and ice rain, and in this type of weather it did not seem pleasant to face that walk. Son still applied, but the numbers just did not work for us at the end of the day, but he was offered merit aid.</p>
<p>HL, did I miss it? Looking forward to hearing about Wooster and Earlham. :)</p>
<p>Great report on Susquehanna HeavyLidded! One of my closest friends has a freshman there and he’s really enjoyed his first year. He’s had some unique family troubles and the college was extremely supportive. My daughter and I visited Susquehanna during the summer before her senior year and that was a big mistake. Without those friendly students and the engaged professors, it’s just buildings and she just couldn’t get a feel for the place.</p>
<p>I agree with northeastmom about diversity. With the exception of the cities, there is little racial diversity in Pennsylvania. Our schools are 90+% white.</p>
<p>kathiep – My son is struggling to find a LAC safety with all the things he wants. Roanoke keeps popping up as a strong possibility. Is it your older son who attended? Can you tell us more about it?</p>
<p>Longhaul, What do you want to know about Roanoke? It really was the right place for my oldest son and if it had had the major that my #3 wanted, he would have definitely applied there. My son was looking for a smallish LAC that had friendly professors, a fairly good choice of majors, good chance of study abroad, excellent chance of merit aid and hopefully close to places to hike. The things he wasn’t really looking for, but he really appreciated as time went by were excellent dorms and campus housing, great small town and a bigger city that was very easily accessible. Locally, it’s known as a school for rich kids, but I think that’s a wrong perception held over from long ago. The vast majority of kids do get financial aid, both need based and merit based. We paid just slightly more there then we would have if he had attended PSU at in-state costs and he was able to do a study-abroad for the same cost as he paid on-campus. My son is extremely frugal and he and his friends furnished their house with finds from dumpster diving and thrift stores. </p>
<p>The people there were extremely friendly and as a parent, I loved how well run Roanoke was. Every event that we attended from the opening convocation to the grad ceremony was very organized and well thought out.</p>
<p>The only downsides would perhaps be that there is some grade deflation, there are a lot of born again Christians, not a lot of diversity and since it’s a small college, not a lot of choice in majors.</p>
<p>kathiep, I know we’ve conversed at some point. I live in Roanoke, my husband is an administrator at RC, and I have taken continuing ed classes at the college. I’m glad to hear positive remarks.</p>
<p>I think your S2 went to Champlain. My daughter is considering it. How would it compare to Roanoke (other than obvious weather differences)? It seems to get a lot of comments that it has a party atmosphere - she’s not a drinker, smoker, or drug taker. We are conservative in a Roanoke sort of way (ie Southern, but not ultraconservative) - but she’s extraordinarily tolerant of other viewpoints and politically fairly liberal. She’s interested in the Digital Media programs - how are their facilities? General thoughts?</p>
<p>Adding to our “colleges to consider” list:
Rollins
Stetson
Roanoke</p>
<p>Trying to get D to take a road trip to Depauw, Miami U and maybe Indiana U next weekend. Normally, there would be social competition but she happens to be grounded - so trying to turn it into an opportunity ;).</p>
<p>Mamaduck, Yes, my #2 son, (#3 child) just finished up his freshman year at Champlain. My older son and I picked him up yesterday. (Yay!)</p>
<p>Champlain is unique in that while it’s a LAC, it’s ALOT more techy and geeky then any LAC I’ve visited and between three kids, who all favored small LAC’s, I’ve seen more then three dozen colleges. Since it’s in Vermont it’s also naturally liberal minded, very environmentally conscious, and has a cooler vibe then Roanoke if that makes any sense. Burlington is the quintessential College town. The downtown area has several blocks of independent restaurants, coffeeshops, bookstores, etc. There is also the atmosphere of activity where you get the idea that everyone likes to hike, snowboard, etc. You won’t find many overweight people there. There are heavily discounted ski passes available and even a family ski weekend in February. </p>
<p>Champlain’s professors are also very connected to the students. My son calls his Prof’s by their first names and when we were up for Parents weekend last fall, the head of his department sat and had lunch with us. When we were considering the school this same person sat with my son for over and hour talking about the program. I like how Champlain is very connected to the business world too and the career services department works hard at providing job leads to the students continuously. My son, only a freshman, has been to two internship/job fairs this year.</p>
<p>I just asked him about the digital media program at Champlain and he said it was excellent and fairly hard to get into. I think his next year’s roommate is majoring in digital media. Son participated in movies that his friends in that major had to do.</p>
<p>I also like the study abroad programs at Champlain. They have campuses in Montreal (just a couple of hours north) and Dublin. My son is planning to go to Dublin his junior year. Cost is the same with financial aid going with the students.</p>
<p>Burlington has three main colleges - St. Mike’s, Champlain and UVM. The college with the real party reputation is hands down UVM. My son told me early on in freshman year that the local kids that attended Champlain would go to UVM to party. Because the freshman are housed in converted Victorian houses there are only a few dozen kids per house. The RA’s are good about not allowing in-room drunk fests. [Residence</a> Halls | Undergraduate Campus Life | Champlain College](<a href=“http://www.champlain.edu/undergraduate-studies/student-life/residential-life/residence-halls.html]Residence”>Housing | Residential Life | Campus Life | Student Life) My son’s dorm next year is a brand new building. We’ll see how that works out party-wise. </p>
<p>Money-wise, Champlain was more then Roanoke but this son’s major will pay a lot more then our Roanoke grad. 100% of the grads in his major were employed or in grad school within just a couple of months after graduation.</p>
<p>Thanks, kathiep. That gives me a good feel of what to think of Champlain. As the child of a college employee, she’ll be dependent on the tuition exchange benefit. Champlain only awards the exchange benefit to 10% of qualified applicants, so it’s probably a low chance she’d get it. She’s most interested in urban campuses (Chicago, Manhattan, Pittsburgh), so I’m not sure how she’ll feel about Burlington, but with so many college kids it probably feels much bigger than it is. Looks like a very good place to me - and a lovely place to vacation this summer!</p>
<p>Thanks HL, your reports have been great!</p>
<p>kathiep, I need to give Champlain another look! I think my problem was that they didn’t have DD’s sport, but if we go and look at UVM, I’ll try and get to Champlain now too.</p>
<p>To HL (and anybody else interested)–DS#1 ended up looking at a number of Ohio LACs. Really liked OWU–nice kids, was actually happy to see the road running through campus with some recognizable chain restaurants (vs. some of the schools that were very isolated). And I should remind you that walking from the dorms to classes at a school that size is very manageable compared to what kids at a much larger school often end up doing. FWIW, OWU ended up a close second on his list but he would have been happy to attend (and they gave him more merit $$ than any other school).</p>
<p>Now Wooster. A place truly after my own heart. That was the place <em>I</em> really wanted for DS#1 (DS#2 got in as well but ended up at a larger school). I talked to a friend who teaches at a private hs in Columbus about all of the schools DS was considering (we are not in Ohio). He spoke with a college counselor there (past President of NACAC). He said if you put 100 hs college counselors in a room and asked them which school in the country adds the most value to their students, 90 would say COW.</p>
<p>And I haven’t read your earlier posts but I assume you’ve read what CTCL has to say about both?</p>
<p>We have gotten a lot of mailings, emails, etc. from Wooster. It sounds fantastic. I wish it was a better fit athletically for DD because it sounds like a great fit for her otherwise. She has several really fantastic D3 programs around here that are interested in her so going that far away from home for another D3 program just doesn’t make that much sense really. Academically they have what she wants as well.</p>
<p>Kathiep</p>
<p>How preachy are the Born again Christians?
Although my son goes to a high school that has required chapel services, he is 100% against organized religion. It is not a teen thing with him. He has always been this way. I’m Catholic. I allowed him to cease Prep classes and not make confirmation at the age of 8. He was very outspoken. Nowadays, he is not outspoken, but would not do well if his fellow students thought it their mission to convert him.</p>
<p>Did your son get to do a lot of hiking?
The outdoor activities and the INQ core is the biggest attraction to him.</p>
<p>Is a car necessary?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we will not be able to visit all the schools he likes before applications. This school in particular does not seem like a summer visit will do it justice.</p>
<p>TIA for all your help!</p>
<p>Wooster - Yes, my son fell in love with their architecture too. I agree that it sounds like a wonderful school. Not sure how my son would have fared academically; he was scared by the thought of writing a 100 page paper, Lol!</p>