Wow. Muhlenberg has a summer visit day this Saturday. I’ll take that as a good sign. Just registered and will further cement my ‘crazy lady’ label with Marriott Hotels. Thank you!! 
Muhlenberg is the classic small liberal arts college. Beautiful grounds. Interested professors. Smart kids. Really nice place to get a fine education.
@TwinMom2023 have you looked into Susquehanna? It was one of our favorites of the PA LACs. My dd with the same stats as yours was invited to the Honors program there.
@twinmom2023 would love to hear what you think of these schools after you tour! 
We will be touring University of Scranton, Misericordian and Nazareth early next week with entire crew in tow Looking into direct entry physical therapy.
We are off to Duquesne tomorrow and Pitt on Friday. S23 is tagging along - always interested to hear his unfiltered opinions.
It is about a 4 hour drive each way for us. Hoping D19 can take a 2 hour shift each way to build up her hours.
@TwinMom2023 if you’re hitting Muhlenberg (heard fabulous things; friend starting this year for pre-med type major, and top pick for a friend’s D19), might as well at least do a drive by for Moravian. They’re very close.
This is kind of amusing: D19 basically accidentally applied to Mississippi State last night.
That is, she’d planned to apply to Mississippi State, but it was an accident that she did so last night.
For the past few weeks in emails she’s gotten they’ve been flacking hard that their application was opening last night at midnight. Well, she was going through her college emails at half past nine last night, and midnight central time is 9:00p Alaska time—so she went ahead and clicked through to the application. She figured she’d create an account in their system and enter in her basic demographic information and then pick it up again a few days later—but basically, she entered in her demographic information, and then called me over to pay the application fee, because Mississippi State apparently has the shortest application ever. They don’t even have a spot to self-report test scores and grades! (They do require official score reports and transcripts, though—so we went ahead and ordered those. I’m guessing they don’t do the actual review for anything until they get them.)
So that was kind of surreal.
@taverngirl Sus. has bubbled up a lot - especially with fin. aid. Great to know about honors. It might be on the way from Dickinson to Philly (I’m from FLA and can’t do geography). I’ll look and thank you.
@dfbdfb Watch, she’ll get a full ride!! Are you just visiting Alaska? I missed that. Hope you are having fun. Is Miss. State the school that made national news with the awesome dorm room? It was on GMA. Pretty funny that she applied sideways. @EENYMum and @DCNatFan looks like this is the week for PA tours. Hope the weather is nice this weekend.
@TwinMom2023, nope, not visiting, Alaska’s been home for most of D19’s memory. And yeah, Mississippi State is one of the dorms where some roommates go a little—no, make that a lot—crazy. It’s kind of appealing to my D19, I think, except that she knows I’m not even beginning to bankroll a total dorm makeover.
@TwinMom2023 Susquehanna isn’t near Philly/Dickinson. Probably an hour north from Dickinson; more like 2 from Philly. Another one that I’ve never heard a bad thing about! Very popular at our HS, and I’ve heard generous merit and nice study abroad options.
@TwinMom2023 My son loves Susquehanna and will be applying. He attended Creative Writing Day there last year. We were both really impressed by the professors, campus, and students. Like Goucher, Susquehanna students have to do some sort of study abroad. We just brought on a young person in my department at work who is a Susquehanna alum. He is quite talented and prepared for the position and speaks very highly of the school.
It is in a remote location. About 30 minutes north of Harrisburg. Bucknell is nearby. Not much of a town situation near either school though. Dickinson has more going as Carlisle has more of downtown (intersection?).
Hey all, reporting from the road with some weather changing plans a bit. @dfbdfb Alaska must be incredible. She can always do shabby chic and flea market for cost. If she comes to NC, let me know and I’ll help her.
Anyway, Twin A’s interview at Dickinson went well. That school and town are pristine and everyone we ran into was incredibly well spoken and nice. My husband had been on the tour and was not impressed with the town, but I really liked it and if she would go ED, I think she’d get it. I don’t think it is RD for her b/c of her GPA last year. My personal fave for her so far. She said it is tied with Elon b/c Elon is close to home and much less expensive.
Did self tour of Muhlenberg. Even though it has about the same number of students as Dickinson, it feels tiny. It is actually a beautiful campus, like Dickinson, but she didn’t love it. Is it me, or are their impressions random? Anyway, I highly recommend this pretty college for students who don’t want a big town or intimidating campus. I would go there.
Google maps brought us to Lehigh via a route that was very sketchy. Lehigh was my nephew’s first choice (didn’t get in) and my husband’s grandfather went there so I was so excited to finally see it. Y’all, Twin A would not get out of the car. There were two fawns and a mom in the middle of campus adding to the pretty scene. She locked the doors. You would definitely have to be a mountain goat to go there. I kept thinking what do kids with disabilities do b/c it is embedded in the side of a foothill. That would drive me crazy.
Tomorrow will be St. Jo’s and either Ursinus or Lafayette. We don’t need another ED school (Lafayette), but I have pushed this point to the nth degree now.
Stay safe Pennsylvania and NY peeps.
Just back from a quick overnight trip to Pittsburgh to visit Duquense and Pitt.
The Duquesne tour was specific to the College of Education - probably about 10-12 students in attendance. The admissions slideshow was generic and boring. They did mention that no one pays full price and if admitted to College of Education you automatically receive a 50% tuition discount and it can go up based on stats. Tour was fine and the campus is actually very nice and self contained with some great views of the city. No application fee.
Spent the nigh at a hotel in the technology center. Walked across the bridge to the South side for dinner. Great part of town and D19 loved it. You can walk to here from Duquesne and many upperclassman live in that part of town.
Today was Blue and Gold Day at Pitt. Early start at 8:30. Check-in was easy as they send you a text 30 minutes beforehand that you reply to. It was a large group but very well organized. General info session was great and speakers were entertaining. We then attended the Arts and Science presentation which is where pre-education majors would start. Little disappointing as they spoke at great length about all the majors and minors but never hit on the pre-education part. Luckily back at the admission building one of the tables they had set up was for education so we were able to speak with someone and collect some information. The offer a program I think would be perfect for D19 but not sure she is buying into it. It is a 5 year program, Bachelors of Science (B.S.) degree in Applied Developmental Psychology and a Masters of Education (M.Ed.). I keep pushing her to get a degree in something more than just early childhood education.
They offered 3 different tours: main campus walking tour, upper campus tour (they bus you up “cardiac hill” and you walk down) and and city of Pittsburgh tour. We did the two campus tours an saw dorm rooms at both locations. Tour guides were great and very knowledgeable. We were also given a free lunch at the main cafeteria. Parking was also validated and free after filling out a survey. Also received a tee shirt and application fee waiver code.
We have been on a lot of tours and open houses in the past year and in my opinion this was the most informative and well organized. I loved the campus and the city. It’s in the city but does not feel like a true urban campus. Plenty of green spaces and so many opportunities for the kids to explore the city. They are able to ride all the forms of public transportation for free.
I’d love for D19 to go here but not sure it is what she is looking for but who knows. Might be a bit too large for her but we will see. It will definitely get an application.
Bonus - she got in 4 hours of driving time.
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They are able to ride all the forms of public transportation for free.<<
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I bet you’ll see a charge for that in the student fees.
Maybe. At least it will be nice to at least get something in return for those fees. Most schools charge the fees with nothing in return.
@DCNatFan CofC also allows students to ride CARTA for free wherever they go including My Pleasant , North Charleston, West Ashley. It’s nice to know that the students have an option without worrying about having cash available . I agree it’s a good use for those fees.
The students at the colleges in our metro area pay for the regional transportation (buses, light rail) as part of their fees. Some use them all the time, some not so much. My daughter took a summer school class and had to pay $107 for the summer. Since she only went to school twice a week, and only for 8 weeks, she overpaid (she could have made those trips for about $40 just buying a ticket). In the fall and spring, the trains to that school (and downtown for workers) are packed. Like a Japanese subway packed. At the stop at the college, the doors open and students pour out of the train. At the other metro colleges, most students live at or close to the schools so they are using the transportation to get to ‘fun’ - concerts, ball games, the airport, shopping.
I absolutely support the program. I actually want all public transportation to be free to everyone to encourage mass transport. I just changed my understanding that it was ‘free’ to students when I had to pay the fee this summer.
@DCNatFan Great to hear about both schools. Pitt always sounded great to me.
We toured Lafayette College in Easton PA. This would be a stretch school with high ACT/SAT. GPA UW 3.3 to 3.7, however, the info session stressed that their admissions is personal and holistic. Interview though ‘not required’ is required.
11 a.m. check in and received string backpack. Parking free and easy. The group was large and we moved to an adjacent auditorium. Asst. Dir. of Admissions gave quite the nonstandard presentation. He spoke extemporaneously and eloquently for an hour w/o notes or technology. Time went quickly and he was quite impressive. D19 had been not interested in campus tour until halfway through presentation. Highlights: study abroad is just about unlimited in location and very key to college experience. Engineering of course is strong, but there is an Eng. major that is more policy/Env. Studies and less hardcore so that is a plus. Lafayette is the most interdisciplinary school we have toured and that is their thing. Gen Ed classes are open and flexible. Career services very strong. They like to have kids from all over so for students in the lower tier who live far from PA would have an edge. They just opened an office in NYC to have a presence there.
Love the schedule. Like Elon, it is on the four credit hour system with a J term. So that means that you take four classes and four hours each for 16 hours per semester. Plus J term is four credit hours. This give kids so much room to try new classes and means graduating on time (a must for my twins).
Walking tour was very…very long. If you go, take water and maybe a snack. The campus is incredible, however, the tour could have been a little shorter (90 minutes after 60 min. presentation). No dorm room tour. The buildings are different from each other, but cohesive. The town is a great size and walking distance.
Drawbacks - Greek system? It is reported to be a party school with a ton of Greek life. That was discounted on tour.
They meet 100% demonstrated need, but are need aware not need blind.
We did a drive by of St. Joseph’s in Philly, but that was just too urban for Twin A.
Driving home tomorrow. I think it is sinking in that we are really just about out of time and that she needs to start her application in earnest.