@bigmacbeth Yes, some students do clinicals at Yale. D19 interviewed there as well for a job but took final job near home. Great for hockey and (I believe) girls basketball(?) but no football or large university feel. Fun to go to those games but I get it…nothing like a Big 10 feel.
@cakeisgreat, FWIW, I visited Muhlenberg with my S20 - it’s definitely not in an unsafe neighborhood. He thought it was too suburban/vanilla, but he ended up wanting a really metropolitan location, so it depends on individual preference, as always. There was a lot of focus on theater/drama. As I recall, Muhlenberg seemed to care a lot about demonstrated interest.
My hubby and S19 spent the afternoon at Quinnipiac just yesterday for a revisit for their honors program. I would say that it’s among his favorites and he likes just about everything there. His academic program is newish (civil engineering) so that may be our only reservation. And price…QU lowered their Tuiition Exchange effective next year and I’m not certain if I could convince them to grandfather my kid in:).
@MAandMEmom What is tuition exchange and where can I get it ha ha 
D14 was also in Honors program…was pretty easy back then and helped her have a place to start. If you have any questions LMK. I agree with engineering…I dont know much about that major. D14 said they are good with getting internships and research but she was talking with me about biochemistry of which we were interested.
@pickledginger Thanks for the info on Muhlenberg. D20 not too interested in theater/drama, but she is an artsy kid, so maybe?
@cakeisgreat the Tuition Exchange is a benefit for employees of primarily private colleges. There are more than 600 colleges and universities that participate, many of which are not the uber-competitive ones talked about on CC. But there are some popular and hard admit ones as well and those can be difficult to get the exchange. The process is competitive and the family needs to find places where the kid’s stats are at the high end. This is my first time through the process but we have been successful so far. S19 has some regular decisions coming up soon where I think he may not get the exchange including Bucknell, Lafayette, Villanova, and George Washington.
Took D20 to visit Marquette U yesterday. We went in with very low expectations, and I did not even mention it was a Jesuit school to her. 
She really liked it, especially the nursing presentation and sim lab tour (way better than Purdue’s program, on both counts). After the college admissions presentation we were matched up with our tour guide, who was a sophomore nursing student from San Diego. We were her ONLY family, so had a great, personal tour. It’s a nice little urban school, with excellent access to Milwaukee’s downtown, as well as the lakefront. It seems to have a lot to offer, and moved to basically a tie at the top. It may be the most expensive, as well, which is never good…but will stay on the list for now.
@cakeisgreat and others… Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to head over to Lehigh (had nothing to do with the school), so we didn’t get a chance to check it out.
For anyone who might be interested, D20 and I did visit Haverford and she loved it. Small school, but that is what she is used to and comfortable with, and she could really relate to the tour guide and a lot of the programming they offer (especially international opportunities). With the strong emphasis on the honor code, I think it would probably be a self-selecting group of students, but that aspect really spoke to my daughter. She said it will definitely be on her list.
We are hoping to get over to Lehigh on our next trip. We were also trying to see U of Richmond on the same trip, but one thing after another kept happening and we had to drastically cut short the list of visits. We did drive past Temple, for what it’s worth, and the campus looks nice but the surrounding neighborhood appears really unsafe to me. I grew up in the Bronx and Brooklyn so I’m no shrinking wallflower, but this was a tough neighborhood.
@brentwoodmom Did your S19 apply to VT ED/EA? Did you hear yet? S19 accepted! But no merit - well $500 merit which is something. So bummed though because now it is one of the most expensive of S19 schools (shocking!) Quinnipiac is actually $5K cheaper (also shocking!). Once Elon was decided too expensive, Vtech was next on the list because S19 really wants to go south and try a different area. Not sure what we’re gonna do about VTech…but we are definitely going to accepted students day and consider the options. College of Charleston is very affordable and the other contender for the south area. Just have to see if he wants the city-ish evirio
@cakeisgreat Congrats to S19, but sorry about the affordability. I heard VT was stingy, so D17 ended up not applying. But, Elon seemed much more affordable, no? CofC is a great school in a cool city, so definitely go check it out.
@dancingmom518 Thank you for the update! We’ll keep an eye on Lehigh and will post our thoughts if we get there before you.
Thanks for the info on Haverford and Temple. We almost toured Haverford with D14…got to the admissions after touring Villanova (loved that college but just too expensive…well, plus D14 was rejected from there ) . Very different feel from Villanova walking up to the admissions office, and the bathroom in the basement was horrid. And we were tired. We decided not to tour, but I think we unfairly judged the college too quickly and wished I had another kid who wanted to tour it again. Everyone that I have ever talked to/read about here on CC that toured it loves it.
@bigmacbeth Elon does say they are an affordable school, and their sticker price is much less than Quinnipiac’s crazy high price. But after merit, it ended up being the most expensive college on our list…even though Elon ended up giving a $4500 extra scholarship plus $2K for research or study abroad. So bummed but I get it. College is expensive. Here is how S19’s OOS list falls (so far):
CofC cheapest (10K less that Vtech)
Belmont U (ended up falling off the interest list)
Marist and Quinnipiac - same price (but QU tuition freeze so that makes it cheaper)
Virginia Tech
Elon U
Havent heard from Colgate but after we applied, we learned they dont give merit, so that will probably top Elon. Instate options are half the price of VTech. One thing about instate for us though is we might be moving in a couple of years, so that could end up changing our final tuition total. It will be interesting to see the final result.
@cakeisgreat Congrats to your son!
S19 was admitted with $5,000 a year in merit.
Right now both of the other schools he applied to would be much cheaper. Clemson offered him $24,000 per year in merit and Alabama gives a full ride for NMF.
I wish Clemson or VT offered OOS waivers with scholarships like some other schools. That would make such a huge difference.
@brentwoodmom Great options and wow full ride at Alabama! S19 would definitely have taken that because (I think I mentioned a zillion times), he wants to try another part of the country and the South is appealing. D20 is planning to apply to Clemson (and VTech…but the cost now…hmmm), even though she is not sporty and has social anxiety, LOL. For some reason she loved all the hype there and at VTech, but normally that gives her so much stress. Does not want to even visit larger in-state schools for example just because of the size. She won’t get much merit if any because of her SAT score but I’ll let her apply…I think she will at least be accepted, and sometimes that’s all that’s needed (in her case anyway).
I hear you with the OOS waivers. That would be awesome.
@cakeisgreat If your daughter is willing to go to school further in the south, you should consider looking at Ole Miss. Both of my kids had neutral to negative opinions before visiting and both loved it after our visit. It’s a gorgeous compact campus and the smallest SEC school besides Vanderbilt. 18,000 undergrads, so similar in size to Clemson.
It went to top 5 for S19 and the only reason he didn’t apply was because they didn’t have a great program fit for him like CMDA at VT.
D20 has already said she is applying.
It’s inexpensive from out of state and they have really straightforward merit starting at a ACT of 25, I think. I believe they are currently about 50/50 Instate and OOS.
They have a top 20 honors college and the average ACT for it is a 31, so you don’t have to be tippy top to get in. When I toured with D20 last week, there were people in our tour group from CT and CA.
@brentwoodmom - I am trying to get S20 to look at Ole Miss. May have to use my rule of “you don’t have to attend your cheapest option but you need to see what you are turning down.” I personally think Ole Miss checks a lot of S20’s boxes (and will come in the least expensive) but he has been negative about looking at schools in the South. Very unlike S19 who will likely attend Alabama as an NMF.
@mountainmomof3 I get it. We live in the South, and my kids were negative about visiting schools in MS.
I visited Miss State with S19 also, and although they basically told him he could make money if he came there, it just wasn’t a great fit for him. We decided not to tour MS State with D20.
If both our S19s end up at UA, we should get them to exchange contact info. Have you thought at all about how many years he will live on campus? The scholarship pays for 4, but almost no one lives on campus past freshman year. We told our son we would probably like him to spend two years on campus and then maybe we will pay for off campus housing after that.
@brentwoodmom - fit is definitely important. It doesn’t help if a school is really affordable if our kids are miserable. I just keep hoping I can find a true safety that S20 will end up liking as much as S19 likes Alabama. It would make the rest of the process much less stressful.
@mountainmomof3 I think I may have added this paragraph to my above reply after you had responded:
If both our S19s end up at UA, we should get them to exchange contact info. Have you thought at all about how many years he will live on campus? The scholarship pays for 4, but almost no one lives on campus past freshman year. We told our son we would probably like him to spend two years on campus and then maybe we will pay for off campus housing after that.
@brentwoodmom - definitely! He will decide by 3/16 (I hope!) bit is really 90-95% sure of UA so he is already registered for Bamabound, housing. He is planning on all four years on campus. I am hoping there will be other NMF’s in the same situation. Feel free to PM any time!