What is ETown?
@homerdog Elizabethtown College, near Hershey Park and Lebanon Valley College in PA.
WowāElizabethtown! A college that I hadnāt heard of despite so much time spent on CC! And it looks beautiful. Donāt know how I could have considered so many PA schools and not run into Etown. Thanks, parents, and more info is welcome!
@frostymom The lack of merit opportunities is why I am hesitating on GW and American. We are full-pay merit chasers. The PA state-related schoolsā in-state costs are our target budget so that is our marker.
@NJWrestlingmom I started the only thread on CC about Lebanon Valley College. And I remember you posting there! That was another one I had a hard time breaking up with. S19 loved it. But when he decided to do AROTC, ugh, so many schools went off the list, including LVC. Such a great small LAC. We were so impressed. I never hesitate to talk it up when I can.
@3SailAway I highly recommend attending an open house at Elizabethtown (Etown) if you are interested. It really shined for S19 on that day. It was just a little too close to home for him, at under an hour.
Please note that S21 is not interested in any of these schools that S19 liked (including Penn State main campus) because he feels they are ātoo middle of nowhere.ā Iām not surprised as we live in central PA and schools like Gettysburg, Dickinson, Elizabethtown, Lebanon Valley, etc. are in locations similar to where we live. My younger guy is ready to branch out from small town living! Canāt blame him.
But for those interested in a small LAC experience, central PA has a lot of great schools!
Itās a small liberal arts college with a pretty little campus in what seems like a nice safe area. We went to the political science/international studies presentation and were very impressed with that. They really seem to emphasize internships, study abroad and real world experiences. They have merit aid and would even give a small merit scholorship for students who will play an instrument in the orchestra/band.
@InfiniteWaves S17 didnāt have the stats for merit so we never looked at them, but I loved them from word of mouth and their websites! D21 can probably get decent merit, but Iām afraid sheās going to say theyāre too small. Iām already in love with Susquehanna! I know a lot of people from Susquehanna, and the town may be big enough for her, but Iām not sure about Etown. We live in a rural area, so she really wants things to do close by. Weāll probably take a weekend in the spring to hit a few of them.
S21 has expressed interest in E-Town. They are one of a few that have an Actuarial Science major and also a Data Analytics minor - two things heās thinking about. He took a last spring and liked it.
@eb23282 If he liked Etown, Lebanon Valley might be worth a look. It is known for its Actuarial Science program.
Well I have to eat a lot of humble pie today. The 50% my daughter got on her English paper was NOT because of her content. It was because of me. She changed the way she did her citations from what she originally had to MLA styleā¦which I told her to do. The professor wants things cited the way she originally did them. Her content was fine. The 50% grade was his way of getting her attention so she knows she must cite things a certain way (her original way) for all papers going forward. There goes my Mom-knows-what-sheās-talking-about speech. Sheās already corrected it and sent it back in. I am no longer allowed to offer advice on her writing (even though I too am a published author). :neutral:
@roe4christ He wasnāt in the LA program. He is animal science but has a lot of friends in the LA department. They are really enjoying it. I looked it up and it has great ratings. He thought he wanted to be somewhere else until he visited KSU and then fell in love with it. The LA program, architecture, animal science program and the pre-med majors all attract high performers and those departments are very challenging to any student. Mine has some higher stats but feels challenged. I know you will have great choices! Good luck to you!
@homerdog Miami is an absolutely beautiful campus. They give lots of merit money and the will not raise your childās tuition for the four years they attend. However it is in the middle of no where which concerned my daughter.
@3kids2dogs As you can see from my avitar I have a child at Clemson. She is starting her second year. The campus is great, the weather is great, tons of school spirit. They give merit money for kids in top 10% of their HS classes and with good test scores. They also give lots of college credits for AP classes with test scores of 3 and above mostly for 4ās and 5ās. As a result my daughter went into school with 35 credits and intends to graduate in 3 years.
All that said there is nothing but little college town next to the school. Need to go 30 Minutes for box stores like target etc. Even to get things from grocery store really needed a car which my freshman daughter did not have last year. From our house it is a 9-10 hour drive so it was tough to get to and to get her home.
Weāre in VA and so far S21 has visited W&M (thought it was too quiet), VCU (didnāt like being in the heart of the city), Georgetown (too close to home/too in-the-city) Randolph-Macon (didnāt like a small LAC), JMU (maybe-would be a good back-up to VT), Virginia Tech (favorite).
Generally, donāt want to visit schools that would be a reach academically or financially and have him fall in love with someplace we canāt afford. Other than the fact that he likes VT so a big-state-school/college-town environment is what resonates with him, we havenāt done any other work on building the list. Heās taking a SAT prep class right now and will take the test in Dec. Once we have that score, Iāll give him the Fiske book and encourage him to use that and Naviance to come up with some other options that interest him and we can visit more schools at Spring Break, if heād like. But with his current attitude about all this college stuff being stressful, Iād not be surprised if he decides to bypass a lot of it by applying ED to VT and being done with it (heās likely to be well in range with his stats, applying as a math or stats major).
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@JESmom I hear you about just wanting to be done. D21 has two friends who are juniors being recruited for lacrosse and will know where they are going to college in the next few months. Now thatās super early! Iād like to convince my husband to let her use ED as well. We will see.
Well, we have the stirrings of a major interest over here. Much to Mr. InfiniteWavesā business undergrad/MBA dismay (always referenced with a joking twinkle in his eye), it looks like both of his sons might be following in my footsteps.
S19 is an English and writing major. And this week, S21 announced that he is loving honors English, and writing in general, so much this year that he will probably go this route as well.
I was the same way back in high school. English and writing kid. Although, I went the journalism route in undergrad. And Iāve had a successful career as a journalist, copywriter, and now content strategist. Yes, we English and comm majors can get jobs! And have careers! 
Of course, this could all change. But for now, Iām going to enjoy his enthusiasm. 
We did our first college fair last night! A bit overwhelming, hot and crowded, but good info!! I was happy 3 state schools are made good impressions - TCNJ, Rowan and Stockton. The surprise was West Virginia University. D21 would get nice merit and they had some interesting programs, so sheās asking to visit. Susquehanna also has her interested, though sheās worried itās too small. These are all probably safeties (TCNJ probably not) but all financially doable so itās a great start!
We skipped the large local college fair last week, but did schedule our first official college visit for an upcoming Saturday. S21 has interest in continuing his sport at the D3 level and one of the nearby coaches who has seen him play expressed interest. So weāre headed to the info session/tour to see if itās a school heāll want to consider academically before engaging with the coach.
D21 went to her first meeting at her high school with an admissions rep. Only three other people showed up (itās an LAC and those arenāt popular at our high school). Those three were seniors. We thought the school tracked interest but the rep told the kids they do not and the only way to show more interest is to apply ED. Hm. Good to know. She liked the rep and learned a little. Her big take-away is that different LACs are more the same than different and she will need to get on campuses in order to see where she may feel the fit the best.
I just looked at the schoolās CDS and it says demonstrated interest is considered. Not sure what to believe. This school and a few others on her list do waitlist some students from our school and I think thatās the clue that they do indeed take DI into account. We donāt have a plan to visit this school yet so we will have to see how the visits go to the schools we plan to see over spring break before deciding on whether to trek out to this one.
The idea of college is becoming a little more real here too. Iāve just been hearing small things here and there - ACT/SAT registrations, rep visits, Spring Break plans . . .
Trying to stay ahead of the game, but still focus on the now too - I donāt want all the sights on 2021 and not enjoying junior/senior year.
Agree 100%. Iāve been preaching this for 30 years and trying to get my kids to understand as well. Kids will know it when they find it, but the challenge is where to look since there are sooooo many LACs. It can be time consuming, but itās a necessary evil if youāre interested in a LAC.
Itās interesting seeing what attracts their attention. At the first one we went to, D21 became really interested in Northern Arizona. She can do a lot better than that, but it was nice to see her finally get interested in something about college. We going to another one on Sunday thatās a bit bigger than the first, so weāll see if anything sparks some interest.