@3kids2dogs I agree having different types of schools in the mix is a good idea. I wasn’t suggesting otherwise.
One thing I would say from my D18 experience at Clemson the “college town” is really nothing more than a few bars and restaurants. Need a car to get to grocery store or a target/walmart. Did use Zip car bit but she did feel a bit isolated her first year. This year we let her take a car down and she is enjoying the freedom.
I am hoping I can get my D21 interested in Tulane. Was working on it the other night…
@homerdog As I posted I would recommend Lafayette on the Davidson, Colgate list of schools with D1 sports but small LAC. The annual Lehigh Lafayette game which is the most played rivalry in college football history is an incredible event every year.
I believe Lafayette is a bit larger than Davidson and a tad smaller than Colgate.
@mamaedefamilia, thanks! We will probably visit Ohio schools such as Wooster and Denison in the spring. Wooster would probably be a good match school academically. Time will tell about the vibe. A cute downtown would be a huge plus! (My sister lives in Chapel Hill/Carrboro so it’s hard to settle for a college town that doesn’t have some atmosphere.) We visited Scotland last summer and loved it, so it would be cool to be a “Fighting Scott”!
I was excited about Wooster’s marching band a few months ago and showed her the video, but unfortunately she was not impressed. “Oh mom, college marching bands just trudge back and forth a little.” Her band does complex choreography and pretty sophisticated music. They’re extremely precise and perfectionistic. They are seamlessly integrated with the color guard to the point that they are, at times, almost dancing while playing instruments. (Right now ranked #1 in their size category in their five-state band circuit and hoping to win gold in the final championship !) So, she might join marching band in college as a freshman just to meet people but I don’t think she sees it as a draw or something she’d continue if she’s bored. A jazz or concert ensemble or dance group might hold her interest more (like your older daughter, she did pre-pro ballet as a child/young teen but sadly dropped it by end of middle school because the only good ballet program was too far to get the requisite hours/classes to keep up.)
Time will tell! Wish we had a crystal ball; I simultaneously want to know how it will all turn out, and yet I want to stop the clock to keep her close at home.
@NJWrestlingmom@homerdog For big school spirit, smaller classes, traditional campus, maybe JMU? It’s a bigger school (around 16K?) but known for a focus on undergrad teaching and when we did the tour they emphasized that most classes are small. Definitely big school spirit, all the grads I know LOVE it. My S21 prefers VA Tech but I expect JMU will be on his list too. So far, no other VA schools appeal to him (well, he’d like UVA but he won’t be competitive for that).
I think getting him to ID more than a couple schools that are matches, offer a substantial program in statistics (his preferred major at the moment), and we can afford is going to be a challenge. He’s definitely leaning toward the big state U experience. Zero interest in any school similar in size to his HS (2500 students) and even William & Mary seemed too small to him. VA Tech, fortunately, should be a good match. We’re also going to an info session about U of Minn-Twin Cities in a couple weeks because I’ve seen them show up on lists of schools good for math/stats. His initial experiences with urban campuses were that he didn’t like them but that was mainly he didn’t like that VCU didn’t have a defined separate campus and Georgetown seemed too small. U of Minn might hit the sweet spot of being big and a separate campus while still offering advantages of being in a city with access to internships and other activities. We have a lot of family in the Cities and two of my cousin’s kids are currently at the U so that makes it seem less far away. We’re also going to a college planning seminar at his school tonight and then a college fair next week so hopefully that will spark some interest.
@homerdog Yes, that’s the plan if he’s still interested after the local info session. And, I’d like him to do the visit in the winter so he knows what he’d be getting into! Maybe Presidents’ or MLK weekend. He’s been to Minneapolis several times but always spring break or summer. My dad (who is from Minn.) would be so delighted if S21 went to his home state.
I agree with burghdad on Lafayette and would also throw in Lehigh and for that matter most of the Patriot league schools who all have good school spirit.
The thing with all of the PA schools is that no one knows about them out here in the Midwest and they have very few Midwestern students. So, the look I get from D21 when I say Lafayette or Lehigh is “huh?” That doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be a good fit for D but she would have to open her mind a bit and be ok with going to college with kids mostly from the northeast. S19 knows very few kids from Chicago at Bowdoin (only seven from Illinois total in his class) but there are a good number of kids from the west coast so it doesn’t feel like he’s an outsider so much. It does have to be a consideration I guess.
Colgate is known here because our school sends some athletes there. And most people know the NESCAC schools but, after that, smaller schools and universities outside the Midwest get a funny look.
@NJWrestlingmom LOL, my kids have ZERO interest in school spirit/competitive sports. So with my luck, that will suddenly become a search parameter sometime in the spring!
My kid is still blissfully unconcerned about college research. I should be grateful that she’s engaging fully in her HS experience, but I am also a teeny bit envious of those of you that are doing college visits, etc. I am thinking that once the PSAT and SAT results come in, the interest will start to kick in.
@inthegarden That marching band sounds amazing - like competitive cheer but with instruments! Given your daughter’s particulars, she might take a look at St Olaf, although I suspect it may be farther afield than you’d like (Northfield, MN). It has a high level dance team for sports events as well as other dance ensembles, and high level music. The religious affiliation is not heavy-handed, no Greek life, wholesome student body, and the nearby town is cute. Very strong in math, sciences, and study abroad.
@mamaedefamilia, it’s funny you mention St. Olaf beause I LOVE what I read about that school. I’ve never visited, but I think it would be high on our list if it were more accessible. I have no problem with the “open-minded” religiously affiliated schools that have minimal requirements to learn about world religions/philosophies and to think about meaning-of-life topics.
Unfortunately, I think it would be too far…we live two hours from the nearest airport, and I’m sure there would be some transportation hassles on the other end too. Straight through with no breaks it would be a 15-hour drive (when D would prefer to be a couple of hours away).
Lehigh and Lafayette are actually a bit too close for us, most likely. Like we passed Lafayette everyday for 2 years for cheer practice and her gym was right down the road from Lehigh! But surprisingly - we’ve never actually SEEN the Lehigh campus. Her good friend’s mom is a prof there, and I’ve heard it’s gorgeous. Probably another strike against her for admissions that we are so close! But both are big on school spirt! I remember from the 80’s Bucknell was also in on that rivalry.
And yes @homerdog Syracuse has an excellent communications school - that’s originally why we started looking at it. D21 is also now saying psychology and maybe some criminology/forensics, which Syracuse also has.
@inthegarden I hear you, we are relatively close to a regional airport but there are almost no long-distance, non-stop flights. So getting to many campuses would involve two flights and then ground transportation on the other end on top of that. Throw in winter weather and it becomes daunting.
St Olaf is an easy 40 minutes from Minneapolis-St Paul, and the airport is a good sized international one. So if your “local” airport has nonstops to the Twin Cities, it “might” be worth a second look. The school runs shuttles, when we visited it was around $15 one-way. I am not pushing by any means - sounds like there are plenty of good options that are closer by. I wish my D17 were within driving distance or could come home for Thanksgiving!
Well, even from the Chicago area where we live just 25 minutes from both airports, we can’t get everywhere non-stop. At least not on the airlines we prefer. I was trying to be open minded about the travel when S19 was looking at schools and we haven’t lived through the first Thanksgiving and winter break travel yet…but I’d really prefer to not have two kids with a long trek. I think we will be more considerate of D21’s search when it comes to travel.
@mamaedefamilia, Ha Ha, our “local” airport has not seen a commericial flight in thirty years! I believe it’s currently being used for car racing. The regional airport an hour away only has flights to Florida beach towns. And we live in a mountainous area that gets a lot of snow for our latitude so catching a flight in an urban airport in winter can be harrowing. I don’t drive at high speed at night so that often means an airport hotel before or after morning/evening flights. Just too much, I’m afraid. If daughter were more adventurous and positively wanted to get away (and not come home for all small breaks) I’d consider it but that’s not the case.
She said recently the furthest (and only large school) she’d consider is UNC because my sister is there, but I know she’s not getting admitted with its extremely low admittance for OOS students. Elon could be a possibility except the combo of heavy Greek/party/low diversity aspects are a turn-off.
@homerdog back in the day (not so much anymore) when I told people l went to Lafayette they would respond…“Where is that… Indiana?”
Living in Chicagoland you might know that the Cubs former manager Joe Madden went there…
@NJWrestlingmom Lehigh is a very pretty campus but it is literally on the side of a mountain. Trips to and from the dorms to the classroom buildings would be good for cardio but otherwise looked like a pain in the ass. Much more greek life at Lehigh these days than Lafayette if that matters one way or another.
S21’s first college visit in likely in a few weeks - we’re starting with something close-ish to home at UNC Asheville. I don’t think it will be at the top of his list since he wants to leave the South (I’m from New England and husband is from PA, so S21 has spent a fair amount of time visiting both and would like to head in those directions or even to the Pacific Northwest).
Then in November we’re going to hit Denison - that will be a reach for him, and I’m not sure it will be the best fit (he is not into sports at all and is more quirky/nerdy), but it’s so close to College of Wooster which we’re going to see at the same time, that we decided to include both. I think College of Wooster could potentially be a nice match school for him - he’s looking largely at CTCL schools with maybe 3 non CTCL thrown into the mix.
He took the SAT for the first time last weekend - just as a practice run to get him used to it. Standardized testing will not be his strength. Pretty serious ADHD plus processing speed and other related challenges. He has been homeschooling since 5th grade, so his SAT scores are that much more important, unfortunately. So hopefully we are crafting the college list well.
He’s up for an amazing very selective opportunity right now in one of his two favorite academic subjects…getting that might tip the scales for him a bit, but it’s quite
a longshot.
We’re planning to see Hendrix, Beloit, Clark and Wheaton over Spring Break next year.
I see some mentions of Lehigh - my nephew is currently doing his 5th year free at Lehigh, and my sister (his mom) graduated there in the 80s…my father did back in the 60s. So if there are specific Lehigh related questions, I may be able to get some insight from my sister and nephew.
@nichols51 Love the CTCL schools and there are some nice ones in the PNW as well - worth a look! We also live in the South, but H and I are from the Northeast - kids born in MA, so they identify with it somewhat and want to go that way for College (D19 loving upstate NY!). My D21 is looking for the elusive “walkable green campus” in the midst of a city. Interestingly, GA Tech fits that to a degree. They have really beautiful landscaping and it is in-state for us. By no means would I call it “likely” but they do take a lot of kids from our HS (so I am hopeful). It’s funny to hear that so many southern schools are not on the radar of the Midwest, but they are full of kids from the northeast! Regional awareness is a funny thing. Like @homerdog ‘s S, my D is a geographical outlier at her school as well and it feels like a fresh perspective. Change is good.
@nichols51 , I’ll be curious to hear how your DS likes Wooster. We visited in the summer for a recruiting event and my son loved it — it jumped to the top of his list ahead a number of East Coast LACs we’d visited. We also walked around Denison (but couldn’t fit a formal visit into our schedule), and we toured Kenyon as well. Happy to compare notes along the way.
and hoping to win gold in the final championship !) So, she might join marching band in college as a freshman just to meet people but I don’t think she sees it as a draw or something she’d continue if she’s bored. A jazz or concert ensemble or dance group might hold her interest more (like your older daughter, she did pre-pro ballet as a child/young teen but sadly dropped it by end of middle school because the only good ballet program was too far to get the requisite hours/classes to keep up.)