@nichols51 - when you say Wheaton, do you mean the one in IL? I live in the town next door. Such a pretty campus. I think that every time I drive through it. D21 took private clarinet lessons for a couple years with a music professor there. Then again, if you mean a different one . . . carry on 
Iâm curious to hear about Wooster as well. It seems like it has a lot going for it, but my understanding is that itâs VERY liberal. In fact, I posted the question in a Wooster thread about it and received an alarming, but not unexpected response:
BTW, @3kids2dogs Iâm guessing itâs the Wheaton in MA since the OP is headed to Clark as well on the same trip.
@Acersaccharum - where in MA? I grew up about 30 minutes outside of Boston and then lived in the city as a young adult. Went to college in NHâŠso Iâm excited at the prospect of having one of our kids go to school back up that way so I can visit. 
@CTMom21 - yes, Iâd love to compare notes. Kenyon isnât in S21âs range, but weâre potentially interested in it for D23. Weâre planning to get official visits in at both Denison and Wooster as they both have some special visit days happening the weekend weâre going.
@3kids2dogs - I also have 3 kids and 2 dogs. ? I meant, as @eb23282 suggested, the Wheaton in MA. I should remember that I need to specify.
@burghdad, a friendâs son is a sophmore at Lehigh. He lost twenty pounds climbing up and down those hills, lol, and he wasnât overweight to begin withâŠnow a beanpole! I recently talked to him, and he loves it at Lehigh, though he is anything but a wealthy Greek kid. Iâm sure he has significant merit/need based aid. He was homeschooled and grew up in an artistic/somewhat alternative household. As a little kid he was THAT KID who spent his days endlessly building things with legos (or anything he could get his hands on to build with) and living in a Pokemon worldâŠnow excitedly double-majoring in design (mostly architectural, I think) and some kind of engineering. He said that there IS tension between the wealthy, white Greek old-guard and the 30-percent new-guard (first-gen/scholarship/ethnically/socially diverse students) but he sees that as a good thing. Now that thereâs a critical mass of ânew bloodâ at Lehigh he feels thereâs a place for everyone.
Anyone have experience with North Carolina State U? S21 is interested in statistics and it came up as a school with a substantial stats program. Their net price calculator doesnât ask about academic stats so Iâm wondering if there is any merit aid? Any other thoughts about the school?
I will sayâŠLehigh wasnât on the list originally due to a co-workerâs daughter transferring out. She said frat parties had a âtraditionâ of, later in the evening, turning off all the lights momentarily for a âgrope-festâ. D21 is not a Greek life fan anyway, so I thought Lehigh wouldnât be a fit. This was maybe 4 or 5 years ago, so hopefully things have change. Or it was most likely 1 house. I donât want to paint all of Lehigh or all Greeks with the same brush (hubby and I were both Greek), but it did give me pause.
@eb23282 I have visited many LACs and found that most lean somewhat liberal. While not all would agree with me, I would consider places like Denison and Dickinson to be pretty well balanced. Slightly more to the left but not excessively so: Kenyon, Wooster, St. Olaf. Most decidedly left where conservatives/moderates might feel a bit out of place: Wesleyan, Oberlin, Macalester.
Based on second hand knowledge, I have heard that Lafayette, Lehigh, and Richmond are more moderate politically and conservative students could find like-minded classmates on these campuses.
Well, things are officially kinda bland around here. I have been struggling a bit because the two CTCL schools meeting S21âs criteria had, as of a month ago, supposedly been no-gos as far as I remember being told. We had visited both with S19. And I think S21 needs at least one from this category of schools on his list for budget/merit reasons. He already has the other categories covered.
Anyway, he had a half-day today and Iâm working from home. So we had a nice lunch out together and got to talking. Well, suddenly heâs all âI never said that about CTCL School A. I just donât like CTCL School B! Iâll totally apply to A. I really like it!â
So, there you go. The final piece to the list puzzle.
I guess this is what happens when your two kids are really similar. My S19 and S21 are exactly the same when it comes to college planning. Same academic profile. Same major-of-interest. Slightly different ECs but still similarly active in school and community. Even the same when it comes to logistics (distance from home) being more important than school size (flexible) and prestige not being a thing at all.
The only big difference in school preferences is that in the âPA State-Related, In Budget As-Isâ category, S19 liked Penn State (where he is right now) and S21 likes Pitt.
Guess we donât have to go to the big college fair thatâs coming up. LOL!
@InfiniteWaves Luckeee! The only thing applicable to D21 from D19âs college search is the basic mechanics of looking st schools. They have different desires, different academic profiles, different skill levels at their sport. Itâs almost like starting over!
@nichols51, my D21 has been homeschooled the whole way, though now she takes half in-person dual credits at colleges and half online APs through PA Homeschoolers. We live a couple of hours from Clark and have visited twice; D21 also spoke to an admissions rep at a local college fair on Tuesday.
D21 likes Clark very much and this is from a teen who really loves the outdoors and nature. Clark is not exactly in an area we consider bursting with wild woods and mountains. However, the vibe there is so unique and so positive that D21 most definitely wants to apply, in spite of the urban setting. Every single person she has spoken with at Clark has been âchill,â down-to-earth, quirky, and happy to be âstylishly nerdy,â as one guy said. Itâs a certain specific vibe that D21 likes a lot. According to the admissions rep on Tuesday, they are used to and appreciate homeschoolers, and they like admitting people who are smart and different.
Long way of saying your son might find Clark appealing. 
S21 toured Drew University today. The info session was great - very casual but lots of good information. Big focus on their âLaunchâ program which all students must complete. It consists of at least two immersive experiencesâlike internships, research, etc - and is designed to give students the combination of real-work experience and the opportunity to build a professional network.
Also a big focus on their various NYC semesters â Wall Street Semester, UN Semester, Theatre Semester, Media Semester, etc. If you like NYC, these are really cool. The Wall Street Semester for example consisted of attending AM class on Wall Street in which you would learn about Bonds for example. The afternoon would then be spent with a Bond Trader learning about what they do, how they do it, etc. The theatre Semester would give students the opportunity to put on a show in NYC. Very cool if thatâs your thing.
The walking tour was ok, but way too long. Maybe it was just our group because when we got back to the admissions house all the other groups were gone already. Couple of interesting things about campus (in my mind)âŠ
- Itâs a forest (literally, not figuratively). Tons of tress and squirrels. Very pretty this time of year.
- Thereâs a golf simulator in the gym (I thought that was awesome, but I can see it not appealing to everyone).
- Despite being a small school, thereâs 3 different areas to get food. I canât speak to whether itâs good food, but it sure is convenient to have options all over campus.
- Thereâs a pub for those who are 21.
- No greek system, but lots of theme living options.
- Housing guaranteed all 4 years and over 90% live on campus. However, it seemed pretty quiet today. Would be interesting to tour during a weekday.
They also do financial pre-reads once Jr. year is done. You submit an unofficial copy of your transcript and theyâll give you an estimate of your merit award. And everyone is considered for merit whether you apply ED or RD.
S21 liked it well enough, but he doesnât have a lot to compare to yet. And he had previously expressed an interest in getting out of NJ for school, so thereâs that. Hey, but at least weâve started the process of looking.
A storm is comingâŠS21âs âsafety,â which he actually really likes, is one of our 2 state flagships (hint: reigning national champion). S19 is in his first semester at our other state flagship (hint: unexpectedly beat the #3 team yesterday). The smack talk about the cross-state rivalry game in 4 weeks has already startedâŠ
PS @InfiniteWaves I am jealous. My S21 has made it clear he does not want to follow in S19âs footsteps. Vary different majors (engineering vs business), different priorities. Safety schools similar (both large state schools), but the rest of the lists totally different.
@InfiniteWaves So nice that search #1 simplified things for #2! I was kind of like that with my sisterâŠalthough our majors were different, we were only one grade apart in school so when we did her college tour around CA I was able to see what I liked too. Ultimately, I only visited one more school my senior year.
I went to a college planning talk with S21 last week which was helpful in prompting a bit more discussion about colleges to consider and to do some research before our school districtâs college fair tomorrow. His top in-state choice right now is VA Tech and I knew he was also OK with JMU as a back-up (itâs most similar in setting - big school/rural college town) but was surprised that he said heâd also apply to George Mason. Heâd previously dismissed it as too close to home but Iâm glad heâs recognized that if he doesnât get into VT it might be a better option for his interest in stats/data. So, thatâs his in-state list. Need to explore more OOS options but he generally is drawn to the big state Us, wants a substantial statistics program, and not too far south (doesnât want someplace really hot). On the consider list right now are U of Minn, NC State, Penn State, Pitt. Iâm curious to see what catches his interest at the college fair.
Just got back from week of campus visits with S21. We only have our state flagship nearby so I wanted to show him a range of options.
Skidmore was pleasant surprise to us both. A pretty campus with friendly, positive tour guides. The admissions officer worked a lot of dry humor into his talk, which might not appeal to everybody but definitely did to my son. In fact there was a whole vibe of not taking themselves too seriously that we really enjoyed.
Vassar went over pretty well, too - largely because we lucked out and got a great tour guide whoâs involved in the same EC as my son. We actually skipped the info session so she could show us those facilities and introduce us to the people in charge. We also liked seeing âIn this house we believeâŠâ posters in several windows, since he wants that diverse, liberal vibe.
Penn just didnât click for him. The info session was a guy in a suit with a long-winded Powerpoint presentation⊠After the personal touch of the other schools, it just didnât hit right. It feels like itâs more targeted to kids who have a very specific plan for themselves and what they want to accomplish, vs. someone like S21 whoâs still exploring. Plus heâs realizing he wants more of a defined campus.
Johns Hopkins is probably too intense an environment for S21, but he did light up when they were talking about all the research opportunities they have available⊠so now I know thatâs a âmust-haveâ for any schools we look at going forward.
So, hmm⊠left with lots of questions about what other schools would offer the best combination of what we liked from this trip. Pomona has his EC and better weather than Skidmore but probably more intense? U. of Richmond has potential merit aid, unlike most of the schools we looked at, but from what Iâve read here is more conservative⊠Macalester sent that funny âblah-blah-blahâ mailing that made him laugh but theyâre not known for his EC (and so might not be as interested in him and vice-versa). Everythingâs a trade-off!
@Curiosa D21 visited several East Coast schools this summer and out of the 10 only 1 was a for sure YES and 1 was a perhaps. Fell in love with JHU due to the same thing. Research opportunities seemed endless. I didnât get a chance to go with her as we live on the West Coast and she went with her school. But after that visit we are pretty much back to 2 schools on her list. Our local public and JHU. Ugh
Back to the drawing board. We will visit So Cal UCs as she doesnât like any of the local one here in No Cal
PSATs are Wednesday so sheâs beet practicing for that. I hate that it takes so long to get those scores back
@EGHopeful I think our school gives out PSAT results in January (yes, that wait is crazy!) But I think in the past some students have been able to see them through their College Board accounts in December. I sure hope we can do that!
Last year we were able to look up the PSAT scores in December on the college board website. I donât think D21 got her paper results until February or March! Her school just sent out a blast message last night that their PSAT was postponed from this Wednesday to 10/30. No idea why.
I have to say, I hate standardized tests: PSAT, SAT, ACT. I hate them all the same.
So many emotions attached to a number - a number that changes almost every time a test is taken.
It reminds me of weight. Another number I hate - how it can completely alter your mood depending upon what it reads.
D21âs school is the only one I know of that doesnât administer the PSAT during school time. We have to sign up and pay on our own for a Saturday morning. S17âs district now starts giving the PSAT during school in 7th grade!!! Overkill to me! D isnât even taking the PSAT bc sheâs already done the SAT and she more than likely wouldnât be high enough for the cut off in NJ. Hoping December will be it for her for testing!
Must be a Jersey thing. Our PSATs are always on a Saturday too. Cost $35 I think.