<p>We're trying to plan a college trip for our underachieving DS (3.0/25). Is there a good resource to use to plan? I'd like to see a map of all of the possible colleges so I can select options to stop while we are heading to a target school. For example, if we head to the University of Cinncinatti, I'd like to know options of other colleges along our route where we could stop for comparison. Any tools/apps/websites to do this? Thank you! </p>
<p>I’ll try to assemble a list of colleges for you to visit (Given your daughter’s stats). One quick question, though - does she have a preference for larger universities or LACs? </p>
<p>I don’t know if this will help but whenever I make interstate or occasionally longer intrastate drives, I plot out my route on Google Maps and then see which colleges I’ve heard of fall near or along that route (I’m a huge college geek and enjoy visiting campuses). </p>
<p>Perhaps if you post what you’re looking for in a college, other posters can recommend schools. </p>
<p>Here is a list of State U. of NY middle-50-percent statistics. Most of the colleges are in upstate NY.
<a href=“https://www.suny.edu/student/downloads/Pdf/Admissions_qf_stateop.pdf”>https://www.suny.edu/student/downloads/Pdf/Admissions_qf_stateop.pdf</a></p>
<p>My son is interested in colleges that have a sense of school spirit, which from his perspective, comes from sports and a greek system. I’d love to see him go to a school with nurturing professors and a friendly environment. He sees himself as preppy and his career goal is to “make a lot of money” - and most likely that would come from some sort of a business major - maybe marketing? A mid-sized school seems best, but I’d like him to visit a variety so he can have a basis for comparison. To him, the lack of an active greek system would be the biggest detriment. He’s visited his sister at her college and loves the activities and brotherhood of fraternities. We live in western PA and I’d like to stay within a 5-6 hour drive if possible. </p>
<p>One college we will look at for sure is Ohio University. Another is James Madison. It seems like there should be some sort of trip planner resource that shows the colleges along the way? I haven’t found it yet, but am looking. </p>
<p>It is a little longer drive, but what about Lake Forest College in Illinois? I know a young man who sounds like your son who seems quite happy there and seems to be doing some growing up as well… moving from an underachiever to more of an achiever. 
I know that is not the question you asked, but that school popped into my head when you described him. About an 8 hour drive, though. (Hmm, just looked, and I guess frats aren’t too big there – but I certainly think a party can be found on campus!). If you want him to visit a smaller school to see what it is like, this one still might resonate with him. Pretty campus, and near Chicago.</p>
<p>But back to your trip, I also used Google maps the last time we did this to plan a route. I put in all the colleges we were interested in seeing as points on the map. I know you want the map to just show you where colleges are, but not sure I know how to do that… But you could get a Fiske Guide to Colleges, look in the section in the front where it lists colleges by state, and look those up in the book for the states you are thinking about. You could narrow down the list to schools that sound interesting and match his stats, then plot them to see what makes sense. Honestly, I would not waste time on a college visit just because it was on the route…I would figure out what colleges are most interesting and plan the route around that. Fiske is a great tool for identifying colleges.</p>
<p>I am concerned about him being too far from home. Our DS is currently 5.5 hours and it is a really long drive. I feel like he would do best with the chance to come home if necessary - or for us to make a drive out from time to time. I may have to expand beyond those borders, but will try to work within that distance for now. I’ll take a look at Fiske. I definitely don’t want to stop just to stop, but it will be helpful to know if there is an option we would consider along the route. For right now, I feel a little stuck by the schools where our high school has sent students, but I don’t think that’s the best resource for my DS. This could be the type of resource I’m seeking: <a href=“http://www.communitywalk.com/ohio_college_and_universities_map”>http://www.communitywalk.com/ohio_college_and_universities_map</a></p>
<p>Here are a few colleges which I think meet your criteria!</p>
<p>NY</p>
<p>Quinnipiac University.
Adelphi University.
SUNY Buffalo.
Ithaca College.
SUNY Geneseo.
Clarkson University.
Hofstra University.
Hobart and William Smith Colleges. (Imo a really great fit for your DS, but it might be a bit reachy). </p>
<p>OH</p>
<p>Kent State University.
Miami University: Oxford.
Ohio Wesleyan University.
University of Dayton.</p>
<p>VA</p>
<p>Virginia Wesleyan college.
Randolph-Macon college.
Roanoke COllege (A bit small).
Virginia state University.
Lynchburhg college.
James MAdison University.</p>
<p>Also meeting that criteria within 5-6 hours of western PA:</p>
<p>Syracuse
West Virginia
Towson
Bowling Green</p>
<p>There is no trip planner that will do exactly what you want. Best advice is to pick a must-see school and build a trip around that. Let us know where, and we can suggest a route including others. This board is your trip planner.</p>
<p>College visits can be expensive( gas, hotels, etc.). You might want to look at the Common Data Set for some of these schools before you set up a list to visit. A couple of people have mentioned JMU, for instance. But the average GPA of kids admitted in 2012 was 3.83. It is getting more popular and competitive for admission. </p>
<p>For Ohio, you might want to check out <a href=“http://www.ohioprivatecolleges.com”>www.ohioprivatecolleges.com</a></p>
<p>How about Butler, in Indianapolis? </p>
<p>Hedberg Maps makes a good old-fashioned fold-out paper map of the US with over 1200 colleges and universities on it. Highly recommend!</p>
<p>a 3.0 is low for JMU…Admission to COB is after completing about 2 years of Pre-Reqs, and competitve. I VA I would look at Radford, ODU, Longwood… Maybe Mary Washington, Christopher Newport.</p>
<p>^ “In VA…”</p>
<p>I agree with all of the VA schools listed by KatMT, especially ODU. I would also add George Mason for a VA school for you to look at.</p>