<p>My D is a sophomore in high school. Been receiving lots of the college mail after her PSATs and is beginning to show interest in looking at a few. She has no idea right now about what kind of school she'd like to go to or what would be a good 'fit'. I thought a quick day trip or two during spring break to different kinds of schools (big university, small LAC etc) would be a good way to start. </p>
<p>I am very new to all of this - learning a lot by hanging around on this forum. I think she probably should visit UMass Amherst (we live in MA) at the very least and then look at a couple of others.</p>
<p>What would be your suggestions for schools that would be representative of these sizes? She's undecided about her major - but loves math/science and is thinking about biological sciences or (gasp!) engineering! [ Both DH and I are engineers and so far, she had been refusing to think of this as a possibility!].</p>
<p>In your area, we did Bentley as a small campus, BU as a large urban “no-campus” school, Tufts and Brandeis as small U’s. We did it as two moms/two sons. Because of the “son” dynamic, at that age (at least our two sons), we purposely chose schools that represented sizes and “types”, but that our own two boys would not have any interest in. We did not want to have an “eww, I visited that school with my mom” dynamic going against any of the schools.</p>
<p>If you don’t need to do that kind of thing, I’d think you could do a Tufts, BC, small LAC of your choice. UNH, WPI, MIT would represent a range of selectivity in your area for Engineering/tech schools … so many choices. Further suggestions, imo, would depend on level of selectivity she’s considering and whether she would consider a women’s college. Wellesley is strong in sciences, as are other of the women’s schools.</p>
<p>At the sophomore spring break/summer time frame, we did not do info sessions or tours. Just our own campus drive-throughs with the boys getting out and walking around on their own a bit. YMMV.</p>
<p>Because you are looking for a feel of the different TYPES of schools, I would select schools that have particularly well run admissions offices. When we toured MA a few years ago, I liked Brandeis, but found their admissions offices (info session/tour) to be weak. Middlebury’s was fair. Wellesley and Williams’s admin offices were very good.</p>
<p>Since you would already be visiting UMass, I encourage you to have her visit Smith. It’s a nice, cozy campus - with a pretty tight-knit community of engineering majors. It’s also in the quirky town of Northampton, if that sways her any. It would give her a completely different feel; at the very least, it would allow her to see whether she is more comfortable at a LAC or a large university. They are the only other of the five colleges to have an engineering program, and I assume she would get some scholarship money if she has the grades. Good luck to you both!</p>
<p>If you’re heading to U.Mass Amherst, you should definitely check out Smith “just down the road.” Smith has a new engineering department (well, several years old by now) that would be excellent for any young woman thinking about entering the field (check it out on their website). Northampton, as you may know, is a very cool town, and you could have a good time spending a day there, looking at the campus, eating in any of NoHo’s many great restaurants, and browsing through the shops on Main Street. But don’t try to do U. Mass. and Smith in the same day! I’d splurge and stay in a motel, do U. Mass one day, and Smith the next.</p>
<p>How weird! Anyway, as you see (since two of us have now said so): Smith would be a good place to visit, and I am with pesto - do not do both on the same day. UMass is like a tiny city: the campus is huge! They are close and it may seem feasible, but there is a lot to explore on both campuses. I encourage you to walk around both without a tour guide, after you tour (so you know where you are going), because each campus has wonderful things to offer. The communities are substantially different: many UMass students live off campus, most Smith students live on campus. My friends at Smith love their school, as do my friends at UMass, so I am sure it just depends on your daughter’s personal preferences. It is important to note that at either school, she would have access to the same faculty… so an engineering major at Smith can still write a thesis supervised by a UMass professor, if she has built a relationship with him/her. Also, to echo pesto, do go to a Northampton restaurant. Some of the best times I have had during my time at Mount Holyoke have been nice dinners with friends in Northampton. Downtown Amherst (near Amherst College, not UMass but walkable anyway) has a night life of its own; there is a nice independent movie theater that you might want to check out there. It’s good to get the “experience,” because she might spend four years of her life at either place! :)</p>
<p>MA has so many wonderful schools. If you visit UMass, definitely visit Smith in Northampton. Also nearby is Mt. Holyoke which has a rural LAC feel. Boston would be my choice for a visit … BU, BC, Tufts, Wellesley, MIT, Northeastern, Bentley, Suffolk, Endicott, etc, etc, etc. Good luck with the visits!</p>
<p>It’s a unique program in being designed just for women, and the engineering majors I have heard about through my daughter (a Smith grad) have all been involved in amazing projects.</p>
<p>I’m not all that familiar with MA/NE schools, and it sounds like you have many fine suggestions; do include a women’s college if your D has potential interest. Just wanted to add that I was surprised at how many sophomores we ran in to when we started visiting colleges with D, spring break of her junior year. You might want to do a tour or info session or two, so she will get an idea of what she’ll learn and what to ask when she gets closer to narrowing down choices and visiting in earnest. Good luck, and have fun!</p>
<p>Personally, I would never skip the official tours, they are so much more informative than just wandering blindly around campus. Also either the tour or the info sessions will cover some of the basics about the school’s academics. (Core curriculum, required courses, distribution requirements etc.) They also usually talk a bit about what they want to see from you in terms of high school course work, essays and activities. All the MA colleges I would have suggested have already been mentioned, so I won’t add anything there.</p>
<p>We had a very nice 9 day trip in the Spring of Jr year and visited 5 schools. Did the tours in four of them, however the amount of information was overwhelming. After 3 or 4 days you can’t really remember who said what at which school. S applied to only one of them (accepted) and ended up going to the one he got really excited about that Summer (visited in November of Sr year). It’s a good experience, but I would recommend to visit no more than 2 schools at a time.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your suggestions. Depending on how much time I can take off from work during spring break, we will probably head out to UMass and perhaps some of the other colleges nearby to check them out. Smith sounds intriguing - but for now, the one thing she has mentioned is that she doesn’t want women-only colleges. We’ll see if that changes…especially if there are more opportunities for merit aid in these colleges for girls going into engineering !!</p>
<p>J’adoube - haven’t heard of Olin. Could you please give me more info? Also what exactly do you mean by “it is free”? So far, I was under the impression that full rides (all tuition covered rides) are very rare.</p>
<p>Olin is a relatively new, quite small, and extremely selective Engineering school. Everyone who is accepted attends tuition-free. There is no tuition cost at Olin.</p>
<p>The acceptance process involves the normal written application and then an on-campus process… I think it is multi-day. I don’t know the details, but I believe it is more than an interview situation… interactive events, etc. </p>
<p>Offers of admission are made after that process.</p>
<p>WPI has a very friendly and accomodating admissions office with a lovely campus. I believe they (along with MIT and probably some others) offer programs for prospective female students interested in engineering and sciences.</p>
<p>I think college visits are very important and it makes lot more sense during the spring break if it doesn’t coincide with college spring break.</p>
<p>We along with our DD were greatly benefited with the college visits prior to applications.
DD first choice was Yale but after visiting she flipped and has second thoughts about applying even. Similarly the U. Penn and Brown visits changed DD perspective about applying at all. Columbia on the other hand went up on DD list after visiting because she loved NYC and the engineering information session was very fulfilling.</p>
<p>DD also liked Princeton and strengthen its 4th rank on her list. But the biggest change was MIT after she attended the preview session there. She loved Cambridge and fell in love with MIT campus, the dorms, and the student body. We also liked the facilities and the admission officers, their transparency in the college admission process. It went all the way from 5th rank to tie the 1st rank with Harvard. The tour made her decide MIT as EA choice.</p>
<p>DD wanted to visit Olin as she was impressed with the literature she received from the college but we couldn’t accommodate. She ended up applying there and received the interview call but she didn’t go because of EA at MIT. So it will be nice if you can take a tour of Olin.</p>
<p>College visits are really necessary to give the student the real experience of what awaits them. On the brochure and on video all colleges look great, it is not until you visit that you can see the other things that come with attending any college; including the student body, surroundings and the college facilities.</p>
<p>DD was not impressed with student bodies at Brown, U. Penn, and Columbia. </p>
<p>She rated the college visits as follows:
MIT
Harvard
Stanford
Princeton
Yale
Columbia
Brown
U. Penn</p>
<p>For bio sciences, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Princeton, Columbia, though lots of top LACs are going to be pretty strong in biology as well.</p>
<p>Depending on how strong your D’s PSAT score was (and depending also on GPA and ECs), I’d suggest taking a good look at MIT which is extraordinarily strong in all the academic areas you named. And if you have time, Cornell is right up there, with the strongest engineering program in the Ivy League. At a minimum, these two schools would provide a gold-standard benchmark against which to compare other programs in areas of interest to your D.</p>
<p>I think the informational programs are useful when the kids are younger (sophomore stage). You might to go one in your area of town that has 3-4 schools making their pitches. YOu might be able to get a flavor of a school that isn’t particularly close to where you live. If a school interests you after further research, it might be a candidate for a visit (once the SAT scores are out and you can see if you fall within the targeted group.</p>