<p>One tip: make sure this trip is fun--get some good food, let her choose where to stop to shop and eat, etc. It's kind of early to be looking (although not too early), and if she doesn't have a fun trip she might transfer that feeling to the schools you visit.</p>
<p>I don't know where in Mass. you live and I don't know how competitive an applicant your D is likely to be, but...</p>
<p>You might want to viist Worcester. You could visit WPI, a good engineering school; Clark, a smallish-u; and Holy Cross if Catholic colleges are possibilities. They are quite different.</p>
<p>US News and World Reports rankings list these in the top 50 and within an hour of Boston: Harvard, MIT, Brandeis, BC, Wellesley, Holy Cross, Tufts.</p>
<p>Definitely check out Olin (formally known as Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering). It's about 100 yards from the backside of the Babson College campus and only 2 miles from Wellesley (and about 10 miles from Brandeis), so you could check out Wellesley and Olin in the same day. My son's a sophomore there (just went back after his spring break yesterday) and couldn't be happier. As mentioned, all 300 students at Olin receive free tuition for all 4 years. Students can cross-register at Babson, Wellesley, and Brandeis for additional courses. The school makes a huge attempt to have a fairly gender-balanced student body (about 45% female) which is rare among engineering schools. In my opinion, Olin is a special place due to its student body. Very smart, creative students with an extreme zest for learning.</p>
<p>My daughter started out initially saying she did not want to go to a women's college. She also wants to be an engineer. She now is choosing between WPI and Smith. I would highly recommend if you're looking at UMass Amhearst that you look at Smith. This fall they are opening a new engineering building, quite a strong program with, I think, remarkable internships.
WPI was also very impressive with a project based curriculum and a team approach.
This will be a difficult choice.</p>