<p>I am hoping for help with ideas. I have an upcoming junior S who would like a road trip to take his first look-see at possible colleges. He is an IB diploma student and interested in business and biology (with a possible eye to med school application). He is a bright kid who has not been consumed by academics and is not as high achieving as many I've read about here! He has an UW gpa of 3.8 in all pre-IB classes as of now and I would guesstimate a 2000 - 2100 SAT score when he takes it - which he hasn't yet.
He thinks he would like a smallish school - 1400 - 5000, without a heavily influential greek scene, and with alot to do on campus, rather than everyone leaving for the weekend. He is a 4-year varsity athlete and will likely play club sports in college. He is somewhat conservative politically - not granola type at all.
We are on the west coast, but not near any large cities and distance isn't a big factor. He doesn't want to study his tail off every second in college, but wants to go to a 'good' school with 'smart' kids - these are his words. He has a friend at Whitman in Walla Walla and says that would be a perfect school for him IF it had business, and were just a little less intellectual. Does this give you a good picture?
Any suggestions about where we should look?
OH - merit aid is needed and we will likely qualify for need-based aid at a private, but not public. We are in Oregon, so U of O is on the radar.
We want a fun and bonding road trip
Let the suggestions fly!!</p>
<p>DS went from Salem to Carnegie Mellon. He had fun. Didn’t study his tail off (YMMV). Has a lot of smart friends, world over. Far enough from home as anything else but timewise, no different than getting to WallaWalla. He too an IBer, no sports.</p>
<p>University of Puget Sound? Good at business and biology. Willamette has a dual BA/MBA 5 year program. Throw in U of Portland and you have a nice road trip for “first-look” purposes.</p>
<p>Tons of good suggestions in this thread</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/560633-pacific-northwest-roadtrip.html?highlight=road+trip+pacific[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/560633-pacific-northwest-roadtrip.html?highlight=road+trip+pacific</a></p>
<p>go to UC Merced</p>
<p>Hendrix College might be worth looking into.</p>
<p>Hmmm… A tiny notch less “intellectual” than Whitman, not a full-blown granola type, smaller, with a business program, lots of club sports, campus activities, good merit aid… Your son should take a serious look at Linfield College. PM Son of Opie, he is a graduate.</p>
<p>If I were taking a kid on a first tour of colleges I would consider taking him either to the Eastern Seaboard or to Southern Calif, just because in both areas there is a huge variety of colleges in a relatively small area. On a first trip you really want to get a sense of what he does and doesn’t like, so it’s great to be able to see a lot of schools in a short amount of time. Given your son’s interests and the fact that you’re on the West Coast, I would probably head for SoCal. </p>
<p>Every good college will have the necessary pre-med classes, so it’s really the undergraduate business programs that could tip the scales. Claremont McKenna comes immediately to mind. The Claremont Colleges are the best of both worlds - several small colleges in close physical proximity and forming a consortium. Also check out University of the Redlands, Loyola Marymount, and if you’re feeling up for the drive, University of San Diego. There are probably several others as well, they’re just not coming to mind.</p>
<p>I would also recommend not restricting yourself to small schools, since part of the purpose of the trip is to gain perspective. Go see USC. Great business school and more diverse than you would expect. My d’s nerdy but sociable hs friend is double-majoring in CS and business and is very happy there.</p>
<p>Also - University of California at Disneyland. So your trip isn’t all business.</p>
<p>thanks for the suggestions - I was looking for ideas more like the So Cal trip suggested by MarinMom - not because the schools around here aren’t worth a look - but because we’re looking for a road trip.
Claremont-McKenna, Loyola Marymount, sound good.</p>
<p>thank you, DragonMom - I had forgotten about UPS</p>
<p>I also wonder about Elon, Ursinus, and Univ. of the Pacific - yes I realize they are NOT on the same road trip :)</p>
<p>Is there a good cluster of schools to get to in NC?</p>
<p>Is the Boston area a possibility? Bentley College has a great business program. Your s sounds very similar (re qualifications and interests) to a student I know there. I’m not certain about campus activities (though I’m sure they’re there), but Boston offers so much to do!</p>
<p>On your way to SoCal, stop off at Santa Clara University. It’s a little bigger (around 5000 undergrads), good business program, beautiful campus, gives merit aid, very easy to get to.</p>
<p>“Is there a good cluster of schools to get to in NC ?”</p>
<p>Davidson - But they are very demanding accademically.</p>
<p>Elon and Wake Forest are likely matches.</p>
<p>UNC - Chapel Hill would be too competitive for him OOS,
UNC-Wilmington (UNCW) has a very good school of business and is near great beaches.</p>
<p>thanks for the ideas!
Here is more feedback to help think of schools that may be of interest:</p>
<p>Elon - yes! a good one to take a look at.
Davidson - too academically intense for him</p>
<p>Linfield - says it “feels like high school” - not sure what he means by that</p>
<p>Willamette - like Whitman, PERFECT, except for one detail - with Whitman it’s no business, with Willamette, it’s too familiar / close to home</p>
<p>Do Santa Clara, and Loyola Marymount have commonalities?</p>
<p>Westminster in Salt Lake is on the radar - are there schools we could put with that one for a road trip?</p>
<p>puma, yes Santa Clara and LMU have a lot in commom. Both Jesuit schools (according to a recent thread about Catholic colleges neither seems to be an uncomfortable place for a non-catholic or even a non-believer) they are about the same size, pretty campuses, similar stats for admitted students, fairly diverse student bodies. </p>
<p>My daughter had the same feeling about Linfield. </p>
<p>There was a poster a year or two ago whose son really liked and may have enrolled in Westminster. You might be able to do a search and find her. Make that trip during ski season!</p>
<p>If your S will be looking at schools in the northeast, consider Merrimack College in No Andover, MA. It is a smaller third tier liberal arts college (approx 2000 students) with a very strong business program. I’ve toured a lot of college campuses and I can honestly say that the 220 acre campus is one of the prettiest around. Merrimack is located about 20 miles north of Boston and is on a commuter line, so the city is very accessible. </p>
<p>Although Merrimack is a Catholic college, probably about a third of the students are non-Catholic. It is run by the Augustinians, who tend to be a more liberal, welcoming order. It’s sister school is the larger and better known Villanova. Sports are a fairly important part of the culture. Varsity teams are all Div 3, except for hockey, which is Div 1. There are also various club/intramural sports.</p>
<p>The value of that first trip for us was less about specific schools and more about what characteristics of the schools seemed interesting. Turns out student is not even considering any of the first schools we went to, but . . . Duke was interesting because of the size, the diversity, the commitment to research, although was tad too preppy and wondered how frat oriented the place was. UVA seemed like a great fit academically but with less perceived diversity than Duke and a great town off campus. Also liked the attitude of the Admissions Dean, who recommended that students take a Gap Year. UNC was too big and had too many students from one state, and seemed much too heavy on the sports. </p>
<p>So I’d recommend going to a location that offered a range of different types of schools; if they are all schools that you already are interested in, great. But if not, that’s OK; getting a sense of school type can be more important than determinig if a specific school is The One.</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>Totally agree with Kei-olei - for us the first trip was not about trying to find a school - it was about trying to find the characteristics of a schools that appealed and didn’t appeal to my DS (and later DD). </p>
<p>We made as many college visits as possible to as wide of a range of schools as possible in hopes of generating some additional criteria. During these visits, I was almost hoping that they would say that this school is not the right school - because then we can explore why. </p>
<p>Some of the characteristics that emerged:</p>
<p>Quality of the Dorms
Quality of the food in the cafeteria
Study abroad programs (everyone has one - but they vary widely)
Size of school (number of students in addition to feel)
setting (urban, suburban, rural) (defined campus or collection of buildings)
student behavior (collaborative or competitive)
campus layout (around a quad? Sprawling?)
How religious
Large classes with great professors and TAs or Small discussion style classes (LAC vs Univ)</p>
<p>Linfield - says it “feels like high school” - not sure what he means by that</p>
<p>My daughter said the same thing</p>
<p>Maybe Chapman University?
[Chapman</a> University - About Chapman](<a href=“Page Not Found | Chapman University”>About Chapman | Chapman University)</p>
<p>Or Pepperdine?
[url=<a href=“http://www.pepperdine.edu/]Pepperdine”>http://www.pepperdine.edu/]Pepperdine</a> University<a href=“however%20compared%20to%20those%20schools,%20Whitman%20would%20be%20full%20of%20hippies”>/url</a>
;)</p>
<p>Second Willamette, Linfield, Santa Clara and LMU and add St. Mary’s College of California into the mix. SMC and SCU can be seen in the same day and are less than an hour apart. Same is true for Linfield and Willamette</p>