<p>Which one is more fun? My D is convinced JMU is more fun with more school spirit etc. Is this true? Does UDel have any "traditions"? JMU seems to have quite a few. Any insight would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>nerbsmom - IMHO both schools are fun and have lots of school spirit. (Especially compared to UConn, UMass, URI, etc. -- we don't do fun very well in our neck of the woods do we?) Good luck to your D, whichever she decided to attend.</p>
<p>Thanks, NewHope33. UDel it is!</p>
<p>UDel is a perennial contender for the 1-AA (it has a new name, but I can never remember it) football championship (and their Q-back was drafted in the first round by the Ravens), and the games are sell-outs. There are 20 fraternities and 16 sororities. </p>
<p>And YoUDee, the Fightin Blue Hens mascot, is the 2002 national champion and a member of the Mascot Hall of Fame...</p>
<p>Thanks, CT2010Dad. Since both of you are from CT. can you tell me how easy the Amtrak trip is? How do the kids get from the Wilmington station to school?
My D is excited to be a "Blue Hen"!</p>
<p>Visiting</a> UD: Directions to Our Campus</p>
<p>"...From the Wilmington train station, it is a 45-minute express bus ride to campus via the #6 DART bus; non-express buses may take slightly longer. Express buses run every half-hour at a cost of $1.90 each way. Limited taxi service to Newark from the Wilmington train station is also available..."</p>
<p>The Dart bus is pretty easy - walk down the stairs when you get off the train and you'll see the ticket window on the left. Ask the bus driver where to get off - there are a couple of options (get a schedule and map, the bus basically goes around the campus).</p>
<p>You can catch a bus back as well or you can walk 10 minutes to the Newark train station and catch a SEPTA (South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority) commuter train back to Wilmington, which takes about 20 minutes - however the schedule is pretty difficult to decipher the first time (here: [SEPTA[/url</a>] - look for Wilmington and Newark), so I ended up calling the SEPTA information line (215-580-7800). These trains service commuters, so they tend to run at morning and afternoon commute times: between approx 6 and 8 and then 4 and 6:30 to Newark and between 6:20 and 9 and then 4:45 and 7:20 to Wilmington. I think the fare was about $4 each.</p>
<p>Or you can take a taxi - I never got a good answer on how much it would be, but my guess is that it would be in the $30 - $50 range.</p>
<p>Also, there seems to be one Amtrak train a day, each way, that stops at Newark, DE, but you have to play with the scheduling - if you are not successful finding a train that stops there from where you get on, force the tool ([url=<a href="http://www.amtrak.com%5DAmtrak%5B/url%5D">http://www.amtrak.com]Amtrak](<a href="http://www.septa.org/service/rr_schedules.html%5DSEPTA%5B/url">http://www.septa.org/service/rr_schedules.html)</a>) to get a train to / from Newark to either Wilmington or NY Penn station, and schedule from that...</p>
<p>We live in a small town with only limited train service, so all this public transportation will be a new experience for my D. Thanks for the great instructions!
Are the train stations relatively safe for a young girl who doesn't know her way around at first?</p>
<p>With the caveat to use as much common sense as you would anywhere (i.e., be careful late at night, etc...) the Wilmington station is absolutely safe (and she can walk off the train and down the stairs and there is an information booth), NYPenn is absolutely safe but large (has the subway and the Long Island RR in the same station) and bustling, though there are plenty of security / information personnel to ask should she get overwhelmed. </p>
<p>The Newark 'station' (really a commuter stop) is more of a shelter (imagine a bus stop) than a train station and a bit isolated - if she's on her own I probably wouldn't encourage her to go there the first time, though after she spends some time on campus and gets to know her way around, it'll be easy.</p>
<p>Thank you, CT2010Dad! Your info is a big help.</p>