<p>i am taking a trip from NJ soon to the chicago region.. my couisn is at UoChicago and he loves it-- thinks i should apply. i think it would be a little overwhelming, but i want to visit a medium size school before it's too late and i cant experiecne life there before i apply.</p>
<p>I am interested in the small, closeknit kind of LAC( 2,000 , IR/psych/music as proboble majors)- a friend of mine suggested Knox,and i want to find out more about that, but Are there any other colleges i shoukd take a look at while im out there, either for comparision or whatever, cuz i had trouble pickign this one week( which is not an ideal time to visit colleges, but o well...)</p>
<p>Lake Forest C, and Illinois Wesleyan U. Also, Earlham C and DePauw U in Indiana (a couple of hours from Chicago). And, Beloit C and Lawrence U in WI (also a couple hours from the Windy City).</p>
<p>try UIC as well, great school for medicine....also how about university of illinois-urbana champaign? this school has consistently been rising on college ranking lists year after year and as an illinois/chicago resident, i know how much people in this state love that school. plus its a major party/greek school if thats what youre into...because no chicago schools (UChicago, UIC, Northwestern, DePaul...)are party schools.</p>
<p>If you're driving...Oberlin <em>might</em> be on the way. It's in Ohio. It's a small LAC, which schools around and in Chicago are generally not.</p>
<p>we were planning on flying, because my mom doesn't like to drive for long periods of time, and i dont knwo the legal stuff about me driving with a nj permit in other states....</p>
<p>i feel like i might have to go back some other time, because obelin is somethign im very interested in,adn some of the other ones may be also...<br>
hmm.. there seem to be a lot of good colleges between heere and IL... but i only have a couple of days.... does it make sense for me to set foot on as many colleges as i can in a few days, or should i focus on 1-3, and really get a feel for them...</p>
<p>(ps- caliboi-- thnaks, but im avaoiding all the shcools with reps as party schools... im not that kind of girl)</p>
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I am interested in the small, closeknit kind of LAC( 2,000 , IR/psych/music as proboble majors)
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<p>So basically you're looking for a school called Lawrence University? Small close-knit community of 1400 students. Small campus, takes ~8 minutes to walk from one side to the other. Everyone required to live on campus. Large international population. Great government and pyshcology departments. Fantastic conservatory that will fill all of your music needs. 5 year BA/BM degree available if you're serious about music but also like academics. Situated on a bluff overlooking the Fox River, right on College Avenue, the main street in Appleton, a town of 70,000. College Ave has restaurants, shops and bars so you're about a 5-10 minute walk from that scene if you want to get off campus. Airport is a 15 minute convenient drive from campus and flies to Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Milwaukee.</p>
<p>So you were really talking about Lawrence, right?</p>
<p>Some other suggestions: Beloit (about an hour north of Chicago, about 4 hours from Knox), Augustana College (about 40 minutes from Knox), Illinois Wesleyan (between Knox and Beloit), and Lawrence U (about two hours north of Beloit. On the other side of Chicago, check out: Valparaiso, Kalamazoo, Earlham. We did an Earlham-Knox-Augustana-Beloit-Lake Forest trip over spring break a few years ago. Very do-able.</p>
<p>because my mom doesn't like to drive for long periods of time, and i dont knwo the legal stuff about me driving with a nj permit in other states....</p>
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<p>Warn your Mom in advance that driving in the midwest takes longer than it looks on the map. It is not terribly stressful, just kind of boring.</p>
<p>If we fly into an airport near one of the colleges and work in one direction via the zypher ( local amtrak) or whatnot, does that make sense?</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the cheapest airport to fly into Newark.. you din't have to look it up for me, i can do.. just wondering if you knew)</p>
<p>Also-- does it make sense to visit a bunch of colleges i may not be interested in,for variety as long as we're there, or should my mom and i look at UoChicago ( where i dont want to go but havea really cool cousin to visit :) who did invite me practicallyl everyday since he got there ) and maybe Knox or Beloit ( or somewhere else)where i at least want to know more...</p>
<p>or just enjoy chicago- since it will be my first time in the city and i want to have fun</p>
<p>( at the same, time, it will be probobly my only chance to look at colleges this semester)</p>
<p>You definately should not visit a college you don't like or want to apply to. In my day (two years ago) I applied to eight colleges which was too much. I should have only applied to four. You should be giving each application your best effort, and applying to more than four will tire you and dilute your effort. Same thing should go with college visits. Don't just go to one for the hell of it. Do a little bit of homework on a college before you visit so you can ask good questions when the time comes and filter out the ones you know you won't be interested in from the start.</p>
<p>If you fly to O'Hare or Midwest airport it is not hard to get public transportation to UoChicago. If your mom will not drive you still could take a train from Union station and get yourself to Galesburg/ 3hrs/ to visit Knox. It meets all your requirements and is great school to attend. We just received notice that Bill Clinton will be 2007 year commencement speaker for Knox college. Train ride is easy to do and Knox is 2 blocks from train station. School is on holidays now and won't start until Jan 3 but there will be plenty of people to meet if you go earlier/ some students do interim classes or reseach/.
Lawrence will be another great school to see and it is accessible by train or bus from Chicago- also 3 hrs away. It has music concervatory as Oberlin but location is much better- Appleton very friendly welcoming city with lots of things happening there. Also Lawrence has excellent facilities in Door County with beachfront property for many classes or reseach/rest. Lawrence is also on trimester system so they on holiday now and will start after New Year.
Beloit college is about 90 miles from Chicago, accessible by train or bus easily and school can arrange pick up at bus station. Beloit does not have core curriculum so students are quite free to choose their own fields of study.
I would encourage you to take a look at Lake Forest college- it is about 30-40 minuts by metra from Chicago and very good school as well.
Knox and Beloit often have chats on line with admission people/ students/ coaches. You might want to check in on that.
If you have any specific questions about Knox, my D is freshman there, both she and I would be happy to answer.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.choosechicago.com/maps_1.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.choosechicago.com/maps_1.html</a>
has a lot of good visitors' information. Look up Midway Airport - it's closest to the U of C. Airtran flies from there to Newark; other airlines may also. Renting a car and driving straight to campus is fastest, or you can fly into either O'Hare or Midway and take a train downtown, then another train or bus to the U of C. If you are going up north to visit schools, you may want to fly out of O'Hare or another, small airport such as Milwaukee, Appleton, Green Bay, Madison or Rockford (IL).</p>
<p>With only a few days, you'll need to plan carefully. Most colleges limit their tours to mid-morning and early afternoon, so it's difficult to visit more than one school per day. If your cousin can give you "the tour" at his school, you can probably skip the official session, but you should try to attend a class at each of the schools you are considering.</p>
<p>Your PSATs put you in the running for U of Chicago and Northwestern. The two are about an hour apart (traffic is a huge factor). Going up to Appleton (Lawrence) will take a full day at a minimum. Lake Forest College is about an hour from downtown Chicago. Beloit is about two hours' drive.</p>
<p>If you want more information, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Having taken a trip from Jersey to Chitown last summer, my advice to you would to get a 3-day visitors CTA transit pass. You can ride all the trains/busses as many times in the 3 day period for a relatively cheap price. I was in Chicago for a weekend and didn't have to deal with the hassle of renting a car. Northwestern is on the purple line (Davis station I think) and UChicago is easily acessible by bus.</p>
<p>...just my 2 cents- enjoy your trip. Chicago is a great city.</p>
<p>I lived in Chicago my 1st year at college. Most schools are accessible by the "El train" or by busses. The University of Chicago, and Illinois Institute of Technology are located on the South Side and are accessible by the Green Line train (IIT is on 31st-35th streets along State Street, and U of Chicago is near 55th Street not far from Jackson Park, I think.) University of Illinois at Chicago is on the near West Side on S. Halsted Street and is accessible by the Blue line. Chicago State University is located on the South Side on 95th Street, I can't remember how far it is from the Red Line. DePaul is located on the North Side and is accessible by the Red Line. Northwestern is located in the northern suburb of Evanston and is accessible by the Purple line. Downtown Chicago is accessible from O'Hare Airport by the Blue Line and from Midway Airport by the Orange Line. Basically, it's easy to get to any Chicago-area school by using Public Transportation</p>