<p>I'm trying to find a way to visit Lawrence, but, of course, it is in the middle of nowhere. I'm visiting Oberlin as well, so I'm trying to connect them some how. But mainly my question is if there is any insider knowledge about how to get way up there....all the buses are really long, airplane shuttles are $250-500 (!!!!!!) for a hour shuttle from detriot or (I'm blanking on the other city)...and the train is basically the same as the bus. Does the college itself do shuttles to any cities? Is there any local transportation that I wouldn't find at national trans. company websites?</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm half asking these questions and half just ranting because it's pretty crazy. Don't know what I'll do if I go here and have to get home to CA.... (Though part of what I like is that it's sort of isolated)</p>
<p>Any ideas would be helpful... BTW...I have checked their website already</p>
<p>Charlotte, We love the plane access. Prices are up now though. Check more carefully on all the sites. They fly in from Detroit and Minneapolis on Northwest routes and Chicago on United routes. If you can go by air, the campus is just down the street. I sent my son during his junior summer to visit on his own and he stayed at a local hotel that had shuttle service to the campus. If you can go during the visit days you could stay on campus. </p>
<p>My son has friends at Oberlin and visited there during the fall. I think the airlink was in Cleveland, Ohio. If you are interested in LU, you need to visit. Oberlin and Lawrence are similar in some aspects and very different in others.</p>
<p>By the way, I understand your rant as far as airfares go. Lawrence is really not isolated. It is self-contained with a surrounding lovely small city. Students stay on campus and have developed an active community with so much to do. It is far away from California. I am a native Californian.</p>
<p>Charlotte. My D has many friends from both coasts at LU who routinely fly back and forth. I'm not sure about the notion of Appleton being isolated. There is a good regional airport there that has connections to most major midwest hubs, as overseas mentioned. There are no direct flights from the coasts but that is true for 90% of the cities in the US. The costs for all flights have been impacted by the recent soaring fuel prices but it's not difficult to get to Appleton by air, in general. Connecting through Cleveland is more of a challenge because Cleveland is not a major flight hub either. </p>
<p>I agree with overseas that if you are considering Oberlin and Lawrence, it would be very good to visit each. D looked at both and we both found them quite different from one another -- especially in terms of campus atmosphere and student body. They are both academically rigorous schools but are quite distinctive in other ways.</p>
<p>If anyone would like to PM me or post here about the differences/similarities between Oberlin and Lawrence, I would love to hear them. D was accepted to both Lawrence and Oberlin. D is an easy-going, unassuming individual looking for a bright, unpretentious peer group. She likes to have fun but is not into drinking, she is vegetarian and a non-smoker. She is not interested in doing the double degree route (the cost of the 5th year is prohibitive). I think the deciding factor would be whether or not she could play violin in the orchestra and chamber groups, take lessons from someone other than a grad student (she's a fairly good player-has won scholarships to several music festivals-Brevard, EMF, NYU, and others). She's considering PSY or BIO as majors.</p>
<p>Appleton is really not remote at all. It's a small city close to other sizable municipalities and the Fox River Valley is a very fast growing area. It's only two hours to Milwaukee too. </p>
<p>You can fly right into Appleton. My son is visiting in a couple of weeks and he'll be flying from Boston to Appleton, stopover in Milwaukee. </p>
<p>My in-laws live in the next town over from Appleton, so we've traveled there quite a bit. We've been using Midwest Airlines exclusively...it's a good airline. Business class sized seats in coach and a very polite and helpful bunch of people. They've had some specials running all spring and I bought DS's tickets using one. Plus there's a Midwest Miles special offer right now which will get him a free companion ticket by his fall trip out there, if he does decide to go to Lawrence.</p>
<p>thanks everyone! I'm looking into flying afterall, or at least Chicago instead of Cleveland for my main flight... anyway, it will be a fun trip however logistically crazy it might be.</p>
<p>if anyone is replying to hornets wish for a comparison of oberlin and lawrence, I'm interested too, so feel free to post instead of PM...Maybe it's worth making a thread too.</p>