<p>oddly enough, DS used the excuse to visit the local colleges on his breaks from college for driving practice. He never did visit a college prior to college other than a HS event held at a college. He's a techie type and figures that a classroom looks like a classroom. I kinda wished he scoped out the opposite sex possibilities.</p>
<p>Looks like UChicago is having final exams during our spring break. Do you think that will be a horrible time to visit? </p>
<p>We were originally going to visit Harvey Mudd but they are on spring break when we are so we switched plans. Reed is also on spring break then. As you can deduce from these choices my D's idea of a good time is either doing math problems or sitting in a coffee house talking about big ideas. She really dislikes sporting events especially football games. She wants to major in math and/or computer science but she also enjoys writing and music (plays the harp). Any ideas of colleges we should visit are appreciated. We have two frequent flyer tickets on Southwest we can use so we are pretty flexible. My limitation is that I don't know how to drive in snow or ice. Thanks for all your help.</p>
<p>dsultemeier, how about Swarthmore?</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion. I had kind of forgotten about Swarthmore. It looks like a winner! I checked the Swarthmore calendar and they have spring break the week before we do and Southwest flies into Philadelphia. They offer everything my daughter has been looking for. We could also visit some other schools around there. Funny but my younger son is home for a school holiday. He only judges schools by their football record and he said they had a good team back in the 20's.</p>
<p>True. :) They also briefly had a great team in the early 80s.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has excellent music and computer science. Their spring break is March 7 - 13.</p>
<p>Could we do Swarthmore and Carnegie Mellon in one trip? On my atlas it looks like a long way from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Is there a way to get between the two cities? If it's snowing I would be afraid to rent a car and drive. (i'm afraid of snow in general.) Thanks for the great suggestions.</p>
<p>It's a long boring drive - five hours. Easy flight though.</p>
<p>dsultmeier</p>
<p>Grinnell would fit the studious requirement, though there are options for fun and sports (low-key). It's one of the few top LACs that gives significant merit money. Though it's in the middle of IA, the college provides an incredible array of activities and entertainment options. The facilities are amazing.</p>
<p>My son has now visited all the colleges he applied to and many others. Most of the schools were visited on two separate trips in March and July/August of last year. He visited the last school after he got accepted.</p>
<p>dsultemeier,
S#1 is a very recent graduate of Swarthmore. One thing that raised it's standing in his eyes was the fact that they did NOT have a football team. ;) My S did use Southwest to fly out of Philly. Check the school out in person if you have the time.</p>
<p>You are unlikely to have snow in March, but there's always a chance. The Pittsburgh area is very hilly, which does make driving in bad conditions hazardous. There's always Amtrak:</p>
<p>Campus</a> Visit / Philadelphia .::. Amtrak Map</p>
<p>Check their rates - they used to have one that was heavily discounted for a parent and child. Also, get your child involved in the planning. She does have preferences, some of which will make no sense to you! If she can't think beyond a small comfort zone, start your visits closer to home.</p>
<p>Boston (MIT) is one place that would suit her if it weren't for the weather. It is easy to get around without a car, though, and is a great city for a visit.</p>
<p>I don't plan on visiting either of my reaches. Unless I get in.<br>
I have visited three of my targets/safeties.<br>
I probably won't visit my safety safety because I don't want to go there.</p>
<p>dsultemeier, we visited Pepperdine during finals week because it was the only time that we could visit, and have a student led tour, due to scheduling conflicts. It was fine. We got to see the school while students were there and we had a really nice tour. The only difference that being "finals week" made was not touring certain buildings. We did see everything that we needed to see, including dorms and dining hall, and most buildings, so I would recommend it over a spring break tour. Seeing a school with the students there is the key!</p>
<p>Thanks very much for all the suggestions for our March trip. My daughter ended up at both Rice and UT Austin this weekend for different events so had a chance to think more about what she would like in a college. We talked a lot about where to visit and she would really like to fly to Philadelphia to start with Swarthmore and then take the train to Boston to see MIT, stopping along the way at as many schools as possible. I'm now going to print out an Amtrak map and let my daughter look at where she wants to go. We would still like to go to Chicago and Pittsburg but may have to wait until summer. My husband is planning a trip to California in June for a bike race so we may tag along to visit Harvey Mudd then. Grinnell sounds good too but not sure how we can fit that in. On top of everything else my D mentioned looking at the school in Montreal (McGill?) because a friend of a friend likes it a lot.</p>
<p>with the daughter, we visited all the schools she applied for and after the acceptances came in we visited the two she liked best. With the son, we'll be spending the next two weeks visiting schools he's been accepted to with the goal of making his decision before his break ends.</p>