<p>My friend and I are beginning to talk about taking a road trip to look at colleges, but we're not sure exactly what route we want to take. We live in Wisconsin and only have 4 days, so it would have to be in the Midwest. He wants to look at Purdue and the University of Michigan and I'm more interested in smaller liberal arts colleges. We could probably go as far east as Ohio, but keep in mind that we only have 4 days. I don't know what information to give, but any ideas would be very helpful and if you have any questions I will be happy to answer them.</p>
<p>I’ll give you an idea of the basic college tours that friends of mine have looked at:</p>
<p>Minnesota -Carleton, Macalester, University of Minnesota-Morris and Twin Cities (I did the first two)
Illinois - Northwestern, University of Chicago, University of Illinois
Ohio - Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio State
Michigan - University of Michigan, Michigan State, Kalamazoo College</p>
<p>These are just a few options, but I know that various friends of mine who have toured the mid-West have looked at combinations of these schools while visiting there. I grouped them by state, but you’d probably have to do a little more research before deciding where to apply.</p>
<p>My friend really only wants to look at the University of Michigan and Purdue, but I have 3.98 UW GPA (only B in hardest class in the school), 31 ACT (will retake), I am the captain of the wrestling team, and I just spent the most amazing 6 weeks of my life volunteering in Paraguay. If there’s anything else you need to know I’ll be happy to answer, but that’s the basic gist. I am also interested in majoring in economics.</p>
<p>It would be nice to add Grinnell but it will be hard to get to Kenyon/Oberlin to the east and Carlton/Macalaster to the west. Maybe you can check out some of the “vs” threads to see if you have a leaning among them. Carlton would be a bit of a reach and the others more like matches, I guess, with that ACT score. U. Chicago and Northwestern are both in/near Chicago and it’s not even easy to do both of them in one day. But if you get to Chicago it might be a shame not to see both even though they are very different as you will see from various “vs” threads. Check when they have information sessions and note that some LAC’s offer interviews. You can also breeze through some places that are of less interest just to get a sense and do info. sessions/tours/interviews at others. Also figure out which ones are closest to home because you might be able to see them later. Good luck!</p>
<p>If you are doing Purdue, then add Wabash and DePauw to your list. Two small LACs that are within an hours drive of Purdue (and Wabash gives excellent merit aid).
if you are doing Ohio, I would investigate Denison, Kenyon, College of Wooster, and Ohio Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Honestly, it sounds like you and your friend should go on separate road trips since you have very different initial tastes. Your friend likes the larger universities while you like the LAC’s. There are so many outstanding LAC’s to consider in the midwest, in Minnesota alone you have Carleton, St. Olaf and Macalester, all in the same area. If your friend likes larger schools, maybe go to University of Minnesota for him and you can see the other LAC’s. </p>
<p>The other area where you can see a lot of colleges in a short time is in Ohio. Within 90 minutes of Columbus you could see Kenyon, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan and your friend can see Ohio State. I have done that road trip twice but added Miami of Ohio, University of Dayton and University of Cincinnati. Minnesota and Ohio have some great clusters perfect for road trips. </p>
<p>If you do go to Purdue, than stop and see DePauw. Good luck on your search!</p>
<p>For you, the best concentrations of accessible Midwestern LACs are in Ohio (Oberlin, Kenyon, College of Wooster …) and Minnesota (Macalester, Carleton, St Olaf). Unfortunately, they are in opposite directions.</p>
<p>If I had to pick one or another, I’d opt for Minnesota. Then you can add Grinnell in Iowa and maybe a couple of Wisconsin schools (Lawrence, Beloit). If you decide on Ohio, you could try to work in Kalamazoo and Earlham.</p>
<p>Get the Collegiate Choice Walking Tour DVDs to preview some of these schools. That might help you prioritize. But don’t try to do a whirlwind tour of too many schools. Better to focus on a few schools that have distinct features so you can decide, for instance, whether you prefer urban or rural. That’s another reason to choose the Minnesota route. Macalester and Carleton are two great schools, within an hour of each other, but with disctinctly different settings.</p>