<p>Why would one choose Muhlenberg over equally competitive, small size almost $50K schools?</p>
<p>Could you elaborate on your question? Are you talking in general, or specifics? It kind of feels like a 'gotcha' question.</p>
<p>Uh...depends on the individual. No offense, but the answer to your question seems kind of obvious. Muhlenberg by coincidence is about 8 miles from our house. My D has no desire to be far away from her family, so going to Muhlenberg instead of a comparable school that is hours or days away makes perfect sense. </p>
<p>Other reasons include Muhlenberg's affinity for music and theatre. Those schools are usually on the liberal side instead of the conservative side, which my D would consider to be a good thing. </p>
<p>Great exercise/workout facility (best we've seen), good dorms, very good dining options. There's a lot to like. We're just waiting on the financial aid decision. Hopefully that will give us more reason to like Muhlenberg versus a comparable LAC. We've already received the financial aid offer from Dickinson. We're hoping Muhlenberg can top it.</p>
<p>Until I get some clarification on this question, I would like to offer an observation. </p>
<p>I have now been through the college admissions process with two kids, and between the two, we visited MANY campuses across the midwest and east coast. Both of them it seems, within fifteen minutes of any campus tour, got a succinct feel about the place. They couldn't ever articulate that instinct as much as I'd like, but by the time we'd get to the car, they'd tell me yes or no as to whether or not they want to apply there. i.e., with D1, our first stop of University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. I thought it was a beautiful campus, and was enjoying everything I saw and heard. By the time we got to the car, D said, "Nope...not for me." On the other hand, we also visited Penn State - College Park, another large midwesterny campus, and she liked it. She ended up at Syracuse, which was a compromise between some of the large schools, and smaller ones we looked at. </p>
<p>Same thing happened with D2. We took a day to fly into D.C. to see American University. I loved the campus, and thought it would be a great place to be. Before we even got back to the airport, D2 said, nope... not for me.</p>
<p>When we were at Muhlenberg, there was just something about the feel of the place that drew her in. From there, she decided to add it to her list of schools to apply to.</p>
<p>Hi Waiting Dad,
Good question and I'll take a stab at this one. First, let me say, I'm a Bucknell Grad from long ago, my niece is 01 grad from Muhlenberg, my D is senior at 'berg, my cousin is Lehigh grad and his D is Lehigh freshman now. </p>
<p>So I will answer this with Lehigh/ Bucknell as comparision school to 'berg, Ok? </p>
<p>1) both niece and d chose 'berg because they played sports, which would not have happened at D1 schools.</p>
<p>2) both niece and D, thrived in smaller atmosphere, where both were offered opportunities to do research in their majors.
FYI- D is more of a B student, yet, was offered chance to work with prof. </p>
<p>3) Some students do not care for intense "Greek" scene found at smaller LAC's- 'bergs strong Theatre arts program contributes to an "artsy" vibe on campus, and % of students in frats and sororities quite small compared to some other LAC's.</p>
<p>4) 'berg has excellent reputation for pre-med and other pre-professional programs</p>
<p>5) while a small campus, the facilities are quite "plush"-
compared to some other similar sized schools- ie Gettysburg, Ursinus, Dickinson ....</p>
<p>WHY not small LACs?
These isolated campuses can be quite stifling by the time the kids are Juniors- therefore, study abroad a very good option.
Sometimes smaller is not better ;)</p>
<p>"When we were at Muhlenberg, there was just something about the feel of the place that drew her in." - Terwitt</p>
<p>Same thing happened to us (my wife, daughter and I) when we visited Muhlenberg. It was the last school we visited and none of us were enthusiastic about going on the visit. It was a kind of "well, it's in our backyard, so we might as well check it out, but dont' expect much." Boy were we wrong. I just wish they would make some kind of financial aid offer, and soon.</p>
<p>^^^^ Plainsman Dickinson and Muhlenberg often compete for the same students. If you do not get a similar package from Muhlenberg, it would be appropriate, for you to contact the financial aid office and let them know how much you like Muhlenberg, but Dickinson's offer was better.
I have often read that competing LAC's will renegotiate a package, under those circumstances, especially if they feel a student will contribute in some way to the school.</p>
<p>Plainsman - Will your daughter live in the dorms or at home ? Are there many commuter students ? In your opinion, should Freshmen have cars ? Thanks</p>
<p>EnjoyTheAdventure: If she enrolls at Muhlenberg, our daughter would live in the dorms as a freshman so she could make friends and gain the whole college experience. I imagine there probably are commuter students. In fact, Muhlenberg has some kind of an adult education branch that functions mostly at night. The problem with having a car as a freshman is there is nowhere to park unless you feel safe enough to leave it on the street overnight a few blocks away from campus. That's probably not a good idea. I think cars are banned for freshman, so you'd have to use the "park it away from campus" strategy. The school is in a residential area, so "away from campus" might not be as bad as I'm envisioning. </p>
<p>I apologize for not being more certain, especially since we live so close to the school. Because it is residential instead of commercial, we rarely have reason to venture over to that section. Our visit to Muhlenberg was the first time.</p>
<p>While there may be commuter students, I don't think there are many. My D has three friends at school from the Allentown area, and they all live on campus. In fact, two of them stick around for summer school, living on campus.</p>
<p>And while I know that freshman are not allowed to have cars on campus, it seems like second semester, some of those freshman mysteriously show up with cars... not sure where they park them, though.</p>
<p>Our D did not have a car on campus freshman year, but did get one for the summer after her freshman year. Although she lived on campus that summer, she did not have a meal plan, so she wanted a car to do some regular grocery shopping. Her intent was to return the car to home after the end of the summer (she initially said she did not want a car there during the regular school calendar year), but once she had it there, she couldn't see herself giving it up. By the way, a parking permit is incredibly cheap.</p>
<p>"When we were at Muhlenberg, there was just something about the feel of the place that drew her in. "</p>
<p>Teriwtt, this is precisely what happened to us and our son. We're from the Boston area, so we have a few schools here. ;) We visited Muhlenberg at the suggestion of a family friend and were there over the summer. It was the last school on a 4 day, 4 school road trip. It was remarkable. Our son started the day with an interview and immediately connected with the person interviewing him (a former USY'er). From there we all went on the tour and were impressed by the campus, facilities, students and professors we met. By the time we were leaving our son turned to us and said he loved the school so much he wanted to apply ED. The was the first and only time he said that. He was so enthusiastic about it we asked him to think about it more after we got home. Labor day weekend he came to use once again and said Muhlenberg is where he wants to go. He applied ED and was accepted before Thanksgiving. He can't wait.</p>
<p>What was so remarkable is that our whole family has seen just about every major college and university in the Boston area. Our daughter is a jr at Boston University (a very large urban research university). I have 2 degrees from there and I teach there part-time. My wife works there full time. Our son loves BU, has been on campus since he was a baby and, assuming he would have been accepted, would have gone there tuition free. But he chose Muhlenberg. And we completely agree. There is just something very special about that school.</p>
<p>"There is just something very special about that school." -NEDad1234</p>
<p>Wow. I don't know if I'd go that far, but we really liked it. It's quaint and contemporary, business focused and artsy, relaxed and pre-med dead serious, all at the same time. I've not visited a school like it. The vibe is definitely different but in a comforting sort of way, without a discernable ideology.</p>
<p>My daughter is accepted and if she attends will be a pre-med bio major. Everyone says thay program is excellent. Is ther any proof? Is the biology program more into ecology or the human cells?</p>
<p>soozi1 - well this is just speculation, but I'm assuming with the admit rate they have to med schools (one of the highest in the country), it's more in line with what a student would need to know to gain acceptance into medical school, and I'm assuming that would be human cells.</p>
<p>My son also felt an immediate connection to Muhlenberg. (we looked at 12 schools) He is finishing his freshman year and couldn’t be happier. One thing we noticed, which we didn’t find at other schools, is the unique mix of kids…theatre, jocks, pre med, and lots of others who don’t fit into a category. The administration couldn’t be nicer,the professors are great, and there are endless opportunities to get involved on the campus.</p>
<p>Teriwitt where do you get your stats of the admit rate to medical schools? Thanks</p>
<p>oh boy, I can’t recall exactly where I saw it in writing, because at this point, we’ve gotten so much correspondence from the school. Let me see where I can locate it. But I do know that the kids on campus talk about it, but I understand you want to see sources.</p>
<p>OK… a few links I was able to find:
[MyPlan.com</a> :: Colleges :: Muhlenberg College :: Articles](<a href=“Colleges and Universities”>Colleges and Universities)</p>
<p>[State</a> Funding for New Science Building - News](<a href=“http://media.www.muhlenbergweekly.com/media/storage/paper300/news/2006/11/02/News/State.Funding.For.New.Science.Building-2435330.shtml]State”>http://media.www.muhlenbergweekly.com/media/storage/paper300/news/2006/11/02/News/State.Funding.For.New.Science.Building-2435330.shtml)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.muhlenberg.edu/talentscampaign/cmsdocuments/measures.pdf[/url]”>http://www.muhlenberg.edu/talentscampaign/cmsdocuments/measures.pdf</a>
on this site, you’ll have to go to page 4 of the PDF document, under ‘Student Outcomes’.</p>
<p>[Health</a> Professions](<a href=“http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/preprof/Health_Professions/FAQ05.html]Health”>http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/preprof/Health_Professions/FAQ05.html)</p>
<p>Let me add that, although these numbers look impressive, I don’t know what the med school acceptance rate is for other pre-med programs. But I think these numbers are pretty high.</p>
<p>terrieit thanks for the informtaion. I will be more impressed with an outside source giving me stats but I will throughly read the infor that you sent me.</p>
<p>I think that M. does a great job of health professions preparation, but parents and students should be aware that the stats re med school acceptance rates that colleges publish need to be taken with a very large grain of salt: </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/482606-med-school-acceptance-rates-undergrads.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/482606-med-school-acceptance-rates-undergrads.html</a></p>
<p>See esp. post 3, point #4, on a practice that’s widespread. </p>
<p>Statements like this one on a school’s web-site are important and revealing, and a school’s stance on this count is worth asking about: “It is important to note that all students who choose to apply to professional school receive the support of our committee, regardless of the relative strength or weakness of their credentials, and that our acceptance rate is based on all students who apply.”</p>