Comparisons of PA LACs?

[Anonymous]

We did a spring break tour of a bunch of these. We saw the following:
F&M
Lehigh
Muhlenberg
Lafayette
Bucknell

Note that Lehigh, Muhlenberg and Lafayette are about 1/2 hour from each other so easy to group together to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did a spring break tour of a bunch of these. We saw the following:
F&M
Lehigh
Muhlenberg
Lafayette
Bucknell

Note that Lehigh, Muhlenberg and Lafayette are about 1/2 hour from each other so easy to group together to see.

What were your takeaways? Was Muhlenberg quite different from the others? Did the others all feel similar?

[Anonymous]

I would advise getting familiar with these schools' net price calculators and admissions competitiveness before you finalize your list. When we did early tours to get a sense of different types of schools, we kept the visits to safeties and matches that could potentially fit our budget. I did not want to set my kid up to fall in love with a school that I knew at the outset was close to impossible given our budget (which is totally reasonable w/ those that give merit aid but not full pay at these schools).

It also has helped my now-junior DD to tone down the college pressure knowing already that there are a couple schools she can really see herself at and that we can afford.

I think the most challenging part of building the college list is finding safeties/low matches you can love.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is only in 10th, maybe it makes more sense to stay home and try to figure out what she is interested in studying and doing in college. I’m not sure if seeing a random assortment of colleges makes any sense.

If you want to come visit Philly and do cool Philly things, and walk around the Penn campus and St Joes campus, go ahead, but I don’t see what is the point of taking tours when she’s only a sophomore and doesn’t know what she wants to study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is only in 10th, maybe it makes more sense to stay home and try to figure out what she is interested in studying and doing in college. I’m not sure if seeing a random assortment of colleges makes any sense.

If you want to come visit Philly and do cool Philly things, and walk around the Penn campus and St Joes campus, go ahead, but I don’t see what is the point of taking tours when she’s only a sophomore and doesn’t know what she wants to study.

I think the early tours can be useful but less so if you are look at all similar ones and really IMO all LACs start to sound the same. I'd do a big school, a LAC, an urban campus, a college town etc. She thinks she wants small but based on what?

We did this with DS his sophomore year and it was helpful (urban or small no!, big school in a college town, yes!)

[Anonymous]

I'd highly recommend checking out the Fiske Guide to Colleges, then having you and your daughter read the descriptions of each of these schools. Chances are some schools will seem less appealing to her, and others will seem more appealing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:... Candidates for Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr shouldn't waste their time looking at Susquehanna and vice versa.

Totally disagree. Finding likelies and matches that your kid is excited about is way more important that picking out just the right dream school (which, as a pure numbers matter, probably isn't going to happen no matter how fabulous your kid is). So maybe skip Susquehanna if it's too remote for your kid...but then check out St. Joe's instead!

Yes, mine is applying to top LACs and a few Ivies, and Muhlenberg is her safety. We were very impressed with the admissions people, tour guide and facilities. DD has also connected with faculty in 2 potential areas of study. They seemed knowledgeable and passionate and her friendly. She dropped some targets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we need to know a little more about your child and their interests. We did the Philly schools in a couple of days, a combo of organized visits and just walk through on our own. We loved St. Joes.

I would sit down with a map of the schools and see which ones are near each other or close, look at the websites and see which have tours the week you want to visit and figure it out that way. Also I wouldn’t do more than 4 in a week of true organized tours plus a few drive by and wave because you want some balance and time for reflection.

Your list is very varied: religious; religious affiliated; non religious; single sex, etc. I think you should try to narrow it down.

Thanks. She's in 10th and is starting to get excited about college but knows practically nothing about it (or even what she wants to study, really). She thinks she wants "small-ish" and likes the idea of PA, but beyond that...??? Her grades are strong and her schedule "rigorous" so far, but who knows where her realistic ceiling will end up. So seeing a range of schools is actually what we want to do. So looking for info like, are Haverford and Swarthmore pretty much carbon copies of each other? What about Bucknell, Lehigh, and Lafayette? Is Gettysburg just a less selective version of Bucknell or is it something meaningfully different? How does the vibe at Juniata compare to Susquehanna? Etc. Thanks again.

Has she ever been to the middle parts of PA? Once you get away from Philly or Pittsburgh, it's like you're in a whole different state...Pennsyltucky is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd highly recommend checking out the Fiske Guide to Colleges, then having you and your daughter read the descriptions of each of these schools. Chances are some schools will seem less appealing to her, and others will seem more appealing.

This is a great recommendation, the Fiske Guide tries to provide a general sense of the community at each school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is only in 10th, maybe it makes more sense to stay home and try to figure out what she is interested in studying and doing in college. I’m not sure if seeing a random assortment of colleges makes any sense.

If you want to come visit Philly and do cool Philly things, and walk around the Penn campus and St Joes campus, go ahead, but I don’t see what is the point of taking tours when she’s only a sophomore and doesn’t know what she wants to study.

I think the early tours can be useful but less so if you are look at all similar ones and really IMO all LACs start to sound the same. I'd do a big school, a LAC, an urban campus, a college town etc. She thinks she wants small but based on what?

We did this with DS his sophomore year and it was helpful (urban or small no!, big school in a college town, yes!)

This is excellent advice and we did something similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd highly recommend checking out the Fiske Guide to Colleges, then having you and your daughter read the descriptions of each of these schools. Chances are some schools will seem less appealing to her, and others will seem more appealing.

This is a great recommendation, the Fiske Guide tries to provide a general sense of the community at each school.

I prefer Princeton Review’s Guide. Fiske’s made every school sound great. I found it hard to figure out who would not fit at each school, given their glowing descriptions.

[Anonymous]

She could narrow her list if she figured out whether Greek life is a draw or a turnoff. My DC was quite clear that she did not want a place where that was a big part of the social scene.

[Anonymous]

Haverford and Swarthmore are both selective…but different communities. Haverford has Quaker roots. It is small and tight knit. Swarthmore is very intense, in a way that my DC did not like.

[Anonymous]

We toured a number of them and asked at each school about the others. I was surprised that tour guides consistently said their friend at Dickinson were the least happy.

[Anonymous]

Keep Dickinson and Juniata on your list to visit. They are both good for environmentally minded kids. I think Dickerson has a farm and Juniata lets students spend a semester at their lakeside Field Station, studying science