Comparisons of PA LACs?

[Anonymous]

Trying to figure out which we want to see over spring break and there are so many! Would appreciate experiences/insights/compares/contrasts re any/all of the following:

Allegheny (probably not going to happen on this trip due to location, but still interested)
Bryn Mawr
Bucknell
Dickinson
Elizabethtown
Franklin & Marshall
Gettysburg
Haverford
Juniata
Lafayette
Lehigh
Muhlenberg
Scranton
St. Joe's
Susquehanna
Swarthmore
Ursinus
Washington and Jefferson

[Anonymous]

lordy this is like every LAC in PA! and an extremely wide diversity of competitive admissions. Focus on those that your kid is likely to get in. Candidates for Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr shouldn't waste their time looking at Susquehanna and vice versa.

[Anonymous]

Yes, can you tell us a LITTLE more about your kid? And how much time you are thinking of spending on this trip?

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lordy this is like every LAC in PA! and an extremely wide diversity of competitive admissions. Focus on those that your kid is likely to get in. Candidates for Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr shouldn't waste their time looking at Susquehanna and vice versa.

This, there is no kid cross shopping the schools on that list. If you are visiting Swarthmore, you're probably also visiting Haverford and making a quick trip to Princeton rather than a long trip to see Muhlenberg

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lordy this is like every LAC in PA! and an extremely wide diversity of competitive admissions. Focus on those that your kid is likely to get in. Candidates for Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr shouldn't waste their time looking at Susquehanna and vice versa.

This, there is no kid cross shopping the schools on that list. If you are visiting Swarthmore, you're probably also visiting Haverford and making a quick trip to Princeton rather than a long trip to see Muhlenberg

I agree with the sentiment of Swarthmore, Haverford and Princeton (you might as well drop into Penn since you are there...but definitely a very different environment to the other three)...however, Muhlenberg is basically the same distance from Swarthmore as Princeton is from Swarthmore (OK it is 5-10 miles further...but that is the same).

You can easily hit Muhlenberg, Lafayette and Lehigh since they are quite close to each other.

[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!

If Susquehanna is too remote, you may as well cross off Bucknell as well. It’s literally 15-20 minutes down the road.

[Anonymous]

I’d group Swarthmore, Haverford and BM as one similar group (with BM being all women)- incredibly small, intense academics, students interested in a “life of the mind.” Dickinson could be a safety for this group. I’d next group Lehigh, lafayette, Bucknell (debatable whether to call Lehigh a LAC but I’d still group it with these others) with greek life dominating the social life and lots of well-rounded students (not as many rising PhD candidates but lots going onto law/med schools and jobs in finance). F&M and Gettysburg could be safeties for this group. I do not know much about the rest.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, we are also visiting some PA LACs over spring break. DD is a strong student but needs merit aid so will mainly apply to safeties/matches. She wants a more rural location and strong resources for environmental science. Prefers low/no Greek life. The ones based on initial research that seem to be the best options for her are Juniata (already visited that one and she likes it a lot), Allegheny, Dickinson. Also spent time at Susquehanna last summer and enjoyed it but it's fallen off the list because she thinks other schools have stronger resources for ES. Also likes F&M but they only give need-aid so it's out of our budget.

If she had different academic and/or setting interests, we'd have a completely different list just in PA, so good to spend some time thinking about that.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

Since you want a range of schools, I'd go to Haverford or Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr for a women's college, pick one from Bucknell/Lehigh/Lafayette, and Juniata could be an option for a rural school/strong sciences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d group Swarthmore, Haverford and BM as one similar group (with BM being all women)- incredibly small, intense academics, students interested in a “life of the mind.” Dickinson could be a safety for this group. I’d next group Lehigh, lafayette, Bucknell (debatable whether to call Lehigh a LAC but I’d still group it with these others) with greek life dominating the social life and lots of well-rounded students (not as many rising PhD candidates but lots going onto law/med schools and jobs in finance). F&M and Gettysburg could be safeties for this group. I do not know much about the rest.

This is a good start. The toughest to get into are Swarthmore, Haverford, and Lehigh.

I think seeing any more than two in a day is brutal.

If I were you, I'd come spend a night in Philly. See Swarthmore OR Haverford in the morning, and St. Joe's in the afternoon. St. Joe's is a very nice school, but it is not the preppy SLAC that some of these schools are. It would give you a true contrast to Swarth/Hav.

Then drive up to Allentown and knock off Lehigh and Lafayette the next day. If you are REALLY ambitious, maybe see Muhlenberg, but again, I think that's too much for one day.

If you are really into this, head northwest and see Bucknell and Gettysburg on the third day. After that, you should be brain-dead.

It's hard to tell you anything else unless we know what kind of kid you have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d group Swarthmore, Haverford and BM as one similar group (with BM being all women)- incredibly small, intense academics, students interested in a “life of the mind.” Dickinson could be a safety for this group. I’d next group Lehigh, lafayette, Bucknell (debatable whether to call Lehigh a LAC but I’d still group it with these others) with greek life dominating the social life and lots of well-rounded students (not as many rising PhD candidates but lots going onto law/med schools and jobs in finance). F&M and Gettysburg could be safeties for this group. I do not know much about the rest.

This is a good start. The toughest to get into are Swarthmore, Haverford, and Lehigh.

I think seeing any more than two in a day is brutal.

If I were you, I'd come spend a night in Philly. See Swarthmore OR Haverford in the morning, and St. Joe's in the afternoon. St. Joe's is a very nice school, but it is not the preppy SLAC that some of these schools are. It would give you a true contrast to Swarth/Hav.

Then drive up to Allentown and knock off Lehigh and Lafayette the next day. If you are REALLY ambitious, maybe see Muhlenberg, but again, I think that's too much for one day.

If you are really into this, head northwest and see Bucknell and Gettysburg on the third day. After that, you should be brain-dead.

It's hard to tell you anything else unless we know what kind of kid you have.

Agree but I'd do Gettysburg and Dickinson in a day as they are close to each other. Bucknell is in the middle of nowhere.

[Anonymous]

OK, now I see that you added some info. Based on the assumption that she's a strong student, I'm sticking with my Philly/Allentown/Bucknell-Gettysburg recommendation. Maybe swap in Penn for St. Joe's to get an Ivy in there. Or swap Villanova for St. Joe's.