Advice for Fall College Visits to Wisconsin/Illinois

Parents Forum
1

We’re planning a mid-October trip with S20 to visit schools in Wisconsin and Illinois. We’re targeting Lawrence University, Beloit College and Lake Forest College. For those of you who have toured these schools, where would you recommend staying? Dining? Are there things to see that we should not miss when in these areas?

Also, we’d like to visit a UW school while on this trip, but are not sure which would be a good fit. S20 prefers a smaller school. He’s ruled out Madison as too large. He’s not sure on a major but is interested in business. Is there a UW school similar to Minnesota Morris? Any recommendations?

Thanks for your help!

2

The closest UW school is UW whitewater.

Since you’ll be in Chicago area with Lake Forest, you may want to check out North Central College in Naperville. There is also Carthage in Kenosha.

What are your plans? How you getting there? How many days?

3

Another good small LAC is Ripon College. It is between Madison and Appleton, so it wouldn’t be out of the way.

Although he may think UW is too big, if the Badgers are in town (and you are too…) on that Saturday, going to the game is highly recommended. Football games at Camp Randall are the best ticket in the state on Saturdays.

UW-Whitewater also has a successful football program (at the D3 level), so that would be a decent alternative for a Saturday activity if the Badgers are on the road. (or if you want to bypass UW altogether)

4

I’ve never spent much time in either Appleton (Lawrence U) or Beloit, but both are fairly small towns. I don’t think there are any “must-see” attractions, but fall colors should be pretty good at that time of year (peak varies by year and by location). You might consider a short fall color driving tour if you have the time. Here are some possibilities:

https://www.travelwisconsin.com/article/things-to-do/11-scenic-drives-during-fall

Of those listed, the Door County tour and the Kettle Moraine tour are the closest to where you’ll be. Or you could do the Lake Geneva tour, as that’s more or less between Beloit and Lake Forest. October is also apple season in Wisconsin. I don’t have specific places, but if you get off the major highways you’ll probably run into farm stands, farmers markets, and u-pick apple orchards.

As for lodging, some of the usual chains are in both Appleton and Beloit but your choices may be limited. You could also look at nearby cities and towns. Appleton is just 30 miles south of Green Bay and 20 miles north of Oshkosh, easy striking distance. Beloit is 15 miles south of Janesville and 15 miles north of Rockford, IL, Same goes for dining options. I don’t think you’ll find much high end dining, so I’d go for local color, which will be more on the rustic side. Wisconsinites are very proud of their cheese, some of which is quite good, and all things cheese related, some of which is perhaps not so healthy, but kind of fun. Look for deep-fried cheese curds and beer-cheese soup. They also love their bratwurst. And the Friday night fish fry is a statewide institution. Wisconsin also has a strong German heritage and there are some decent German restaurants here and there, if that has any appeal.

Lake Forest is a high end North Shore suburb of Chicago. Probably limited lodging options in Lake Forest itself, but some nearby towns like Libertyville or Lincolnshire would give you more options.

As for University of Wisconsin campuses, there’s not really a public LAC like Minnesota-Morris. Apart from UW Madison and UW Milwaukee, the two research universities, most of the 4-year UW campuses are in the 8,000 to 12,000 student range. I hear good things about UW Eau Claire and UW LaCrosse, but they’re in the western part of the state, quite far from where you’ll be. There are also 4-year campuses at Oshkosh just south of Appleton, and at Whitewater, more or less between Appleton and Beloit. But I don’t know much about either of them.

5

There is an interesting Houdini exhibit at The History Museum at the Castle across the street from Lawrence. If you have any interest in aviation then the EAA museum in Oshkosh would be a must see attraction.

Knox College in Galesburg, IL mixes in nicely with applicants for the Beloit and Lawrence crowd.

6

The population of Appleton is 75,000 and it’s 30 miles from Green Bay population 105,000 so there is stuff to do in the area for sure. It’s not nearly as quiet as some of the lazy little LAC towns we’ve visited.
http://www.foxcities.org/

All of the UW’s are pretty large! UW Green Bay is one of the smaller ones at 6500. I’ve been impressed with many grads of the UW system actually as a resident of the upper midwest. Oh - UW Superior is less than 3000 if small size is important. I do think behind Madison, LaCrosse and Eau Claire have the best rep as someone else said.

7

My D just graduated from Lawrence. We always liked to stay at the Cambria Suites north of campus but also stayed at the CopperLeaf Hotel downtown which is fun because it is walking distance to the campus. There are lots of the usual chain hotels to choose from down by the mall. Call them directly and ask for a Lawrence discount. Look ahead to when you will be visiting, if there is a Packers football game that weekend they host the opposing team in Appleton and it can be harder and more expensive to find a hotel.
Appleton has a great farmers market on College Ave. adjacent to the campus on Saturdays which is worth a visit if you’re there that day.
We are foodies and we were really impressed with many of the restaurants in Appleton. SAP has about the best brunch I have ever had anywhere and I’ll miss being able to go there. Other restaurants we enjoyed during our visits were Houdini’s Gastropub, Antojitos, Carmella’s and Sai Ram Indian. There are others too depending on what types of cuisine you enjoy. We also really enjoyed Seth’s Coffee in nearby Little Chute and Tempest Coffee just across the river near the Lawrence athletic fields.
Depending on when you are there, check the conservatory performance schedule to see if there is anything you would be interested in attending. Also, there is a performing arts center in Downtown Appleton so you could check if there’s anything of interest playing while you’re there.
My H and I enjoyed hiking around the High Cliff State park on Lake Winnebago so you could do that if you have a nice day.
As MusakParent says, Appleton is not nearly as sleepy as a lot of small LAC towns.
I’d be glad to answer any other specific questions I can about Lawrence and best of luck to you!

8

@Andrew2199

Re: Lake Forest College

If you are NOT on a budget, I’d recommend staying at The Deerpath Inn in downtown Lake Forest. There are a number of very nice restaurants within easy walking distance on and near Market Square (downtown LF).

Otherwise, staying at a less expensive hotel just off of I-94 would be convenient for a visit to LF College and dining. Try scrolling through the Open Table app for restaurants with excellent reviews?

Watch your dates for Homecoming at whatever colleges you are visiting mid-October.

9

My daughter just transferred from Illinois Wesleyan University to Beloit. Look up like what’s happening around Beloit. There is usually some fun things to do depending what days your going. We live in Chicago so we only went for a day. So check out IWU and I agree with Knox college also.

North Central college campus is down the block from my office. Small school in a great Neighborhood, Naperville Illinois.

10

If you are in Beloit on a Saturday then the Farmers Market is really fun

11

How about UW-Milwaukee? It’s a little larger, but it would give you a city campus to look at.

12

My husband goes to Appleton often for work and loves the Copper Leaf hotel. He also enjoys their restaurant, Rye.

Are you going to have time to visit Chicago? It’s a great city with tons to do! When we did our MI/IN/IL road trip, we finished in Chicago and spent the weekend. There are a ton of great restaurant options in the city. The West Loop is especially trendy right now in terms of the food scene.

13

If you want to do a UW school for business, I would recommend UW-Whitetwater. Whitewater is about 45 minutes from Beloit. It has always been know as the business school of system (not including Madison). You may be able to do both in one day. If you are a football fan, going to the Packer HOF is always a good option. It is about 30 minutes from Lawrence.

14

If you have more questions about Madison or Whitewater and their campuses, let me know. I work in Madison and grew up in Whitewater.

15

My cousin’s daughter got married in Beloit last year. We stayed at an interesting hotel when we were there: Ironworks.
http://ironworkshotel.com/?msclkid=3c01ca6eec241b3a8c469104f975e5c0

The rooms are very nice and comfortable–it looks a little strange from the outside because the building was once an iron foundry. We stayed in Chicago one night–then went to the wedding the next day. It was at the Beloit Country Club, so we didn’t eat anywhere else in Beloit.

16

Well my daughter starts Beloit as a junior transfer in like two weeks. She received a mass mailing letter from the President welcoming her and a pair of Turtle socks. She thinks it’s so cool that they did this. Amazing how the small things can make someone so happy :smiley:

https://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240926&issue_id=240616

17

It’s not very close to where you are visiting, but not too far either, if it’s your type of thing, but we had a nice visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin home in Spring Green, WI when we were in Madison to visit UW. We also did a beer and pizza boat tour on Lake Mendota. They also have other tours, if you don’t like pizza :slight_smile: The UW-Madison campus is on Mendota. Have fun!

18

Used to visit relatives near Beloit and we loved Benedetti’s supper club. Famous for Friday night fish fry and grasshopper ice cream drinks.

19

Check the college calendars to try to avoid fall breaks. It was a few years ago, but D2 and I had a great meal at a Thai restaurant near the Lawrence campus.

20

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! Very helpful information. We’re looking forward to checking out many of these spots.

Responding to a few questions and comments:

@yourmomma - We have five days and will be driving, starting in the Twin Cities. Our plans are not solidified other than targeting the three schools I mentioned. We’ll have to check each school’s schedule to determine an order, but we’ll likely work north to south and may end up spending Saturday in Chicago before driving home Sunday.

@prezbucky - I’ve heard of Ripon but it is not yet on S20’s radar screen. May be too small. With enrollment under 800 it’s half the size of most LACs. We’ll look more into it though.

@bclintonk @Eeyore123 @rosered55 - Several of you mentioned UW Whitewater as the choice for business in the UW system. It’s also on the way between Lawrence and Beloit. That may be the UW school to check out on this trip. It’s over 10,000 enrollment, but that may be good as a contrast. S20 has been on many college tours when we were looking for his brother, S17, but he hasn’t been to a larger school yet.

@MaterS @knowstuff - Thanks for the Knox suggestions. Agree Knox is similar to Lawrence and Beloit. It’s a little too far for this trip though.

Again, thanks for all the info!