Visited three schools with D26 in the past couple of weeks:
Lafayette – UP! Attended an open house, which was very well run. The campus is picture-perfect. On a big hill, yet flat. D is determined to bike on campus, so flat is a big plus. She liked the vibe on campus, saw lots of friendly faces. I’m concerned about the prevalence of Greek life (about 1/3 of the student body), but she doesn’t seem to mind even though she’s not interested in joining. The variety of classes, the ease of developing relationships with the professors, extensive study abroad offerings all made a positive impression. The dorms were pretty spacious, with the biggest closets we’ve seen. The food was not awesome and our tour guide was so quiet, we could barely hear her, but the overall impression was still overwhelmingly positive.
Franklin & Marshall - Same/Up. D had high expectations for that one. We have family nearby and she really likes the idea of being close to them. We’ve seen the campus before many times. It’s beautiful, walkable, and pretty compact. Love the location, easy walk to pretty much anything in the city. Very nice, relatively new dorms with air conditioning in every room. D really liked their house system where your freshman seminar is taught in your dorm and the people in your class live in your dorm. Our tour guide was great and the same major my daughter is considering, which I believe was intentional and helped her get more out of the tour. Small classes, supportive professors, lots of research opportunities, it pretty much checks all the boxes. One of the top choices for now.
Ithaca College – Up! Really did not know what to expect with this one, but it did not disappoint. Beautiful, modern campus that was thoughtfully planned. The views were amazing! While the school is larger than most LACs we’ve toured, it still has small classes and lots of support readily available. The student body appeared quite mixed, though it had a generally arty vibe. We saw several groups of kids filming on campus. The school is a likely admit for her and they offer merit aid to everyone, which is certainly appealing.