A smart phone sim card with 2GB data, unlimited text and talk for 30 days for US travelers costs $80. I just bought one for my friend last month. It has the US number. I remember I had to pay more than $100 to use my US phone plan in Europe last year.
@valent2016, We are Americans, living overseas. I mention the need-aware issue because many international families that we know applied for aid even though they didn’t actually need it (just to see what they might get) not realizing that just applying may be a disadvantage in admissions.
When we made our summer college tour we knew that it would be our only chance to visit and our son wouldn’t be able to return after acceptances came in. Consequently we did a lot of research and advance planning. We concentrated on a tight geographic zone – the midwest and northeast – even though it meant eliminating some good choices in other parts of the country. We also concentrated on small and medium sized privates, though we did visit one large public State U, just to get an idea of what it was like.
Our son did do some recalibrating over the course of the trip. He initially thought he’d like an urban setting (having only ever lived in large cities) but as the trip wore on something in the rural schools really spoke to him. As it turned out the school that was at the top of his list before we set out, fell off altogether, and a late add-on ended up as first choice.
We spent about 3 weeks in the US with about the same ratio of college visits to other travel and sightseeing that you mention. Summer is a beautiful time on many campuses, especially in New England, and we really enjoyed the whole experience.
In all we visited 14 schools (many of which are on your list). We mostly tried to limit our visits to one school per day – did the whole routine of information session, tour, interview wherever offered. Visited facilities of interest that weren’t on the tour. (In our case the art studio. Your daughter may want to see the theater and dance studio.) Ate lunch in the dining hall. Had dinner in town. Scheduled the trip so that we spent the night near top choice schools. Even though it was summer and most of the small LACs were quiet, the culture and personality of the schools came through loud and clear.
@valent2016 In response to your question “Thanks @londondad …for the many helpful tips. Will follow up. One thought though - for the schools we are talking about …how well are they recognised back in the UK for post Uni jobs etc? I was trying to research this aspect, but difficult to unpeel / or am looking at the wrong places…”
I think that recognition and prestige of universities is subjective and hard to pin down, but this is what I have told my kids based on my experiences (i.e., as an American who has worked in the City of London for 20+ years)
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Most large British employers should be familiar with the top 30 (US News Rankings) or so US Universities and a few of the top LACs such as Amherst, Williams, Wellesley and Wesleyan. In addition there are a few other schools with high name recognition, such as NYU, Boston U, and George Washington. Generally, the East Schools are better known than the West Coast and Midwest schools. Schools that have risen in the ranks recently (such as Northeastern) are not as well known despite being top schools.
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Similarly, most Americans that I know who live in London have gone to the types of schools that I mentioned above, although I also have many friends to who went to other LACs and Catholic universities. What these schools also have in common is strong alumni networks which should help your kids find jobs back in the UK given how many Americans there are across the UK these days.
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In general, the lower ranked/regarded/known the university is, the more important it is for kids graduating from these schools to come out of them with top grades, leadership positions and relevant internships. This is particularly important of the uni is not known for strong alumni support.
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Lastly, many kids who go to Uni in the USA want to stay there after graduation (subject to immigration, of course), so you should be prepared to discuss this outcome with your kids.
Good luck.
@momrath, re financial aid …that is extremely important context. I hope other international families also pick up on this nuance. I had read something similar I think on UPenn web-site, so was aware of it …we will keep this in mind.
Personally I would prefer a tight geographical spread as well - and I think we would have a list of around 10-12 schools for the 3 weeks we would be there. Depends how the list evolves. I am intrigued by the urban vs suburban point as well …my kids have spent all of their lives in big cities…but atleast for my D, I have a feeling she may pivot to a non-urban setting after the visits. However a number of posters have pointed out the logistics of international travel if one is too far from a well connected airport…so that’s something to think about as well.
Thank you for the specific pointers re the on-campus tour/things to see…
@londondad, this re-inforces what I had broadly assumed but did not have the first-hand experience/exposure as you…this is very good advice…and I do worry whether as an international (who might want to come back) at one of the excellent but smaller LACs…one could find it challenging etc from a career point of view. To my mind, it would need a more thoughtful and perhaps networked-led job search (of course on TOP of grades etc)
Re 4) I see it as a distinct possibility…we have travelled around a fair (due to job/country relocation etc) while they were growing up…and it seems that has fuelled a strong desire to travel/see the world etc. If truth be told, I would prefer them to be back in the UK after Uni …but… 
@valent2016, Financial aid for internationals is difficult to navigate when your situation may change as younger siblings enroll. If you do apply you may close admissions doors; if you don’t apply for freshman year, in many cases you are not allowed to apply in the future.
Some schools that offer merit aid to internationals are as follows. This is not an exhaustive list. I’m sure there are others. The amounts awarded can be highly variable.
Alabama, Babson, Bard, Carlton, Chicago, Clark, Davidson, Dickinson, Duke, Emory, Fordham, Grinnell, JHU, Howard, Kenyon, Louisiana, Miami, Mt. Holyoke, North Carolina, Northeastern, Notre Dame, Rhodes, Rice, Richmond, Rochester, Scripps, Smith, Syracuse, Tulane, Trinity U, Vanderbilt, Wooster, W&L, WUSTL
For my son, getting to his rural LAC from JFK or Boston airport was always aggravating (and we are a 25+ hour flight from either) but he got used to it. Quite a few students will be arriving at major airports by plane, even if they are travelling domestically, and they tend to pool their resources. I wouldn’t put it in the deal breaker column.
Name recognition of LACs outside of America (and even inside America) can be low. The academically rigorous LACs are well known and well respected by US graduate and professional schools; however, I’m not sure how they are regarded by European or Asian graduate schools. The plus is that LAC professors know their students and come through with personal recommendations for years to come. (At least that has been my son’s experience.)
Career opportunities after graduation depend a good deal on summer jobs, internships, contacts, networking and resumer building accomplished during the undergraduate years. As a general statement LACs fared well in this respect.
Since your daughter’s open to women’s schools, she might consider Smith and Mt. Holyoke. Smith has an especially strong performing arts program. I’m not sure that they would be safeties, but they would be solid matches.
Definitely include a broad spectrum of types of schools. For two equal/opposite reasons:
- It can open your kid’s mind to possibilities they hadn’t considered.
- A school that is for one reason or another unappealing to your kid (too urban/rural/fratty/quirky/sporrty/big/small … you name it) can help solidify their positive impressions of schools that will prove better fits.
If you ONLY visit types of schools they think they’ll like on paper, they’ll all blur together.
I was pretty sure my kid wouldn’t like big sporty schools, and I was right, but actually visiting a couple helped make that very very clear … and then other schools rose in appeal by contrast.
We are a British-American family. My kids have dual citizenship, and this issue of employability in the UK after attending an LAC has been of concern to my British husband, so we did try to factor some of this element into our D’s college search. Given the unpredictability of getting into top colleges such as Tufts, we throughly researched the career centers at her various choices to see if they had connections with globally recognized employers, etc… The college she has ended up at has two campuses aborad, one in the UK. This is true of quite a few US colleges so perhaps see if the colleges your kids are interested in have international campuses.
I think by now it is generally known, by people who need to know these things, that American LACS offer rigorous and thorough educations. There is already a vague plan that D will go the UK to get her masters (saves money, haha!) We are reasonably sure that if our D decides she wants to get a job in the UK after graduating from college that it won’t be impossible. Having said that, she will have to maximize connections she can make through the alumni network and internships. Plus, no doubt my husband would try to connect her with people in the UK.
If you intend to drive between Chicago and NYC, you will be passing very close to many strong schools. Someone else mentioned Northwestern already, but the following notable schools would either be along the drive or require a short detour:
1 - University of Wisconsin (Madison)
2 - Notre Dame (South Bend)
3 - Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Michigan State (Lansing)
4 - Ohio State (Columbus)
5 - Case Western Reserve (Cleveland)
6 - University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh)
7 - University of Rochester and Syracuse (Upstate New York)
Some people have mentioned safety schools. With your D’s stats, she would likely get merit aid in the form of in-state tuition or better at some of these schools such as MSU and OSU. Even if she did not, the cost of OOS tuition at state universities typically is a fraction of that of the small LAC’s that have been recommended, and they certainly have a greater name recognition in the US business world.
Regardless, if you are driving through central Ohio, the National Museum of the United States Air Force is a very worthwhile stop for anyone with an interest in history.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil
Also, Chicago has a world class museum campus that is worth a day or two.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Campus
Niagara Falls is also potentially along the journey, although the Canadian side is much nicer than the US.
Good luck, and I hope you enjoy the trip!
I wouldn’t drive between Chi and NYC. It’s just too long, 11 hours, and OP doesn’t already have target colleges en route. He/she has already prioritized somewhat and imo, you don’t want to blow the trip energy too fast, just to add visits, helter skelter.
I’d see UChi, have fun while getting over any jet lag, see the street scene in Chi, maybe a museum, if you’e so inclined, have the nice dinner, even ethnic, see the lake, then fly to Boston. There, the airport is right in town. You’ll immediately see you’re in another major US city. It’s on the water. Then get your car and enjoy the drive to Maine. Now you’re entering a different world. (Some decisions, like whether to stay in Boston before driving north, or head up part way, are your options.)
Some New England towns are old mill towns- for many of us, the college’s town itself doesn’t matter. Unlike Chi, NYC or DC, kids tend to focus mostly on campus activities. I’d see Bates, then Bowdoin, (they’re a couple of hours north of Boston,) then spend a day on the water in Maine-not to shop in Freeport, but to see the unique waterside culture, the lobster boats, etc… Pick a water spot based on Tripadvisor and what’s quaint enough and close enough.
Then back to Boston for those tours and decide about walking through Harvard and whether to head out to Williamstown. Yes, the Berkshires, the little Colonial towns, the arts, the vistas, are quite something. (You’d need to research, but even the drive out the Mass Turnpike is pretty. That’s the route I’d take, with the time you have.) Then the rest of it.
We found one or two tours per day was our max. Partly, that was about logistics.
The 33, btw, places your daughter not only abovre average but above the 75th percentile (by this measurement) here and there as well.
I’d do the drive myself. Given the nightmare that is flying today – they can hit Dickinson along the way. Case-Western is another possible stop (don’t know son’s interest, but if UChicago appeals, Case might, too). Given TSA lines in the US this summer, you could. easily spend six hours in the travel process that day anyway. But we are a family that likes a road trip,
I might agree with this advice if the trip was only a week or so, but they plan to be in the US for 20 days, and it would make sense to see as much of the country as possible even if some people on the coasts dismiss it as flyover country. Some other things to do on that 11 hour drive between Chicago and the NYC area:
Lake Michigan Beaches:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/travel/beach-hopping-along-lake-michigans-eastern-shores.html?_r=0
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/19-michigan-beach-towns-ranked
The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan (Great History Museum):
https://www.thehenryford.org
Cedar Point Amusement Park in northern Ohio (Roller Coaster Capital of the World):
https://www.cedarpoint.com
Cleveland Museums - They range from the Cleveland Museum of Art to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame
Gettysburg Battlefield National Park, Gettysburg PA (like visiting Flanders or Waterloo)
https://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm
Stop off and see a MLB baseball game along the way. Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh all have teams with plenty of gamedays and tickets will be cheap. It is a great slice of Americana.
And you could also drive through Canada, see Niagara Falls, eat some poutine, and maybe make a small detour to (diverse) Toronto.
^I agree. If you can avoid the TSA aggravation, drive and stop along the way.
Make sure to visit a variety of schools.
As for LACs, there are two elements to look into: 1° career center and summer internship opportunities (Hamilton, Wellesley, Middlebury, Colgate may have zero name recognition in the US, but where their students intern should be a pretty easy sell anywhere in Europe) 2° post-graduation programs attended based on department: depending on goals, many students get a Master’s degree and those from top LACs tend to end up at internationally-known universities.
I realize it’s out of the way, but you may want to take the train from Philly to DC, visit there (+ Georgetown, GW), then drive to William&Mary, which is both a touristic colonial village AND a superb university with a similar vibe as UChicago. You’d probably have to fly back up north afterwards to save time.
Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown are out of the OP’s way, but they are great places to visit. Plus they take very good care of their guests from Great Britain.
I don’t really see Wm & Mary as a cultural overlap with UChicago…
@intparent, they both draw nerdy, geeky kids and have a reputation for tough academics?
Very intellectual students who enjoy tough academics and nerdy/arcane discussions.
UChicago/Reed/W&M/Swarthmore/Columbia have overlaps of that sorts. They’re not identical but a kid who’d like one should look into the other.
I have never heard W&M listed with those other schools (UC/Reed/Swat/Columbia) as the intellectual/nerdy colleges – and we were looking for them for D2. I think of Wm & Mary as pretty steeped in tradition. Strengths are government, history, business admin. 2/3 of the students are in-state. I think it is a fine school, and more intellectual than UVA to be sure – but the overlaps listed in Fiske aren’t any of the intellectual schools on the rest of that list. I don’t think that is just a result of geography. I feel like my D1 (who is not my nerdy intellectual) would have been a much better fit at Wm & Mary than D2 (the one who loved UChicago, Swat, and Reed). That said, it might be a fine school for the OP’s D.