<p>^^ LIMom,
I just posted my college visit report on Swarthmore. Hope it’s helpful.</p>
<p>bclintonk, I read your reports, thanks for them. Would like to take a visit there sometime during the year, and we have friends in King of Prussia! I saw you did Penn on a Sat, how many total days for the schools, and since you missed on of the info sessions, how would you structure the trip if you could to do it again? We would probably skip Penn, D is interested in LACs and I might have a better chance in getting her to look at Bryn Mawr than other women’s colleges.</p>
<p>^ jackief,</p>
<p>We were highly time-constrained due to D’s schedule: lots of schools to see all around the northeast, so we tried to squeeze all the Philly-area schools into a Friday-Saturday. If I had to do it over I’d either make it three days, or at a minimum two full weekdays. Penn was the only one of the four schools in the “Quaker consortium” that offered Saturday tours & info sessions over the summer—as it turns out, not an optimal time to see Penn amongst the hordes of prospectives. I think some of the other schools might offer Saturday sessions in the Fall, but there are advantages to visiting on weekdays during the shcool year. The Bryn Mawr and Haverford info sessions were essentially at the same time on Friday, so we had to choose, and the overall schedule worked a little better to do 1) morning info session and tour at Bryn Mawr, 2) early afternoon info session and tour at Swarthmore, then 3) late afternoon (3:45) tour at Haverford. Unfortunately that left out the info session at Haverford which, as it turned out, narrowly edged out Bryn Mawr as D’s favorite (though Bryn Mawr is currently a close second in her overall list). It was a jam-packed day, but manageable. If you took two full weekdays, it would be much easier & you could do info sessions and tours at all three. If you took three days you could devote a day to each, and during the school year when there are students around your D could attend a class and eat a meal in a dining hall, possibly do an overnight etc.</p>
<p>I knew my D wouldn’t be much interested in attending Penn but we felt it was an essential part of the Bryn Mawr-Haverford-Swarthmore experience. She prefers a small LAC but also has interests in less-commonly-taught languages (Portuguese and Hindi, to be specific) available at Penn but not at any of the LACs, and since she’d have the option of taking such classes at Penn if she ends up at an LAC is the consortium, we wanted to check it out. Also, since students at the LACs take the train into Philly for weekend entertainment, we wanted to check that out as well.</p>
<p>I’d emphasize the importance of visiting Bryn Mawr if you’re seriously considering Haverford, and vice versa. They really do operate in tandem (“the Bi-co”) with tons of cross-registrations, shared majors, and joint extracurriculars, so you can’t really get the full flavor of life at one without visiting the other. Swarthmore’s a little more off by itself but there are cross-registration opportunities in the Tri-co as well, and my impression is Penn is a relatively rarely exercised option but one that was particularly important to my D given her academic interests.</p>
<p>zoosermom - we definitely should try to meet up one day. Our Ds are the same age, and I have an 11-year old S - so that could be fun.</p>
<p>bclintonk - thanks so much for posting the Swarthmore report - I found it very helpful. I’m glad your visits were so successful. We plan on doing that tour at some point this year - not sure when. D has friends who willl be going to some of those schools this year, so I’m thinking it would be good to let them get settled in and make some friends and then when we visit, she might be able to get more of a feel for how she would fit in at those schools.</p>
<p>jackief - good questions - thanks for asking them.</p>
<p>Thank you bclintonk for a great report. It is very helpful.</p>
<p>Excuse me, but where is the “college visits” section of this website ref. in post # 319? thanks.</p>
<p>Since our kids are about to be 11th graders, should we start a new thread called “Class of 2010” or something like that?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’ll second this.</p>
<p>DunninLA- if you look at the upper left under discussion menu you will see a NEW! College Visits link. </p>
<p>An updated thread name would be fine. Can this thread then be merged in or should we really have a clean slate? Either is fine with me.</p>
<p>Yes, I second a new thread.</p>
<p>BTW, my son went to a party last weekend, and several of the kids said they were doing SAT prep over the summer. I’m glad my son sees he’s not the only one with a nutty mom!</p>
<p>ok I just created a new thread, have fun everyone! I still think I win the prize for nuttiest in our school, unless there are stealth nuts.</p>
<p>I think the consensus is not to move stuff over, but if people feel otherwise, inform the moderators.</p>
<p>LIMOMof2, I believe we met in GCT earlier this year. Just wanted to let you know that if you have any specific questions about Swarthmore, DS#1 is a 2007 graduate. 
(DS#2 & 3 are class are rising juniors in HS which is why I am still perusing this thread.)</p>
<p>I remember you, momof3sons. Thanks - if I think of anything, I’ll know that I can come to you. I remember that your boys had just started learning to drive, right? So, do they have their licenses yet? My D just got her official permit last week when she turned 16, and H has taken her out a few times. I signed her up for driver’s ed which begins in Sept. I’ll start taking her out when H tells me that I won’t scare her too much…lol. I’m a nervous passenger, even with an experienced driver.</p>
<p>And I think the new thread was much-needed since we are no longer the parents of sophomores, so thanks jackief.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2-they have their road test appointments set for 8/25. Stay off the roads! ;)</p>
<p>momof3sons - LOL - Good luck to them!</p>
<p>psst, LIMOM and momof3sons, over to the new thread with you!!</p>
<p>coming mother…:D</p>
<p>I’m already there…lol.</p>