<p>Northwestern, Lake Forest, U. of Wisc., Beloit – sly_vt</p>
<p>I hope that this is the right place/board for this information.</p>
<p>This was our first family trip to look at colleges. We went to, in order, Bucknell, Franklin and Marshall, Haverford, Lafayette and Lehigh. You will see that I say more about the first schools than the last, probably just human nature as at that point the differences stand out.</p>
<p>Introduction
It might be useful to have some sort of introduction to know what kind of point of view I/we are coming from so you have a context for the point of view. That only seems to come across after reading over a dozen or more of someones postings. That being said, We are an upper middle class, liberal, politically aware, Jewish family from NYC and my son goes to one of the better, not the best, private schools. He is a B+ student with some, but not a lot, of extracurricular activities. </p>
<p>Bucknell
From what I had read, I came prepared not to like this school. This is why you visit. Both my S and I came away with a favorable impression. Yes, the school is in the middle of nowhere. This does not seem to be an issue. The students all say that there is plenty to do on campus and there is transportation available. Many students seem to participate in sports as they have very nice spats facilities. They are mostly a Division III school with one or two Division I teams (something called a Johns Hopkins exception. Im not sure what that is.) I have more to say about this at Lafayette. The academic facilities seem to be first rate. I had read that the fraternities were a major influence on the campus but that is something you cant get a sense of on a tour. One thing Bucknell and a few other schools do is start the frat rushing in sophomore year so students can get to know each other first. I have more to say about frats in the Lehigh section. One minor thing that shows what baggage parents bring to the process and what prompted me to write the introduction. Being Jewish, you are conscious of being a minority and you worry about how that will play out for your son. This is not an issue in NYC but might be elsewhere. The fraternity issue is also mixed up in that. Part of that was put to rest by the fact that our tour guide was Jewish and part of a fraternity. This having been our first tour, I learned a lot about what to expect from a college visit. Dont use the visit as a primary decision maker but one of many pieces of information to help make your final decision. All the information you receive will have some sort of bias, mine included.</p>
<p>Franklin and Marshall
Again, my impressions before I came were not favorable. I thought it was just a pre-professional everything school. It might, in fact, be just that but it is not the impression that the information and tour give. That is why I mention above that the tour is only one piece of information in your decision making process. F&M is located in Lancaster which is a small city. The campus is not totally enclosed in the land that it has. By that, I mean that you have to cross a few city streets to get to certain sections of the campus. Its academic and athletic facilities seem to be comparable to Bucknells. The gym seemed better at Bucknell. There are fraternities but it did not seem to be an issue. Our impressions were very favorable.</p>
<p>Haverford
Though I do not think that my son has the grades to get in here, on paper, this was my favorite. Again, this is why the visit is so important. This school is very small. The tour was in the afternoon (Thursday) and we saw very few students walking around. I know that, academically, this is a fabulous school but the visit did not put forth a favorable impression. This is the kind of thing that is difficult to put into words and why the visit is important. Call it a vibe but we all felt the same way. It is possible that this is one of the intangible things might make someone love this school. Remember, all writers on this board come with their own set of biases, myself included. There is an Honor Code here. My son had a very interesting reaction to this. He is the kind of kid who has a clear ethical sense of what is right and wrong and is trusted by other kids to be objective. His take was that the Honor Code would put an undue pressure on him to always have to act in the most responsible way 24/7, Even to the point of policing other people. I found his reaction to be very sensible about what kind of college experience you want to have. Many kids at Haverford are very proud of the Honor Code. </p>
<p>Lafayette<br>
This school had many similarities to both Bucknell and F&M. Both my son and I had one similar reaction to Lafayette. How can a school of 2,400 students field approximately 24 Division I teams. We did the math and figured that there has to some sort of underlying bias in favor of athletes. Again, this is just an impression but that is what the visits are all about. Our impression was somewhat favorable. </p>
<p>Lehigh
This is basically an engineering and business school. We did not have a favorable impression. We got a more detailed assessment of the school by talking with the son of a friend of my wifes. From him, we got a better assessment of the fraternity statistics. Even if the statistics only say that they are 30-40%, there influence can be much larger. Sometimes the athletes, say 10-20%, will self-segregate, ditto for foreign students, so what is left over might be a distinct minority. The only way to do this is to talk to the students.</p>
<p>Alan thanks for sharing your trip report. As Bucknell Alum- nice to read the favorable report. You did not mention your son’s possible major, and since you liked the smallness of Haverford, have you thought about Muhlenberg? Our D is freshman there now, FYI 
PM me and I would be happy to share and compare to the schools you have already seen.</p>
<p>SouthJerseyChessMom, thanks for responding. Let me clarify my Haverford review. I realize that I did not clearly state that we were NOT favorble to Haverford. My “vibe” reference was a negative connotation. </p>
<p>We did rush through Muhlenberg because that was all the time we had so I have no clear opinion though it was clearly inhabited by many students. I am new to the board so I did not understand what your PM reference was. I would be glad to discuss any of this with you. We are going to see Colgate, Hamilton and the University of Rochester in the next few days and in a few weeks, probably Johns Hopkins, McDaniel and Goucher as we will be visiting relatives in Baltimore.</p>
<p>I appreciated your report and look forward to hearing about Rochester.</p>
<p>This was our second set of tours. I wrote about Bucknell, et al above. I believe that as you write these reports, you tend to focus on the differences and possibly leave out general descriptive information. </p>
<p>Hamilton
The first thing you notice is that this is a very pretty campus. There are many old and well maintained buildings. I am an architect and I always notice the architecture. This was our second set of college tours. We realized at this school how the tour guide has an effect on your initial overall impression. The guide told us that this was his first tour. He actually did an extremely good job of showing and describing the campus. After describing all the activities he was involved in, we surmised that he was one of those overachievers that top colleges will get. We also figured that he was probably an atypical student in that regard. What was annoying was the several references to alumni connections you can make and how that relates to making money. Hamilton does not seem to have as strong an emphasis on athletics. The food was very good. Tour guide aside, we had a favorable impression of the school.</p>
<p>University of Rochester
The immediate impression given at the end of information session, when all seven of the tour guides were presented, is that this is a very diverse school. I do not say this in any negative way but after visiting all the schools that we did, this kind of diversity just hits you in the face. My son goes to school in New York City so I do not believe that diversity/or the lack thereof is an issue. My sense is that the many of the students here are very bright public school kids. They all seem to have double and triple majors and minors. The campus, relative to the other colleges we visited, was nondescript. Though I believe that there academics are good here, the emphasis seems to be on the sciences and engineering. The overall impression was neutral to unfavorable.</p>
<p>Colgate
Having seen Hamilton and Colgate on successive days, it was clear how much of your impression can be influenced by the tour guide you get. Relative to the tour guide at Hamilton, the tour guide at Colgate seemed much more normal. I am sure that this has influenced how we look at these two schools. Superficially, besides a slight difference in size (Hamilton is about 1,800 students, Colgate about 2,800) and the fact that Colgate is a Division I athletic school, it is hard to see much difference between these two schools. Remember, I am only writing about the impression from the tour (and the guide) and my own inherent biases. We had a very favorable impression of the school. At this early stage, I would put it at the top of our list. </p>
<p>In a few weeks we are going to Baltimore to visit relatives and will try and visit Johns Hopkins, Goucher and McDaniel. We were actually at the Goucher campus last year for a wedding so we know what it looks like. I would never have heard of McDaniel (previously called Western Maryland) if not for the Colleges That Change Lives book. The book helps to give a different perspective on the whole college selection process.</p>
<p>Good morning, Alan: I read your report on Rochester with interest. Thanks for posting. Any chance of a little more detail in your reports? (Sorry, but I’m a mom. I can’t help myself.) Like, how do the kids dress (designer labels or just rolled out of bed)? What did the admissions staff stress aside from the usual AP courses and rigor of schedule? Were the buildings in good repair? I’d appreciate anything else you could share.</p>
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<p>The school appears to be just outside of the downtown area of Rochester. Though it is urban, it is bounded by a cemetery and a nice river. Think the Charles River in Boston but smaller. It does have a football field but it ispacked tighter into campus then other more suburban or rural schools. There are open areas and quads between the buildings. The undergraduate buildings are separated from the graduate buildings. The graduate buildings seem to emphasize the sciences and medicine. I believe the Eastman school of music is on a different campus. The buildings appear to be in good shape. They are building an addition to one of the science buildings. The kids dress like normal teenagers. I cant identify it as J. Crew or anything like that.</p>
<p>Folks, it’s best if you start a separate thread for each of your Trip Reports, and then put a pointer here in this thread, so discussion and comment can go in threads specific to each school, and we can collect pointers in May when the visit season slows down a bit, making it easier for future attenders to find the specific school they’re interested in. Just a suggestion… And in that vein, here is another trip report pointer.</p>
<p>Northeastern University: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=168222[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=168222</a></p>
<p>Another trip report pointer: </p>
<p>WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute): <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=169272[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=169272</a></p>
<p>Another trip report pointer:</p>
<p>Rensselaer (RPI): <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=169817[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=169817</a></p>
<p>I just wrote this up for Johns Hopkins.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2125354#post2125354[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2125354#post2125354</a></p>
<p>Chedva’s report on Bucknell:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=175014[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=175014</a></p>
<p>kathiep’s report on Roanoke College:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=175447[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=175447</a></p>
<p>hayden’s report on USC:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=176606[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=176606</a></p>
<p>Indiana - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=176648[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=176648</a></p>
<p>has anyone checked out theu.com? they have great video tours of colleges, and they’re unbiased (unlike the official college tours, haha).</p>
<p>i bought them and loved them!</p>
<p>on;t know if anyone posted this trip : <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=50769&highlight=Ithaca+College[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=50769&highlight=Ithaca+College</a></p>
<p>Drexel (This was where ABCs reality show Back on Campus was filmed) rising senior D attended an playwriting seminar that included an admissions office presentation and campus tour. She also got to sit in on a class. Drexel is your typical city campus, not much looks like a typical college campus. While she enjoyed the seminar and sitting in on the class, she hated the campus. Also, it was too close to home. Afterwards, she changed her tune about going to school in the city and decided to consider more schools in suburban and rural areas.</p>
<p>Millersville University of Pennsylvania were in-staters, so this will be a financial safety for D facilities show some wear and tear but basically look great the main residential quad is very stark and barren (no trees or plants in sight, bare patches on the grass), but the academic part of campus is beautiful. The academic buildings are in the older campus area and look to be top notch. D not sure about the social life aspect, its basically in the middle of nowhere and you have to drive distances to get to a city (Philly, Baltimore or Harrisburg) but they have a full offering of clubs and organizations Also theres a lottery for parking spaces for freshmen, which turned her off however, D was very excited by the offerings in her major, so she will be applying.</p>
<p>Gettysburg (my alma mater, so Im biased) D had just attended a reunion here last year so she was familiar with the campus. While the freshman dorms still leave something to be desired (and I was able to find my freshman dorm room after 25 years!) they are now all coed by room. Campus has upgraded its science and athletic facilities and there are some almost new upperclass suite dorms that are air conditioned! Most of the older classroom buildings have undergone recent makeovers, everything looks new and fresh (to me anyway). Anyone can have a car on campus, even freshmen. D decided one of the things she likes most about this campus is the fact that it is so safe, you can basically leave your stuff laying around for hours and mo one will touch it! Also there is still a great sense of community there, which is probably the one single thing I enjoyed most about my four years at the burg.</p>
<p>Susquehanna beautiful area, although its basically in the middle of nowhere lots of new building going on , the athletic facilities are top notch! D got very excited about the opportunities for musical theatre and drama (although not planning on majoring) also what they call the chapel doubles as a 1000+ performing arts venue with a (get this ) revolving stage! Mot of the buildings have undergone recent renovations. This was her first real interview (all of the others were information sessions) Admissions staff was very friendly and helpful! Also seems to have a great sense of community, which was absent at the two larger campuses weve visited.</p>
<p>BTW doing an Ohio-N PA tour in July Miami-Ohio, U of Dayton, Ohio Wesleyan, Marietta and Allegheny. Will add our reports afterwards!</p>
<p>Thanks Springfieldmom! I look forward to reading your other reports. :)</p>