<p>All 3 are super-urban. Drexel most of all…it’s one high rise after another mixed in with medical buildings from what i saw. UPenn is in the exact same area though we only drove by and I was told we should have gotten out and walked because a lot of the campus is “inside”. D spent a week at Temple in an engineering program and found the campus to be modern (AC dorms, modern large dining hall, pretty walkways) and pleasant, though it’s also very urban and there are many who caution about the neighborhood (though this seems to be a recurring theme with any urban campus).</p>
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<p>D is interested because of co-op and Boston, we will definitely visit. What is your S’ major? Does he apply and interview for co-ops or does the school handle a lot of of it or…?</p>
<p>Wolverine, dealing with twins approaching college from very different perspectives must be challenging. I had challenge enough with sisters who were two years apart in school. What worked best for us was focusing on each one’s strengths and interests and being encouraging, just the way you are. D2 was not the same sort of student as D1 and she did compare herself to her big sister. Finding the right college for her helped enormously. She really thrived in school and did really well and is much more likely to describe herself as “smart” now. I also found that taking both of them on visits to a wide range of schools helped them both to clarify what they liked and what they didn’t. Ironically, it was D1 who had more trouble figuring out her college path than D2.</p>
<p>My D will also be looking at Northeastern probably, but does anybody know how they do in the co-op process with a kid who is interested more in humanities/IR/foreign language?</p>
<p>suzy100, our guide on the campus tour at NU was a 4th yr student from Georgia whose interests were language (Arabic) and IR. She had just done a coop in Jordan, and had friends who had done coops in Russia.</p>
<p>We toured some Southern Schools with my D1. One of our fav trips is the college road trip we did with her. We visited UNC, Duke, UVA, W &L and finished at Georgetown in DC. We are in the Atlanta area so very familiar with Emory, GT and UGA. Shoot me any questions. D2 intends to stay in the South for college too! </p>
<p>If you are looking for coop schools GT has a well established/ well thought of program but definitely an urban environment that doesn’t suit all kids.</p>
<p>I know that they’re not that meaningful, but the USNWR rankings are out with Princeton at #1 so it’s PHY this year, not HPY. Schools mentioned on this thread: Lehigh # 41 (wasn’t it in the 30s last year?), tied with BU (which took a big jump, it was #50 last year) and NEU at #49, up from #56 last year and #80 in 2010. NYU is #32, don’t remember where it was last year.</p>
<p>crepes, I lived in Syracuse as a young adult while my ex was in grad school there. I believe the Newhouse School has a great reputation, but don’t know much about the rest, or at least don’t have up-to-date info. We lived off-campus, but I thought the campus was nice. Not too big and not too small. There’s a little “town” area around campus, and then the downtown area of Syracuse is very close. The city isn’t very big, and it is focused on the sports action at the school. The surrounding area is beautiful - Adirondacks and Finger Lakes are a few hours away. The winters are VERY long.</p>
<p>Crepes we visited U of R- we need to go back as it was the very first school that my daughter saw. I was very impressed. The Newhouse School at Syracuse has a great reputation, but Syracuse as a whole is not a very competitive school. We drove around ( and got lost!) in the area. There is a very cute little town right by the school but if you wander a little bit further out ( a few blocks) it is quite run down. There is also a very nice mall nearby. My daughter’s friend goes to Syracuse and seems happy. I know another girl who is there with an art scholarship.</p>
<p>Well I stalked the Villanova website all day and someone did cancel for the open house. I’ll let you all know when we get back. We walked through campus on July 4th when we were in the area for a tournament but everything was closed down. We’ll see what she thinks after the weekend.</p>
<p>keepmecruisin, good for you! Can I ask you to look out for diversity–not just racial & ethnic, but also whether it looks like a lot of students are from suburban areas and Catholic schools in the Northeast?</p>
<p>Keepmecruisin, if you have time and interest, it’s worth driving a couple of miles down the road and taking a look at Haverford and Bryn Mawr. They are both small schools and may be too small for your D but they are both beautiful and excellent academically.</p>
<p>Twogirls, the SUNY Environmental Sciences school is also housed at Syracuse and that’s a competitive school with a very strong reputation in the sciences.</p>
<p>3girls I had no idea that’s where the school was located! Thanks for the info. I also wanted to clarify what I meant about Syracuse: it’s a fine school- when I said that its not very competitive I meant in comparison to some of the other schools that these CC students tend to apply to. My daughter’s friend loves it. I believe SUNY upstate medical school is also located right there as well. The GC put Syracuse on my older daughter’s list, but that $55,000 price tag scared me away and I doubt she would have gotten merit aid. My junior may qualify for merit aid there but she has no interest in going.</p>
<p>Well I am happy to report that my daughter is getting much better at handling her stress. She got home from her game at 7:45 and started her hw then. There is a new rule that states that the varsity players must also stay for the JV game, which means they are home late. We are trying to get them to allow parent pick ups so they can get home earlier. </p>
<p>She has an essay due next week and a shorter essay due tomorrow for US. She has physics notes to review and a Spanish quiz on Friday. Not sure yet about math and English homework- I am getting “shushed” when I try and ask. Welcome to day #2 of junior year!!</p>
<p>3girls3cats…I really hope the day comes when S will recognize how bright he is and be happy with his own achievements, but the “ripple” effect is in full swing in our house right now. D2 feels the need to compete and compare herself with D1 (both STRONG type A overachievers) and S only looks at his grades and test scores in comparison to his sisters. He thinks if he doesn’t go straight to a 4-year university he’s somehow “let us down” and it kills me to hear him knock himself like that. Hopefully the next year or so will bring him some perspective.</p>
<p>We’re planning our Spring Break campus tour extravaganza for mostly southern schools, primarily ones that offer opportunities for large merit scholarships. Our goal is to have at least one or two safety schools nailed down by the end of April, and use a few targeted visits next summer for any “take a shot” schools they may want to apply to. I’d be more than thrilled if they fell in love with any of the safety schools and decided to attend there. I’d happily shift the limited college funds to the grad school pool. :)</p>
<p>If D2’s PSAT score happens to put her in a fairly confident position for Nat’l Merit, she’s interested in visiting UKentucky, Bama, UCF, UAB, Miss St, UT Dallas, OK State…probably more than we can reasonably hope to see in just a week but we’ve got time to whittle down the list some. McNair Scholars at USCar might fall into the “take a shot” category. She loved the idea of UTenn (she’s a sucker for orange) but I don’t see enough merit money there to make it a realistic possibility.</p>
<p>If anybody has any experience with any of these schools we’d love to hear your thoughts…good or bad. We keep an open mind either way.</p>
<p>twogirls…Glad to hear your D is handling everything better. It’s amazing what our kids can handle compared to what I remember from the dark ages of my HS days. D2 had a XC meet today in 95 degree heat (more than half the girls from BOTH teams never finished the course) and still has a mountain of homework to wade through tonight. I can’t say I’m pleased that the coaches couldn’t agree to postpone the meet due to the heat index (ours wanted to, opposition coach didn’t) but D was smart enough to call “uncle” before hitting the heat stress point. “XC is great dad…but school takes priority”. Couldn’t be more proud of my little egghead!! :)</p>
<p>Crepes - I have two sons at University of Rochester - a senior and a sophomore. They both live it and I’ve been very happy with the experiences and opportunities they’ve had there. They’re both math majors. Let me know if you have any questions. :)</p>