NY Times Obituary for Matt Turney

Matt Turney was my mother's best friend in life. My mother notified dance critic Jennifer Dunning of Matt's death and assisted her in piecing together this lovely obituary:

Elsa is accepted at Wesleyan!

On December 11 at 3pm, Wesleyan posted admission results for ED1 applicants for the class of 2014. Of course, the email that provided us with that information ended up in Elsa's spam. How I learned this is another story.

For our family, learning Elsa's results was going to be tricky. I work at school, planning out and typing up our weekly homework sheet on Fridays with my colleagues until 6pm or so. Elsa is dismissed from school at 1:30, but often stays after school on Fridays for her Irish History class which she is taking in preparation for her trip to Ireland in March. I really wanted to be with her when she learned her admission results, but I didn't know how this could be possible. I was very worried about her disappointment, rejection and feeling awful if the news was bad or very bad. But I also wanted to share the joy with her if the news was good-after all, the college application process took over a year of hard work, worry and stress for both of us. I was worried, too, about the champagne factor: to buy or not to buy? If we bought some prior to learning Elsa's results, might the champagne have been a jinx if the results were bad or very bad? On the other hand, if we held off and the news was good, would we want to schlep out to cold, depressing, Cortelyou Road to get some at a happy moment? Neither option seemed right. Clearly this was going to take some planning.

Elsa was clear: she didn't want to get her results at school. She needed the privacy of her own home. She decided, bravely, to essentially wait, to stay after school for her Ireland class and then rush home to log on to the Wesleyan web site by 4 pm instead of 3. How mature! On Thursday, the day before, I snuck a cold bottle of champagne into the back of the fridge. I figured it this way: if Elsa didn't know it was there, it wouldn't jinx her result, but would be there, chilled, if we needed it on Friday. About work, I explained my situation to my colleagues and we wrote our homework sheet on Thursday. Doing so helped keep me busy rather than calculating the hours until the results were posted. I was able to leave school Friday at 3:30 precisely. Jonathan held me up a bit and caused me some serious stress, but that's another story as well.

All day Friday, I watched the clock. I tried to keep myself busy and refused to think about 3pm. I have no idea how Elsa got through the day. I'll have to ask her. Around 3:05 I began to feel nauseous and wondered how on earth I would comfort my baby girl if she were rejected from her dream school. As we approached our house in the car, we saw Elsa and her friend Julia running down the street behind our house. We pulled over and Elsa and Julia hopped in the car. "Hurry up!" Elsa squealed.

When we pulled into the driveway, Elsa flew out of the car and into the house. Julia followed. Elsa left the front door standing open and dropped her coat and bag in the entryway. She scrambled to her computer in the dining room and opened it. I had read the advice of other parents purposely keeping their distances and giving their children space while they logged on. So, I stood in the next room, the living room where I could clearly see Elsa, but was not standing over her. I waited as she typed. It was taking a while. She was studying the screen. I decided to hang up my coat and then return to my spot. She typed some more. I waited nervously. I decided to hang up my purse. "What's my Wes ID?" she hollered. I had no idea, even though I had memorized it. It's six digits and has an 8 in it. I rattled off something. It was wrong. Elsa typed in more numbers.

Elsa studied the screen. She read silently. She said nothing. This was torture. I decided that I would definitely vomit. I gave up waiting and went to hang up her coat when she screamed, "I got in!" Then we all screamed. Elsa leaped towards me. Julia, Elsa and I grabbed each other and just bellowed. The cats ran off. The dog barked. Elsa burst into tears. Then she began to run through the house screaming, "I can't believe it-I got in!"

Jonathan sat down at the computer to read aloud the actual acceptance letter, but no one was listening. We were screaming and Elsa was crying and hugging Julia. I went into the kitchen and dug out the chilled champagne. I opened it and struggled to find four glasses. Elsa was texting by this time, carefully telling her news and asking about others' results.

We made a toast. We printed the letter. I read it four or five times more, folded it, and put it in my pocket. Several times that evening and the next day, I read the letter over again.

Elsa had made the right decision about Wesleyan ED1 and Middlebury Posse. She followed her gut and called it right.

Thank you Wesleyan!
Good work, Elsa!

Middlebury

Elsa and I made one very last visit to one more school.

We had to see Middlebury after Elsa received notice that she was invited to be a Posse finalist. This was something that we had not expected, and when we had to guess about the odds of this happening for her, we guessed that she had better odds at being accepted to her top choice school ED1 than she had of becoming a Posse finalist. So we applied to her top choice school ED1.

Of course, we guessed wrong. She was selected as a Posse finalist on a Monday and the decision to Posse had to be in by Friday, 5 pm. Talk about stress!



Legally, we could not accept the Posse offer because in doing so, one is applying ED and we had already done that. Why? We did it because we believed it was Elsa's best chance of acceptance to a school that she loves along with a place on the soccer team.

But, because the Posse is such a generous scholarship and could have really helped our family, I insisted that we go to Middlebury for a visit. First, I called the Posse Foundation and explained our situation to them. They were very receptive and honest. We were told that we had to make the choice by Friday. The catch is that if Elsa accepted the offer, she would be competing with 21 other students for 10 or 11 spots at Middlebury. It wasn't a sure bet at all. But, had we known of the timeline of deadlines in advance, we could have applied to her dream school EDII and accepted the Posse in the interim. If we accepted Posse and she got it, and she was selected by Middlebury from the 21 applicants, we would have had to send her. We would have been committed. So, we needed to see the school first.



Middlebury is magnificent. The only drawback is the location-far from NYC. Otherwise everything was PERFECT. I loved it. I instantly worshipped the school. I wanted Elsa to accept very badly. Everything was going well, except for our meeting with the soccer coach. We dropped in on him unexpectedly, with no appointment. He was amazingly gracious. He's a lovely man and most likely a very good coach, but he was clearly not interested in Elsa as a potential player at all. He knew nothing about her! Accepting the Posse would have meant Elsa giving up soccer, or playing JV. After so many years of training and preparing, this news was a huge and insulting disappointment and one that Elsa chose not to accept. So that was it.



We passed on the Posse.

It is unbelievable to me as it could have meant four years of tuition paid at a terrific college that specializes in languages and foreign study. Posse even helps with graduate school scholarships!

I loved that campus, the best of all that we have seen.

I called Posse before we left Vermont, to tell then our decision, but the woman I needed to speak to was busy. I decided not to call back because I didn't know how to explain our decision at all. On our way back to NYC, Posse called Elsa to find out her status. Very sweet. She thanked them kindly and declined.

There were mountains surrounding us the entire time we were there.




I cried all weekend.

I love the dream school, but I loved this school more. But, Elsa didn't and that's what counts.

PSAL Girls Soccer Final

Beacon lost. The score was 0-0 through the regulation play and two sudden death overtimes. The games went to PK's and Beacon scored 4, Bronx Science 5. It was heartbreaking. But soccer is sometimes.



Congratulations to the Girl's Soccer Team. The girls lost yesterday's championship game in penalty kicks to Bronx Science, but dominated play through 100 minutes of beautiful soccer. This was Beacon's 3rd straight year in the championship game and it was the leadership of Elsa Hardy and Hannah Collyns-and the other seniors-Caroline Quigley, Dalia Sharps, Isabel Weiner, and Christina Angione that carried the team through another undefeated season to get to the championship. Thank you to all of the team for another exciting season and for representing Beacon so well.

Thanks also to the hundred plus students teachers and parents who came to Randall's Island yesterday to watch and cheer. Your energy and enthusiasm for the game helped push the team right up to the very end.

Next year-back to the finals!

Kevin Jacobs
Coach
.

Beacon Girls Advance to Finals Against Bronx Science

Okay, so I broke my promise not to write about soccer. But today was so exciting for us, I just had to post. Elsa's high school team is 15-0 this season. And in the post season, they have won every game decisively. Today they beat last year's PSAL champions, MSIT 2-1. The winning goal was scored by freshman Tyler Sloan off of an assist delivered by Jenny Angione. MSIT beat Beacon last season in PK's-it was a heartbreaking loss. As a senior, this win has major significance for Elsa. Beacon will play Bronx Science, an old rival (who beat Beacon earlier this year in a non-league game resulting in Beacon's placement as the number two seed in the post season,) for the PSAL NYC Championship. The game is this Sunday at Randall's.

Check out the video of the winning goal:

Pushing the SUBMIT Button!

Most college applicants apply RD (regular decision) and their applications are due January 1st, January 15th, February 1st or later. Some schools accept applications until March or even April 1st. Students applying Early Decision, ED, submit applications as of November 1st or 15th. These students will be notified of their acceptances by December 15th or so. Many schools have something wonderful called 'Early Action" which allows students to apply early, to be notified early, but to not have to commit to just one school early.

Today, Elsa completed her on line applications and pressed the submit button to apply to three schools: two early action and one early decision. If she is accepted to her early decision school, she must withdraw her early action applications. In that case, she will be done and will not need to submit any further applications to any colleges. If she is deferred or rejected to her ED school, she will apply to four or five additional schools. We will hope for acceptances to her EA schools in the interim. My friend Heather's daughter already has one acceptance under her belt. It was from a school with rolling admissions. These schools accept or reject students as the applications roll in. When they have enough acceptances, they simply close their registration for the semester.

We are nervous, excited and a bit in disbelief that the official process has begun!

For more information on rolling, early action, early decision and regular admissions, check out collegeconfidential.com, discussion, parents. This website has been of enormous help to me!

Good luck to all applicants!

The CSS Profile

The CSS profile is the form many private LACs use to determine the financial needs of families. Other schools, including most SUNYS, use the FAFSA, or both. The advantage of the FAFSA, as I understand it, is that it looks at income only, and is not concerned with home equity, an advantage for families whose homes have increased in value significantly over the years.

Over the summer, we read a book, "How To Pay For Your Child's Education Without Going Broke." Using the book, we were able to determine our EFC, estimated family contribution to the COA, cost of attendance to college. Using an on-line EFC calculator, our estimated EFC was frightening. Using the workbook, we got a better, but still upsetting number. On College Confidential, a website devoted to the posts of college seeking families, I learned that regarding EFC, there is shock, denial and then acceptance. We are moving through the phases.

Our family completed and submitted our CSS profile last night. Elsa is applying to her top school ED and this form was due earlier this month. We missed the deadline, but were told by the FA office that if we got it in in the next few days that we would be in good shape. These decisions are big and complicated. The FAFSA needs to be completed as soon after January 1st as possible. One's tax forms for the previous year should be completed and submitted as soon as possible as well.

For more information about the CSS profile, go to collegeboard.com. About the FAFSA, look at fafsa.org. There is also lots and lots of information on collegeconfidential. com. I read the Parent Pages, Financial Aid pages and the College Admission pages regularly. But, if you are new to this process, be prepared to feel a but upset and panicky after viewing many posts. Avoid the "chance me" posts for sure!

Additional Colleges

I am hoping to be able to post observations and photos from my friend Heather's latest college visits to St. Lawrence College as well as to Juniata College in PA. In the interim, Elsa has done overnights at Wesleyan and at Haverford. She has enjoyed the experiences immensely.



Recently, Wesleyan hosted an all day open house which our family attended. It was great. There were financial aid workshops, admissions workshops, tours of dorms, of the athletic center, of the campus, of the sciences, etc. Students spoke, the president spoke, Elsa attended a class in her area of interest and we got to eat on the campus and experience real college food.



While were were in town, we stayed with family and were lucky enough to tour Trinity College on a cold Sunday afternoon. The college is beautiful, if not just a bit deserted, but located in an area of town that must make some families from pristine suburbs more than a bit nervous. Coming from NYC, we are consistently un-phased by such "less than stellar" neighborhoods, but I can just imagine the CC posts about Hartford, CT!

Interviews and Overnights

This fall, Elsa has been trying to narrow the list of colleges to which she will apply.

One way to do this is to spend the night at a college and possibly attend classes during the day. Athletes are often invited by coaches to attend games, to eat and to stay over with members of the team with which they would play, if accepted. This weekend, Elsa had two overnights scheduled: Smith and Mount Holyoke College. The Smith overnight was rather loose, but very pleasant. Elsa enjoyed her host, Meredith, and her house very much. She wasn't able to attend classes, but she did see a practice and she got to sample Smith food. She had a wonderful time.



















The Mount Holyoke overnight was a more structured event called Focus on Athletics. Prospective athletes for many sports were invited to attend a series of events including a performance by an a capella group, a panel discussion, a campus tour, an overnight and the opportunity to attend classes during the day.







Elsa attended, but later did not feel well and ended up not spending the night. It was a well organized and welcoming event, and I felt that it gave an honest inside view of the school. Many students who love the school now were skeptical in the beginning and not necessarily looking for an all women's college to attend. Many now feel that they definitely benefitted from the experience and believe in the value of single sex education for women. Interesting!





The weekend began when the Beacon soccer coach, Kevin Jacobs, drove the varsity team to Wesleyan for a tour and a meeting with the women's soccer coach. From CT, they traveled to Amherst, his almer mater, to meet with the Amherst women's coach. The team spent the night at the house of a former professor (how generous!) and then had a tour of the campus the next day. Elsa missed these festivities as she was at Smith. Mr. Jacobs kindly dropped her off. But we did join the team on Saturday for the Williams/Amherst women's soccer game, an annual rivalry, to see former Beacon teammate Chelsea's new team play. It was a rainy afternoon of great soccer. Unfortunately Chelsea did not play. Williams won 3-0, although Amherst looked strong in the beginning and challenged Williams several times.

Elsa has four more overnights scheduled before she will make her final decisions. Whew!

A Nice New Wrinkle in our College Search

Elsa was nominated by a friend who graduated Beacon last year for a Posse Scholarship. The Posse Foundation is one which identifies solid students who might not have quite the grades or test scores for admittance into top schools. For each participating school, ten finalists are selected from a bigger pool by the schools and offered an opportunity to attend each school and their tuition is paid. Recipients still pay room and board.

Here is a quote from the Posse Foundation web site:

The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. Posse’s partner colleges and universities award Posse Scholars four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships. These Scholars graduate at a rate of 90 percent and make a visible difference on campus and throughout their professional careers.

The following schools accept New York City Posse scholars: Babson, Brandeis, Colby, DePauw, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Lafayette, LAwrence, Middlebury, Trinity, Vanderbuilt, and Wheaton. Some of these schools are already on Elsa's list, making this possibility very exciting.

The rub is that Posse recipients agree to weekly two hour meetings with fellow Posse scholars, beginning right after acceptance in December (like early decision.) These meetings continue throughout the four years of undergraduate study. That's a big comittment! Also, Posse recipients do not ever learn if they would have been accepted at their other choice schools.

Elsa survived the first of three rounds of interviews. The second is next week. If she survives that round, we will have some serious decision making to do!

For more information about The Posse Foundation, go to: www.possefoundation.org.

Bowdoin

One evening this summer, Elsa suddenly decided that she was interested in one Maine college, Bowdoin. It's ranked # 6 in US News and World Reports and it's even more selective than her other choices. Terrific! Chris had told her how beautiful it is, so Elsa decided to investigate. She contacted the soccer coach and arranged a tour and a meeting for shortly after her arrival in Portland. Unfortunately, she couldn't interview on the same day, so I scheduled an interview for her for the following week, on the day we collected Jeremy from camp and Elsa and Chris from New Harbor.



The day of our visit was sunny and hot. The campus looked especially gorgeous, but as we walked around, I wondered how often it looked and felt like this, warm and pleasant, during the school year. We did a 1:30 tour with Melissa and a 2:30 information session with an admissions officer and a student. It was Jonathan's, Jeremy's and our dog, Phoebe's first college tour.





There is a warm and welcoming feeling about Bowdoin. The school doesn't feel pretentious or as indifferent to visitors as Brown did. And, I have to say, that it felt more relaxed even than Wesleyan does to me. Maybe that's because we visited during the summer. (Of course, we were also at Wesleyan during the summer as well.) I also have to say that the information session was not as specific and informative as it might have been. I cannot now clearly articulate what makes Bowdoin Bowdoin.

I get that it is rigorous, and intellectual, and there seems to be a degree of flexibility. The student presenter described an Italian class that met in a cafe outside of class to chat and practice conversational Italian. The campus is breathtaking, and one, like Dickinson in Carlisle and Brown in Providence, that is sprinkled into the town of Brunswick, a very cute and happening little Maine town where Jonathan actually used to live. Bowdoin is also close to Portland, which is appealing as well.


Bowdoin was founded on the principle of "the common good." Quoting the viewbook that is: "...the belief that education should be used to improve the lives of others and not for personal gain.* Nice.

What I like most about Bowdoin is the information it provides on its financial aid web site. There are two pod casts on there with Bowdoin financial aid officers giving general FA information, as well as information specific to Bowdoin applicants. Simply by offering such helpful and encouraging assistance makes me, as a parent, feel that our daughter is encouraged to apply both to the school and for financial aid. So, I guess we're adding another "reach" school to the list. Our next job is to whittle the list down to 10 schools. We'll post when we do.

All photos on this post were taken by Chris Bittner. (My camera battery died.)

Steely Dan

As we were leaving our house to go to the Beacon Theater August 3rd, we saw our neighbor, Paul.

"Where are you going?" he asked as we loaded into our car.

"To a concert," I responded.

"Really? What concert?" he asked.

"Steely Dan!" I replied enthusiastically.

"Wow!" was his response.

"Yes, I know. We never do anything like this." I explained.

"We never do anything at all," my husband Jonathan added, truthfully.

According to the New York Times, Steely Dan, a band I have admired for years, has not performed on a tour since 1974. I would have been 16. Impossible. We don't do many concerts, especially not expensive ones. I can name the artists I have seen live in my life: Hall & Oates, George Harrison (I was 16,) Jackson Browne, James Taylor (twice) and now, Steely Dan. I named my cat 'Aja' after this album.

I have to say, this was a lifetime highlight. I've been to Africa. I've seen Steely Dan. I can die now.

The concert was fantastic. This band is SO talented. I love their music. Not one single bit was annoying. I love every song/piece they play. It's my type of music. The concert was worth the price of the VERY expensive tickets.

The concert, Aja, reminded my of my second year of college at UK. Lexington, Kentucky experienced a huge snowstorm one winter. There were three feet of snow on the ground and the state owned no snow plows. The town shut down completely. I was stuck at home, at 200 Richmond Avenue, a tiny Arts and Crafts style bungalow knockoff, with my wonderful roommate, Sugar, and her boyfriend at the time, David Sorrell. We drank Bloody Marys in the afternoons and listened to Aja. Need I say more? Thank you Becker and Fagen for those wonderful memories. Thank you for allowing me to remember them again.

PS This photo was taken from the Times web site. Had I been allowed to bring my camera, I would have taken a photo of my own. This one was taken by Michael Nagle. Where's Becker?
Read the Times review: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/arts/music/30steely.html

Williams and Bennington

Neither school is on our list, but somehow this week's adventure was spent on both campuses. Elsa's Beacon teammate, Chelsea, will attend Williams in the fall and is working some of their summer clinics. Somehow it seemed like a good idea to attend this clinic in case a possible link or connection might somehow be established. Most college researchers know that Williams is tied with Amherst for the #1 and #2 spots on the US News and World Report ranking of LACs in the US. While I am not someone who cares much about rankings, these positions make Williams and Amherst extremely hard to get into and allows them to be incredibly selective of their applicants. I have often been dismayed in this college search process because schools that we like are ranked high on these lists. For our family, high rankings will only serve to deter us rather than encourage us in the application process.

Unlike the Swarthmore clinic last weekend, the Williams clinic was an all day affair, beginning at 8:30 and ending after 4. There were two practice sessions and two scrimmages, as well as lunch and a campus tour. Sophomores and juniors got a brief 'how the application and recruiting process works' talk at the end of the clinic from the assistant coach, but nothing as detailed and informative as the athletes day at Haverford.



The head coach, Michelyne Pinard, spoke briefly with her interested seniors also after the clinic, but Elsa thought we were leaving and declined an appointment. Too bad!




During the clinic, Elsa's boyfriend, Chris, and I had lots of time to kill. We began with a self guided tour of the campus. Williams is a very attractive campus in a lovely area of Massachusetts. The campus is set on a hilly area with magnificent mountain views all around. The architecture is varied. One negative is that, to me, the buildings did not seem to be well planned out in terms of their placement. There was lots going on and plenty of people around for football recruiting, tennis camp, squash camp, a golf event and other things. Chris and I also joined the end of Elsa's campus tour and got to see a dorm common room, which looked just like another school's but I don't remember which. It was not especially nicely decorated and included couches, oversized chairs and a flat screened TV. On our own we found a few shops in what we believe to be the town of Willamstown. There are also banks and other businesses sprinkled into the campus. My favorite aspect of Williams is the many large sculptures placed in lovely and surprising places all over campus.

Chris and I also ventured to The Clark, an impressive art gallery set in a scenic park, complete with walking trails and picnic areas. Two parking lots were full of cars as visitors flocked to see an exhibit of Georgia O'Keefe paintings. While Chris, a student, could enter for free, adult admission is $12.50, which I found a bit steep for the half hour we had available. I would have happily offered a $5 donation, but I was not willing to pay more, so we left without seeing Georgia. We also spent time in a coffee shop in town where while I ate a great quiche, neither of us could log on to the internet. A bit frustrating! We ended the day watching the girls scrimmage.

We had spent the night before in Bennington, Vermont (about 8 miles north of Williamstown?) at a cute, clean motel called America's Best Value Inn, (great water pressure.) After we checked in, we set out to see Bennington College. One odd thing we noticed is there is not one, and we drove through many times, not one sign in town directing visitors to the campus. We happend upon it eventually, after driving 24 miles north and back out of our way because I had misread the map. While lost, we saw a moose on the side of the road! By that time we found the college, it was getting pretty dark, but we managed a self guided dusk tour in the car. Verdict: Bennington is tiny, although very beautiful. It reminded me of my son Jeremy's camp, Hidden Valley, as it has a huge red barn in the center of campus, aptly named "The Barn."

The next day, Chris and I returned to Benington in the daylight to get a better look. The place was deserted. We saw some dorms, the library, and the admissions office, which looks like a grandma's porch equipped with rocking chairs overlooking the mountains. I filled out an admissions card for Elsa on which the school asks applicants to recommend a book that "everyone should read,"-nice evaluative assessment of your applicant pool- and I consulted Chris about what Elsa might recommend.

All in all, it was a relaxing, interesting and enjoyable adventure, at least for me.

College Interviews

For us, the next step in this college search and application ordeal has been a return visit to Elsa's top choice schools to interview. We have elected to do as many as possible during the summer because next fall will be jam packed with club and varsity soccer (NYC girls will play in the fall now thanks to Title IX,) SAT II's, the ACT, overnight visits and college soccer games. Oh, and there are also the essays to write and applications to fill out, on top of homework!

Elsa's first interview was scheduled at Franklin and Marshall after our tour during our April college tour trip. Elsa interviewed with an admissions officer, which was great, but the interview conflicted with the information session, and as a result, I don't feel I know as much about the school as I would like. I may have to return on my own to attend an information session. Her second interviews were last week, at Wesleyan and Connecticut College, and both were conducted by senior student interviewers.



This past week, she interviewed at Haverford and Swarthmore. At Haverford, Elsa interviewed with a senior and at Swarthmore, a really cool adult admissions officer named Nick. So far, all of her interviews have consisted of really great conversations. They have not been hard or dreadful or challenging for Elsa at all. We like revisitng the campuses again. Whenever possible, we will stop by an visit the soccer coach again. So far, none have been available. Next week: Smith and Mount Holyoke...

Connecticut College

Our college search continues, now with much more focus on finding "target" and "likely" schools. Having learned about FAFSA and something called the CSS profile, we are now looking for schools which offer merit aid for qualified students. We have learned so, so much since those early days and tours of February and April.

We learned, for example, that the athletic conference, NESCAC, in which many CT and MA schools, such as Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams, etc, participate, does not allow any kind of financial consideration for academically accomplished athletes.

Other schools, in other conferences, can offer strong students merit aid, so these are the schools we are now seeking out. However, CT College, for its location, reputation and beauty seemed worth a visit. So, Elsa scheduled an interview while I toured and attended an information session.


What stands out about this school? It's co-ed, for one thing. It has a reputation for being "preppy" but we didn't necessarily see evidence of that. I toured with a Brooklyn girl from Berkeley Carroll who had seen Wesleyan in the morning and didn't care for it but loved CT, so maybe there is something in the air that smacks of a little more conservatism than at Wesleyan. CT has an honor code, as does Haverford. It's a nice sized school, about 2,000 students. They do not offer African American studies, but they do have Africana studies, at least. Our tour guide Brianne, is a cheerful and enthusiastic sophomore who got full time work at the school for the summer. Elsa interviewed with a senior named Carly who is just as nice and friendly as she could be. We had a lovely visit on a beautiful day and really enjoyed seeing the school. We were not able to meet the women's soccer coach, but we know that her team has not been successful. I'm not sure they won any games last year, which would be depressing, I think. We did see the athletic center, which is under renovation. CT has both an ice rink and a pool.

College Tour Recap:

Here is my summary of bests and favorites of the schools we have seen to date:

Most beautiful campus: Swarthmore
Best Big City: Philadelphia, PA
Best Small City: Lancaster, PA
Best Towns: Saratoga Springs, NY, Middletown, CT, Carlisle, PA
Best Library: Not sure, I loved Dickinson's, but that's also the last one I saw...
Best Information session: #1 Haverford (for athletes), #2 Dickinson
Best athletic facility: #1, Wesleyan, #2 Dickinson, #3 Swarthmore
Best student dorm room: Smith College, I'll find the name
Best admissions office: Franklin & Marshall, roaring fire in the fireplace
Best bathroom: Bryn Mawr admission office
Happiest looking students: #1 Wesleyan, #2 Franklin and Marshall (even in the rain)
Friendliest soccer coaches: (abc order) Hanae Kaneshi, Jaime Gluck, Kelly Tyrell, Lou Reis (THE most fun!) Sarah Cooper
Best commute from NYC: Haverford, Wesleyan, Swarthmore

Dickinson

From Gettysburg, Elsa and I drove up Route 34, an empty two lane, windy country road towards Carlisle, PA. Elsa complained that she never gets to practice driving, so I pulled over, and she drove for about 5 miles, her first time on an open road. She did very well, but wasn't ready to deal with windshield wipers and turn signals, so I helped her out a bit. When we arrived in Carlisle, we found our motel and settled in. Elsa rejected the "family dining" options suggested by the woman at the front desk and instead went on line and found us a Thai noodle shop in town. Delicious!

At Dickinson, we scheduled a 9 am tour and a 10:15 information session as our plan was to drive to Oberlin afterwards and see that school on Thursday. We sort of ran out of steam and decided to come on home, that we had seen enough schools, didn't need another "reach" school that is far away and in a cold climate. I lost the motel money on that decision because I had booked the Cleveland motel through Priceline. Lesson learned: don't use Priceline unless you're sure you will not cancel!



It was still raining on Wednesday morning, but still Dickinson looked beautiful to me. It is full of limestone buildings, wrought iron fencing and attractive signs all through the campus. There are lawns and lots of space, but everything is still accessible. Elsa was put off by the road that dissects the campus which has plenty of noisy truck traffic. That is a con, I guess, but the benefits outweighed it, to me.





Our tour began at the admissions office, which is attractive and has a fireplace, but no fire on this day. We met a nice dad/daughter duo from LA and chatted with them while we waited for the tour to begin. Our guide was a fresh-faced Ariel, from Alaska! She was lovely and very enthusiastic about her school. During the tour, she told us that she knew she wanted to come to college in the East and applied to some of the big names, Amherst, Williams, etc. and although she had multiple acceptances, she chose Dickinson. Ariel showed us the main parts of campus and even a dorm in the lower quad, which has modern housing (less appealing to Elsa and me.) This school, like Haverford, Gettysburg and Franklin and Marshall, (I think) has one central dining room where everyone eats, and several smaller quick stops and cafes sprinkled about. I think I like that.





Dickinson Science Center

After our tour, we went to an info session led by Eric, the most eloquent and thorough admissions officer I have heard yet. He conducted the session like a class, began with introductions, and really made an effort to involve the students in the discussion. He tossed out survey questions and stopped to answer questions frequently. The best was a story he told us about how Dickinson revamped its approach to teaching physics, which was not a popular class on campus. They tested students one year after they completed the course and found that the students' retention of the material was an average of only 25%. The professors then decided to try a more hands on, discussion based, workshop model for teaching the class, complete with mini-lesson, activities and discussion amongst the students. One year afterwards, students who had experienced the new approach were given the same test, and the result was an average retention of 96% of the material covered. Then the school decided to implement the workshop model whenever and wherever possible. Good story. The teacher/student ratio of all of these schools is low. At Dickinson, it may be 11-1. Each guide proudly shows us the "biggest" lecture hall which may hold 50 students and is rarely filled to capacity in any course. These are important things to consider.





After the info session, Elsa and I drove to the athletic center to meet the women's coach, Kelly Tyrell. The athletic center is one of the nicest of all, after Wesleyan. The coach wasn't expecting us (an email may not have been actually sent,) but left her class to have a quick chat. She is fun, energetic and enthusiastic about her team. She had been to MAPS, but didn't see Elsa there (too bad) and is not going to Columbia. She does the PDA instead, which I think she said is in CT. She also does not have a camp, but may visit the Amherst camp, which I will look into. Her team is competitive in their conference, and like the Swarthmore coach, she says the toughest competition is Johns Hopkins. She says her team beat Swarthmore. It's only her second year, but she is spunky and confident.

Elsa was concerned about the lack of diversity at Dickinson, so when I went to get a tee shirt, I stopped and chatted with some African American students who were having lunch in the student union. They laughed when I approached them, because they guessed what I would say beforehand. They agree with Elsa and admit that there has been a lack of diversity, but they feel that the school is addressing it and trying to increase the numbers of minority students on campus. All three like the school and were telling me what other schools they had considered and why they chose Dickinson. They were sweet.

Overall, of the three PA target schools, Dickinson is my choice. Elsa prefers Franklin and Marshall. To me, that visit wasn't complete because we didn't meet the coach and therefore do not have a complete sense of the school. I guess we'll be heading back to Pennsylvania at some point!