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!

Gettysburg

From Franklin and Marshall, Elsa and I drove in the rain, west on Route 30 towards Gettysburg. Route 30 is, at first, a four lane highway, but at some points there are lights, and the last 30 miles, it became a two lane road with lots of truck and roundabouts to slow the traffic down to a crawl. Even without stopping for lunch, we were almost late for a 3 pm info session, and felt we had to call the school to warn them.

The info session was good. It was well attended, maybe 15 families, and it was led by a young male admissions officer and a junior student, Tara. Both were articulate and enthusiastic and gave us a very favorable impression of the school. Tara traveled to Seville, Spain as a sophomore and became fluent in Spanish, and then qualified for an internship in Nicaragua for three months over the summer prior to her junior year.








After the info session, three guides showed up and we selected Dominique because she is an anthropology and French double major. We had a private tour. She was informative but not overly enthusiastic and she and Elsa did not really connect. Funny how that really affects one's impressions of a school. It was cold and rainy, our guide was fine, but not thrilling and our overall impression was : it's okay. It's actually a very attractive campus. I liked it a lot.



At this school, the soccer coach, Matt, had practice scheduled at 4 and was not going to be able to see us. I wondered if his schedule would change because of the weather, or if we could watch the practice for a bit, but Elsa was just as happy to drop of her information and video in his mailbox instead.

One of the things that slowed us down about Gettysburg is the Greek life. All three of these target Pennsylvania schools have fraternities and sororities, but Gettysburg has the largest number and the highest percentage of students involved. There are, I think, 6 mens and 7 women's. Dominique is a member, and explained to Elsa about rushing. This school does not allow it first year. Originally, Elsa wanted a school with no Greek life at all, but that's hard to find, especially in warmer climates. Even Wesleyan has one or two, although they are less of a force on campus than in other places, I'm sure.

Franklin and Marshall

Elsa and I drove out of Media, Pa. where, after we finished at Swarthmore, we had an expensive dinner in town complete with live opera entertainment for which we had to pay $3 each. That was a first. We found our way to our hotel in Lancaster, and spent the night. We awoke to rain, and experienced out first rainy tours yet. Although growing up, I spent many weekends in Philadelphia visiting my grandparents, I don't think I had ever been to Lancaster, population 55K. What an adorable city! It's the 8th largest city in PA. Elsa and I loved the cute row houses and couldn't decide which one we wanted most as we drove to the F&M campus.

We parked in visitors parking and proceeded to follow a tour away from the admissions office and got so lost, we had to call for directions back to the correct house. Franklin and Marshall is a beautiful campus, but looks very different from Swarthmore and Haverford as most all of the buildings are brick, giving the campus a warm red look, as opposed to the gray and stone colored limestone buildings on the other campuses.



Our tour guides were Emily and Wes, very personable and informative, as usual. They both spoke to the whole group and had private chats as we walked from stop to stop. I quickly learned that I wanted to be near the conversation to get as much information as possible.





One nice thing about this school is that classes seem to let out at the same time. Suddenly, the walkways were full of lots of students passing each other, on their way to their next class. it made the campus seem busy and vibrant. Most of the students seemed happy, although wet. There seemed to be a lot of kids that look like kids Elsa would be friends with.

Elsa loved the F&M campus and the school is now high on her list of "target" schools. It helps that her friend, Tyler, will attend in the fall. That, I think, put F&M on the map for her. Here, Elsa had her first interview. It lasted about 35 minutes, and she went alone with the interviewer to a rear office. When they were done, they both came out and included me in the end of their conversation. The woman was very nice and indicated that Elsa interviewed as much as she was interviewed. I hope that is a good thing.



After the interview (we had no info session at this school,) we ambled over to the athletic center to find the coach, from whom we had not heard via email. Turns out, she has a day job in a school and is not on campus all of the time. This could be a problem. We left Elsa's packet and her video, but do not know what to expect.

Swarthmore

After we finished at Bryn Mawr, we drove down 476 to Swarthmore. For lunch, we ate snacks in the car, and got to Swarthmore just in time for a 1:00 pm info session. We had to find Parrish Hall, which is tricky, and far from the parking lot. I dropped Elsa off and then parked in the nearest street spot that seemed legal. The Info session was very well attended. There must have been 40 or 50 families there. It was fun and genuine, although the student representative, Linda, is frighteningly accomplished. The admissions dean who spoke is as fun and cheery as the one at Haverford, making me suspicious about their demeanor. They are so happy you came and hope you'll apply, as though that's all you need to do to attend their school!

I have to say, Elsa is owed one big, "I told you so!" and/or, "Aren't you glad you listened to your mom?" She didn't even want to go to Swarthmore after what she'd heard about the rigor and how difficult it is to get in. But after our visit, she loves it and wants to apply. We thoroughly enjoyed the info session and really liked Ryan, the admissions officer who presented. Then we met Alisha, our tour guide, and she was even more fun. This helped quell our fears about Swatties being unhappy people as a group. Alisha addressed questions about these rumors and recommended spreading out the heavier classes over the four years and include something each term which requires less reading, such as art studio.

The campus is magnificent. It's even more beautiful that Bryn Mawr, and feels much bigger than Haverford. Like Haverford, Swarthmore, (everyone knows I'm sure,) is an arboretum. It's a giant botanic garden where every plant on the grounds is labeled. The landscaping is breathtaking all over the campus. Elsa's favorite part of the campus is the amphitheater in the woods.

Alisha told us all about the orientation ceremony that happens there, which sounds cool. The theater is reminiscent of a clearing in the woods at Dark Waters, a Quaker camp that Elsa attended years ago in New Jersey. Alisha showed us the science center, complete with the outdoor classroom,





(my favorite aspect of the school,) a classroom, a dorm room, a science lab (we met a profesor,) a dining room, and one of the libraries where cookies are dispensed at 10:30. We had a great tour. Again, we had to leave early to meet the coach.


Coach Todd's office is in the athletic center. A kind woman walked Elsa over as she had no map. (People outside of NY are so friendly!)I walked back to the car to get Elsa's information to give to the coach. Coach Todd is wonderful and talked a lot about his program, his goals for the program, his team, exciting games, their best competition, etc. We had a nice long meeting which had to end because he was about to have a practice. On our way out, we met some of his players and Coach Todd kindly introduced Elsa.


We walked back to the car and drove off, in search of dinner. We were starved! Of course, I got lost and couldn't find the road to the town of Swarthmore (is there a real town? We never found it.) and to Media, Pa. On our journey, we passed the field and Elsa saw the girls practicing. We pulled over, and like stalkers, watched for a while to see how strong the girls are. We didn't see them do much, just some drills. Happily, Elsa felt that she could fit in with the team. We're hoping she will get the chance to find out.

Bryn Mawr

The MAPS tournament and Easter postponed the continuation of our April tour until the 13th. Bright and early Monday morning, we set off for Swarthmore and were shooting to attend a 10:00 am tour and information session. However, we left later than planned and hit spots of heavy traffic, delaying our arrival just long enough to make us late. As I was speeding down 476, we passed the road to Bryn Mawr and Haverford, and I had the idea to reverse the order of the two schools. This worked out well as neither was expecting us at a particular time.

Bryn Mawr is beautiful. It's actually much bigger than it looked when we first drove around the week before. The information session was an informal talk, seated around a wooden table above a Persian rug in a wood paneled room in the rear of the admissions office. We were joined by another mother/daughter duo and an international student and an admissions officer. They were helpful and informative. After about an hour, we met Julia, our tour guide, who took us all over campus and showed us her favorite spots. We saw a classroom, a dormroom, the fountain where Katherine Heperin skinny dipped in the Cloisters, the science center, the library, Athena, the statue, and other places of note around campus.


One thing that was apparent to Elsa and to me is the importance of traditions and ceremonies at Bryn Mawr. We thought that this would appeal to our neighbor, Molly, very much. We're not sure it's Elsa.

Elsa had been in touch with the soccer coach who was out of town but returning that evening. She offered to meet with us late, after 6:30! But we were leaving the Philadelphia area for Lancaster so we were not able to meet with her. I actually think it's just as well as Elsa will not be applying.

Yale

Just kidding. We stopped by on our way back from our second Wesleyan visit to meet the coach.

Haverford

Elsa's spring college tour began April 4th with a visit to Haverford. We were invited to junior recruit day for women's soccer and field hockey players.

It was a wonderful day-long event which began at 10:15 with a presentation from an admissions director, Lydia, an economics professor, Ann Preston, and then a general "how to apply to college as an athlete" power point presented by Coaches Fink and Gluck. I immediately noticed how friendly and cheerful everyone at Haverford seemed. We most definitely felt welcome.

After the group presentation, the players divided by sport, and we followed Coach Gluck and her team to the gym to sit and talk in a panel style discussion. The mostly freshmen and sophomore soccer players introduced themselves and then Coach Gluck tossed out questions which they answered individually. It was funny because the coach asked most of our "better" questions herself and left us scrambling for additional questions for Elsa to ask during her personal interview with the coach later on.After the panel discussion, both groups went out on a campus tour, led by Emily. The campus is beautiful, but not huge. I love both the old and new stone buildings, the spacious lawns and the overall look of the school. We only saw one newer dorm and no classrooms, but we did see the one main dining hall on campus, complete with a cozy working fireplace. It's interesting that everyone on campus gathers in one place to eat. It's kind of communal.

After the tour, back at the athletic center, we chatted with some of the soccer players about all sorts of things. We had quite a while before Elsa's interview, so we decided to have lunch in Haverford and then take a drive around Bryn Mawr. In town, we saw lots of excited Villanova students all wearing V tee shirts and sweatshirts. We later realized that there was a huge final four game later that day. Bryn Mawr is also beautiful, but we didn't get much information as the admissions office was closed. I got a brochure and took a few photos.




We returned to Haverford and to the athletic center a bit early, which was lucky because Coach came looking for Elsa at 4:22, eight minutes early. They had a nice chat and Elsa felt very happy afterwards. Coach Gluck will be at both the MAPS tournament as well as the Columbia Invitational tournament in Maryland. Lucky! Not many coaches we've met will visit those showcases.

Elsa liked Haverford a lot and loves the coach and the team. For her, the idea of a female coach is very appealing and a new concept. Elsa's overall rating: 9. My rating: 10.