The End of the Journey...For Now!

Sooo, after driving over 800 miles across the great state of Pennsylvania from the north west border of the state (almost in Ohio) ending up in the south east part of the state, visiting 8 universities, and experiencing all sorts of climate from severe snow showers to actual hot weather, I have to say I am amazed we made every destination on time and almost without a hitch (we won't talk about how I thought our 11:40 flight this morning was at 1:40 and when I realized it at 10:00 AM we were still in our pajamas eating breakfast in our room -- AND made the flight, plus turning in the rental car!)  I'm sorry to say that this leg of the blog is over.  The next time we visit a new college, I will definitely give you all a ring, um er post….whatever. Until then, happy searching everyone!

 

 

Temple who?

Okay, we were supposed to go to Temple in North Philly, but after hearing that you only go to that area, "if you're in a gang or want to buy drugs," and "it looks like a war zone in Iraq," to "no one lives there -- it's a commuter school," we opted out of looking at that one all together.  So no info (or too much info!) on Temple for you all.

The Working Man's School -- Drexel

Some people are of the school of thought you go to college to get a job, and yes I agree with that.  But that's not the ONLY reason you go to college -- you go to grow, meet people different than yourself, have amazing experiences that you might not have the opportunity again to have in your lifetime.  That being said, here's our take on Drexel...  School, school, school, work, work, work -- no, no, no.  That's what you do when you go to Drexel.  Who wants to go to college to work 6 months out of the year and go to school every summer?  Apparently 10,318 kids, that's who.  Our tour guide spent six months building a bridge (and my friend T.R. said, "but that's awesome -- he's building a F*%$&ing bridge!) -- and living by himself in NYC working 9-5 for his 6 month co-op -- maybe that's awesome for some, but not for all.  That tour was PACKED (the fact that it was Good Friday might've had something to do with that as well), and, by Austin's observations, with no cute girls.  After sitting in on the hour information session (which was really interesting), we opted NOT to go on the tour.  That was the first time we did that in all of the schools we saw.  If you are going to college solely for the purpose of getting a job, then this is the place for you.  And I think this is a fabulous opportunity for graduate school, but if you want that tight-knit campus feel with lots of spirit and fun, stay far away from Drexel!  I read in some of the college tour guides that the Drexel kids and the PENN kids are like one big happy family, co-existing next to each other in harmony.  WRONG!   There is ONE good thing about Drexel -- it's in Philly (my second new most favorite city)!!

Final Four Baby -- Villanova!

Unfortunately for us, Villanova, being a Catholic school, was closed three days this week and Monday of next week due to Easter.  I had a self-guided tour that I performed quite well, which is hard when you have an audience of zero plus that audience of zero with a cell phone.  Nonetheless, I learned more about Villanova than I had known before.  The school looks fun, but I think we may need to talk to Cara Chatham (CdM Alum plays volleyball at Villanova) before we make judgement.  Boring blog entry number one (or number nine, depending on your intellect.)

Lehigh=God's Country (but not in Austin's eyes)

Lehigh is every college students' ideal of an idyllic college -- old time history, rituals, buildings and traditions -- everything that "college life" is supposed to be.  I was ready to sign up when they said, "Welcome to Lehigh."  Unfortunately, I was a little high on the age stratosphere, I think, for their liking.  Nevertheless, when someone says to me, "Eighteen fraternities..."  I am sold!!!!   Not for me, you pervs!  For Austin!  Well, I am really just about to go into a tailspin over all Lehigh has to offer (not to mention TOP NOTCH academics!), when Austin turns and says to me, "I really don't want to go to this school."  What?!?!?!  How could you NOT?!?!?!  Wait...the buildings are GORGEOUS, Bethlehem reminds me of San Francisco, the school is built onto the side of a hill where the views at the top are breathtaking, the academics are over-the-top, just short of Ivy, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!?!?!  "Well," he says, "it reminds me of Industrial Revolution meets Harry Potter meets some buildings in the 70s.  I feel like I'm at Hogwarts."  Yeah -- that's the good stuff--that's what it's supposed to feel like!  I guess it all comes down to...you like black, I like white, that's what makes the world go round...or one person's trash is another person's treasure....there's got to be analogy somewhere in there.  Soooo, bottom line, Austin will not be applying to Lehigh :(  New REVISED college ratings (on a scale of 1-5, 5 being best):  Pitt=1.0, Lehigh=2.0, Carnegie Mellon=2.3, Allegheny=4.0, Penn State=4.3, Bucknell=4.5

Picture Perfect Bucknell

Don't let the large cemetery with bulging headstones detour you as you drive onto the campus of Bucknell University, located in small (uh hm, piquito!) Lewisburg, PA.  Only a mere 2 1/2 hours from Penn State, which was only a mere 3 hours from Pittsburgh (no, you can get there in three hours from Philadelphia -- really!), it is every college creator's dream, if there was such a thing as a college creator.  I think the Guidebooks call it "picturesque" which it certainly is.  Had it been sunny and maybe even ABOVE 32 degrees, it would've been every high school junior's dream school.  But we all know this weather is not for everyone, but that doesn't seem to detour those students already there.  And that doesn't detour Austin either, because he absolutely loved Bucknell.  Here are Austin's REVISED scores for schools on a scale from 1-5, one being worst and 5 being best: Allegheny - 4.0, PITT - 2.0, Carnegie Mellon - 2.3, Penn State - 4.3, Bucknell - 4.5.  So far, Bucknell is ahead in the race for Austin's fave raves in Pennsylvania!  He liked the size, the fact they don't let you decide your major until 2nd semester sophomore year, and that it's 40% greek.  He liked that, despite the weather, Haley Prickett and Beau Caillouette (Newport kids) still want to stay there and are loving it.  We had lunch with Haley and Beau and Haley also went on, and contributed to, our tour (see photo below.)  Her mom claims her clothes matched when she was a kid, but Austin and I both think she looks AWESOME and wouldn't change a thing!  Austin will need to pray a lot to get into Bucknell....

You're in Joe Paterno's House Now

Now here is a real man's (and woman's) college.  They have got it all (except for apparently, sunshine -- check out my photos below!): big-time sports; friendly people; a REAL college town; big Greek system; perfect transit system; huge, beautiful campus; the biggest football stadium in the country and best of all, The Creamery, the on-campus ice cream parlor.  Penn State has a Food Science major, and they developed this ice cream that Ben & Jerry tried to emulate (they took the class here) -- well, The Creamery is better!  Everything in The Creamery (cream cheese, mustard, ice cream, milk, cheese -- any diary product) goes from cow (out back) to store and off shelf in four days max  -- now that's fresh!  Anyway, we had THE funniest tour guides you have ever seen!  If you get a chance, come to Penn State for the tour alone -- it's worth the price of admission (free! Plus they give you complimentary lunch in the cafeteria!)  The fraternity houses are really nice -- way nicer than a lot of sorority houses!  Oh, and I forgot to mention that there are no sorority houses in Pennsylvania (at least so far of what I have seen.)  Apparently, according to an old law on the books, a house with more than seven women living in it is considered a BROTHEL (!) so all sororities are housed in dorms with each floor designated for that sorority.  Everyone we talked to who goes here LOVES it -- and we talked to some who have graduated and THEY loved it.  We met some DARLING girls who work at The Nittany Lion Inn the night before we were to go on our tour and they gave us a lot of scoop.  They're both seniors and they are SO SAD to be leaving Penn State (AKA Happy Valley.)  What does that tell you?  We've invited them to stay with us in Newport and I think they're gonna take us up on it!  Always makin' friends….  When we were on the tour they waved at Austin and came up and talked to him, so he felt pretty cool! According to the school, Penn State has the largest alumni group in the country, so that's gotta count for something.  Soooo, Austin's take on the school?  Definitely wants to apply there, thought it was one of the greatest schools he's seen, and he actually likes the crazy weather!  And he would love to go there -- someone yelled, "We are!"  as the tour was going by, and Austin yelled, "Penn State!"  He's already got the bug!  Out of a 5.0, Austin rated this a 4.6.

Tomorrow we will be at Bucknell...hopefully I'll have internet to share it with you!

 

Andy Warhol's Alma Mater

Did you all know Andy Warhol is from Pittsburgh?  And he went to Carnegie Mellon.  Most people think Carnegie Mellon is a bunch of engineering and computer geeks -- well, you're right.  But they also have an amazing theater arts department and art department.  Austin's comments…"Pitt had no good-looking girls, but I didn't even SEE any girls at Carnegie Mellon!"  Odds are not in the male's favor there.  We had some pretty funny, kinda geeky tour guides, but they definitely had a superiority complex.  Whereas the guide at PITT seemed like he just didn't want to be there, these guys definitely wanted to be there, but their attitude was pretty much, "we go here and you don't. Ha-ha."  Fine.  We're not jealous of your school colors (tartan) and your mascot  (the vicious Scottie dog.)  We don't even care that one of your majors is Bag-Pipes.  Really funny side note -- Austin saw Geoffrey Burns (all of you from HDS) looking at Carnegie Mellon.  But Geoffrey was done and off to look at MIT and Harvard.  Bottom line -- not for Austin, but good to see.

There's A Reason it's Called PITT

'Nuff said.  Ewww.  Yucky.  Dirty.  A bunch of buildings in the middle of Pittsburgh.  No good-looking people.  Boring tour guides -- they didn't even attempt to sell the school.  Dorm rooms depressing.  But on the bright side, it IS in Pittsburgh, my new favorite city!  Go Penguins!  And God, I wish there was  Primanti Brothers sandwich shop in California (see John Madden).  And we did get free PITT t-shirts for coming the furthest.

Allegheny College in MEEEEEDville

First of all, DON'T say MEDVILLE because Pennsylvanians look at you as if you're an alien.  We had a jolly-good time getting out of the Pittsburgh Airport (we ended up in short-term parking) and taking the wrong toll road in the opposite direction.  After almost two hours of driving on ice -- yes, that's ICE (you know, that stuff in your freezer that melts the minute you go outside at home) covered bridges, we actually arrived at Allegheny College only two minutes after our assigned time.  Well, no worries there as the admissions staff could not have been NICER -- there were even cookies and coffee waiting for us!  And trust me, after driving like a maniac for almost two hours (oh, did I mention the expressway we were supposed to take was closed due to construction?!?!), I could use a hot beverage in the 34-degree with wind weather.  

Sooo, Austin had a personal interview which he LOVED, then we went on a personal tour with a student.  The College is truly beautiful -- photos posted at the very bottom -- I saw a letter to the Trustees from Thomas Jefferson congratulating Allegheny for their fine library (they had some major contributions in the day) -- it was finer than Harvard's Library and only second to the Library of Congress (who knew?)  Our guide, albeit quite nice and informative, was not in the Greek system, so we had to find that info on our own.  Lucky for us, the Greeks were putting on a Carnival with dunk tanks, sumo suits, the works.  Of course we found the cute girl to chat with  (a KKG) who filled us in on Greek life at Allegheny.  And then she took us over to the one girl she knew from California and that girl was from Irvine and had gone to Tarbut -- okay, how weird is that?!?!?  Next thing we know, there are like six CUTE girls all surrounding Austin and all chattering away about Allegheny.  Bottom line?  They all love it.  Even the CA girl who has now been there five years, says she misses the sun, but wouldn't trade it for anything.

Biggest surprise of all -- Austin loved it.  He said he's definitely applying there -- the Pennsylvania weather suits him.  He really liked everyone he met, and they obviously liked him.  I could go on about the academic accolades, but who wants to read about that on a blog?  Call me if you really want to know.  Austin rated this school a 4.5 on a scale of 5.0. 

 We are now in Pittsburgh and LUCKY US!  There is a street party one block away being put on by PITT -- can't get any better than that!

If you have joined the blog, I think you can be an author as well. I'm stll learning, but check it out and let me know!

Go Panthers,

Janis

Tomorrow we leave for Beautiful Downtown Pittsburgh!

Okay, we get into Pittsburgh @ 11:30 PM -- thank goodness there's a hotel INSIDE the airport!  The last thing I want to do is drive around Pittsburgh at night.... Saturday morning we will be up and out at 8:00 AM to make the two-hour trek to Meadville, PA (I know you've never heard of it -- it's up near the Ohio border) where we have a tour and Austin has a one-hour interview!  I'll check back in after to let you all know what I found!