The Southern Tour, Davidson, Wake Forest, NC Charlotte, Virginia Tech, University of Richmond, Catholic, Georgetown, GWU

 Off to the races once again.  Our RV is not packed though it should be as we are leaving tonight.  I am instead avoiding the anxiety provoking packing.  It has turned into a para-military activity in this house, with people not wanting to forget even one single item as we will be in the wilds of Charlotte NC where we may or may not be able to access the basics of life. 

Our first stop is Davidson.  This is mostly for Mike who is no longer very interested in this college at all and where we should be looking at Albany it is affordable and has a law school attached.    

None the less, this is our southern tour.  It will start at Davidson., swing up to Virginia Tech and then tow Richmond/UVA then on to the DC schools.  It is I should mention our second trip with out the twins.  This feels odd, like a missing limb, however unlike a missing limb or so I am guessing it does make traveling a bit easier, but I would certainly prefer less easy for the return of the twins, however I am not sure if all of the family members would agree. 

Davidson was small and tight knit school where you can major in anything I mean anything like double major in Arabic and physics or art appreciation and mechanical engineering.  How can they even have professors knowledgeable enough in these various topics to teach such a small number of students living in a small town.  This really is the question I have about all of these tiny liberal arts schools, and it seems unanswerable.  But when you look at outcomes, they are pretty amazing.  These students do seems to get somewhere and admission at many of these schools is no joke.  They are competitive. 

There big selling point is the "honor code"  It is the code of conduct and honesty that they take pride in. 

Next on our list was University of North Carloina Charlotte. The campus and dorms were really very nice. The vibe was a bit off in some of our opinions. The others on the tour seemed more like well its our local public so that's why were coming here. There was no compretitive vibe, very laid back.  It almost was like the question was should I go to college, rathar than is the is the best college for me. Though that being said Mark Bo was a fan. He is defenitely more low key then the rest of his family so I can see why he was feeling it.  I mean look at that picture, North Carolina takes the beauty of its public campus' seriously.  The dorms were big and rooms were singles in a suite style. 

We stopped by Wake Forest. We were lucky that admissions was open and that two students working there took time to speak with us and set the tone for our self guided tone.  Lets just say there is more trees on this campus then anyother place we have seen.  Towering pines, it left an impression to be sure. This school is mid size and have both law and medical schools. Admission is competitive. The vibe seemed to be smart, preppy, outdoorsy and happy. The buildings were beautiful.  We all really loved the feeling of the place. It is also pretty liberal art in its approach, meaning that you can choose classes of interest an  It did have engineering majors but not in the traditional sense, which was confusing to Steve, as an engineer himself, because he worries that without the path that generally starts in freshmen year how can you have the knowledge that you need to actually do the engineering job?  There outcomes are terrific as is the truth with many liberal arts colleges

Making our way back north we hit Virgina Tech. This school was our largest by far and very serious about its ROTC.  There admissions were not too tough unless you want engineering, then it was a whole new ball game.  The vibe was open, calm for such a big school a feeling of space a concern for hard to connect with others possibly, but definetely not stated by anyone on campus 

University of Richmond. We were wiped out and we were going to meet a friend there, but I pushed to get us back worried about traveling late into the night. This school was cozy and pretty. It had a feeling of money with a meditation room and healthy food. It had an interesting curriculum and was competitive. Michael really had a good feeling about it.  I walked away with a so-so vibe, but it should be noted that I am not going to college. 

Onto Catholic U, still a favorite, smaller than I remember.  They are growing, changing and adapting. They are in Washington DC, a plus, far but easy enough to get home. Admission is honestly not super competetive but the majors are really impressive. The vibe is happy pure and simple, the students seem very happy and upbeat. We met up with Jared a great kid who loves it. They have many of the majors we like and I think Cara and Mark would thrive here 

Georgeown, do we need to say more? Its Georgtown, famous, rigourous and beautiful. We met with a friend and she gave us her impression, she loves the program but finds the vibe to be competitive in all aspects including joining sororities and clubs , which seem to be mandatory for making friends so not all roses.  Cara and Mike loved the tour, but it is a definite reach

GWU, I think we didn't give the school a fair shake and I would like to see Cara apply. It is very urban but that can be really cool. I think it may have been more international focused in its majors. The guide did love it but I think with this school it is a little more difficult for it to express its vibe. It is for independent and urban mindset, however that kind of setting can help you develop a more sophisiticated outlook and with GWU and more global mindset. 

That sums up our southern tour of RV through the colleges.  We did have time for some fun. We stayed at Carowinds a campground attached to an amusment park so we enjoyed that. Our next campground was much more rustic, but we played some hoops, walked the dogs on some pretty trails and found some really good food in a strip mall (healthy choices as well!) Then in DC we stayed in our normal spot Cherry Hill campground. Always immaculate. 

I honestly don't know if any of these schools were "it". Though we felt really good about Wake Forest and Catholic.  We are onto Boston, where will look at Babson, Northeastern, Providence and URI