Taking DD for college visit next month. Very afraid she will dismiss this college as too "small town", not enough to do, etc. Any 1st hand knowledge of college life, town, or area especially with regard to restaurants, nightlife, things to do nearby would be appreciated. Thanks!

Well, hate to add to your anxiety, but my son dismissed that school for all of those reasons. He had a great scholarship there, had a rapport with the swim coach, met and hung out with a lot of the swimmers, went frisbee golfing with them etc. He's now a freshman at University or Rochester, a much larger school.

I never visted Wooster but DH and DS did and orginally liked it a lot. It is one of the 40 Colleges that change lives and has lots going for it. The Senior independent study project is a big draw for many students.

I do know someone who just graduated from there and felt like he had a great education. He, of course, 4 months after graduation does not have a job, but I don't know if that can be blamed on the school.

Good luck, it's not an easy time.

Visit Denison while you're in the area for sure. (Full disclosure - my child is a senior there and has had a top notch experience.)

Lots of kids prefer the smaller liberal arts colleges where there is more personal attention, a more interactive learning environment, and it's easier to take advantage of opportunities such as paid research, internships, etc.

Your daughter may or may not value that stuff over her environment. Either way it's hard to change their minds. You can't do much more than show it to her.

You might also look at Ohio Northern, which is where I went to college and I LOVED it there. Also a small school with a town that is supported by the University.

Northern is one of the best small colleges in the country, has some excellent programs, campus life, academics, lovely campus etc. Try the ONU website www.onu.org

Have a great trip.

It is small town, and that is not a bad thing. I suppose you'll have to wait and see what DD thinks when you go for the visit. I cannot honestly tell you that there are many great restaurants or other activities nearby. But the college is excellent.

A great niece graduated from there (also a swimmer) and LOVED it, is now a speech pathologist.
You just cannot tell from someone else's experience. It could be the very best thing that ever happened. Go and look and keep an open mind. Ohio does have some outstanding colleges and universities. If you're gonna look have a look at the "best"--Miami of Ohio--THE Miami University.

It is certainly in a beautiful area, not the flat soybean fields you might expect but rolling hills and Amish country. You would enjoy visiting there.

It is a very good school in a very pleasant small town. If she gets engaged in her studies, she won't need to worry about not having enough to do, but it is not too, too far from either Cleveland or Columbus for an occasional excursion.

You don't say where you live, but as a parent, you need to think through how you are going to get her there and home for vacations. Yes, you can drive her in August and May, but you probably won't want to pick her up and deliver her for Thanksgiving, etc. It is not generally a good idea for college freshmen to have cars.

Colleges differ in car rules, but freshmen generally are not allowed to have them unless they live (maybe, for example) 300 miles away.

Any of the small-town colleges that have been mentioned in that group are excellent schools, but they also all share a very small/home town type atmosphere. Not to mention being, um, pricey. Much as your DD, I didn't want to go to a big school (like Ohio State) nor a small school like the ones mentioned. Maybe somewhere in between would be a better fit (depending on what she likes, as well as what she intends to study). I did all the research & decided for myself with little input from my parents (welcome to adulthood) & am still happy w/where I ended up. Any of the MAC schools, UD, Wright St., etc. may be more to her liking. The smaller schools tend to feel a lot like High School, which some kids need, but many are trying to escape from.

Thanks for all the comments. We live in Columbus, Wooster is about 90-100 miles away. We have been going to Granville (home of Denison U.) all our lives, she thinks it is too close (great school!). OSU is absolutely OUT, doesn't meet her needs at all. DD is very ADHD, needs lots of structure and small classes, lots of issues with flexibility and adaptability. She wants a liberal arts education (this weeks, last week she wanted to be a nurse) in preparation for law school. It would be a severe hardship for her to "be in the middle of nowhere" but every guidance counselor/college advisor has told us these are the criteria we should look for. Her grades are OK, not stellar, and we would like to find someplace where she could do college for $75-80K, so she won't have to take out any loans.

We are also considering Cols State or another community college for 2 years and transferring to a larger, "better" college for the 4 year degree.

Gretchen, I too love Miami, it's so pretty. Older DD went to their Junior Scholars programs, got a full ride for 4 years and didn't go there (didn't tell us!) because she hated it there. She is now in college at Brandeis and doing very well.

Any other college recommendations within a 150-200 mile radius of Columbus would be appreciated. Thanks!

Friends of mine who we go to Mass with have a young man who graduated from Wooster three years ago. He seems to be a fine young fellow- I chatted with him for ten minutes after church yesterday.

My wife grew up in a town a half-hour away. Towns like Wooster are very much small-town Ohio but you fare within striking distance of Columbus, Cleveland and Akron(not that anyone would want to go there). At Wooster, you are also a half-hour from Ohio's Amish country, something that usually doesn't interest college kids.

Having gone to college at a small-town school myself in Maryland, I found that parties tend to substitute for normal family interaction. There is often heavy alcohol abuse, of which I was occasionally guilty.

I still say look at MIami. Just because the older DD didn't like it (for a HS time--and it looks like a big ciy college is her best choice. She would be miserable in the middle of Ohio farm land obviously) doesn't mean the other might not. The other thing is that Miami has an EXCELLENT advisory system and method for signing up for classes. They have patented/copyrighted it, and "sell" it to other schools. It makes sure that students can keep up with their core curriculum, and graduate on time. This is not a small thing in choosing a college. Of course, you do have to like the school/ambience. I celebrated my 50th last year, and DD was enticed away from Chapel Hill to graduate also--not because of me, but a cousin.
Anyway, good luck Ohio has a lot of good colleges. Wittenberg in Springfield might be a possibility. Kenyon. I think Antioch is going belly up.
Elon College in NC. Furman in SC.

My wife attended Bowling Green and received a pretty good education. But Bowling Green is rather large.

Another Bowling Green alum here. BGSU is now over 20,000 students. But then Miami University is over 16,000. Not that much difference.
Both a big difference from Wooster's 1800, though.

I went to Wright St. & intended to go to UD's law school but went into banking instead. UD does have a fine law program. In fact, my BIL graduated from there & is currently a judge.

I went to Marietta College (maybe 2 hours away from you?) and absolutely loved it. I had been living in Boston before college - currently I live in Seattle.

One of the things that I loved about Marietta (which is small, private, liberal arts) was that we had very small classes and students received a lot of time and attention from professors. Additionally, although there was not a lot to do in the small (although historic and lovely) town - we focused ourselves on activities on campus - parties / dances / clubs / activities. Finally - the student body was quite diverse - I met all kinds of interesting people. I graduated in 1992 and feel like I've got a solid education under my belt I can't say enough good things.

Best of luck to you and your daughter.

Something to be said about a small college education is that there is more contact between student and teacher. In one example of my own, my Chinese Civilization teacher(he was Chinese-American) had the whole class over for real shrimp egg rolls for a Sunday supper cooked by his Hong Kong Chinese wife. What wonderful food, a bonus to the learning experience. Certainly was better than eating Manwhiches.

GW - I had similar experience while at Wright St. My advisor + a couple of other Profs were constantly bringing things in from their travels (wine, etchings, artwork, etc.), having us over for gatherings, etc.

Have a niece at Wright State now! That is a university that really "grew up" from a sort of "community college" to a very fine university. I'm from Troy--know a lot about Dayton!!

If you want an Ohio school, check out Ohio University in Athens. Also around 18,000, Athens has the small town feel, small enough that by senior year you walk by friends on the street, but big enough that you're always meeting new people.

Yes, it is known as a a party school- but I went there and had a very tough major, had my fun both nothing excessive, and have wonderful memories!