Occidental College

Oxy, which is how many refer to Occidental College, is a lovely campus in the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles.  The campus is spacious and located on a gentle hillside. Spanish architecture predominates and is mixed with more modern buildings.  The landscaping is lush and includes many inviting outdoor spaces for gathering and relaxing.  The students were a diverse group and I sensed that politics and activism were clearly a part of the campus culture here.  The library was busy on a Friday afternoon although our tour guide thought it was a sleepy Friday.  Half the students study abroad during their four years.  Classes are under 25 students and our guide reported getting to know her professors well.  Except for a graduate program in education, Oxy is an undergraduate liberal arts college with strength in most majors.  There are fraternities and sororities but only 10% of the student body joins. Oxy has a reputation for being in an unsafe area of Los Angeles but I think this is really a matter of opinion.  I thought the campus felt very safe.  Our tour guide said she frequented cafes and stores in the neighborhood, but my limited driving in the area did not reveal places that I thought would draw students.  In summary, Oxy offers a very strong education and if that’s what you’re looking for, check it out and make your own decision!

Susan

Colgate University

The village of Hamilton, where Colgate University is located, is big enough to have a movie theatre and more than one coffee shop but small enough for merchants to sell items outside their shops on the honor system.  The college bookstore is located “downtown” and also serves as the town’s bookstore.  The college and its students seem to be woven into the community and vice versa to the happy benefit of all concerned.  Getting out of town requires a car or the bus, with Syracuse an hour away.

Colgate is a very personal place, starting in the admissions process where acceptance letters contain a hand written note mentioning what the admission officer particularly liked about the student’s application.  With fewer than 2800, Colgate is focused on undergraduate education in traditional liberal arts areas.  A core curriculum guides students through the process of learning broadly and first year seminars assist students with advising and making the transition to college.  100% graduate within 4 years, 95% return for the sophomore year and 95% live on campus.  A new library and science building are impressive on this campus of stately older buildings that have been masterfully restored inside.

Colgate has an unusual early decision process with two rounds that serious applicants should research and consider.  50% of the class is accepted through these early decision options.

Syracuse University

At Syracuse, students choose from nine undergraduate colleges.  Each college has its own admission and outreach coordinator and these folks can assist a student in compiling portfolios and improving their applications – as resource not to be missed!  When applying, students rank their choice of colleges and selectivity differs by college.  The university calendar calls for a “Maymester” when students can take one course for a short but concentrated period of time.  Many students study abroad during Maymester.

With 14,000 students, Syracuse operates nationally known study abroad programs.  Known particularly for the schools of architecture and public communications, Syracuse offers the full range of academic choices.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

Rensselaer has long been known as a place for engineering (11 different types!), math and science.  Achievements of RPI alums touch us every day - the inventor of sunscreen and the person who proposed including “@” in email addresses are graduates.  Schools of architecture, business, engineering, information technology and sciences are available in addition to a college of humanities, arts and social sciences.  The engineering programs are top-notch and the game design and electronic media departments are receiving National recognition as well. On my recent visit there, however, the admissions staff was anxious to show us all the other possibilities of like at RPI, including gleaming new athletic facilities and a star of the art performing arts venue.

This university of 5000 undergraduates is perched on a hill overlooking Troy, New York, a historically industrial town on the banks of the Hudson River.   The student body is predominately male (70%) and the typical class size is 2-40 students with 150 in the biggest class.  RPI boasts of an amazing alumni network and highly successful career development department.

Hamilton College

Named to honor Alexander Hamilton and founded to educate the local Native Americans, Hamilton College has 1800 undergraduates.  The college is located at the top of a hill, overlooking the tiny village of Clinton.  Students laughed at the snow flurry that greeted me as I arrived in late April – they’d been wearing shorts the prior weekend, and expected to again the next – such is April in upstate New York.   In 1970, Hamilton merged with Kirkland College, the women’s college located across the street, becoming coed and increasing in size.

Hamilton’s open curriculum sets it apart from many other selective liberal arts colleges.  Believing that its better to have students in class who really want to be there, there are no general education requirements except for three writing intensive classes (from which there are many to choose across all departments) and PE (yoga, golf and skiing included).  That said, faculty advisors deliberately engage students in conversations, strongly  encouraging them to take a broad selection of courses.   Students are supported by a Writing Center, Media Center and Oral Communication Center.  A senior capstone project is required.

Community is a defining characteristic at Hamilton and that’s not surprising considering its somewhat isolated location.  98% live on campus and students stay there on weekends, participating in a huge range of activities and events.  About 30% join fraternities and sororities but there are no associated houses. The two largest organizations on campus are the Outing Club, where you can rent just about any sports equipment you can imagine, and the community service organization that sponsors everything from one-hour activities to ongoing commitments.  The students I spoke with were self assured, smart but not pretentious.  They spoke of first hand experience with strong alumni networks for internships and jobs. What is the value of a Hamilton education?  These impressive students said they had gained considerable confidence, were far more articulate and have developed valuable relationships with classmates, faculty and alumni that would last them a lifetime.

Hamilton admits students without regard to financial need and meets 100% of their demonstrated need.  97% return for the sophomore year.

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

It may be cold in the winter but that doesn’t keep RIT students from outdoor sports.  The snow is plowed from the playing fields and flag football goes on blizzard or not!  Once known as the Techmen (represented by an angry looking mascot, complete with pocket protector and screw driver) but now as the Tigers (something about the real deal attending games until, well, he got larger), RIT is not surprisingly, all about technology.   Kodak, Bausch and Lomb and Xerox have a major presence in Rochester and are actively involved in education at RIT through funding, research and internship opportunities.

RIT is extremely hands on both in and outside the classroom.  As a co-op school, students can alternate academic periods with paid internships in their field of study, gaining valuable experience along the way.  While that often means it takes longer to get a degree, it can also mean that it is easier to find a job after graduation.  As a larger university (12,000 undergraduates and 4000 graduate students), RIT is divided into academic colleges – applied science and technology, imaging arts and sciences, liberal arts, engineering, science, computer science, business and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.  Students typically apply to a specific college but can usually change majors within the college.  The average class is 25 students and the largest lecture hall seats 350.

The newer campus is removed from the city of Rochester and located on a flat, sprawling campus of newer, appealing brick buildings.   Approximately 40% of the upperclassmen live off campus.   There is a Greek system but only 12% participate.

RIT enrolls 49% of their students from New York and is looking for geographic diversity.

University of Rochester

I toured the University of Rochester in late April and found myself in the midst of Bar-b-quad, the university wide celebration of the last day of classes.  I dodged Frisbees, checked out the free food and noticed how happy and relaxed the students seemed as they soaked up the sun on a beautiful spring day.  When my tour was over, the quad was empty and the library was full.

This is one gorgeous campus.  With the Genesee River Park on one side and the nation’s second oldest cemetery on the other (Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas are buried there), the campus is mostly flat and the buildings mostly brick.  The library reading rooms (“where everyone studies”) are numerous and varied in design and function.  The fraternities and sororities are located on a traditional Fraternity Row.  The Eastman School of Music is located in downtown Rochester.

While there are general education requirements at UR, they are arranged as clusters, allowing students more freedom in course selection.  Five and seven year BA/Masters programs are offered in business, education, engineering and medicine.  There is a unique and very selective medical school program that guarantees freshmen admission to the medical school. My tour guide, an economics major from Wisconsin, will attend the University of Texas law school in the fall.  Students who wish to stay for a fifth year after receiving their BA and take courses in a discipline other than their major can do so without paying tuition.

My guide constantly greeted and was greeted by other students during the tour, affirming for me his description of UR students as begin extremely friendly.  While I did not get a sense of the city of Rochester, the area around the campus was lovely.  Shuttles take students around the main campus, downtown to the Eastman School and to shopping areas.  Freshmen can’t have cars but bike rentals are free and there is a car share service on campus.  86% live on campus.

Union College

Founded in 1795 as the nation’s first non-denominational college, Union College continues to live out the theme of “respect and understanding, whatever our differences”.  The name of the college was chosen to reflect the strength that comes from difference.  The college President identified three characteristics that make Union unique. 

• Students want to be part of something big.  As students at a college with a rich history and tradition, they are very aware of having a bigger purpose in the world and use their time at Union to begin to discover what it might be. 
• “Whatever our differences” has been a theme since the founding in 1795 and continues to underline discussion, curriculum, extracurricular activities and campus life.  The need to learn about, understand and respect a diverse, multicultural world informs much of what is done. 
• Students do not limit themselves by their major.  They take courses broadly across the curriculum and the structure of the curriculum supports this.  Unusual major/minor combinations are not unusual!

Union operates on a trimester calendar where students take three courses at a time for 10 weeks and consequently, courses move at a fast pace.  Students have a 6-week break beginning at Thanksgiving - very unique among collegiate academic calendars.  Almost half the students major in engineering, math or science at Union but 60% overall, and 90% of the engineers manage to study abroad. In an effort to bridge the academic and social lives on campus, every student, faculty and staff member is assigned to one of seven Minerva Houses – a place where academics, cultural and social activities intersect. 

The Union campus is within easy walking distance of downtown Schenectady, New York, original home of General Electric and now headquarters to GE’s renewable energy division.  Amtrak train service is available to Boston, New York City and Albany.  The focal point of the campus is the Nott Memorial, a Victorian gem, situated in the center of sprawling green surrounded by grey stone buildings.  There is a feeling of spaciousness and openness on the mostly flat campus.  Over 90% of the students live on campus, some in remodeled Victorian houses on Seward Street (yes, William Seward, of Seward’s Folly and the acquisition of Alaska fame, was an alum).  The students we heard from were serious about their studies, a bit on the preppy side and characterized Union as a place where students are happy, can get involved but have to take the initiative, develop invaluable relationships with faculty and have lots of academic and social choices.  Ice hockey is a big deal – everyone goes to the games.  All other sports are Division III.

Union is test optional and does not require the SAT or ACT for admission.

Skidmore College

Boston University

My son's first choice on this trip was Boston University, located smack in the middle of downtown Boston.  Literally, like NYU, the campus buildings line the city streets.  I had to agree that the energy was amazing, the streets bustling with friendly students, all happy to share their appreciation of BU.  BU has everything:  the university buildings are beautiful; the campus is huge; there are over 250 different programs of study, with about 18,500 undergraduate, and 13,200 graduate, students.  Yet the average class size is only 27.

- Contributed by the Jordan family.  Thank you!

University of Oregon

During spring break, we toured schools in Oregon, one of which was the University of Oregon.  The campus is very large and lush, and students were everywhere.  Although there are about 22,000 students enrolled, there are a number of thins they’ve done to make it easier for students to settle in and get connected.  For example, first year students can enroll in one of 60 different “FIG” (Freshmen Interest Group) programs, which matches groups of students around a central theme of interest to them; the group of about 25 takes a number of classes together which allows them to get to know each other, as well as completing their core course work.   Also, in classes with over 100 students (some of the first year core classes), automatically include smaller study sections of no more than 25 students.   The University is research-based, and has tremendous funding.

-Contributed by the Jordan family.  Thanks!

University of Portland

My son and I were both pleasantly surprised and really impressed by The University of Portland, located in the northern part of the city of Portland.  The campus was exceptional, with lush green lawns, tons of trees, and magnificent old, brick buildings.  The staff was very friendly, and the whole campus had a very warm feel to it.  Although the U of P is a Catholic institution, only about 50% of its students are Catholic; and the emphasis appears to be more on students’ developing ethics and spirituality, rather than on any particular religious dogma.  There are about 3,700 students in attendance, which seems to me to be the perfect size – not so small that it feels like high school, but not too large to get completely lost in the shuffle.  There is a real focus on the college “community;” to encourage that, freshmen are not allowed to have cars on campus.  There are, however, numerous planned excursions to downtown Portland venues for concerts and other entertainment, and regular (free) transportation is provided to downtown.  The U of P considers itself a “teaching” institution, as opposed to a “research” institution, like the U of O.  We also learned that US News and World Reports identifies the U of P as one of the ten best colleges of the West.  The academic programs and study abroad programs seem really strong.  One thing that really distinguishes U of P is their rolling admissions policy; whenever you apply for admission, you’ll hear whether you’ve been accepted in about two weeks.

-Contributed by the Jordan family. Thank you!

Clark University

Clark University is in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles due east of Boston.  This is one of the “Colleges that Change Lives.”  I loved Clark; I had the same feel for it that I had when I visited The Marin School: warm, nurturing, different, exciting, “thinking outside the box”, with emphasis on close student/professor interactions.  Unfortunately, my son thought it was definitely too small – about 2100 undergraduate students.  He also didn’t like Worcester at all and felt like it was in the middle of nowhere.  He did agree that the campus itself was neat, with lots of energy. 

In addition to all of the great programs Clark offers, they’ve introduced a new one: students can now stay for a fifth year at Clark and earn a Master’s Degree for free.  They also have a writing center, where students can bring any paper they’ve written, and a member of the writing center will go through the entire paper and edit it. Lots of student support.

- Contributed by the Jordan family.

Wagner College and Fordham University

During ski week in February, we did a college tour in New York and Boston.

We first visited Wagner College, which is a small, private college in New York.  The school has a beautiful campus, and probably the best thing about it is its location:  Wagner is just a (free) ferry ride away from Manhattan.  Wagner also offers a free shuttle between campus and the ferry, so getting to and from downtown New York is really easy.  Wagner is small – 1900 undergrads and several hundred graduate students, and that small school feel is evident throughout.  Typical class size is 19 students; most first-year classes have about 25 students.  Wagner takes advantage of its proximity to New York City by fostering and encouraging various internships and programs that include the New York theater and art scenes.

We also visited Fordham University at Lincoln Center in New York City.  This is one of Fordham’s two campuses – the other, much larger and more traditional college campus, is located in the Bronx.  Again, the best thing about Fordham is its location in Manhattan; they tout the City as their campus.  But it was a major disappointment to find that the entire campus, including the dorms and cafeteria, is limited to a single building.  You could literally spend days without ever leaving the building.  To us, this really took away from the “college feel” and left us a bit claustrophobic.

Contributed by the Jordan family. Thank you!

California Institute of Technology

Cal Tech is fantastically hard to get into and only for the serious math and science braniacs among us.  The campus is one of the most beautiful I have seen and the dorm we saw one of the most unappealing.  Highlights and trivia include….

•    Cal Tech’s mascot is the beaver – nature’s engineer, of course.
•    The most popular course is “Cooking Basics”, heavy on chemistry and physics I presume.
•    There are 75 research centers on campus.  Virtually all students do research at one time or another.  About a third of the student body does funded research each summer.
•    There are no teaching assistants.  Students are taught directly by those Nobel Prize winners.
•    NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is owned and staffed by Cal Tech.
•    Students are required to take 3 semesters of PE.  Offerings include ping-pong, DDR and bowling.
•    Do nerds party?  Yes they do and they take it very seriously.  They trap on tool belts and build elaborate venues for themed parties.
•    My favorite T-shirt - “MIT – because not everyone can go to Cal Tech”
•    Students live in one of eight Harry Potter like “houses” for their four years – very few live off campus.

Susan

CSU Fullerton

Three former students of mine are happily attending Fullerton and I was anxious to check out the campus.  Unfortunately it was spring break so the campus was quiet.  Fullerton is located in Orange County and the campus is quite large, as you would expect to accommodate the 36,000 students.  Fullerton is a suburban community of LA.  Most students live off campus as on campus housing is very, very limited but my former students, all from Marin, didn’t have any trouble finding housing nearby. When I walked onto campus, I though I was at an upscale resort when I saw the student recreation center.  Complete with an indoor track, rock climbing wall and outdoor pool, it is located in the center of campus and reportedly is well used. Musical theatre and dance is quite strong here as are many of the business (new building) and engineering majors.  Our tour guide reported that her largest class was 250 and smallest was 25.  The university does a good job of providing ways for students to connect socially on campus through clubs, sports, outings and multiple places to congregate.  Fullerton would be a good place for an independent, assertive student who can successfully navigate through the red tape of a larger university.

Susan

Whittier College

I’ve wanted to get to Whitter for some time now and am glad I did.  Located in the LA suburb of Whittier (a lovely upscale community), the college was originally founded by Quakers in 1807.  The campus has a Spanish feel with stucco and red tile roof buildings with lots of bougainvillea in bloom.  With 1400 undergraduate students and 700 in the law school, Whittier is small enough to be a friendly place and big enough to offer some interesting programs.  Our tour guide, who was a senior, seemed to know everyone on campus, including the first year students. There is a 5 year engineering program with USC, a semester internship at the United Nations and the Whittier Scholars program for students who want to create their own major to mention a few of the unique programs.   85% of those who apply to medical school are accepted.  When I visited the library on a Thursday morning, it was full of students studying individually and in groups.  The Academic Success Center is located in the library building and is open to all; in fact our tour guide commented that everyone used it at least once. 

Susan

U of O, Lewis & Clark, Oregon State, Willamette

Thanks to the Stolberg family for this summary of their Oregon trip.

Over the ski week, my son and I took a swing through Oregon to see some colleges. It was a great trip. We hit perfect sunny weather, which should fool any student into thinking Oregon is THE place to head for college. There are some excellent schools up there for creative types like the kids at The Marin School. 

Our favorite - University of Oregon. Our impression was that it is a large university but not too large. About 16,000 undergrads, which is half of some of the big state schools. The campus is beautiful, very green, very college like. Great facilities, wide range of majors and programs, and probably from what we could tell, a great college experience.  My son liked it a lot. And they filmed the movie"Animal House" there—which gives me pause but he seemed stoked about it. I wonder why. Great architecture school too, possibly one of my son's interests. 

The other very cool school was Lewis & Clark College near Portland. Much smaller. 2000 undergrads ... the "Marin School" of colleges in that the kids get a lot of attention and access to profs. Classes are small. A shuttle runs into the city in about 20 minutes, so the kids get the best of both worlds. A small liberal arts college that is located in a forest and a big city nearby for culture. Great, great feel to the school. One dorm is devoted to artistic kids (with its own photo dark room and ceramics room in the dorm) and another to outdoorsy kids. So you can meet other like-minded students. 

My son was less interested in Oregon State -- nothing wrong with it, but Corvallis seems very small town. 

Willamette University was a nice campus, but didn't feel right to him. They seemed to have a great science program for kids who are interested in life sciences. 

We would definitely recommend a trip to Oregon for TMS kids looking to venture a little further for college. We were very impressed and it didn't rain at all. I bet it never does, either.

Eckerd College

Thanks to the Kliman family for providing this summary from their recent trip.

The campus is arid and large but includes a wonderful marina, beautiful beach and nice athletic grounds.  The marine biology building is impressive, with outdoor tanks for marine life study and indoor labs and aquaria that look great.  The dorm rooms are good sized.  There are no flowers/gardens except for vegetable gardens with herbs that the chefs really use.  There was an empty feel to the campus; no observable energy with people and activities quite spread out, no tangible sense of community.  There are a couple dorms that take pets.

Our Guides:  one freshman (learning to guide, well-intentioned, smart, majoring in marine biology, something and French); one junior, transferred in this year, junior college in Maryland, travel to Brazil, motivation for college and good connection to Eckerd, majoring in art.  Both had “fallen in love with Eckerd from the first” – one because of the cute yellow bikes (that are around for anyone to use) and the other because her guide had been so good.

Academics:  We heard a lot of emphasis on honors work in high school as typical for accepted students.  The college is organized into colleges (rather than traditional departments).  It reflects the idea of an interdisciplinary curriculum but it is based on the notion that you learn science differently from language and literature, different from behavioral science/psychology, which may not be true.  The descriptions of majors and the breadth of them were impressive.  One like marine science entails many requirements:  calculus, chemistry, no mention of psychology.  The lab we saw where blue crabs were being investigated looked energized, the kids were smiling!  In general, there seemed to be an emphasis on “common ground” or fundamentals.  Although there is no English 101, there is a Western Civilization course that all freshmen take where they read classics like the Odyssey “to insure all have the intellectual fundamentals under their belts”.  The mentor program was excellent; one professor assigned for the four years plus an academic advisor/mentor in your major. 

Students:  we met one graduate, a fellow from Switzerland, and he loved Eckerd.  He majored in international business and French and was staying on an extra year (manning the desk at the Sirata Beach Resort) just to have more time nearby and in the general area.  He felt his mentor and faculty advisor were extremely helpful and always wanted to help him do his best and get the most from his education.  The students we saw on the tour were individuals going somewhere, often by skateboard, also a group of RA’s eating pizza and planning activities for their dorms.  Generally people looked wholesome and not too concerned about appearance.  Postscript:  friends invited two sophomore girls to have dinner with us.  They were very enthusiastic and described flexibility in curriculum (one was in marine science at first and switched to psychology major and marine science minor because she wants to be involved in dolphin therapy rather than marine science per se; the other said physics was a killer course and generally the introductory courses for majors are tougher than later courses with the intent to weed out those who were not serious about the intended major.  They were very happy with social life on campus, saying there is always something fun to do on weekends.)

Dining halls:  catered by Bon Appetit; food was very good.  Food bucks with various meal plans.  The college has an interest in growing organic vegetables for use by the kitchen, in addition to the herbs already in use.  Green lunch box program:  a pilot being done on an Eckerd student idea that spares landfill and ocean from Styrofoam.  Take out boxes are blue, washable clams that get returned and sterilized for continued use.

General area: A residential college.  St. Pete’s Beach closest, resort and retirement community.  Tampa about 40 minutes away:  good shopping, culture, cinema, theater.

Lynn University

Thanks to the Kliman family for providing this summery of their recent trip.

The campus is well-maintained; flowers, grass, fountains.  One of us thought it looked rather like a country club.  It has two moderately large swimming pools.  They are not for the sport; they are for the students.  The grounds are very nice, the buildings well-maintained and clearly (from the naming) the result of good fundraising. The cafeteria is large, pleasant, and the food is good.  Our visit included student visits to classes, a guided tour for the family and an informal interview from someone in admissions with the potential student.

Our tour guide was a delightful student from Ecuador, very enthusiastic and clear about the advantages of a college that has no big lectures, only small classes that never get above 30 students and often hover around 8-12.  She described the student community in very warm terms and was upbeat, informative and encouraging.  Our daughter loved a class in Anatomy and Physiology; they were reviewing a recent test.  She felt the teacher was excellent and showed that even very difficult material can be made understandable; i.e., she answered questions in depth and with an eye to whether the students understood the material.  Strong departments seem to be music, communications, aviation, liberal arts, education, and business.

There is an excellent support program for students with learning differences.  Each person in that program has an individualized plan that aims at academic independence by senior year.  Tutors have masters and doctorates as well as real life experience in their fields.  We heard very positive feedback about the support program from current students.

University of Miami

Thanks to the Kliman family for providing this summary of their recent visit.

The campus is large but calm, attractive and easy to navigate.  Students look engaged and happy. Our guide was terrific, enthusiastic and informative; someone from CT who thought she would go to NYU but got a scholarship at Miami and was changing her major from pre-dental to neuroscience, applying for a NASA internship for the summer.  She gave us the impression that all things are possible.  Dorm rooms were small and hallways were painted cinderblock.  Bathrooms were large and clean.  Dining options were varied.  The place had a large campus feel but not an impersonal one.  We were more interested after a visit than we expected to be.  Marine biology is very strong.

Florida Southern College

Thank you to the Kliman family for providing this post from their recent trip.

Campus:  Interesting. Rather hilly with Lake Hollingsworth below.  Architecture, old and new, was quite nice.  Well-known for Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and walk-ways:  only chapel he designed and built is there, some academic buildings, many long low walkways that protect from sun and rain but are low and designed for short people (like FLW, who was apparently less than 5 ft tall and felt no one had the right to be over 6ft).  New buildings also feature big windows (bringing the outside inside) and red painted metal, similar to the interior of the chapel.

Thoughtful organization of services: professors’ offices near classrooms; reps from all student resources/services in one place called the Solution Center.  Two female and one male freshman dorms; upperclass dorms are coed.  Rooms are larger than elsewhere with various options (single, double) available.

There was a good feeling about the place.  Students were friendly and diverse.  Staff were informative, eager to be helpful and energetic.  The college offers unusual programs for Florida, like pre-veterinary medicine.  Sports are important and enthusiastically supported.  The college is Methodist affiliated, but the chapel celebrates all religions.  There seemed to be an active spiritual life, but not a doctrinaire one.

A great, small liberal arts college if you don’t mind being in central Florida.

Welcome TMS Parent and Friends to TMS' new College Counseling blog. This will be a place where you can share your impressions, experiences, and anecdotes about the colleges you visit and the college your son or daughter attends.

There are so many schools available to TMS students that I thought we ought to see what the TMS community has to say about them all. Please feel free to email your blog entries and photos to me and to sign up for an RSS feed so that you can keep up to date on what's going on in the college search by other TMS students and their parents.

Happy blogging!

Susan Gotshall-Maxon

TMS College Counselor

sgotshallmaxon@themarinschool.org