Kurt, Alyssa and I went to Shippenburg University's Open House today. We left home at 5:50 a.m. and got there about 8:20 a.m. It was raining when we got there and we needed our umbrellas. By the time we moved from the first building to the next, it had slowed to a fine mist and by noon, it was still cloudy, but the rain was over.
As you know, Alyssa really wants to go to Penn State and Penn State only. We asked her to please consider a second choice just in case PSU weren't to work out. This was her second choice. She basically told us the other day that she was only doing this to appease us. But she was a sport and off to Ship we went!
I was very impressed, as was Kurt. Alyssa did like it, but not enough to change her mind. We had the opportunity to visit the mathematics department and hear two of the math profs talk about the math program. One of the big differences between PSU and Ship is that at PSU you get a BS in secondary education with an option in math and at Shippensburg you get a BS in math with a certificate in secondary education. That way if you end up deciding not to teach, you still have a math degree which you can put to use in some other area. Kurt and I liked the size of the classes; the profs get to know the kids and it seems like you're not just a number, where as at Penn State, you may have classes with hundreds of people in them. Alyssa doesn't seem to mind that thought, while we feel that Ship is more personal due to the smaller ratio of students to teachers.
We also learned today that Ship accepts a 3 on the two AP classes that she will have had in high school. She had AP Gov't last year and is taking AP Calculus this year. Penn State will only accept 4's or 5's; thus the 3 she got on her gov't final last year won't be accepted there, but would be at Ship.
The campus is nice; it's not too big and not too small; it's just right. The dorms aren't all the way across town like at Penn State. We didn't see a regular dorm room today, although we could have if we wanted to. One of Alyssa's friends from church is there and as a sophomore was eligible for a suite. We visited with Jen for about two hours this afternoon and got to see her suite. There are two bedrooms which have 3 girls in each, two bathrooms and a common living area with a dinette table and living area with a sofa and two chairs.
It's about 160 miles to Penn State and about 136 miles to Ship. Both of which are far enough away from Adam to qualify (that seems to be the main stimulus!!), so distance shouldn't be an issue in her decision!!
To round out the day, we had a very nice visit with Jen, she gave Alyssa a lot of good insight into college life and what it's like to be a Ship student. We all went to Red Robin for dinner before we set off for home.
If nothing else was accomplished today, at least Alyssa got psyched enough to decide that she wants to do both (PSU and Shippensburg) on line applications tomorrow, which is certainly a step in the right direction!
Thus begins the next chapter in her life......
Oh, and p.s....As we were leaving Red Robin to come home, I had my window open and I got hit on the arm with BIRD POOP! Yuch.....
2 comments:
I have something in common with your daughter-I got a 3 on the AP gov't final too. It was like everything I studied wasn't on the exam, and the stuff I skipped over was! I considered Penn State also (but went with Cedar Crest). I felt like I would have been lost at PS, but it all depends what you like.
And it could be worse, cyndi Lauper once got hit by bird poop inside the mouth while singing!
I personally liked the smaller school atmosphere (I'm ESU alumni)but Alyssa would do well whereever, however if one seems better in many more ways (than the other)-perhaps that's God's way of leading you in that direction.
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