Why are seniors doing school visits right now?

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain what's going on with several kids I see doing trips around the country right now? (Parents are posting pictures on Facebook.) Shouldn't they be working on their applications right now? If they already submitted their applications, why aren't they waiting till they hear where they've been accepted before spending time and money on these trips? I could see doing visits to decide on which school you'll go to once you've got acceptances in hand. It just seems like it's too late for choosing which schools to apply to, and too early to decide which school to attend.

[Anonymous]

MYOB OP.

[Anonymous]

MYOB PP.

[Anonymous]

RD deadlines aren't for a few more weeks, so no, it's not too late for travel -- especially if they are considering ED2.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they’re visiting places they’re confident they’ll get into. We couldn’t visit schools before because of the pandemic. If we wait until after they know where they get in, we probably won’t have time to visit all the schools (if they get into more than a couple.)

[Anonymous]

We did some at this time. Time was available, and we do we, as in when you do you, we won’t be obnoxious when we don’t agree with your choice.

[Anonymous]

As above- RD applications aren’t due yet. Folks are still looking and there is a bit of a lull in the school year. Seems like a good time to me! We might not be able to visit school at Spring Break due to sports (kid is a Junior). Going in the summer makes no sense because no one is on campus and beginning of Senior year is too busy.

[Anonymous]

Good grief, OP. You don't need to know everything about everyone.

[Anonymous]

If I could go back in time to last year, I would totally have had my kid visit the possible ED2 choice(s) on this, the first weekend of Dec. Would have been so worth it.

[Anonymous]

OP, you are way too judgy for someone that knows nothing about the college admissions process. Demonstrated interest, including in person visits and interviews, matter a lot at some schools. In addition, some seniors already have some acceptances in hand and are making decisions and others will still be applying ED2, which is binding and needs to be decided on beforehand.

[Anonymous]

My DS is waiting on results from an ED and one specific EA app. He'll hear on the 19th/20th. Depending on the outcome, we'll hit the road to figure out which of the schools on his RD list he might do ED2. I wish we could go now since most schools don't give tours over the holiday break.

[Anonymous]

First of all, MYOB.

Second, we did a trip because a school had an all-day event for the program DD is interested in. It was a great chance to see the school, demonstrate interest, and learn a lot more about the program. We hit a couple of other schools in the same region since we were already flying out.

I'm hoping DD gets admitted to a couple of California schools so we have an excuse to travel out there in January for a few days of fun.

[Anonymous]

A lot of schools had special open houses and campus visit days in October and November. We visited most schools spring and summer break but also visited two in October and November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you are way too judgy for someone that knows nothing about the college admissions process. Demonstrated interest, including in person visits and interviews, matter a lot at some schools. In addition, some seniors already have some acceptances in hand and are making decisions and others will still be applying ED2, which is binding and needs to be decided on beforehand.

This is my DC, who toured a possible ED2 candidate yesterday.

[Anonymous]

We've done all the local ones over the past few months. Most have specific visiting days or program visiting days. We have two Northeast schools planned for over Xmas break and he may go on a business trip with his mom to tour two schools in CA in January.

Some kids already have ED acceptances, OP. Two of my son's friends have those in hand at their #1 choices.

Also, since this is my third kid to go through the process, we have found it's better to space them out in smaller clusters. We had too many to visit in the spring with our first so we learned from that mistake.

Plus, who the heck knows that the spring will bring as far as the pandemic goes. My nephew got to do three college visits in Oct/Nov 2019 and then two college visits in Feb. 2020 before the pandemic hit. He didn't even get to do an in-person tour of the school he ended up choosing.