How to determine fit if you don’t visit?

[Anonymous]

We have visited some campuses that have either made my DC become excited about a school or made them reject the school. They know they was a mid to large sized school that is not too urban or in the middle of nowhere. They will probably apply to 15 schools and we can’t possibly visit all of them. A few have pretty low acceptance rates so we kind of want to make sure the application is worth it. In the other hand, I also think it’s good to see safeties bc DC does need to feel good about those, as well. How did you handle it if you did visits? We’ve already pulled out schools that are under 8k students, in the middle of a city or too hard to get to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have visited some campuses that have either made my DC become excited about a school or made them reject the school. They know they was a mid to large sized school that is not too urban or in the middle of nowhere. They will probably apply to 15 schools and we can’t possibly visit all of them. A few have pretty low acceptance rates so we kind of want to make sure the application is worth it. In the other hand, I also think it’s good to see safeties bc DC does need to feel good about those, as well. How did you handle it if you did visits? We’ve already pulled out schools that are under 8k students, in the middle of a city or too hard to get to.

You literally can not determine fit, without seeing the campus yourself, in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have visited some campuses that have either made my DC become excited about a school or made them reject the school. They know they was a mid to large sized school that is not too urban or in the middle of nowhere. They will probably apply to 15 schools and we can’t possibly visit all of them. A few have pretty low acceptance rates so we kind of want to make sure the application is worth it. In the other hand, I also think it’s good to see safeties bc DC does need to feel good about those, as well. How did you handle it if you did visits? We’ve already pulled out schools that are under 8k students, in the middle of a city or too hard to get to.

You literally can not determine fit, without seeing the campus yourself, in person.

Agree 100%. My DD was very open minded and did not actually reject any of the places we visited, ended up applying to all. However, they have very different vibes and now that it's decision time her preferences became a lot more clear. Would not have that feeling without all the visits that we did.

[Anonymous]

OP, it's so different now. I showed up move-in day Freshmen year without ever having stepped foot on the campus prior. It's pretty similar to old folks my age .

We did a few summer and spring break tours Junior year, but the admit events are so much better at seeing what it's like.

My kid (and us) changed our minds about a few schools/programs after the more in-depth visits. We have two more admitted events to attend--and my kid will decide after participating in all of them.

I'm actually glad we didn't visit some of the schools that are far away prior to finding out if he got in or not--it would have been a waste of time/$. The one he did get in on the West Coast we are visiting--but some of the ones very far remote NE---I'm glad we didn't waste the time/$ (they didn't use demonstrated interest).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have visited some campuses that have either made my DC become excited about a school or made them reject the school. They know they was a mid to large sized school that is not too urban or in the middle of nowhere. They will probably apply to 15 schools and we can’t possibly visit all of them. A few have pretty low acceptance rates so we kind of want to make sure the application is worth it. In the other hand, I also think it’s good to see safeties bc DC does need to feel good about those, as well. How did you handle it if you did visits? We’ve already pulled out schools that are under 8k students, in the middle of a city or too hard to get to.

If you're applying to 15, let's guess 7 have very low acceptance rates. Either don't visit, or visit one as a representative.

And let's guess 3 are safeties. Visit one as a representative.

That leaves 5. I'd focus on those for visits. Bonus if you can knock off two in one visit. That's not too bad.

Then, if your DC gets into the very selective colleges, go visit. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

We visited what we could and did all the online stuff for the rest. That was enough to know whether she wanted to apply or not. Then, visited admitted schools.

[Anonymous]

I also applied to colleges with zero visits, and showed up to the one I chose on the first day of freshman year having never seen it. I had been to the city before so liked the idea of an urban campus. I had a great experience, so am fortunate that it all worked out.

For my dd, we’ve been casually checking out college campuses since 8th grade if we happened to be vacationing near one. This was mostly for her to get a sense of size, environment, etc. I think you can definitely save some visits for after your kid has been admitted and is seriously considering a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We visited what we could and did all the online stuff for the rest. That was enough to know whether she wanted to apply or not. Then, visited admitted schools.

+1. We visited schools locally to get an idea of what DD wanted in a school. She did a lot of virtual visits. Then she went to admitted students days.
Saved a lot of time and effort visiting schools where she wasn't admitted anyway or the finances didn't work out. I believe virtual visits still count as demonstrated interest for many places. Not everyone can afford to fly all over the place looking at schools.

[Anonymous]

What did you do back in the day? In large schools, you can certainly find your people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What did you do back in the day? In large schools, you can certainly find your people.

Ha! I went to a SLAC of about 2000 kids. The HS where my kid attends is bigger than that. :p

[Anonymous]

The Fiske Guide is helpful for this

[Anonymous]

We focused on visiting schools that might be ED possibilities. Otherwise, visit after acceptance.

Can you narrow down the list based on what you already know about your child's preferences (size, geography, etc.)?

[Anonymous]

Hasn’t there some reporting that fit is best determined by talking to recent alumni, not by visiting?

[Anonymous]

Do not discount that value of the virtual sessions (information sessions, tours, panels, interviews)
My DC knocked off 2 schools that were in the category that "need to find out more" from these.
A school that was in the maybe category moved much higher up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hasn’t there some reporting that fit is best determined by talking to recent alumni, not by visiting?

Real recent alumni or DCUM self described "recent alumni"?