Suggestions for college visits for HS Junior?

[Anonymous]

Are you in state for NY or NJ? Your own state flagship is usually (but not always) the cheapest option. It's hard to look at schools until you have SAT scores. Her GPA is very good, but so is the competition.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so far the list has Binghampton, BU, BC, Tufts, Northeastern, Yale and Brown as super reaches but would like to visit. Possibly UT Austin (to see a huge school), Indiana. Cornell maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so far the list has Binghampton, BU, BC, Tufts, Northeastern, Yale and Brown as super reaches but would like to visit. Possibly UT Austin (to see a huge school), Indiana. Cornell maybe.

Don't travel that far to see a huge school. If she likes the vibe at one nearby, THEN take her to see others.

[Anonymous]

Middlebury

[Anonymous]

Especially since she is a junior and time is short, my suggestion is to do a few practice visits first at local schools. That way you can get more value out of your experiences when you need them to count. Choose a variety of schools. Walk around alone and then also do a guided tour. What stands out as important to you and your daughter? Does she like being downtown in the hustle/bustle of GW or prefer a more secluded city school like American, Georgetown or Catholic? How about the dorms - is a mini high-rise okay or does she like garden-style? See the libraries, the athletic facilities, the dining halls.

What questions are the other tour participants asking and what questions are you thinking about as you walk around? The thing is to get a feel for the type of campus that your daughter will like and to identify those 'hhmm, maybes'. For example, we were in NYC for something else and took a run up to see Columbia. All of our children have been on campuses since they were little tykes so we didn't think anything would surprise us but we were completely blown away when one of our boys fell in love with Columbia. He didn't end up attending there but it was a surprise that the school was on his radar and that he liked so much about it. That experience helped him narrow his choices to only urban schools.

Good luck and have fun! It is a stressful time but also pretty exciting so embrace the moment!

[Anonymous]

She should check out Macalester. It's smaller than than she's looking for, but it ticks all the other boxes -- and well. It's also sufficiently proximate to the University of Minnesota that it's not as socially stifling as a similarly sized school in the cornfields would be. (If you make a trip out there, you also should tour UMN, Carlton, and St. Olaf -- all great schools; all different from each other; all pretty close together.)

The Barnard suggestion also was good. And she could consider Rice and/or Vandy in the south-ish.

[Anonymous]

Without the SAT score it's hard to know, but what about Johns Hopkins? International Relations (IR) is a big major there, and my DH was a dual IR/Spanish major and got to travel to Cuba as part of a school program back in the 90s. It also has joint degrees with the Peabody music school - I know an opera singer who did a joint degree that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury

Middlebury has great language program http://www.thebestcolleges.org/10-most-innovative-colleges-for-foreign-language-study/ -- but is in a small town.

Think it's helpful to think of the type of environment where you think she would thrive and like to be (small, medium, big; city, suburb-city, smaller town - and regionally/locations - (could be at many - but to help focus/narrow) and then look for the best language programs. Then pick a couple reach schools, several on target, and a couple 'safeties'.

If she wants smaller -& NE/East Coast some to look at -- Middlebury, Williams, Amherst as reach. Colgate, Barnard, W&M, & some others as target...

[Anonymous]

University of Miami. She may even get some merit aid. Its not just a party school. Its very diverse, interntaional, and the opportunties for learning using Spanish are everywhere. Thye have a good honors program.