Advice for Spring Break college tour

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would recommend that you just take the tour, and not do the info session AND tour. The script was very redundant between the two, and you really don't learn much by sitting in an auditorium and hearing an admissions officer talk about the school. Once we realized that the tour, followed by some non-supervised wandering about (especially in the Student Center), gave us more than enough information, it was a pleasure to ditch the info session.

They do get repetitive (info session bingo can pass the time - career center? study abroad? dinner at professors house?) but we did find many of them helpful. We liked the Dartmouth one, not sure we visited any of the other schools on OPs list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would recommend that you just take the tour, and not do the info session AND tour. The script was very redundant between the two, and you really don't learn much by sitting in an auditorium and hearing an admissions officer talk about the school. Once we realized that the tour, followed by some non-supervised wandering about (especially in the Student Center), gave us more than enough information, it was a pleasure to ditch the info session.

+100
After you have heard one information session, you have heard them all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would recommend that you just take the tour, and not do the info session AND tour. The script was very redundant between the two, and you really don't learn much by sitting in an auditorium and hearing an admissions officer talk about the school. Once we realized that the tour, followed by some non-supervised wandering about (especially in the Student Center), gave us more than enough information, it was a pleasure to ditch the info session.

They do get repetitive (info session bingo can pass the time - career center? study abroad? dinner at professors house?) but we did find many of them helpful. We liked the Dartmouth one, not sure we visited any of the other schools on OPs list.

We totally played info session/tour bingo! Study abroad, start a club, Quidditch, this gothic hall looks like it's out of Harry Potter.

To the OP -- these tours get old really quickly. I understand why you're fitting in so many schools into a short week, but I'd advise you to expect your kid(s) to start zoning out. Especially if you're looking at Ivy and SLACs -- yes, they have distinct features but to a teenager, if you've seen one green quad surrounded by brick or stone buildings, you've seen them all. My kid can't keep two similar PA schools straight in his head. He saw them a day apart, interviewed at both and took tours. As a result he isn't all that interested in either, although they are both good matches for what he's looking for. I suggest cutting down your list, slowing the pace, and doing no more than 1 college visit per day. That way you'll have some time to soak in the area around the school as well. Your 2-school days, like Yale and Brown, are going to be wearing on everyone. (Remember, too, you'll be driving along 95N going from Yale and that stretch in CT is always abysmal.)

[Anonymous]

We did several shorter trips with 3 max with each one and at least one day at each school. Otherwise they meld together and it is much more difficult to keep track.
You still have summer to go to others. You can go to some nearby schools on one of the random days off we have in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the wonderful advice. We've decided to play it by ear-- and for now leave out Dartmouth-- and allocate a full day where possible at each school. Also, daughter is getting a list of grads from her HS at each college from her guidance counselor so she can try to meet with a current student and/or arrange an overnight.

[Anonymous]

Good idea to cut out Dartmouth. If there's one information session you're going to skip, then I recommend you skip Yale. Not only was 100% of the session conducted by a student, there was not an admission officer anywhere in sight who could answer questions when the student did not know the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Good idea to cut out Dartmouth. If there's one information session you're going to skip, then I recommend you skip Yale. Not only was 100% of the session conducted by a student, there was not an admission officer anywhere in sight who could answer questions when the student did not know the answer.

Curious the rationale for skipping Dartmouth?

[Anonymous]

Too much. Yale and Brown: both pretty and both have quads. If you don't slow down and spend some time soaking up the atmosphere, all you will learn is that both are pretty and both have quads.