summer college tour

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only tour schools that got accepted to. No need to tour before. Waste of time.

NP. I disagree with this PP. The "waste of time" is applying to schools only to find later that the location, campus, overall vibe, etc. are a completely wrong fit, and that your kid wouldn't have bothered to apply if they'd actually seen and spent time asking questions AT that college. Websites and YouTube videos just do not give a full picture, though those things are useful for helping weed out some schools without even visiting.

I'm NOT saying to expend energy on countless visits everywhere remotely of any interest. It helps narrow the field if the student knows things like what majors they might pursue, becuase looking at colleges based solely on "prestige" is indeed a waste of time, if those colleges don't even have solid departments in the subjects the student wants. And it helps if the student knows they'd clearly prefer, for instance, a smaller college to a huge state flagship, or an urban setting to a remote rural setting, etc. But after narrowing things down, try to visit.

If we hadn't visited one particular college -- which was not on DC's radar at all, but just happened to be near two other schools we were visiting, and did have great programs in DC's field of interest -- DC would not have applied to that college. It's where DC went, got an excellent education, and was very happy both socially and intellectually. The visit made all the diffrerence.