What school dropped off the list because of your visit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My takeaway from most of this thread is that tours are unhelpful. Though people like to talk about “fit,” I think it’s largely bogus. A lot of kids - maybe most - get to their school and find good and bad points, but most adapt after finding some friends and especially after they decide on a major. Social and academic structure becomes their friend, memories are made, and degrees are obtained. As many have said, tours artificially influence kids, which may lead to a decision that becomes a mistake. It’s important to understand that for teens (they’re really not adults) this is a big emotional decision, as much as an academic one. That means many are looking for comfort, which they may find on a tour but later regret using as an over-weighted criterion.

Do you have kids in college or beyond? Just curious how necessary it is to travel all over the country looking at schools. I understand popping onto campus when nearby on a trip but to purposely go all over to look at these school?

I have a senior who will attend UVA in the fall. Though he has visited the campus and is fine with it, the campus tour was never a deciding factor. For us, it was a great school, close enough to home, and the right price. I assume he’ll find his place on campus and come to love/like it, regardless of his first impressions.

I’m the poster of the first and third comment. I think too many parents hype college tours to their teens as if they were choosing a pageant dress for a coming-of-age party. To me, that over-emphasizes the emotional side of a college choice and makes it seem synonymous with one’s identity. This leads to a bloated search for “the right one,” as if the perfect school can be found and it will transform their lives. How many adults thought the same thing about their career or spouse and later became disillusioned. I’m not trying to be a jerk, or suggest that one shouldn’t be happy/excited about one’s choice. But, I am suggesting that a student’s academic record, family finances, potential major, etc. should be sufficient to narrow one’s search to a handful of options. Apply, see where your student is accepted, then visit schools, if even necessary.

Thanks. I asked the question a few posts back. I actually decided on a school and got accepted and then visited, more because my parents wanted to see it then me. I had zero interest in visiting a lot of schools and was annoyed that my parents tried to drag me to schools. Now that I’m the parent, I’m still wondering how necessary it is to visit many schools just to say we did.

[Anonymous]

A lot of these posts go like this:

“We visited William and Mary on a dark and rainy day. It seemed depressing, and my kid hated it. Later, we toured JMU. The sun was shining, and we had a great meal. My kid loved it.”

If your kid is accepted to both schools, most rational people would choose William and Mary, despite the site visit. And, if the kid chooses JMU because it will be easier, more fun, etc., you didn’t need a site visit to determine that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My takeaway from most of this thread is that tours are unhelpful. Though people like to talk about “fit,” I think it’s largely bogus. A lot of kids - maybe most - get to their school and find good and bad points, but most adapt after finding some friends and especially after they decide on a major. Social and academic structure becomes their friend, memories are made, and degrees are obtained. As many have said, tours artificially influence kids, which may lead to a decision that becomes a mistake. It’s important to understand that for teens (they’re really not adults) this is a big emotional decision, as much as an academic one. That means many are looking for comfort, which they may find on a tour but later regret using as an over-weighted criterion.

Do you have kids in college or beyond? Just curious how necessary it is to travel all over the country looking at schools. I understand popping onto campus when nearby on a trip but to purposely go all over to look at these school?

I have a senior who will attend UVA in the fall. Though he has visited the campus and is fine with it, the campus tour was never a deciding factor. For us, it was a great school, close enough to home, and the right price. I assume he’ll find his place on campus and come to love/like it, regardless of his first impressions.

I’m the poster of the first and third comment. I think too many parents hype college tours to their teens as if they were choosing a pageant dress for a coming-of-age party. To me, that over-emphasizes the emotional side of a college choice and makes it seem synonymous with one’s identity. This leads to a bloated search for “the right one,” as if the perfect school can be found and it will transform their lives. How many adults thought the same thing about their career or spouse and later became disillusioned. I’m not trying to be a jerk, or suggest that one shouldn’t be happy/excited about one’s choice. But, I am suggesting that a student’s academic record, family finances, potential major, etc. should be sufficient to narrow one’s search to a handful of options. Apply, see where your student is accepted, then visit schools, if even necessary.

This is very smart and well said. Doing campus tours is fun but in terms of actual meaningful information you get from them I would say minimal to none. The things that will really shape ones college experience - roommates, friends, professors etc. etc. will not be found on those no matter how much we try to make a couple of hours on campus help a kid decide of a place as a “fit“. We met just for two sessions with the counselor when my DD was a junior and we were struggling to figure out how to narrow a list and when the topic of tours came up here agrees with you PP he thinks that the parent over emphasis on them is not helpful to kids and actually not a particularly good way to make a decision about which schools are of interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The negative vibes on my lengthy visits post are upsetting. These are my kids impressions of their campus tours and remember they were seventeen or so. My comments followed. The Wahoo who responded so negatively may not have read that my son who did attend law school at UVA loved it as I duly noted. His jab at the chip on my shoulder about W&M maybe did not catch that three out of four of my children were not impressed with their visit. The Duke responders should register that I was still in favor of them applying . This thread was about visits to colleges..not the schools themselves. Everyone kindly sip your wine and back the fork off.

I wouldn’t sweat the nutty parents on DCUM, particularly those that crawl out of the woodwork anytime UVA comes up. I commented once that my kid wanted a west coast SLAC, so didn’t apply to UVA, and a dozen UVA alums jumped in to say variations of « sorry your kid didn’t get in ». I think most people who go to UVA are lovely people, but there are alums on DCUM doing the school a real disservice by being so nutty.

you do realize that most of those people are in fact UVA haters, just looking to stir up trouble and give UVA a bad name. Most of the time, the haters are the ones that bring up UVA at all, doesn't take a genius to see what's going on here.

So you are saying they bring UVA up just to get people ticked off at UVA? Perhaps. Tough to say.

DP - No, it's not that they are "ticked off" - it's because either they didn't get in, or a child didn't get in, or, like us, we learned sophomore or junior year that there was no point in even applying because our kid didn't have the necessary stats. There's only 3750 slots and just under 50,000 applications this year. Many of the ED and EA slots went to first-generation, URM, Blue Ridge Scholar, athlete, low-income, legacy, spectacular TJ kids, so the folks you have just good, well-performing unhooked kids are out of luck. Someone worked out that there are 38,000 applications left for 200 positions or something impossibly difficult like that. So we pay taxes but never even applied in-state to UVA (DD went to another VA school). So the pattern I see is that when someone can take a potshot, they do, but it's usually sour grapes. The other flagships are much larger so there's less rancor, plus Virginia parents really want to take advantage of the in-state tuition unless they have adequate savings (which personally is very difficult to do for three kids at SLACs at $80K a year, like my own). And, due to Covid, more families than ever need to take advantage of in-state offerings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The negative vibes on my lengthy visits post are upsetting. These are my kids impressions of their campus tours and remember they were seventeen or so. My comments followed. The Wahoo who responded so negatively may not have read that my son who did attend law school at UVA loved it as I duly noted. His jab at the chip on my shoulder about W&M maybe did not catch that three out of four of my children were not impressed with their visit. The Duke responders should register that I was still in favor of them applying . This thread was about visits to colleges..not the schools themselves. Everyone kindly sip your wine and back the fork off.

I wouldn’t sweat the nutty parents on DCUM, particularly those that crawl out of the woodwork anytime UVA comes up. I commented once that my kid wanted a west coast SLAC, so didn’t apply to UVA, and a dozen UVA alums jumped in to say variations of « sorry your kid didn’t get in ». I think most people who go to UVA are lovely people, but there are alums on DCUM doing the school a real disservice by being so nutty.

you do realize that most of those people are in fact UVA haters, just looking to stir up trouble and give UVA a bad name. Most of the time, the haters are the ones that bring up UVA at all, doesn't take a genius to see what's going on here.

So you are saying they bring UVA up just to get people ticked off at UVA? Perhaps. Tough to say.

I stand behind my assertion yes. 100%
You also realize that because of the anonymous nature of the board, one person could post multiple times and make it LOOK like there's a bunch of people who feel the same way. It's a known fact that high school kids love to troll this board and rile parents up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kind of opposite of the prompt, but Mason rose significantly after our tour. The student guide was really outstanding and at ease with the students as well as the parents. And funny! I would say both UVA and Tech tours were not great. Felt like you were being herded. I had the song "Welcome to the Machine" going through my head at both places.

Sure. Pick GMU over UVA based on the tour guide. Real smart of you.

and while I am sure you are one of pot stirrers on this board because she didn't say they "chose" UVA over GMU, just that they liked the tour better. I'm gonna guess not too many people turn down UVA for GMU but clearly when you are in the touring part of the college search process, you see lots of different schools, from safeties to reaches.

FWIW Mason does a great job with the tours (it tracks demonstrated interest). DD got in EA, and we were one and done. Animation and Econ. She had a wonderful four years. Yes, lived in the dorms all four years. Made gobs of friends. Got great internships in animation and computer game design and was employed before commencement.

[Anonymous]

Why do NOVA posters insist that "nobody" can get into UVA from NOVA? According the SCHEV UVA accepted more than a third of FCPS applicants and a similar number from Arlington, Alexandria and Loudoun. That's a lot of nobody.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The negative vibes on my lengthy visits post are upsetting. These are my kids impressions of their campus tours and remember they were seventeen or so. My comments followed. The Wahoo who responded so negatively may not have read that my son who did attend law school at UVA loved it as I duly noted. His jab at the chip on my shoulder about W&M maybe did not catch that three out of four of my children were not impressed with their visit. The Duke responders should register that I was still in favor of them applying . This thread was about visits to colleges..not the schools themselves. Everyone kindly sip your wine and back the fork off.

I wouldn’t sweat the nutty parents on DCUM, particularly those that crawl out of the woodwork anytime UVA comes up. I commented once that my kid wanted a west coast SLAC, so didn’t apply to UVA, and a dozen UVA alums jumped in to say variations of « sorry your kid didn’t get in ». I think most people who go to UVA are lovely people, but there are alums on DCUM doing the school a real disservice by being so nutty.

you do realize that most of those people are in fact UVA haters, just looking to stir up trouble and give UVA a bad name. Most of the time, the haters are the ones that bring up UVA at all, doesn't take a genius to see what's going on here.

So you are saying they bring UVA up just to get people ticked off at UVA? Perhaps. Tough to say.

DP - No, it's not that they are "ticked off" - it's because either they didn't get in, or a child didn't get in, or, like us, we learned sophomore or junior year that there was no point in even applying because our kid didn't have the necessary stats. There's only 3750 slots and just under 50,000 applications this year. Many of the ED and EA slots went to first-generation, URM, Blue Ridge Scholar, athlete, low-income, legacy, spectacular TJ kids, so the folks you have just good, well-performing unhooked kids are out of luck. Someone worked out that there are 38,000 applications left for 200 positions or something impossibly difficult like that. So we pay taxes but never even applied in-state to UVA (DD went to another VA school). So the pattern I see is that when someone can take a potshot, they do, but it's usually sour grapes. The other flagships are much larger so there's less rancor, plus Virginia parents really want to take advantage of the in-state tuition unless they have adequate savings (which personally is very difficult to do for three kids at SLACs at $80K a year, like my own). And, due to Covid, more families than ever need to take advantage of in-state offerings.

This is the truth. Also, previous year's stats for any university are going to be completely irrelevant in our pandemic year. It is goddamn chaos out there now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do NOVA posters insist that "nobody" can get into UVA from NOVA? According the SCHEV UVA accepted more than a third of FCPS applicants and a similar number from Arlington, Alexandria and Loudoun. That's a lot of nobody.

Poster 15:35 has it right. People are frustrated. But if UVA’s character changed to admit more students or less qualified ones, it wouldn’t be the institution that many covet. Also, too many want to use it as a fallback after getting rejected from a “better school” or after they realize that the “better school” isn’t worth the incremental cost.

[Anonymous]

Sarah Lawrence. What a downer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The negative vibes on my lengthy visits post are upsetting. These are my kids impressions of their campus tours and remember they were seventeen or so. My comments followed. The Wahoo who responded so negatively may not have read that my son who did attend law school at UVA loved it as I duly noted. His jab at the chip on my shoulder about W&M maybe did not catch that three out of four of my children were not impressed with their visit. The Duke responders should register that I was still in favor of them applying . This thread was about visits to colleges..not the schools themselves. Everyone kindly sip your wine and back the fork off.

I wouldn’t sweat the nutty parents on DCUM, particularly those that crawl out of the woodwork anytime UVA comes up. I commented once that my kid wanted a west coast SLAC, so didn’t apply to UVA, and a dozen UVA alums jumped in to say variations of « sorry your kid didn’t get in ». I think most people who go to UVA are lovely people, but there are alums on DCUM doing the school a real disservice by being so nutty.

you do realize that most of those people are in fact UVA haters, just looking to stir up trouble and give UVA a bad name. Most of the time, the haters are the ones that bring up UVA at all, doesn't take a genius to see what's going on here.

So you are saying they bring UVA up just to get people ticked off at UVA? Perhaps. Tough to say.

DP - No, it's not that they are "ticked off" - it's because either they didn't get in, or a child didn't get in, or, like us, we learned sophomore or junior year that there was no point in even applying because our kid didn't have the necessary stats. There's only 3750 slots and just under 50,000 applications this year. Many of the ED and EA slots went to first-generation, URM, Blue Ridge Scholar, athlete, low-income, legacy, spectacular TJ kids, so the folks you have just good, well-performing unhooked kids are out of luck. Someone worked out that there are 38,000 applications left for 200 positions or something impossibly difficult like that. So we pay taxes but never even applied in-state to UVA (DD went to another VA school). So the pattern I see is that when someone can take a potshot, they do, but it's usually sour grapes. The other flagships are much larger so there's less rancor, plus Virginia parents really want to take advantage of the in-state tuition unless they have adequate savings (which personally is very difficult to do for three kids at SLACs at $80K a year, like my own). And, due to Covid, more families than ever need to take advantage of in-state offerings.

This is the truth. Also, previous year's stats for any university are going to be completely irrelevant in our pandemic year. It is goddamn chaos out there now.

I agree and I'm just an observer this year. In two years DC will be applying to grad school and the bad news there is that law school applications are up 57%; MBA up 35%; etc. etc. I've personally seen what happens. The class of 2020 didn't have access to their college's career center - many wound up umemployed in their intended fields. Jobs dried up. Internships dried up. So they are all returning for grad work. And DC will be competing in that market. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

I disagree with everyone claiming visits are a waste of time. Perhaps people are saying this now...because they can’t visit? Consoling themselves?

We started out with a long list of possibilities, and the visits really helped us narrow that down:

How did we like the trip from home?
How was the food in the dining hall?
The dorms?
The distances between things on campus?
Safety of the surrounding neighborhood?
Were there Dining/shopping options nearby?
A shuttle to the airport or shopping?
Any wow features? (We saw a farm, lakeside Field station, ice cream shop run by the Ag students, equestrian center, arboretum, waterfront)
How did the kids interact on campus?
How did they dress?
Were faculty generous with their time?

These are just some examples, but they helped my child figure out whether she would be comfortable in her new home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do NOVA posters insist that "nobody" can get into UVA from NOVA? According the SCHEV UVA accepted more than a third of FCPS applicants and a similar number from Arlington, Alexandria and Loudoun. That's a lot of nobody.

Poster 15:35 has it right. People are frustrated. But if UVA’s character changed to admit more students or less qualified ones, it wouldn’t be the institution that many covet. Also, too many want to use it as a fallback after getting rejected from a “better school” or after they realize that the “better school” isn’t worth the incremental cost.

But it can't. There's no room, as you know if you have had a child there or have visited yourself. UVA has been trying to expand but it simply doesn't have the space in Charlottesville to grow, which is why the Commonwealth is pouring money into GMU, JMU, CNU and the other 37 public institutions of higher learning. UCLA and Berkeley were planned in a brand new state in the glory money years. UVA was founded in 1819. No amount of griping can change that.

[Anonymous]

Would you move to a home/town you had never seen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you move to a home/town you had never seen?

I did, for grad school. Didn't have the time or money to visit, but I knew it was the right program. It was fine.