Have you (parent) visited every school your child is considering?

[Anonymous]

Would you be okay with them committing to a school that you have not seen?

[Anonymous]

If they have landed on one school make a trip and visit.

[Anonymous]

This is not really responsive, but I'll just note that when I went to college, my parents did not visit a single school that I considered. It was too expensive. They sent me, and I mostly got myself from place to place within the northeast corridor, taking Amtrak, cabs, buses, etc. Honestly, I'm not sure what input they could have provided from visiting the schools -- the visits are mostly about getting a "feel" for the student body and school...and that's something the student needs to feel comfortable with, not the parents.
I think the presentations aimed at parents are just huge snow jobs.

[Anonymous]

I would make every effort to see it. It's a huge investment. Although I research cars online, I also test drive. Similar concept, for a big purchase, I want a hands-on opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Older DC visited to every school to which he applied (4). Younger DC is a junior and we have a working list of ten right now. We plan on visiting them as we go through the year. I have a feeling he will also only apply to 4-6- maybe just 2-3 once he figures out what he likes. He already has a decent safety school that should eliminate the need for too many applications.

If the student is borderline for the schools they like, it may require more applications to be safe.

[Anonymous]

We visited a total of 6 or 7 schools and my DC ended up applying to only one of them (she applied to 7 schools total). We didn't really do much research before visits - most of them were fit into family vacations. Now we have five acceptances (two more pending and likely to be acceptances) and limited time/money to visit the other schools. These were mostly rolling admissions, or schools that had EA, so now I'm starting to worry that she'll end up in the worst dorms if she waits too long to make a decision. I do not think she will end up committing to a school without visiting.

Right now, her current favorite is (not surprisingly) the one school she did visit before applying. We all liked the campus and it felt like a good fit for her. However, there are two others that would be considered "better" schools in general (but in a region of the country DC has never been to), and there is another that may be an even better fit for her (she has at least been to the city where the school is located). We'll likely try to fit in a visit to one or two, but no more than that. I think that if she had applied in state or in neighboring states, we would have done more visits.

[Anonymous]

DD got in EA so, as it turned out, we had visited both schools she applied to (fave public and fave private). Fave public moved from #3 or 4 public on the basis of a two day visit. Had she not gotten into fave private EA, she probably would have applied to one or two schools none of us had visited (McGill and University of Washington). But we probably would have visited either or both before she committed, assuming she had alternatives but was favoring the unseen option.

OTOH, I headed off to college sight unseen, but it was Harvard so my parents were ok with that and probably couldn't have spared the time and money to visit anyway. Hadn't visited my second choice either, so it was a level playing field.

[Anonymous]

We did two college tours. One to all the colleges the kids (two of four have graduated from college so far) thought they wanted to apply to. And a second college tour after they got in and were deciding which one they wanted to attend. The second college tour was fewer schools than the first.

Then when the kids were leaving for school, we all went. Father, mother, siblings, step-siblings, second husband, grandfather, grandfather's girlfriend, grandmother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not really responsive, but I'll just note that when I went to college, my parents did not visit a single school that I considered. It was too expensive. They sent me, and I mostly got myself from place to place within the northeast corridor, taking Amtrak, cabs, buses, etc. Honestly, I'm not sure what input they could have provided from visiting the schools -- the visits are mostly about getting a "feel" for the student body and school...and that's something the student needs to feel comfortable with, not the parents.
I think the presentations aimed at parents are just huge snow jobs.

Does anyone know how colleges feel about this now? I'm thinking of doing the same thing with my son, at least for more distant schools, but I wonder if colleges that value the demonstration of interest look at this as the same as a family tour.

My thought is that if he goes back to 1 or 2 top choices for an accepted student event, I'd go with him and stay in a hotel while he stays in the dorm.

[Anonymous]

Kid visiting alone is fine as an expression of interest. No extra points for an entourage!

[Anonymous]

Did tour most schools but not a necessity. After a while, they all looked the same and had exactly the same spiel. The problem with visiting is that I fell in love with one or two schools that didn't impress the kid. Two schools we both knocked off the list immediately after visiting even though college guidance thought they were fabulous. One of those two gave a thirty thousand dollar scholarship and still wasn't attractive. My kid picked a great school that made her very happy but was not my favorite. I'm glad I trusted her to make that decision. Keep in mind that most schools are not that different nor is it that final a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did tour most schools but not a necessity. After a while, they all looked the same and had exactly the same spiel. The problem with visiting is that I fell in love with one or two schools that didn't impress the kid. Two schools we both knocked off the list immediately after visiting even though college guidance thought they were fabulous. One of those two gave a thirty thousand dollar scholarship and still wasn't attractive. My kid picked a great school that made her very happy but was not my favorite. I'm glad I trusted her to make that decision. Keep in mind that most schools are not that different nor is it that final a choice.

I attended a local info session with three colleges. One presentation was so-so. DS wasn't with me for that one (conflict) and asked I attend and take notes. We were on our way to visit another school and decided to detour the 100 miles to go ahead and at least cross it off the list. Been there, done that.

DS and I loved the school! Beautiful campus, was able to sit in on a class, great info session, visited the library, etc, etc. This school is now number one on the list. How different the info session was versus the local session. If I had hated it, it would have still been DS's choice, and I would have been fine with that. After all, it's not me who has to spend four years there. We most of DC's school and then some. When we are travelling and a school is in reasonable distance and some interest, we do a drive by at least. We toured Stanford and Berkeley as we were in that part of the country.

Now, all DS has to do is get in to his first choice!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did tour most schools but not a necessity. After a while, they all looked the same and had exactly the same spiel. The problem with visiting is that I fell in love with one or two schools that didn't impress the kid. Two schools we both knocked off the list immediately after visiting even though college guidance thought they were fabulous. One of those two gave a thirty thousand dollar scholarship and still wasn't attractive. My kid picked a great school that made her very happy but was not my favorite. I'm glad I trusted her to make that decision. Keep in mind that most schools are not that different nor is it that final a choice.

I attended a local info session with three colleges. One presentation was so-so. DS wasn't with me for that one (conflict) and asked I attend and take notes. We were on our way to visit another school and decided to detour the 100 miles to go ahead and at least cross it off the list. Been there, done that.

DS and I loved the school! Beautiful campus, was able to sit in on a class, great info session, visited the library, etc, etc. This school is now number one on the list. How different the info session was versus the local session. If I had hated it, it would have still been DS's choice, and I would have been fine with that. After all, it's not me who has to spend four years there. We most of DC's school and then some. When we are travelling and a school is in reasonable distance and some interest, we do a drive by at least. We toured Stanford and Berkeley as we were in that part of the country.

Now, all DS has to do is get in to his first choice!! [/quote**We visited most**

[Anonymous]

We visited most of the schools DC applied to, but he did a couple of trips on his own organized by coaches. I think there were 3 schools DC applied to that he or we did not visit and he ended up attending one of those so the first visit was summer orientation. DC is pretty flexible and relaxed and figured he could adapt to most schools so was fine with that. It's turned out great.

I arrived at my college back in the day sight unseen - it is in the Midwest and too expensive a trip back then so I didn't visit. Same with grad school, although it was a campus I had visited in my college visit days.

[Anonymous]

Good point re local info sessions. Not worth the time IME. Had we relied on them, DC wouldn't even have applied to the school she'll now be attending. But the local presentation was so different from the much more appealing direct mail campaign that we decided to visit. Didn't apply to any of the others (at least 3) whose road shows she saw.