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[quote=Anonymous]Agree strongly with many of the other points raised by others on how to approach.  One thing that worked for our child that was high-performing but overwhelmed by the process: We made a spreadsheet (I am also a spreadsheet person) and divided the boxes into categories that our child would complete (size, location, potential majors and programs, additional activities of interest, study abroad opportunities), categories  that I would complete as the parent (cost, expected travel cost to/from for vacation), and categories we would discuss together (average GPA and test scores). We made a weekly meeting to check in with one another and regular shared our data on Google sheets. Like your child, he had a valuable opportunity over the summer that precluded many visits. We asked him to tell us what schools/geographic areas he had to see to determine if he even wanted to apply (for examples, he had never been to the Midwest and was considering Big 10 schools). We only went there. For other schools, we decided we would take him to visit IF he was admitted and IF it was something he was considering from the acceptances. We did that on a 3-day weekend in the spring and that is where he attended. Worked great although I remember great stress at the time because it felt like everyone else had seen everywhere.

One thing I would emphasize-- If you have cost/geography constraints, you should have that conversation with your child now if it has not already happened. If you have not figure out what you can afford, you need to spend your time first figuring out your finances  because that is one of the critical things your children cannot do by themselves. That may relieve stress either because cost is not a significant issue or because it limits the number/type/location of schools you are considering.

We are now starting on child #2 and hope we can make this same system work.

Take good care of yourself OP![/quote]

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