Anonymous wrote:Just soak it in. Your child will probably start drawing some conclusions within a few visits.

Something that's occurred to me after getting two kids through the process is that you can kind of pick up on energy level and access to professors, even from a packaged visit. We've seen some schools where there was a feeling of warmth and excitement, and others that were a little dead or cynical. We've seen some where the main point of contact is an admissions dean, and others where they very easily connect you with a professor in your kid's field of interest. This all adds up as you move through the process.

Oh, my husband and I like to grab a student newspaper when we can. THAT usually sheds a lot of light!

+1 and, at least with my kids, it helped for me to not talk too much or make them talk about it afterwards. But encouraged them to make notes for themselves.

Over the course of late 10th-early 11th, DS visited W&M, VT (big school, college town), VCU (big, urban), Randolph-Macon (small). He had a very strong preference for the big school/college town. Ultimately also visited JMU and UDel. Got into those + VT and goes to VT.

DD tagged along on those visits and had an inclination that she preferred smaller so we also then visited CNU (hated it), UMW (ok), Washington College (liked that best). And then we did more focused visits throughout junior year of schools that were more like Washington College (small, rural, strong environmental program).

Just soak it in. Your child will probably start drawing some conclusions within a few visits.

Something that's occurred to me after getting two kids through the process is that you can kind of pick up on energy level and access to professors, even from a packaged visit. We've seen some schools where there was a feeling of warmth and excitement, and others that were a little dead or cynical. We've seen some where the main point of contact is an admissions dean, and others where they very easily connect you with a professor in your kid's field of interest. This all adds up as you move through the process.

Oh, my husband and I like to grab a student newspaper when we can. THAT usually sheds a lot of light!

We didn’t go in with criteria in mind, but they’ve developed as we’ve visited a few places.

Things DC has decided matter:
- campus size / walkability
- cohesive campus feel (modern or ivy-covered brick have been nice, but random mishmash somehow feels off-putting)
- housing options (DC would strongly prefer a suite situation with both roommates and private space)
- housing with a very social bent (lots of dorm-based activities)
- clearly thought-out student support, like making meals, laundry and transportation as easy as possible
- having at least one advisor who sees you through the whole four years
- support for undergrad research

Really none of those were on our radar at the start, and some are hard to look up.

DC hasn’t actually cared much about the presence or absence of course requirements / core curriculum, location, or student body size, which we thought would be important going in.

See a few places, and your DC will start figuring out what matters to them.

We just decided to do a northeast tour the summer before senior year, and get urban, suburban and rural colleges on the way. It was for our oldest, who had never spent much time on a college campus before, to get a feel for what they looked like, and to wake themselves up to the fact that they would not be living at home soon! He needed the boost to think about his college applications Please try to only do registered tours, they're much more informative. Self-guided doesn't tell you much. Tours fill up fast, so plan in advance!

Then we visited for all the Admitted Student Days, and those were very useful to select the top contender. Colleges divulge more information at that time, including letting families eat the dining hall food and visiting dorms, or go to lectures, so that's when you really see what it's going to be like living there. Only a few colleges let you do that as a random visitor.

Our youngest accompanied us, and we'll probably not have to do it this way for her. She visits her brother on his campus regularly, and will probably do something more targeted when the time comes.

Budget extra time to hang around the campus…eat in the dining hall, sit on a bench and drink coffee, ask kids random questions. Will help you see another side to the college (good or bad) other than the scripted tour and carefully selected tour guide…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what we're doing to over April break with my sophomore. Planning to visit a range of schools. They're all on the ambitious site for admissions, but hopefully it will inspire them to plow through the work during junior year and also give them a sense of what type of school they want to shoot for senior year.

I wouldn’t start with ambitious schools. I would find safeties and matches first.

You don’t have to travel far. There are lots of local options that will let you explore things like small vs big (UMD and Goucher). Urban vs suburban vs rural (JHU/GWU vs AU/Towson vs Gettysburg) etc . . .

+1 Definitely don’t start with reaches! As the parent of a senior, it has been so nice all year knowing that my daughter has a safety and a target that she loves. It makes everything else icing on the cake. And it would have been hard to get there if we had visited some gorgeous Ivy first thing.

+1

DC and peers have been struggling with pressure this year, and that pressure starts with college tours.

Re: walking v. scheduled tours, I’d start w scheduled first, if possible. After the first few, they all start to sound alike (“Finally, I’d like to tell you why I chose Acme U….”), but it helps to know what to look for/think about.

Anonymous wrote:This is what we're doing to over April break with my sophomore. Planning to visit a range of schools. They're all on the ambitious site for admissions, but hopefully it will inspire them to plow through the work during junior year and also give them a sense of what type of school they want to shoot for senior year.

Terrible plan. Go on vacation.

Before Jr. year we just went by schools that were in areas we were already visiting. It helped DS think about urban, suburban, rural; large, medium, small; residential vs. only freshman year... Then Jr. year we did actual tours based on what he narrowed down to. And some we didn't visit; we would have visited if it was a top contender after admittance.

definitely nice to visit a few campuses to get a feel for the TYPE of school your child might be looking for - small vs medium vs large, urban vs suburban vs rural, that kind of thing

My daughter's very first visit was for a summer dance program at one of the VA state schools. That school, 3 years later, is in her top 3 choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what we're doing to over April break with my sophomore. Planning to visit a range of schools. They're all on the ambitious site for admissions, but hopefully it will inspire them to plow through the work during junior year and also give them a sense of what type of school they want to shoot for senior year.

I wouldn’t start with ambitious schools. I would find safeties and matches first.

You don’t have to travel far. There are lots of local options that will let you explore things like small vs big (UMD and Goucher). Urban vs suburban vs rural (JHU/GWU vs AU/Towson vs Gettysburg) etc . . .

+1 Definitely don’t start with reaches! As the parent of a senior, it has been so nice all year knowing that my daughter has a safety and a target that she loves. It makes everything else icing on the cake. And it would have been hard to get there if we had visited some gorgeous Ivy first thing.

Anonymous wrote:This is what we're doing to over April break with my sophomore. Planning to visit a range of schools. They're all on the ambitious site for admissions, but hopefully it will inspire them to plow through the work during junior year and also give them a sense of what type of school they want to shoot for senior year.

I wouldn’t start with ambitious schools. I would find safeties and matches first.

You don’t have to travel far. There are lots of local options that will let you explore things like small vs big (UMD and Goucher). Urban vs suburban vs rural (JHU/GWU vs AU/Towson vs Gettysburg) etc . . .

Are you guys making appointments or doing self guided tours? I ask because you can’t just walk in anymore (usually).
We did a few tours while on vacation freshman and sophomore year. It was pretty helpful to DC after those (NYU, UCLA, William & Mary) to make better decisions junior year for “real” tours. It’s also ok to realize location/size doesn’t matter and something else does (like strength of major or school spirit).

This is what we're doing to over April break with my sophomore. Planning to visit a range of schools. They're all on the ambitious site for admissions, but hopefully it will inspire them to plow through the work during junior year and also give them a sense of what type of school they want to shoot for senior year.

It’s pretty organic and your child should be able to get a feel just by being on campus. My daughter pretty quickly knew BU was too urban for her and Dartmouth was too isolated, for instance. And a visit to a SLAC will pretty quickly inform your child if it feels too small or just right. Just make sure to withhold your own opinions/prejudices and they will find their way.

We are doing some initial visits the spring to try and get a sense of the type of campus / school my DD is interested in.
We are visiting schools that may or may not be on lists - but they are convenient.
All of the info I find for college visits are more focused on making decisions when a student is further along in the process.
Any tips for how to distinguish what resonates and what does not in the early stages of the college search process?