This DCUM family told their kids: no colleges west of the Mississippi. Too damn far. There are plenty of colleges in this half of the country. More, actually.

Anonymous wrote:I'm from California and the first time I saw my Ivy League school was when my parents dropped me off freshman year. It all worked out. My parents had to save their money for tuition.

Was it what you expected? I'd love to have had the time and money to visit all 12 schools on DC's list. DC visited 7 schools and only applied to 2 of the 7...Luckily some cities had 2 or 3 colleges

I'm from California and the first time I saw my Ivy League school was when my parents dropped me off freshman year. It all worked out. My parents had to save their money for tuition.

Maybe visiting the West Coast costs too much? I think it's uncommon for the average family to do cross-country visits. DCUM is a different world, though...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And you are sure she will get into both and that she doesn't have strong preferences for one over the other? Maybe you just visit one, or none. If you do 2 then fly out in the am, visit that afternoon/evening, fly to the other city the next day, visit that day/night, fly home the next day. 3 days. It's Califormia, not Tokyo.

No idea if she will get into both. Not up for visiting a school after a 5am wakeup, 5 hr flight and with jetlag. Sofly out sunday, look at school 1 Monday, get to other school Tuesday, look around and maybe home Wednesday....Or Thursday if cost of flight is high and need to drive between schools

If you have the means, how come you didn't visit before now? Why do you have to wait until after she has been accepted?

Anonymous wrote:And you are sure she will get into both and that she doesn't have strong preferences for one over the other? Maybe you just visit one, or none. If you do 2 then fly out in the am, visit that afternoon/evening, fly to the other city the next day, visit that day/night, fly home the next day. 3 days. It's Califormia, not Tokyo.

No idea if she will get into both. Not up for visiting a school after a 5am wakeup, 5 hr flight and with jetlag. Sofly out sunday, look at school 1 Monday, get to other school Tuesday, look around and maybe home Wednesday....Or Thursday if cost of flight is high and need to drive between schools

And you are sure she will get into both and that she doesn't have strong preferences for one over the other? Maybe you just visit one, or none. If you do 2 then fly out in the am, visit that afternoon/evening, fly to the other city the next day, visit that day/night, fly home the next day. 3 days. It's Califormia, not Tokyo.

If you are nervous now...please post again in mid March. It's a challenging time, but in my experience, I (plus DH) we're more nervous than the kids!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go with the flow. There is plenty of time for the visits in April - missing a day of school in April of senior year isn't fatal. Presumably she's got some kind of preference/ranking so you are really only talking about 1-2 visits. Many kids (including both of mine) do none.

Orientation will be in the summer for big schools and at the beginning of the year for small schools.

The preferred schools are in California, so 5 days because there are 2 cities and several hours of driving to be done...Maybe need to fly from San Fran to LA?

Southwest will get you from San Francisco to LA in one hour. If you're short on time, that's the way to go, and if you buy your tickets way in advance you can get a good price.

That's part of the issue. Won't get results till mid-to-late March, for trips in April. Am not even sure if FinAid offers come out with regular admission results or if there's lag time

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go with the flow. There is plenty of time for the visits in April - missing a day of school in April of senior year isn't fatal. Presumably she's got some kind of preference/ranking so you are really only talking about 1-2 visits. Many kids (including both of mine) do none.

Orientation will be in the summer for big schools and at the beginning of the year for small schools.

The preferred schools are in California, so 5 days because there are 2 cities and several hours of driving to be done...Maybe need to fly from San Fran to LA?

Southwest will get you from San Francisco to LA in one hour. If you're short on time, that's the way to go, and if you buy your tickets way in advance you can get a good price.

Anonymous wrote:Just go with the flow. There is plenty of time for the visits in April - missing a day of school in April of senior year isn't fatal. Presumably she's got some kind of preference/ranking so you are really only talking about 1-2 visits. Many kids (including both of mine) do none.

Orientation will be in the summer for big schools and at the beginning of the year for small schools.

The preferred schools are in California, so 5 days because there are 2 cities and several hours of driving to be done...Maybe need to fly from San Fran to LA?

Anonymous wrote:
I know it's DC who will be attending, but I want to arrange visits, if accepted, figure out orientation etc.
I haven't even booked spring break yet, waiting to see if DC gets into a distant school and needs to visit before May 1

Oh my goodness - breathe! As another PP said, orientation will be during the summer or right before school starts in August.

Just go with the flow. There is plenty of time for the visits in April - missing a day of school in April of senior year isn't fatal. Presumably she's got some kind of preference/ranking so you are really only talking about 1-2 visits. Many kids (including both of mine) do none.

Orientation will be in the summer for big schools and at the beginning of the year for small schools.

Last year, I penciled in the 3 accepted student days for the colleges DD would most likely consider if accepted. I even made a few hotel/dinner reservations (because the hotels in college towns fill up for these types of weekends). I ended up canceling everything bc DD decided she wanted to wait for the college where she was waitlisted. A terrible idea, that worked out splendidly for her. She's very happy today, 1000 miles away. Oh, and of course, but don't let your kid see you sweat! You need to be the confident adult: "It will all work out just fine."

I know it's DC who will be attending, but I want to arrange visits, if accepted, figure out orientation etc.
I haven't even booked spring break yet, waiting to see if DC gets into a distant school and needs to visit before May 1