Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visited Harvard. Disappointed and not impressed. It was immediately dropped from consideration. It's not a waste. Helps to narrow the list and realize things you may never have learned without an in-person visit.

Ha ha ha. I’m sure Harvard was devastated.

It really isn't for everyone. The campus is so-so. And then there are all the tourists. Harvard Square isn't what it used to be. And the school is clearly focused on its graduate programs. A visit is a good thing to do to make things clear. For a good undergrad experience, Harvard is not where it's at for a lot of smart kids. Visits are clarifying

+1

My engineering kid visited Cornell and wanted to like it. But just couldn't. The campus is in the middle of nowhere (we are not east coast)---the drive from Boston with stops in NY at various schools showed us it truly was middle of nowhere. They were not giving tours, were not helpful with any questions, just had a "we don't care attitude---our acceptance rate is single digits and we don't need you to apply" Did not get anyone who was helpful on the tour, the students on campus (it was summer) did not seem "happy". So for my kid, it helped make decision to not apply.
We did 10 campuses in a week, and this was by far the "worst experience" short of "Troy NY sucks and no way in Hell am I living in this town for 4 years" (I agree Ithaca is a much better college town).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to a few ivies because the DDs school admissions officer thought she should and DD decided that she didn’t like the vibe, or the size, and didn’t apply to any Ivies. Asian kid, 1 year pre Supreme Court decision, so the deck was stacked again and she really didn’t stand a chance. Better for her that she didn’t set her heart on it. So visiting some Ivies WAS helpful, in a backwards way.

Your child doesn’t have the deck stacked against her. Going to Binghamton instead of Yale isn’t a hardship. There are kids who really have the deck stacked against them - born into generational poverty, a parent with substance abuse, a parent incarcerated, violent homes/communities, homeless, food insecure. Just stop already.

and yet those who got in the ivies are Nigerian doctor’s kids and Obama’s daughters instead of kids you mentioned. When are we gonna stop lying about “equity “?

Anonymous wrote:Curious others thoughts on this.

IMO unless kid is debating whether ED or apply at all, total waste of time and money. Why show your kid schools there is a very low chance they will have the option of attending?

Because if you can afford it, visiting can help your kid decide "yes I really like the school" vs "nope, don't want that T25 school despite what everyone says and now I don't have 4 extra supplementals to worry about"

Anonymous wrote:We went to a few ivies because the DDs school admissions officer thought she should and DD decided that she didn’t like the vibe, or the size, and didn’t apply to any Ivies. Asian kid, 1 year pre Supreme Court decision, so the deck was stacked again and she really didn’t stand a chance. Better for her that she didn’t set her heart on it. So visiting some Ivies WAS helpful, in a backwards way.

That is why, if you can swing it, you should try to visit a variety of schools junior year (spring break) and summer before senior year. Majority of schools you are applying to (definately targets and safeties) need to be schools your kid actually wants to attend. Only way to really figure that out is to visit a good number of the.

We visited 10 schools in 1 week over the summer before senior year. Yes, recognize the privilege to be able to do that. All were 2-3K miles from home, hence why it was a whirlwind week. My kid already had a well thought out list of schools, had researched and thought these were the ones they liked. But the visits, even in the summer (and it was covid times so didn't get to go inside at several of the schools), helped rule out a few and turn a few from top schools to, lets apply but I probably have better choices. It also helped solidify their Top Safety school. My kid loved that school and kept it in their T4 finalists come April, despite the other 3 being "much better schools". Had we not visited, my kid likely wouldn't have seen why it was such a hidden gem.

Anonymous wrote:It might help with getting a sense of what you like and dislike about colleges generally.

I went on a tour of Yale with a friend of mine who was then accepted by Harvard, so she didn't bother applying to Yale. But she did have the comparison.

. After doing the calculators, we realized that we would get little to no aid so we were resistant to have our kid apply ED so we were only looking at SCEA schools. My kid had top stats so we toured both Yale and Harvard, among others. After all our tours (perhaps 12 schools), my kid's clear favorite was Yale (followed closely by Harvard) and decided to shoot her shot at Yale and was admitted early. She had completed a few other apps in case things didn't work and decided not to apply elsewhere based on those tours, so they were helpful to streamline the process.

I would not plan a trip just to see a high reach unless this was a possible ED school. In general our plan was focus on targets and likely schools and they picked those first. We would tack on a stop by a reach school if logistically it could work.

Anonymous wrote:We went to a few ivies because the DDs school admissions officer thought she should and DD decided that she didn’t like the vibe, or the size, and didn’t apply to any Ivies. Asian kid, 1 year pre Supreme Court decision, so the deck was stacked again and she really didn’t stand a chance. Better for her that she didn’t set her heart on it. So visiting some Ivies WAS helpful, in a backwards way.

Your child doesn’t have the deck stacked against her. Going to Binghamton instead of Yale isn’t a hardship. There are kids who really have the deck stacked against them - born into generational poverty, a parent with substance abuse, a parent incarcerated, violent homes/communities, homeless, food insecure. Just stop already.

Anonymous wrote:I can't help but think it's a waste of time and money. Thoughts?

The biggest risk is that your DC will become too invested in colleges that they have very low Chances of being admitted to.

I wish we had visited fewer high reaches even though they all sent lots of marketing materials and even set up alumni interviews as DC was very high stat kid (as many are).

I would just do virtual tours for high reaches …

I’m of a different mindset from of a lot of posters. Focus your search on likelies that seem most appealing to your child since that is where your child is most likely to end up. An Ivy or similar is such a long shot that it’s most likely a waste of time and resources. The only exception is if your child is planning to ED since they should see it before commiting. Otherwise visit the reach once you know your child is in (unless it’s a short drive). But set realistic expectations for admission chances reminding your child that there are more qualified kids than spots so it’s a lottery at the end of the day. It’s always sad when kids fall in love with a school that isn’t a likely and no Ivy is a likely for anyone. I saw it happen with my awesome nephew who was perfect by all the metrics.

Anonymous wrote:Visited Harvard. Disappointed and not impressed. It was immediately dropped from consideration. It's not a waste. Helps to narrow the list and realize things you may never have learned without an in-person visit.

Same for me, though dd loved it. (but decided not to apply in the end). We also visited Brandeis and BC that day. We did WPI and Tufts same day for sib. So, I would say fine to visit a big reach if you can do it along with more attainable schools.

It's good to have reaches just be one school on the list rather than the focal point of the trip. That way, they don't get built up.

Anonymous wrote:I also think there is value to a kid seeing that some of these places are not “all that.”

Mine for example, did not like Harvard or Princeton.

Which was…eh…fortunate.

😂

Exactly!!

A family friend is at an Ivy and full of complaints about how hard it is to get classes you need. For that much money, I would not want that issue.

We dropped Cornell because the students were comatose in the library, the student union had old plumbing, and the place felt depressed. Did not like the campus at all.

Our visits included other schools too. Most were dropped from consideration (too remote, architecture too brutalist, too small, dorms too high on a hill) for various reasons, but we had a blast on the road trip!

Kid is very happy at current place!

We visited more than 12 schools but some we worked into planned vacations and trips.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visited Harvard. Disappointed and not impressed. It was immediately dropped from consideration. It's not a waste. Helps to narrow the list and realize things you may never have learned without an in-person visit.

Ha ha ha. I’m sure Harvard was devastated.

It really isn't for everyone. The campus is so-so. And then there are all the tourists. Harvard Square isn't what it used to be. And the school is clearly focused on its graduate programs. A visit is a good thing to do to make things clear. For a good undergrad experience, Harvard is not where it's at for a lot of smart kids. Visits are clarifying

Look at the school's Common Data Set. If "demonstrated interest" is important to the school, visit. If not, yes, a waste of money

Joining the chorus: well worth visiting before deciding to apply ED. Example, kid goes to Chicago thinking they might ED to UChicago and comes home thinking they might ED to Northwesern. Or ED to BU instead of Tufts or vice versa.

If your student will not be in a position to apply ED (such as if you are merit hunting), then visits to reaches are far less important.