Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 19:27     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
For DMV or north, consider St Mary’s College of MD, Dickinson and Juniata. They are not pressure cookers and are strong in science.

Take note after each school , so your kid can remember their (not your) reactions. Those notes may also come in handy when writing supplemental application essays.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 19:00     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Liberal going south are you stupid or just bad parenting?

College of Charleston is in red county after 2024 election a red state is no longer safe wake the hell up

Oos to red states where book banning and Ben Sasse now at UF you can not be this dumb


I propose we assume heretofore that all posters:

(a) fully understand what’s happening in red states, and are making any/all decisions with this in mind, so therefore do not require posts like this; and

(b) also fully understand the nature of progressive politics on college campuses and are similarly making informed decisions and therefore also do not require posts that warn them in all-caps about wokeness.

Who’s in?
So in
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 17:34     Subject: Re:Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
My DC had similar stats when we started looking and we hit Dickinson, Gettysburg, F&M, Lafayette, Bucknell. Yes, those are options with that GPA. Not saying your child will get into all, but they are potentials. Lots of other SLACs in PA as well.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 17:31     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
I think UMW is a good call for a visit, but it's an easy day-trip and much of the rest of what's along I-95 doesn't seem to make much sense, so I'd head down I-81 instead. Hit JMU for sure, maybe break east for Lynchburg and/or Sweet Briar, continue on to Virginia Tech, Radford, and maybe Emory & Henry. Then continue into NC at least as far as App State, Warren Wilson, and UNC-Asheville, maybe continuing to Western Carolina and possibly even UTK. It's all beautiful country and offers a nice mix of schools to check out.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 17:24     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
My senior mainly agrees with the type of schools I recommend for him. However, because they are mostly similar - land grant state flagships or large universities of the same vintage - visiting a lot of them may not have been a positive.

My kids started joking that all the schools were alike.

There was a grain of truth to it.

We were not able to go on student-led tours because we needed to use typical school break times to tour. So we were more focusing on campus buildings, college towns, and regional geography.

Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 17:12     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Anonymous wrote:I would leave College of Charleston on the list, don't think U of Richmond or NC State are options.

You could head down 95 and hit Mary Washington, VCU, East Carolina and finish in Charleston.

Or JMU to Radford to Appalachian State to Coastal Carolina to College of Charleston.


I like these ideas. You could also go to Radford on the 81 route. I think Va Tech might be a stretch but there depending on the major, it could be an option as well.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 16:58     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
I would leave College of Charleston on the list, don't think U of Richmond or NC State are options.

You could head down 95 and hit Mary Washington, VCU, East Carolina and finish in Charleston.

Or JMU to Radford to Appalachian State to Coastal Carolina to College of Charleston.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 16:43     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Anonymous wrote:What is the consensus on when to start college visits? Is spring break of 10th grade too soon? I was thinking of doing a few within a 2 hour drive, just to take a peek and get some ideas flowing.


I think it really depends on the student. I would have had to twist my kid's arm off to go on a college tour in 10th grade. She absolutely didn't want to start thinking about college. I think junior year is probably more useful, but if they want to start tours in 10th...why not?
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 16:43     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Anonymous wrote:What is the consensus on when to start college visits? Is spring break of 10th grade too soon? I was thinking of doing a few within a 2 hour drive, just to take a peek and get some ideas flowing.


Would have been too soon for my kids. They changed so much between spring of 10th and spring of 11th. Also I suspect if we’d done college visits too early, the visits would have been something that happened *to* the kids. Whereas by spring 11th, they were curious and motivated, so the visits became theirs more than mine (if that makes sense). But every kid, every family dynamic, is different.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 16:18     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
What is the consensus on when to start college visits? Is spring break of 10th grade too soon? I was thinking of doing a few within a 2 hour drive, just to take a peek and get some ideas flowing.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 15:18     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Another tip - as I have a HS senior and sophomore.
The sophomore may hear things and put too much weight / or not understand context. We were in an information session at a Small Liberal Arts College. The comment was something on the value of liberal arts - and not coming in decided and the core as a time to explore.
This turned my 10th grader off as she does not want to wait 2 years to declare a major (she thinks right now). We needed to unpack what was said - what it meant etc.

My current senior originally was interested in large schools. I made him visit a small school and everything changed. But we were relatively late in the game for this pivot - it all worked out - but keep adding in other options as the tours continue. These kids are growing and figuring out who they are. The 10th grader is different from the 11th grader - and senior. Give them the space so they do feel locked into something they thought they liked.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 15:11     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Pretty sure my daughter has liked every single campus she has been to
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 15:03     Subject: Re:Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Anonymous wrote:Just a few thoughts.....

I was warned that the first place we took ours to....they'd fall in love with....so choose that 'one' wisely. While that didn't exactly play out for us, one of the earliest in the search still holds the #1 slot. And that was one DC really didn't have on their radar (but, gosh, we insisted!).

Don't try to "do" more than one a day.

Will the entire family be going and are there younger siblings tagging along? If so, please make it more about the 'trip' and the vacation than (necessarily) about the college visit.

Please don't take them a place you just can't afford. Out-of-state public anything gets expensive quick! and while some still offer merit aid, the grades and test scores HAVE to be there. Do NOT depend on getting any sort of financial aid to make it 'affordable'.

If possible, sign up for and take any organized 'tours'. Many schools are just starting to post their Spring Semester tour schedules and the ones during K-12 Spring Break fill up fast. If not part of the tour, definitely eat in a campus cafeteria (and not just one of their 'cafes'). Come up with just one 'stock' question and ask it everywhere. Semi-unusual ones (like: 'what's the longest it takes you to get to class?', 'have you learned the alma-mater/fight song yet?' or 'what's the one thing you wish you'd brought from home') usually get answered and often kick-start a broader conversation.

Another big "if" -- if your DC knows what kind of program/degree they're seeking and can arrange for a personal meet-n-greet with that department, those are invaluable.

Depending on the age/situation of your DC, have them drive part of the way. There's a big difference between an experienced driver doing 4+ hours vs a 'young' driver. They need to know/learn the feel for just how far away is....going away.

Have fun and, please, come back and tell us how it went.


Haha, so true! We've only made one trip with our junior so far, to JMU then VT on the same trip. She fell in love with JMU, didn't love VT so is dismissing it, and doesn't want to bother with any other visits, because she loved JMU so much (even though JMU doesn't even have the prospective major she says she is most interested in.)
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 15:00     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Liberal going south are you stupid or just bad parenting?

College of Charleston is in red county after 2024 election a red state is no longer safe wake the hell up

Oos to red states where book banning and Ben Sasse now at UF you can not be this dumb

Are you brainwashed into an idiot or just trying to push your dumb propaganda?


My vote is both!! Typical liberal telling people how to run their own lives. What does person doesn’t know is that the southern states are being overrun, literally overrun by college applications from people in the Northeast, and the Midwest and California. And all of these very same people are not only sending their children to be educated in the south, they’re moving their entire families down there too. That’s why Florida went from being a purple state to a solid red state because the Yankees moved down there, saw how great life is stayed and became Republicans.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2024 14:55     Subject: Organizing First Trip to Visit a Few Colleges
Anonymous wrote:Liberal going south are you stupid or just bad parenting?

College of Charleston is in red county after 2024 election a red state is no longer safe wake the hell up

Oos to red states where book banning and Ben Sasse now at UF you can not be this dumb


I propose we assume heretofore that all posters:

(a) fully understand what’s happening in red states, and are making any/all decisions with this in mind, so therefore do not require posts like this; and

(b) also fully understand the nature of progressive politics on college campuses and are similarly making informed decisions and therefore also do not require posts that warn them in all-caps about wokeness.

Who’s in?