"Saw a school that looked wonderful on paper- said all of the right things, with so many cool perks. Decided to visit and tour. We were two blocks from school and shook our heads and said “no way.”

Total ghetto.

A friend had the same experience at another “popular” East Coast school.

This is why you visit.

We saved application time and money by visiting first."

This makes no sense to me. How could you not figure this out using the internet like you do when booking a hotel for your vacation? (I won't go into whether I agree with turning down a school like Yale because it's adjacent to a low-income area.) Besides discussions in various online college sites about campus safety, why couldn't you just pop the address into Google Maps Street View and take a look around? My assistant did this for me back when I'd travel for work and went on site visits and it helped him determine whether to advise me to take a cab or just walk.

You couldn't have saved money by not applying vs. visiting unless you can travel to the school and back for less than the $50 application fee. And would you really have spent 48+ hours writing the school's supplemental essay?

Saw a school that looked wonderful on paper- said all of the right things, with so many cool perks. Decided to visit and tour. We were two blocks from school and shook our heads and said “no way.”

Total ghetto.

A friend had the same experience at another “popular” East Coast school.

This is why you visit.

We saved application time and money by visiting first.

If you have the money, it is a great experience and so much fun OP. If not, then you are stuck with local choices. I was once poor- it is no fun.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not flying my kids all over because I'm not willing for them to go to school that far away. We are also in-state in VA so they need a really really compelling reason (or signficant merit aid) to go private/OOS. We basically drew an 8 hour driving radious around our home and then looked at all the private/OOS schools that give significant merit aid. That was our list. We were able to visit most that we wanted to.

My kid is a freshman in NoVA and we're in the same boat. Would you mind sharing the eight hour radius list of signficant merit aid schools? If it's too long, cut it down to six hours. Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:My view is to visit the type of school and you can really extrapolate a lot from it. But I am strictly talking from an environment feel.

For example, WM is a good proxy for a SLAC (though it's a run down one, fwiw). GW = urban schools like BU and NYU and even lesser known schools like Georgia State (Atlanta). Virginia Tech is an excellent comparator for the SEC schools like Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia or Big Ten schools like Penn State, Illinois or Indiana. Combine UVA and you have a feel for schools like Wisconsin or Michigan. Want a more gritty school feel -- visit Hopkins. Yale, Chicago, Penn all have a similar vibe. University of Maryland? Very similar vibe to the University of Washington in Seattle. Northwestern also feels a lot like the University of Maryland. So, does Loyola Chicago (it's right next to Evanston).

The only schools I'd have a hard time finding around here for a similar feel are the Seven Sister schools and the California schools. Maybe USC/Hopkins might be a comparator, but the environment is so different besides being in an urban more gritty adjacent area.

You think these schools are gritty? Or is that code for something?

We didn't do any visits prior to acceptance. Since DC did not apply anywhere ED (the top two choices were a school that was unaffordable without merit and a school that only offered RD), we knew we could wait and only have to visit the school(s) DC was most strongly considering committing to. In the end, we only had to tour one school.

Anonymous wrote:Why? I get one personal day per year and there is no way my kid can tour all of the schools he is accepted to in such a short period of time.

No vacation time? Just one day off? Where do you work?

College visits or not, your work seems oppressive.

My view is to visit the type of school and you can really extrapolate a lot from it. But I am strictly talking from an environment feel.

For example, WM is a good proxy for a SLAC (though it's a run down one, fwiw). GW = urban schools like BU and NYU and even lesser known schools like Georgia State (Atlanta). Virginia Tech is an excellent comparator for the SEC schools like Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia or Big Ten schools like Penn State, Illinois or Indiana. Combine UVA and you have a feel for schools like Wisconsin or Michigan. Want a more gritty school feel -- visit Hopkins. Yale, Chicago, Penn all have a similar vibe. University of Maryland? Very similar vibe to the University of Washington in Seattle. Northwestern also feels a lot like the University of Maryland. So, does Loyola Chicago (it's right next to Evanston).

The only schools I'd have a hard time finding around here for a similar feel are the Seven Sister schools and the California schools. Maybe USC/Hopkins might be a comparator, but the environment is so different besides being in an urban more gritty adjacent area.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not flying my kids all over because I'm not willing for them to go to school that far away. We are also in-state in VA so they need a really really compelling reason (or signficant merit aid) to go private/OOS. We basically drew an 8 hour driving radious around our home and then looked at all the private/OOS schools that give significant merit aid. That was our list. We were able to visit most that we wanted to.

That's a great approach. Wish more parents on here would follow a similar approach in having their kid understand what may be the limitations on their college attendance. Waiting till senior year to explain that in-state is the only option is too late for some and can lead to strife.

I'm not flying my kids all over because I'm not willing for them to go to school that far away. We are also in-state in VA so they need a really really compelling reason (or signficant merit aid) to go private/OOS. We basically drew an 8 hour driving radious around our home and then looked at all the private/OOS schools that give significant merit aid. That was our list. We were able to visit most that we wanted to.

Anonymous wrote:For the kids that needed to be on a campus to finally "get" what college would be like, have they never walked near American, Georgetown, GWU, Catholic, UMD, or Howard? I don't understand how someone could grow up in DC and be surprised by what a college campus looks like.

Don't underestimate the COVID effect on kids. Mine really need to go to another city to shake it up. I noticed that one of them started to think differently when we were back home - these were campuses, not just another neighborhood in the city.

Anonymous wrote:If you can why wouldn’t you? I understand if cost or time is an issue but if I’m spending 350k on an education I want to make sure that DC loves a school. Plus our trips were fun bonding experiences.

+1 to the bolded, I loved those few weekends away my oldest and I had together looking at schools. We hadn't done anything with just the two of us like that before and it was such a window into the kind of adult she was becoming. I'm now just starting the process with my middle child and this is the part I'm looking forward to the most.

For the kids that needed to be on a campus to finally "get" what college would be like, have they never walked near American, Georgetown, GWU, Catholic, UMD, or Howard? I don't understand how someone could grow up in DC and be surprised by what a college campus looks like.

Anonymous wrote:This is going to sound trite but her it is. I got a chance to see what lit the fire for DC’s vision of what college would mean for them by observing their reactions to the campus visits. DC ended up with a list they absolutely loved, would be thrilled at any of them and really solidified the ED choice, where they were admitted in December.

^^here goes. Fat-finger phone typing.

Anonymous wrote:My son wasn't thinking seriously about college, until we took him to visit a quintessential school (not going to name it, but it's beautiful). We walked around, his jaw dropped, and he said, "Now THIS is a college!" And from that point on, he took things much more seriously. Very helpful to visit and picture yourself on a campus.

We did not take our DC to a quintessential school, but enough of one. Really prodded DC out of hybrid school mode to imagine a campus, etc. DC didn't apply to this school, but was a helpful step on the journey.