bethany102399
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,623
Oct 11, 2014 3:17:29 GMT
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Post by bethany102399 on Aug 10, 2022 18:20:06 GMT
DD will be a junior in HS this year, and we're beginning to talk about college visits. As my experience with them was standing at a folding table in my HS cafeteria talking to a recruiter this is all new to me.
We found schools in our state that offer her degree program (Illustration) and I've investigated if there are designated campus visit days for the upcoming year. One of the schools is offering a showcase for prospective students where you can come up and do the tour etc. I like this idea vs a stand alone campus visit as you get to tour the residence halls, there are panels on various topics, meet the faculty etc.
As an art major she's decided she's going to go to our local art school, and has been resisting looking at any other option. As the person she expects to pay for said art degree there have been multiple conversations around this, mostly centering on there are other, less expensive, options. I can hear both of my parents cackling at our exchanges. I'm hopeful if we can get. her on campus to see other alternatives she will be more open
Is there any value to doing the big showcase day vs a scheduled tour? What kinds of questions do we need to be asking? obviously I'm looking at cost, housing the community etc but what surprised you when you started this process?
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 10, 2022 18:32:12 GMT
My oldest is starting his sophomore year in college in a few weeks. His experience was a little different because of Covid, but he also was pretty easy to please. We went on two college visits and both were as part of a scheduled tour and with a group. First we met with admissions where they talked about cost, academics, etc. Then we went on a tour of the campus where they gave info on the meal plans, entertainment options on campus, campus life, dorms, and went in various buildings. My second DS is a senior this year and will be playing baseball in college. This summer he started to get offers so we went on tours, but they were with the coaches and not in a group. We got more info about the sports facilities and programs that way, but not as much about the rest of the school (didn't get to go in dorms, etc). I liked going as a group because then you also hear other people's questions and it was a more comprehensive visit. But I generally think that is how it is at the colleges around here. I am not sure what the showcase day is exactly vs the tour in your situation.
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Post by ~summer~ on Aug 10, 2022 18:36:46 GMT
I’ve done countless college visits - (right now I have 3 college kids spread out across the country!)
You definitely need to do the official campus tour - they are a lot of fun. But honestly I don’t think you need the big expo tour - I actually think it could backfire by being too overwhelming all at once.
In addition to tour I do recommend visiting the dining halls also and hanging out in the town to get a good feel for it - those things were super important to my kids.
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anniebeth24
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Jun 26, 2014 14:12:17 GMT
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Post by anniebeth24 on Aug 10, 2022 18:43:01 GMT
A lot of kids end up changing majors, so I agree that she should look at broader options. DS focused his search on engineering schools and then graduated in accounting.
We looked at both big and small, urban and more rural, public and private options with our kids to get a general idea, then did more focused searches after those gave some direction. Biggest surprise for me - DS's private university ended up less expensive after scholarships than the state schools.
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peabay
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Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Aug 10, 2022 18:44:13 GMT
4 daughters - each visited 20-30 schools (some were doubles - I could give Boston University's tour myself: went 4 times.)
They are some of my favorite memories with my girls - it's great one on one time. Enjoy!
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peabay
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Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Aug 10, 2022 18:56:50 GMT
4 daughters - each visited 20-30 schools (some were doubles - I could give Boston University's tour myself: went 4 times.) They are some of my favorite memories with my girls - it's great one on one time. Enjoy! ETA: have your child ask the questions; sign in at the visitor's center etc.... my girls really didn't love me asking questions and particularly don't ask ones that can be found easily on the website! They didn't mind if I asked the tour guide, while we were walking, not in the middle of their spiel, about how their personal campus experience has been.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 10, 2022 19:02:45 GMT
4 daughters - each visited 20-30 schools (some were doubles - I could give Boston University's tour myself: went 4 times.) They are some of my favorite memories with my girls - it's great one on one time. Enjoy! I’ll have to share with my daughter who is sure she went on my college visits than anyone - about 20 - my younger one went on way less - he was dragged along on a few of his sisters and hated them in general. He almost refused to visit his top 2 choices as he thought there was no point - he ended up hating one and loving what he thought was his second choice so I’m a big fan of visits. Know your kid though and if you’re they’re likely to get burned out or stressed by the process.
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peabay
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Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Aug 10, 2022 19:08:29 GMT
4 daughters - each visited 20-30 schools (some were doubles - I could give Boston University's tour myself: went 4 times.) They are some of my favorite memories with my girls - it's great one on one time. Enjoy! I’ll have to share with my daughter who is sure she went on my college visits than anyone - about 20 - my younger one went on way less - he was dragged along on a few of his sisters and hated them in general. He almost refused to visit his top 2 choices as he thought there was no point - he ended up hating one and loving what he thought was his second choice so I’m a big fan of visits. Know your kid though and if you’re they’re likely to get burned out or stressed by the process. In my defense: we live in New England - we have a million colleges 3 hours in every direction. It was not difficult to do. And they picked most of them (and I threw in a few that I thought were good matches.) Then they'd hear someone else was applying to say...Vassar... and we'd have to drive the 45 minutes to Vassar etc...
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Post by Texas Scrap on Aug 10, 2022 19:15:39 GMT
Great advice here. 100% go and visit in person. Pick at least a few of different size, public/private, etc. there really is nothing like walking the campus and listening to a tour to get a sense of the experience. And there are many realizations that usually happen in person vs just reading on line or hearing second hand.
I think expos are better for kids who enjoy those kinds of venues.
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Post by Bridget in MD on Aug 10, 2022 19:19:21 GMT
My DS is a Junior in HS and is just starting to look at colleges, for Engineering. DS and DH created a spreadsheet based on research for quality of programs, value for the money, acceptance rate, graduation rate, etc. We've had some frank talks with our kids too, about what we can afford/help vs what they can do (ie ROTC - DD was not interested in ROTC, but DS is apparently considering it).
So like University of Michigan or UNC - forget it, that's like a unicorn to get in for even the tippity top. Our state school (Univ of Maryland) is well ranked, "affordable", but hard to get in to. If he chooses not to do ROTC his list will narrow even more. Some loans are OK but not huge amounts of loans, in our opinion.
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Post by littlemama on Aug 10, 2022 19:29:08 GMT
It honestly depends on the school. DS looked at 2 schools. School #1, they have an Open House once a year in the fall. This was our first exposure to this school. Every department had staff and students on hand and when you toured, say, the Health Sciences building, you could talk to department heads, faculty, and students from each major separately- we talked to Kinesiology, Athletic Training, Nursing, and Occupational Therapy. DS walked away from thst interaction knowing exactly what he wanted to do. The other type of group visit was not as robust. We did one of those closer to decision time- there was still a tour, but I dont believe we had as much interaction with faculty. Then, whe. Ds accepted his scholarship, we got to meet with a faculty member from his major along with the one other person who was selecting the same major. We got to ask a lot of in depth questions at that meeting. And finally, we did a one on one visit with an admissions counselor that was just in the office. I believe we could have had a tour, but at that point we had been there twice and didnt need it. DS ended up at this school.
The other school we visited was a giant shitshow from start to finish. We arrived at the scheduled time and waited about a half hour. The admissions person started with, "Oh, we were expecting you yesterday" in a snotty tone (we were NOT there on the wrong day). We were supposed to meet with someone from his major, but that didnt happen. During our conversation with this admissions person, she repeatedltly tried to guide ds into the easier path to his degree. I finally pulled out his transcript, slid it across the desk and said, "You know, I think he will do fine on either path" (he was a valedictorian) We then met with soneone else with a small group and then took a group tour of...not much.
About 3 weeks later, DS started getting scholarship offers from that school after we were told he likely wouldnt qualify.
To begin the search, ds thought about what he wanted for his college experience- a mega school where he would just be a number, a school the size of his high school, or something in between. He then thought about how far from home he wanted to be. Answering those 2 questions, plus the major he chose led us to those 2 schools.
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Post by trixiecat on Aug 10, 2022 20:16:38 GMT
My daughter is a junior in college. I would highly recommend making sure there is enough housing both on and off campus for the students. Where she is, there is not. School starts in two weeks and there are freshman who still haven't gotten room assignments because they don't have the room. A lot of the double rooms have turned into triples. And the off campus situation is just as bad. The kids have to lock into an apartment in October for the following school year. And as you can imagine the rent is through the roof with a yearly lease on an apartment she only uses 8 months out of the year.
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Post by Lori McMud on Aug 10, 2022 21:03:54 GMT
My DS is a Junior in HS and is just starting to look at colleges, for Engineering. DS and DH created a spreadsheet based on research for quality of programs, value for the money, acceptance rate, graduation rate, etc. We've had some frank talks with our kids too, about what we can afford/help vs what they can do (ie ROTC - DD was not interested in ROTC, but DS is apparently considering it). So like University of Michigan or UNC - forget it, that's like a unicorn to get in for even the tippity top. Our state school (Univ of Maryland) is well ranked, "affordable", but hard to get in to. If he chooses not to do ROTC his list will narrow even more. Some loans are OK but not huge amounts of loans, in our opinion. My DS1, just finished his engineering degree and North Dakota State University. They are known for their engineering program and have an excellent placement rate. We visited NDSU and he applied, was accepted and did not want to tour any other schools. I was a bit disappointed, because I thought it would be fun to do more. And my younger son is not going to college or school, so didn't get to with him either.
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Post by ~summer~ on Aug 10, 2022 21:06:37 GMT
4 daughters - each visited 20-30 schools (some were doubles - I could give Boston University's tour myself: went 4 times.) They are some of my favorite memories with my girls - it's great one on one time. Enjoy! wow that’s a lot! I thought we did a lot and I think we did more like 10 per kid. And I agree I always say college trips are some of my favorite trips and memories.
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bethany102399
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,623
Oct 11, 2014 3:17:29 GMT
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Post by bethany102399 on Aug 10, 2022 21:19:44 GMT
I thought we did a lot and I think we did more like 10 per kid. I'm over here going 2 maybe 3 schools tops. Then again, we've been able to identify who has a strong design program and that's really funneling our choices.
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Post by littlemama on Aug 10, 2022 22:21:06 GMT
I thought we did a lot and I think we did more like 10 per kid. I'm over here going 2 maybe 3 schools tops. Then again, we've been able to identify who has a strong design program and that's really funneling our choices. We narrowed it down based on major, size, and location and visited 2 schools. If neither if those had been right for him, we would have selected additional schools. I have never understood why someone would apply to 6-10 schools. Im sure people have their reasons, it is just odd to me.
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peabay
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Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Aug 10, 2022 22:30:38 GMT
I'm over here going 2 maybe 3 schools tops. Then again, we've been able to identify who has a strong design program and that's really funneling our choices. We narrowed it down based on major, size, and location and visited 2 schools. If neither if those had been right for him, we would have selected additional schools. I have never understood why someone would apply to 6-10 schools. Im sure people have their reasons, it is just odd to me. In our area, that’s very common. Usually a kid applies to 3 or 4 matches; 3 or 4 “likelies” and 3 or 4 reaches. High achieving students are a dime a dozen in our area. Very few schools “need” another kid from Fairfield County, Connecticut; so the kids apply to a lot of schools. And then you have my one daughter who was auditioning for theater schools. It’s not unheard of for those kids to audition to 20+ schools. (She auditioned for 17.)
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used2scrap
Drama Llama
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Jan 29, 2016 3:02:55 GMT
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Post by used2scrap on Aug 10, 2022 23:29:03 GMT
I really enjoyed doing multiple college visits/tours with oldest, unfortunately in the Covid times with dd we only did an unofficial visit to the school she chose (tours were all virtual). If you know any students ie friends of friends of friends at the schools, arranging a bit of time for yours to meet up with them for a “real” look can be helpful. Both dd and ds benefited from that, and ds even changed his “I’m only visiting because you went here” to his top choice after spending a few hours hanging with a student. (He’s a Sr there starting this fall).
Enjoy this time! It’s hectic and stressful and emotional but wonderful moments to be had.
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Post by littlemama on Aug 10, 2022 23:43:41 GMT
We narrowed it down based on major, size, and location and visited 2 schools. If neither if those had been right for him, we would have selected additional schools. I have never understood why someone would apply to 6-10 schools. Im sure people have their reasons, it is just odd to me. In our area, that’s very common. Usually a kid applies to 3 or 4 matches; 3 or 4 “likelies” and 3 or 4 reaches. High achieving students are a dime a dozen in our area. Very few schools “need” another kid from Fairfield County, Connecticut; so the kids apply to a lot of schools. And then you have my one daughter who was auditioning for theater schools. It’s not unheard of for those kids to audition to 20+ schools. (She auditioned for 17.) The auditioning I can see. Im not saying there is anything wrong with applying to a kajillion schools, it just seems odd to me.
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Post by ~summer~ on Aug 10, 2022 23:50:59 GMT
I'm over here going 2 maybe 3 schools tops. Then again, we've been able to identify who has a strong design program and that's really funneling our choices. We narrowed it down based on major, size, and location and visited 2 schools. If neither if those had been right for him, we would have selected additional schools. I have never understood why someone would apply to 6-10 schools. Im sure people have their reasons, it is just odd to me. in my area a lot of kids apply to and want to go to a UC. However they are incredibly impacted and almost all require over a 4.0 - so kids apply to a bunch of UCs, then some state schools too (which have also become impacted), then some safety schools then maybe some interesting out of state schools. I just counted and spread out over a couple years I visited 9 schools with my oldest: Cal Poly, UCSB, UCSC, Davis, university of Oregon, U of Wisconsin, U of Minnesota and U of Illinois. Then there were a few he applied to but we never visited such as Washington and Michigan.
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J u l e e
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Jun 28, 2014 2:50:47 GMT
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Post by J u l e e on Aug 11, 2022 2:34:10 GMT
College visits are fun. Maybe she only has one school in mind but you can get her to visit other colleges just for the fun trip away! Who doesn’t love a great road trip and night away from home and eating dinner out?!
I really really dislike the school my daughter chose. She chose it because it offered her narrow major. And she’s since changed that major and doesn’t feel like transferring elsewhere since she’s halfway through. How solid is you daughter with her major?
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Post by supersoda on Aug 11, 2022 3:26:03 GMT
4 daughters - each visited 20-30 schools (some were doubles - I could give Boston University's tour myself: went 4 times.) They are some of my favorite memories with my girls - it's great one on one time. Enjoy! I feel this. I felt like I could be a professional college tour consultant by the time we got all our kids off to college. We only did 10-15 each round (3 kids, but with twins we got to double up a bit), and we were all over the dang country. OP, for an art major you should look for portfolio reviews and try to get a meeting with the art department—especially if she’s looking for scholarships. My DD was focused on illustration, but we found that many schools don’t have an illustration emphasis. The school she ended up in did not—she technically had a painting emphasis, but was able to focus mainly on drawing and illustration (you have to take classes in all kids of art anyway if that is your major). This worried her initially and she pushed for schools I wouldn’t agree to (mostly for-profit art programs anyone can get into that cost big bucks without any real guarantee of employment). I told her that I was fine with an art major, but would only pay for a real degree from a reputable school. I would not change that stance in hindsight. She got a well-rounded liberal arts degree, had some amazing experiences, and developed a great relationship with the physics professor, of all things, and is still illustrating his textbooks even after graduating. And she is now employed in a real job with benefits and earning decent money with an art degree!
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Post by aj2hall on Aug 11, 2022 6:48:50 GMT
I’ve done countless college visits - (right now I have 3 college kids spread out across the country!) You definitely need to do the official campus tour - they are a lot of fun. But honestly I don’t think you need the big expo tour - I actually think it could backfire by being too overwhelming all at once. In addition to tour I do recommend visiting the dining halls also and hanging out in the town to get a good feel for it - those things were super important to my kids.Just wanted to echo this. I have 2 in college and a HS senior looking at colleges. Spend as much time as you can to get a feel for the school. Maybe ask if you can sit in on a class? A couple of the schools we looked at actually gave us vouchers to eat in the cafeteria. At others, we asked about places on campus where we could eat. It definitely helps you get a feel for the school. One of middle ds’s final choices offered an open house. We went, spent the day there, ate in the cafeteria, attended classes etc.
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Sarah*H
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Jun 25, 2014 20:07:06 GMT
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Post by Sarah*H on Aug 11, 2022 11:13:53 GMT
4 daughters - each visited 20-30 schools (some were doubles - I could give Boston University's tour myself: went 4 times.) They are some of my favorite memories with my girls - it's great one on one time. Enjoy! ETA: have your child ask the questions; sign in at the visitor's center etc.... my girls really didn't love me asking questions and particularly don't ask ones that can be found easily on the website! They didn't mind if I asked the tour guide, while we were walking, not in the middle of their spiel, about how their personal campus experience has been. We didn't have quite this many but it did feel like it sometimes! Two kids and between them we've toured at least 30 schools. I think there really is no substitute for kids getting to spend time at a school, in the surrounding community, meeting students, and generally getting a feel for if it's a place they can see themselves. There was one school on paper that my daughter loved but in person she disliked it so much that she didn't even end up applying. In contrast there was another school where she was leery about the reputation of the student population but in person she was very pleasantly surprised - so much so that even though she decided not to attend that school, she still has an ongoing group text with a group of rising sophomores she met there. I have a couple friends whose kids are doing art programs and they both went to organized portfolio days where multiple schools were in a central locations and admissions officers reviewed the kids' portfolios, gave them advice, etc.
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peppermintpatty
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Jun 26, 2014 17:47:08 GMT
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Post by peppermintpatty on Aug 11, 2022 12:10:00 GMT
My son will be a sophomore this year. We visited 6 schools the summer before his junior year of high school so we missed the whole Covid things. Only one of those we didn't apply to but he applied to 2 other schools that we didn't end up touring because of the location. He got into all the schools he applied to (6) and we did the scheduled tours. The day for prospective students is for students who have been accepted (at least that is how all the schools ds got into did it). Don't worry about having a list of questions. Everyone has the same questions and while you are doing the tour, you will think of more.
We convinced ds to go to the University of Maryland because they have a top 10 engineering program, it is 30 minutes from home (he never comes home) and they gave him a scholarship (which for UMD, is unheard of for in-state students). I also told him that if he wanted to get a Masters (5th year) I would pay for it. If he went to NC State, he would have to pay for some of it despite the scholarships they gave him because it was going to be a lot more over 5 years. For both of my kids, I made them aware of the cost. DD got a full tuition scholarship to her school (we only paid fees and room and board) and her school gave her in-state tuition through the Academic Common Market.
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peabay
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Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Aug 11, 2022 12:16:18 GMT
College visits are fun. Maybe she only has one school in mind but you can get her to visit other colleges just for the fun trip away! Who doesn’t love a great road trip and night away from home and eating dinner out?! I really really dislike the school my daughter chose. She chose it because it offered her narrow major. And she’s since changed that major and doesn’t feel like transferring elsewhere since she’s halfway through. How solid is you daughter with her major? Oh, that’s a bummer. I’m sorry to read this. And that’s great advice - one of my daughters was an engineer but ruled out strictly engineering schools because she was afraid if she decided she didn’t like it, she’d be stuck there.
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Post by auntkelly on Aug 11, 2022 13:21:53 GMT
I thought my son’s college counselor asked my son a great question the first time she met with my son, my husband and myself. It really helped us narrow down the list of schools we visited. She asked my son, “When you imagine yourself waking up on Saturday morning at college, what do you see yourself wanting to do? Do you want to go hiking in the mountains w/ your friends, do you want to catch a bus to the nearest city and explore the art museums or do you want to go to a football game and cheer on your school’s football team?
I don’t think this sweet, artsy woman had been to an athletic event in her life, but when my son immediately choose the football option, she said “okay, you’re looking for the traditional college experience. There are lots of great academic schools which also have a good football team. Let’s concentrate on those schools.” We toured Michigan, Notre Dame, USC, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. He ended up at Notre Dame and it was a perfect fit for him, both academically and socially.
I loved the counselor’s question. I think the college experience is so much more than just what you learn in class. If a kid loves the outdoors, they may not be happy at a school in a sprawling urban area, while a kid who loves the theatre may not be happy at a school located in a small town far from any big city where touring theatre companies visit.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 11, 2022 13:52:37 GMT
In our area, that’s very common. Usually a kid applies to 3 or 4 matches; 3 or 4 “likelies” and 3 or 4 reaches. High achieving students are a dime a dozen in our area. Very few schools “need” another kid from Fairfield County, Connecticut; so the kids apply to a lot of schools. And then you have my one daughter who was auditioning for theater schools. It’s not unheard of for those kids to audition to 20+ schools. (She auditioned for 17.) The auditioning I can see. Im not saying there is anything wrong with applying to a kajillion schools, it just seems odd to me. If your child is at all interested in schools with low acceptance rates, they have to apply to multiple schools. My daughter's top choice had a sub 5% acceptance rate - there's no way she could count on getting in even with a very strong application. She applied to 10 (she deviated a bit from peabay 's scenario above - which is very common - in that she liked her safety school better than some of the targets we looked at, so she applied to more reaches confident that she would be happy if she didn't get into any of them). The only people I know who applied to one or 2 schools are those who planned on going to the instate public schools - ours aren't like CA where many are extremely competitive - if you fit the stats, you're going to get in.
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Sarah*H
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Jun 25, 2014 20:07:06 GMT
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Post by Sarah*H on Aug 11, 2022 14:43:33 GMT
The auditioning I can see. Im not saying there is anything wrong with applying to a kajillion schools, it just seems odd to me. If your child is at all interested in schools with low acceptance rates, they have to apply to multiple schools. My daughter's top choice had a sub 5% acceptance rate - there's no way she could count on getting in even with a very strong application. She applied to 10 (she deviated a bit from peabay 's scenario above - which is very common - in that she liked her safety school better than some of the targets we looked at, so she applied to more reaches confident that she would be happy if she didn't get into any of them). The only people I know who applied to one or 2 schools are those who planned on going to the instate public schools - ours aren't like CA where many are extremely competitive - if you fit the stats, you're going to get in. I will add to this that Covid really mucked up the college admissions process. Kids took deferments and gap years, many schools estimated yields incorrectly and some ended up way overenrolled and others underenrolled. As a result, admissions decisions were strange this year, at least in the cohorts we were interacting with. My daughter's and niece's friends and peers were rejected at multiple safety and match schools. Wait lists were bonkers. But a lot of them also got into lottery schools. Like rejected from Penn State main campus but accepted at the University of Michigan. Covid, the common app and schools going test optional or test blind has changed the college application landscape at least in the short term. OP, sorry, this is probably not relevant to your specific situation but in response to why do kids apply to so many schools - it's simply becoming more the norm even for kids not necessarily aiming for schools with low acceptance rates.
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Post by littlemama on Aug 11, 2022 15:38:31 GMT
The auditioning I can see. Im not saying there is anything wrong with applying to a kajillion schools, it just seems odd to me. If your child is at all interested in schools with low acceptance rates, they have to apply to multiple schools. My daughter's top choice had a sub 5% acceptance rate - there's no way she could count on getting in even with a very strong application. She applied to 10 (she deviated a bit from peabay 's scenario above - which is very common - in that she liked her safety school better than some of the targets we looked at, so she applied to more reaches confident that she would be happy if she didn't get into any of them). The only people I know who applied to one or 2 schools are those who planned on going to the instate public schools - ours aren't like CA where many are extremely competitive - if you fit the stats, you're going to get in. So, if she preferred the school that she was likely to get into, why apply to schools she wasnt as interested in ? I think that is where my hangup is. Again, no criticism, I just dont understand. My DS would have been accepted to the "elite" schools in the state, but wasnt interested in them, so he didnt apply.
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