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Okay...I'm cranky and I'm tired and my son is a junior this year. Who can give me the two minute synopsis on how I'm supposed to arrange college visits this year so that I don't have to sign up at the College Confidential Message Board where apparently everyone's kid is going to Harvard?
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Hmm Sharon, not sure what your'e asking. Are you asking "which" schools your son should visit? How to arrange the visits? What he (and you) should look for?
We did most of dd's visits over her spring break last year while the schools were in session. Luckily most of them were in the same general area so we were able to visit quite a few of them within a couple of days. Most schools allow you to schedule the visits on their websites and you can get a good idea of what the visit will cover. We usually tried to do at least the tour and the talk by the admissions director. At a couple of schools dd attended a class and at one she had lunch with a group of students (I took a book and read while I had my lunch). She didn't have a set list of questions, some of them came up while we were there, she did have a few things she wanted to know and made sure if they weren't answered either during the admission session or the tour, to ask.
I never used college confidential for any of the college visit planning.Luanne -
In 2003, the hardest part was getting my son to pick a school, ANY school that he might have an interest in. I tried to get him to head to a warmer climate than NJ, but he wanted to be somewhat local.
We visited York College in York, PA, Montclair State in Montclair ,NJ and Stockton College in Pamona, NJ. Each school has a link on their home page for visitors or perspective students or campus tours or....you get the idea....that's how I got it done.
I pulled him out of school for two of them, York had weekend open houses.Comment
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Here's a summary of CC wisdom
Sharon, I am a college confidential addict, and easily spend as much time there as here. So, ccers generally recommend you start now (early junior year) with weekend trips to local colleges so that your student can get a sense of the range of options, from big state schools to small liberal arts colleges, from urban campuses to more rural. Then, based on interests and preferences, make a list of colleges your student may truly be interested in attending. Spring break of junior year is a great time to visit some of these. Remember to focus on "match" and "safety" schools as well as "reach" schools. You can use princetonreview.com to see the 25th and 75th % SATs and average GPA for each college you are interested in, and then use that data to make a list of safety/match/and reach schools. Of course, you won't know your child's SAT scores yet, but the PSAT results are roughly predictive (add maybe 15 points and multiply by 10). Remember to look at tuition and be realistic with your child about what you can afford. Some schools offer merit scholarships and some only need-based aid. Your child's list may go through many permutations in the next year, so don't stress too much yet.
Good luck, and have fun. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.
PS< My son ended up at Wesleyan, in your neck of the woods, and LOVES it.Comment
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Usually, high schools will have a college night in the fall for the students to see 50 to 100 college representatives and pickup brochures etc. This is a good place for your son to look at different size schools in lots of different locales in the country.
If your son's high school has already had their college night, you'll just have to get him to tell you. Lot's of questions by you that will seem like nagging to him.
Ask him if he wants a 50,000 student college or 5,000 student college. That may help him think about what he would feel comfortable with.Comment
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The site I loved personally was collageboard. They allow you to go in and find matches based on a bunch of criteria. I guess I was lucky in that my dd did her own research and picked the schools that interested her. There was one school I pushed at her (and so did her college counselor at school) that she finally ended up visiting over the summer. She ended up liking it and applying there.LuanneComment
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Go to the website of the college you are interest in and look up information about "visiting" the college. Most have calendars where you can schedule the visit. Some you just show on the days that they provide information session and campus tour. Also look for open house.
calgal pretty much summarized the cc wisdom. I also use petersons.com for reference. Most cc are probably tier 1 and 2 schools but there are still good information to be learned.
To schedule visits, it would help if the student knows what to major and the type of schools to attend.
You also need to understand the importance of college visits, or may not be important at all. To some, "fit" is important. School size, location, social life, academic, etc. Some school, the visit plays an important role in their decision as how interest you are in their school. Sometime you may learn just a liitle more about the admission process. But for the most part, it is boring.
My S is also a junior. I have asked him for a list of 12-15 colleges that he may consider. We will try to narrow down to around 10 by January so that we can visit some of the schools during spring break. He pretty much has an idea the type of school he likes to attend. We dragged him along when we the college visit thing with his elder sibling. So far we have done 2 visits and rest during spring break.
Early next summer, he should have a shorter list of schools he intend to apply and start looking at the essay questions to think over the summer. Senior year is the time to complete college applications, last chance to bring up grades, SAT's, etc. There will not be much time for college searches or visits.Comment
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True, true. But one of my dd's now top choices is a school she didn't "discover" until the summer before her senior year. She managed to get a face to face interview with one of their admission directors (a pretty big accomplishment considering dd goes to a tiny private school in the middle of nowhere). She is still waiting to hear if she has been accepted, and if she is, then she'll go visit. The visit may determine if this school moves to the top of her list. So, while senior year is very late, it's still not impossible.Originally posted by davhu1 View PostLuanneComment
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Just one more comment. Maybe I'm lucky that my dd did pretty much all of her own research on which colleges interested her. I remember when I was in high school my parents (who definitely gave me the impression they expected me to go to college) let me do everything. I researched the schools, I even arranged a school trip for the honor society to visit a couple of the schools I was interested in
. My parents did take me on a couple of college visits, mostly drive bys.
As parents shouldn't we be encouraging our kids to be doing this research? Sure when it comes to visits we'll have to get involved, but to what extent? It's easy for me to talk since we're pretty much past that stage now. It was interesting at one college fair we went to one of the admissions directors urged the parents there to let their kids talk to the college folks who were there. They said there is nothing worse that when a kid and parents are talking to them, the admissions director asks the kid their name, and the kid looks at the parents before answering. Uhhh, if you don't know your own name by then should you really be applying to colleges?
LuanneComment
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I agree but they still need our input and guidance. Kid's education is important to us so we also take the time to do our own research. More importantly, we are paying the bill and we like to know what we are paying for. S is looking for a specific program. He has his list and we have ours. We compare lists, question the choices and add schools to his list for him to consider.Originally posted by Luanne View Post
Schools that are near by, we do a day trip. School that are further, we combine school visit with vacation. Some we may just apply and only visit if he is accepted and high on his list.
Actually senior year is not late. Just that it may not a good use of time for some if it can be done earlier. My older S planned for 6 to 8 colleges. Each required 2 to 3 essays. That 12 to 18 essays and he does not write that well. At the same time he was trying to review for the SAT. That was one of the reason for him to start early. He completed his applications on the last day that they were due. Actually he only has submitted 3 applications by when he learned of an early decision acceptance to one of his college of choice.Originally posted by Luanne View PostComment
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I have been in higher ed 10 yrs and was a FA advisor. With 4 HS & college tuitions at once in our family here is my advice. It is their decision in the end and some know from the start but many do not know until the last few months where they want to go.
Junior year-do college visits as a mini trip for the ones that are further away for the places he thinks he may enjoy. Do something fun on the mini trip. With 3 sons we visited 31 colleges and researched so many more. We saw 17 for the first son. Pick 5-6 schools to start with close to home that have majors he may be interested in. Go the websites for college open houses. You must be getting lots of mail from colleges right about now.
Schools in the boonies sometimes give better aid but remember there is not much to do so binge drinking may be higher at these schools.
The 1st one is the hardest as you have no clue so it is normal to feel frustrated and frazzled. Collegeboard,Princeton Review and Insiders Guide to Colleges (pros/cons on schools)were my book/online guides. I highlighted and bookmarked so many pages. Do attend a major college fair with 50-100 colleges attending. Ask your guidance dept. Normally these fairs are in the fall. Visit college spring/summer open houses.
We looked at both State and Private Schools near and far.
Juniors and Seniors can get very cranky. They are nervous and excited about leaving home. Some research but most don't. Most do not know what they want and we can't blame them. They are only 16-18 and have not experienced college life or classes yet. Lots of pressure on what are they going to do combined with parents worried about finances and the best interest of their children. Lots of emotion. It's normal but feel abnormal.
Are their sports scholarships involved? Watch the GPA criteria and what happens if they do not meet it.
So past the tours and dorms and meal plans which are mind boggling is the fact the you need to focus on what the school offers and what if your child decides to change their major. More than 50% do. Pick a school with alternative options so they do not have to leave friends. Do not rule out general studies or undeclared majors as this helps steer them to what they want to do.
Meal Plans- Boys eat far more than girls so pick a meal plan with that in mind. They always run out of meal plan funds at the end of the semester.
Summer before Senior year and fall of Senior year is the time to "revisit "the short list and start apps. All of our boys apps were out before Thanksgiving.
My next rule was then to have all the financial aid ppwk out before January, Watch deadlines especially for early acceptance(non binding). Have your tax person do estimated taxes by early January so you can get that FA ppwk out. Send apps and FA ppwk thru post office with a signature required as many things get lost. Photocopy everything.
Do not think there is tons of scholarship money out there. Do not rule out pricier schools because sometimes the merit awards and FA is almost the same as a State School with no aid, Again watch the rules if a GPA is tied to a scholarship. No sense stressing the kids out for a 3.5 required GPA then pulling them from school.
One of the most important things as we trimmed the list was to have our son meet with the Dean of the Department of his intended major. This of course is before making the final choice. Sometimes what our children think is a career choice turns out not to be what they wanted and Deans provide good input.
College sleepovers or day visits where they are with enrolled students are another way for our children to find out if the college is a good fit. After doing this a few colleges were tossed from the list as our son did not like the school. Enrolled students with tell them the pros and cons better than anyone else.
One of the questions to ask is how accessible are the professors to the students. If they are not pass on the school. On an overnight visit at an Ivy school my son asked the student how he could meet with the dean of the biology department. The student said he never gets to meet with him so why should my son.
So first pick 5-6 schools, go to college fairs,ask lots of questions. Focus on the above then revist senior year and do overnight visits. Once accepted colleges have open houses for accepted students to help them make a choice.
It's a whole new world for them and for us. We just had our last one graduate and I must tell you although stressful at times it is a wonderful time to see them grow and find their way in the world and make new friends.
In the end the oldest went to a school he visited last at a friend's suggestion and he fell in love with it much to our surprise that was an hour away. Son 2 picked 6 colleges to visit and ended up at one 14 hours away. The last son only wanted to look at 3 and ended up at State School because he wanted to have no debt after graduation. By son 2 I knew what I was doing but that first one is the hardest.
Good luck with your search!Comment
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Thanks for the input.
Some of you mentioned college fairs. I don't believe our high school has one and I have never heard a peep about anyone attending one. Our high school is fairly small and they do have colleges visiting all the time. Do they have fairs that aren't at one particular high school?
My son plays football and this is a huge impediment to doing anything at all in the fall. There is simply no time off, except some Sundays where he has actually been able to hold down a job...same job he had all summer and wanted to keep the employment so once football season is over he can increase his hours.
We are also not getting any college mail. We got some last year after the PSATs and I guess we will again this year after the PSAT scores come out again. But my experience from last year was that most of the mail we got were from colleges no one had ever heard of!
I did try using that Princeton Review "college match" website, and that did give some suggestions, but I noticed that even if I check off a certain cost, it still matches with very expensive schools.
As far as private schools go, I am a little afraid to start visiting them, have him fall in love with one, and realize it's not affordable. He has been on the campus of a few private schools because he was in the JHU-CTY program for four years and they offer it on many campuses other than Johns Hopkins. So he has experiences the "feel" of other campuses but I'm not sure that has told him a lot. (Of the campuses he did live on, he liked Roger Williams the best but the college itself would not be an academic fit for him.)
It just sounds like way too much work and research! And finding the time to visit all these places seems difficult too!
So...how do I find a college fair?Comment
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Sharon, College Fairs can be very helpful. My DD went to a number of them, with her friends. They were all held locally.Sharon
So...how do I find a college fair?
They were given the info from their High School Couselor......You can have you son inquire about fairs, if for some reason, his school is not giving out the info.Angela
If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
BTW, I'm still keeping track of how many times you annoy me.
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Our local college fair was hosted at a local Catholic college, not at any of the high schools. I went to it with my son and we found it to be so crowded and overwhelming that we just grabbed some brochures and left. We did not find it useful. The high school visits are informative. Your son should be aware that the person who visits the school is usually the admission officer for that region, and attending the high school session is a chance to make a good impression.
In terms of finances and private schools, many top schools (but not Ivys) offer merit scholarships. This includes Brandeis, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Rice. There are EFC (estimated family contribution) calculators on some college websites to see if your family would qualify for financial aid. The Dartmouth website has a good one.
Our son ended up doing 6 college visits in all. Two of them were after admission decisions were out and he was making decisions. For smaller colleges, visiting is a way of demonstrating interest and enhances your admissions chances. However, since we live in CA and most of his list was in the northeast, we could not spend the time and money visiting them all.
I think your son's first task is determining large vs small/ urban vs rural/geographic region of the country/arts and sciences vs engineering.Comment
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Your son need to visit the college counselor or the career office. That where the information is posted/available. If you go to the college's website, you may also find them listed where they are visiting. If you are register on the website, they may send you email if they are in the area. Our last big college fair was held last month at the mall. Very large number of colleges represented.
If you son knows what major he like and type of campus, then that narrows down your choice. For our first one, we visit large/small, public/private, city/urban, top/lower tier ... so that he has a better idea. I guess we felt the better informed, he could make a better choice. We live in VA and visited as far as Canada (Univ of Toronto) and California. One school we visited more than once.
Attending summer program at the school is not quite the same. They are somewhat restricted where they can go and do not see everything. You also do not have the interaction with regular student or access to a professor.
Some school are very generous in scholarship like Case Western in Ohio and you have the stingy ones like Carnegie Mellon in PA. Don't forget to consider applying early to schools with early action (non-binding) and rolling admission. It will take a lot of pressure off son to know that he already been accepted while everyone is still waiting for their decision.Comment
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