ANy one else not going to do all college visits before applying?

[TravelingChris]

I don't see how we can manage logistically or financially to visit all her potential colleges. Some are far away and she has such a busy schedule. Anyone else just saved some visits after acceptances?

[newbie]

Me, we still have not visited the one she was accepted to. We did not have time/money to do all the traveling.

 

We are freaks. I think the first time she will see is a day or two before she starts.

[Kareni]

My daughter applied to ten colleges. She was accepted by eight, denied by the ninth and waitlisted by the tenth.

 

She did have alumni interviews locally by the ninth and tenth colleges but did not visit.

 

Of the eight to which she was accepted, she had visited four prior to applying (and revisited one of those while it was in session prior to news of acceptance). Two others she visited for the first time for scholarship events. The remaining two she did not visit even after acceptance due to time and money constraints.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Quiver0f10]

You aren't alone. We don't have the funds to visit before hand either.

[creekland]

We didn't visit them all before applying, but we sure would have visited any he was certain about before he agreed to attend them. A good fit is a high priority for our family. Scholarship competitions was a good way to visit 2 of his.

 

To get an idea in general, we visited a lot of local colleges - public, private, large, small, etc, so he could get a feel for which "types" he liked. My middle and youngest sons have come along knowing they are to start thinking of "types" for themselves.

 

I do plan to visit as many of the actual colleges middle son is interested in this spring so he'll have an idea of where he wants to apply next fall. We can save application fees for any he cuts off his list. However, realistically, finances may very likely come into play. Until they do, I remain optimistic.

[April in CA]

My older son visited three colleges to which he was later accepted, including the one which he will be attending, during Spring Break of his sophomore year. My son and my husband travelled with another father-son duo, and they had a great time. During his Junior year, my son and husband travelled again with the same friends up to George Fox on Oregon, where my son's friend was competing for a scholarship. In the sporing of his senior year, we visited UC Riverside (to which he had been accepted) so he could get a feel for a large public campus. We didn't have time or money to visit the schools to which he had been accepted. I am really glad he got to visit all those campuses - he would not have known about LeTourneau University if he had not taken that trip as a sophomore.

 

We will be taking our older son to Texas is a few weeks. He is so excited! On our drive home, we hope to visit Texas A&M and the University of New Mexico for my younger son. He is more likely to enjoy a larger campus. I am not sure what other campuses we will be able to visit for him. He would like to see Washington and Lee in VA, but we live in CA, so that is a long shot!

Blessings,

April

[In The Great White North]

DS had visited one before he applied (out of four) only because mom and dad were alumni (and that's not the one he's at right now!)

[TravelingChris]

SHe has visited 5 colleges so far. I don't think she will apply to all of them. SHe is visiting three more next week for free applications. One she has expressed some interest, one we have no interest but it is about 5 miles away and she can do that visit easily, and the third may be a good match for her but she currently has reservations for silly reasons (she really, really, really doesn't like the mascot). What we still have our schools in TX, TN, AL potentially, FL potentially (well I should say she drove past Florida State and may apply there as a real safety in case they cancel GI bill), MN, and Maybe some others like in IL, and New England. As you can see, this is a lot of places, scattered everywhere, and I can't do it all.

 

I am also trying to decide how many she should apply to. Once she is accepted, we have to find out how likely it will be that they give her a single room. She needs it for medical reasons but I am not sure how easy that will be. She did get one at her summer program.

[In The Great White North]

I am also trying to decide how many she should apply to. Once she is accepted, we have to find out how likely it will be that they give her a single room. She needs it for medical reasons but I am not sure how easy that will be. She did get one at her summer program. __________________

 

With a doctor's note, would they have a choice? Isn't that what the ADA was about?

[Luckymama]

I am also trying to decide how many she should apply to. Once she is accepted, we have to find out how likely it will be that they give her a single room. She needs it for medical reasons but I am not sure how easy that will be. She did get one at her summer program.

 

You might want to check the possibility of a single room for medical reasons before she takes the time and effort of applying.

 

As we look at schools for ds17, we are already checking disability services for dd15. She has multiple food allergies and will either need to know food ingredients ahead of time or will need to be released from a mandatory freshman meal plan (should the school have one). I'm not as much concerned with specifics right now, but I'm getting a feel for the responsiveness and openness of disability services and food service.

[mcconnellboys]

My son didn't visit every single college he applied to - either before or after acceptance. There were a couple that were just not feasible. If they had been heavy favorites, we would have made the time to go there, but they weren't....

[Yolanda in Mass]

I'm rather curious as to why a student would bother applying to a school they're not interested enough in to visit. I understand that finances play into the decision not to visit, but it seems that some of the students are applying to schools they're only mildly interested in, if at all. I'm not talking here about so-called safety schools either.

 

Yolanda

[Barb_]

We aren't doing visits either. A college experience is largely what you make it and I figure they are there temporarily for an education, not to marry it or make a home there. I've visited colleges in the past, mainly because we travel a lot and I'm curious to see what the schools are like. Honestly there are pros and cons to any school and the presentations all run together. Sort of like the literature they send. We get our info from the school websites, college confidential, college prowler, etc and just decide.

 

Then again, I bought my van on the internet sight unseen and had it shipped from GA and I've also rented houses from pictures and the internet so maybe I just operate differently.

 

Barb

[Chris in VA]

Ds18 won't have time to visit two of his choices--we are going with virtual tours, chats with alumni, etc. If he's accepted, great--he'll go. If he hates it, he can transfer. He just wants to get out of Dodge. :D

 

Doesn't bother me--they are all within a couple thousand dollars of each other, all have good reps and programs he wants, and aren't terribly different from each other.

 

I don't actually put a lot of stock in college visits to give you a true picture of the school. I think you have to matriculate there and experience it for yourself. Even then, experiences vary.

[Barb_]

I don't actually put a lot of stock in college visits to give you a true picture of the school. I think you have to matriculate there and experience it for yourself. Even then, experiences vary.

 

:iagree: Dd is actually attending her least favorite school. ASU is unbelievably huge and she really wanted to attend a small private LAC back east with trees and history. Think Swathmore or Villanova. But when ASU handed her a full ride the concrete block buildings suddenly grew a whole lot more attractive. Sure, she'd probably fit in better socially at a brainy liberal arts school, and it wasn't until she was actually living on campus that she realized how many more opportunities there are for contacts, mentoring, employment, research, etc at a large state university. She didn't absorb that from the visit.

 

Barb

[Gwen in VA]

Dd visited 5 out of the 7 colleges she applied to. The two she didn't visited were reaches and were large enough that showing interest by visiting was a moot point.

 

Ds visited 6 out of the 7 colleges he applied to. I will say that his not visiting the last one may have been the reason he didn't attend. He received a full tuition scholarship there, but he had two other equally or more generous scholarships, and since he hadn't seen the college he wasn't that motivated to go there, despite its possibly being a better fit than the one he is attending.

 

College visits are important, but they are not the be-all-and-end-all.

[Chris in VA]

Dd visited 5 out of the 7 colleges she applied to. The two she didn't visited were reaches and were large enough that showing interest by visiting was a moot point.

 

Ds visited 6 out of the 7 colleges he applied to. I will say that his not visiting the last one may have been the reason he didn't attend. He received a full tuition scholarship there, but he had two other equally or more generous scholarships, and since he hadn't seen the college he wasn't that motivated to go there, despite its possibly being a better fit than the one he is attending.

 

College visits are important, but they are not the be-all-and-end-all.

 

I do absolutely agree with you that the visit can certainly make a college more or less attractive.

 

Ds18 visited Radford for Open House, and was all psyched to go there. We also walked around the campus at JMU and VA Tech, but it was not the same experience, just seeing the place (of course). However, his girlfriend is at a local college, and he now would rather go there. He actually hid out on that campus a few years ago as a runaway, but it's also the place where he decided to become sober. That "history" and the GF have swayed him to want to be there, now.

Don't know what he'll choose.

[In The Great White North]

I'm rather curious as to why a student would bother applying to a school they're not interested enough in to visit. I understand that finances play into the decision not to visit, but it seems that some of the students are applying to schools they're only mildly interested in, if at all. I'm not talking here about so-called safety schools either.

 

 

Because you really don't learn that much from a campus visit at some schools. Ds visited Georgia Tech and Dartmouth, because we happened to be near them. Neither even let the wanna-bes in a dorm or the dining hall, let alone a class.

 

OTOH, colleges that allow staying in the dorms overnight, going to classes with current freshmen and eating in the dining hall can help make a decision.

[Hannah C.]

I visited two colleges before completing applications. The only reason I did so was because I was not paying travel expenses for either visit! (Both colleges were far away.) One of the colleges I decided not to apply to, based on what happened at my visit. The other college I applied to.

 

I applied to three other colleges, and visited two of them after I was accepted as part of the decision-making process. One of them was very close to home, thankfully. I believe my parents paid travel expenses for both of those visits. I never finished the application to the third college, but was somehow accepted anyway. :P

 

If your child is going to do college visits, they should stay in a dorm with current students and attend classes. Most colleges, as far as I know, try and do this for all their prospective students.

 

I didn't feel the need to visit colleges before applying, but I would have been very uncomfortable deciding to attend a college without visiting it first.

[Renee in NC]

Because you really don't learn that much from a campus visit at some schools. Ds visited Georgia Tech and Dartmouth, because we happened to be near them. Neither even let the wanna-bes in a dorm or the dining hall, let alone a class.

 

OTOH, colleges that allow staying in the dorms overnight, going to classes with current freshmen and eating in the dining hall can help make a decision.

 

WOW! We went on our first tour today and it was great. We got to see the dorms and all of the buildings. We even went into the flight simulators and one of the high-end labs (where students were working.) I was worried about going in the summer, but campus was very busy.

 

I wonder what the other visits will be like.

[Yolanda in Mass]

OTOH, colleges that allow staying in the dorms overnight, going to classes with current freshmen and eating in the dining hall can help make a decision.

 

My ds had the opportunity to do just that at 3 of the colleges he visited. He got to hang out with lots of the students and realized that he would not be happy at 2 of the 3 he visited. Based on his overnight visits, he did recommend one of the colleges to his brother, however, who will be doing an overnight. I know how miserable a person can be if they end up at the wrong place, and although you don't know for sure from a visit, you can learn enough to know whether you'll hate the place. Ironically, he ended up at a state u where he only got the 'once over' tour. He loved the campus, distance from home, and the rich course offerings the others couldn't match. We'll see how it goes.

 

Yolanda

[TravelingChris]

My son never visited any since we lived in Europe and he didn't feel a strong need. I think it is most important for this child but I just don't see how we can do it all before applying. After applying, fine. Certainly before accepting.

[LBS]

Daughter applied 7-8 schools, got in all, THEN visited 5 during April. Phew. Son applied 9, I think, and we had already visited only 6, mostly due to time constraints. Every school is so different, but my kids were not very invested in feeling that only one school would fit, or that one would be better than another. Just, more, one might have more in the art department, one might have more in the music department. They didn't apply to any schools, or visit any, that were not feasible, except a couple that were way too expensive. Maybe they felt they could bloom where they were planted.

 

Something so odd helped my son decide: a mom calling to promote a lovely, little LA school, my husband's alma mater, called me at just the right time, for me, as I was at the stage of pulling my hair out. She was kind enough to take off her school #1 recruiting hat, and put on her other hat, where her son was currently attending (daughters had attended school #1.) Her encouragement made us look again, at school #2, and my son decided it was the best choice! Things happen for a reason.

[cathmom]

My son applied to six colleges, most within several hours. He had been to one of them. He visited the one that was far away, which was his number one choice. We did not specifically visit any of the others. He attended an activity at one after applying and did not like the feel of the campus, so that was off the list.

 

I do wonder if the campus visit makes a big difference in terms of admissions. He did get into his number one. Would he have if he hadn't visited? Obviously, I don't know, but I wonder. And the other colleges that were within a several hour drive, since we did not visit, is that a factor in why he wasn't accepted? Again, I don't know.

 

As for why we didn't visit, well, money was extremely tight, and at the time we had 2 year old twins and I was pg and working every day.