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Why didn't we do more college visits junior year!!


MIch elle
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Why didn't we do more college visits junior year!!

 

Well, here it was because of the PSAT in October, the SAT in March, two APs in May, and two SAT subject tests in June plus there was a National Latin Exam somewhere in there, too. Then there were the community college classes and the out of the home classes and the subjects being studied at home .... And did I mention the cost of travel?

 

I do agree though that more college visits during junior year would have been nice.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Here it was no money for travel, dying dogs, a house fire and a long hard hot summer!!!! We are cybertouring thereby preventing global warming, conserving energy? No really, we're just too busy and poor. We've got a whole year of schooling to do besides apply to college. If dd gets in, then we will go and have a look.

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Do many universities offer tours/visits for prospective students during the summer?

 

Starting to wonder if we should plan on visiting some schools next year when DS is a sophomore...just seems so soon!

 

We were at Penn State in July and there were guides taking high school aged kids and families around campus. Not sure if this was a full "visit" but the campus was definitely hopping.

 

USNA does tours most days of the week throughout the year (M-Sat).

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There are some issues with doing college tours as a junior or in the summer.

 

Because some colleges severely limit what juniors are allowed to do (ie. sit in on a class, stay in a dorm, etc) A bit unreasonable IMO because if you want dc to do his applications over the summer, he has to know by the end of junior year.

 

If all you can get is the generic the "tour," it can be useless. At Georgia Tech, we didn't get to see a classroom, a dorm or the dining hall - the website provided more information. A total waste of time.

 

Summer visits are not all that helpful either. Life on campus during the summer is just not the same as during the school year. This can give dc a warped feeling for the campus, the students and the school and leave dc basing the most important decision of his life so far on false impression. Ditto for football weekends.

 

Sometimes, we have no choice but to do them as seniors. Hopefully, the list will be narrowed down by then.

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Do many universities offer tours/visits for prospective students during the summer?

 

Starting to wonder if we should plan on visiting some schools next year when DS is a sophomore...just seems so soon!

 

Well, we started in my son's 10th grade year. He is the type that HATES anything knew and I wanted to get him exposed and comfortable. I started with a college close to home: LeTourneau. He has been there tons for summer camps, classes, special co-op stuff, etc. So we went to one of their homeschool visitation days. He did NOT want to go. He whispered to me, "I hate this!" But as usual in cases like this, he had a GREAT time. He got to visit several classes, see a dorm, etc. I was quite impressed with the university. He told me he was really glad I made him do it. Then we signed up for Baylor that spring. No nerves this time as he knew what to expect and it was a good thing I took him to LeTourneau. There they had a student guide the groups to the various classes. AT Baylor, we dropped him off at the building. He had a great time visiting with a professor who took him around. He LOVED it.

 

So now he is a junior. He REALLY wants to visit TCU, but we cannot find the time this fall. I'm really glad we did the majority of our visiting his 10th grade year. This school year has been much more intense and less flexible with CC classes and 2 AP classes and football on weekends.

 

Christine

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I can tell you why we didn't do more... money! The economic downfall his us at a bad time for touring colleges. Fortunately, we were able to get some in over this summer, but even now there are two we wanted to get to that we weren't able to and will probably axe from our list because of it.

 

Personally visiting spring of junior year or even over the summer between junior and senior year worked well for us. There are definitely more colleges that offer more to seniors visiting now though. We would if we could.

 

Youngest has come along on most of our college visits so I suppose he started spring of his 7th grade year (when oldest was visiting). He's gotten a good grasp of several different colleges, and yet, he wants to go somewhere totally different. :tongue_smilie:

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Well part of it is driven by the student. My ds has always wanted to go to college, but mentally he couldn't fathom the idea of college visits until late this summer. So we are in the same crunch.

 

dd is such a different personality. We'll probably start fall of junior year and spread it out.

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Ds just did his first overnight college visit at University of Portland (20 min from home). Slept in the dorm with friends, ate in the dining halls, attended 3 meetings with admissions and advisors, attended class and the tour. He was there for 24 hours. :) Loved every moment. He was told he is welcome to attend but needs to get SAT score up for scholarships.

 

We will visit one college per month during his junior year. It is giving him a clearer vision for his future. Next stop, George Fox.

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Like memphisthread....we too couldn't afford to go on campus tours this summer...or even now...plus my dh and dd BOTH had accidents this spring and required surgery and 6 weeks on crutches (do you know what its like having 2 people "crutching" through a house...a SMALL house???).

 

We considered piggybacking some visits with a family vacation in August. It would have required 3 nights in hotels and 500 extra miles. We vetoed it! And we're glad, we have since removed all 3 of the prospective colleges from her short list for other reasons.

 

If she ACTUALLY applies and gets accepted at the college, we will consider investing in a visit.

:001_smile:

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If she ACTUALLY applies and gets accepted at the college, we will consider investing in a visit.

:001_smile:

 

She applied and then when she was accepted they visited and chose a college.

 

My ds wants to say local (within 2 hrs) so it's not expensive for our college visits.

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Our reason is that dd was very particular about the type of college she wanted to go to and how that fit into our budget. She "walked around" 3 big state universities and "toured" 2 smaller state universities. Now she is at the school she had her heart set on she has discovered it's not at all what she thought it would be.

 

What my dd did NOT do was stay overnight on campus--it would have been even better had she stayed over for two nights. She then would have seen how nocturnal the students are (she is a day person) and how much noise they make into the wee hours. And the amount of smoking and drinking and drugs there are on campus to help alleviate the stress of unhealthy living. [that's another post]

 

So I would suggest--hindsight being 20/20--visit the top one or two campuses and do an overnight on campus, if at all possible!

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Well, there are just so many trade-offs. I felt like the "roll out the red-carpet" treatment was definitely better during the senior year when admission's was in full swing and actively looking at prospective high school seniors than during the junior year. Though it is sooooo much more convenient to visit during the summer, we encountered many campuses in which it was hard to get a "read" on "life on this campus" because the lower student body population and fewer activities and classes taking place. DD had a hard time finding classes to observe that were related to her major.

 

Spring of the junior year was perfect from the standpoint of little pressure, lots of dates to choose from - not nearly as many visiting seniors - and classes galore. But, it didn't seem as though they were as tuned in to courting the prospective student.

 

We learned the most from those autumn, senior year visits. In a perfect world, I'd do all of the visiting then. But, good night...it kills the school and extra-curricular schedule not to mention studying for the October A.C.T. It was crazy, nutsy, cuckoo. Her grandma, the retired nursing professor, went with us on many of these visits and was always amazed that dd spent the bulk of the ride time with her nose in school work or an A.C.T. prep book.

 

So, our plan for ds is to prioritize the list. Those colleges that are seriously high priority and on his "most desired" short list, will get visits from August - November of the senior year and I hope that is not more than five. The ones that look interesting and could be a go, but aren't high on the list, will get spring and summer visits and unless they offer big bucks - always something that will get them a second look - or have a surprising positive impact on us, then we won't attempt to make time for them in the fall schedule. The one thing going for us with Ds is that he's interested in a double major in anthropology with a major emphasis in archaeology and wants a program that offers that emphasis during the undergrad years - so that weeds out a LOT of schools - and geology. This combo means his list of institutions will be shorter than dd's. WHEW!

 

DS - the 8th grader - already has 20 tier 1 schools he wants to visit for biology with an emphasis in zoology plus ecology minor. Oh how I hope he weeds out a bunch! He has been doing his research carefully and has very valid reasons for wanting to visit each one...much of this has to do with looking over labs - particularly herpetology research facilities - speaking with grad students and t.a.'s, and determining the number of seniors involved in field work...even if it is only fetching coffee and food for the PH.D.'s! So, I can't fault him for it. But, my pocketbook certainly hopes he comes up with enough info to knock that list down to a reasonable size. Thankfully, this is my completely focused, goal oriented boy. He's already pushing himself to get 8th grade done in one semester so he can begin 9th. His goal is to have nothing but calculus, advanced physics, and anatomy/physiology left for his senior year so he can concentrate on a stellar/eye-catching senior project, do some zoo work, and have time for plenty of college visits.

 

Good gravy. I think this thread just made me depressed. It won't be long and I'll have one in college, one in his senior year, and a 10th grader. My empty nest is looming........ :001_huh::crying:

 

Faith

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It won't be long and I'll have one in college, one in his senior year, and a 10th grader. My empty nest is looming........ :001_huh::crying:

 

Faith

 

This is where I'm at now and with middle son getting his first "official" acceptance letter (even though we knew he was going to be accepted), I'm finding myself in a weird sort of "wow, this is all happening" moment (long moment). It's really hard to believe. I'm just not that old and our family just hasn't had enough time together. Those last years fly by quickly. Meanwhile, both he and youngest are chomping at the bit to go (as they should be).

 

Hubby and I have started talking more in earnest about our empty nest plans. I guess we need to be looking forward to the next stage...

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