I feel like we're wasting our time.

[MIch elle]

I don't know why we are bothering to visit so many schools because it all depends on what schools ds is accepted to and the price.

 

Anyone else in our shoes?

Edited November 1, 2011 by MIch elle

[creekland]

At many schools a visit helps "show the love." Colleges take note and can be more likely to offer admissions and/or merit aid. They are often worth it for schools well known for liking "interest." Private schools tend to be notorious for it - especially for competitive programs.

 

I believe there will be two schools middle son will only visit if he's accepted with a decent enough financial package, but that's not due to my preferences. That's due to our personal economy right now. I'd rather he had visited them all before applying.

[memphispeg]

I am v. embarrassed to admit that we visited nowhere with this dd. The schools she wants to go to are too far away. We are taking our chances and just applying. We read everything on the web about each one. If she gets in with some $$, we will go and look. She is v. angry about this but, all the economy stuff hit everyone (except her friends, of course), Right????

[Barbara H]

I am v. embarrassed to admit that we visited nowhere with this dd. The schools she wants to go to are too far away. We are taking our chances and just applying. We read everything on the web about each one. If she gets in with some $$, we will go and look. She is v. angry about this but, all the economy stuff hit everyone (except her friends, of course), Right????

 

Traveling for visits is expensive and it isn't always realistic. If she hasn't already been on college campuses it might be helpful to visit similar types of schools in your area if that's an option. So, one big state school, one small private and so forth. That can give students a better general idea what it feels like to be on different campuses.

[Denise in Florida]

We are waiting until we get responses from the schools where she has chosen to apply.

 

She has picked seven schools. We are already familiar with the cities/areas where they are located. Depending on acceptances and final prices (minus possible scholarships/aid) we will probably pick two or three to do an in-person tour.

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

I am feeling the exact same way- It really comes down to cost. I don't know why we are shelling out for visits, but I think it is part of the experience. Until you look at what is out there you may never get that gut feeling.

[Gwen in VA]

We visited most but not all of the colleges Ds applied to.

 

When the acceptances and scholarship offers rolled in, he found that the incentive to attend a college he hadn't visited wasn't there. He even found that the incentive to schedule a visit to a college he hadn't previously seen during that crazy busy time called April of senior year wasn't there.

 

With my remaining kids we have put in place a new policy -- if you haven't visited the college, you can't apply there.

[choirfarm]

Well, we visited 2 last year, but one was 15 minutes away. We are visiting another next week and possibly one more. However, none of them are more than 3 hours away. Most of them are 2. So visiting is easy and inexpensive since we have relatives in all the cities.

[SkateLeft]

My parents felt that visiting colleges was a waste of time and money, so I just picked the one that had the program I want. It ended up being a poor fit for me, resulting in a rough few years.

 

Visiting colleges, regardless of whether or not my daughter will attend them, is helping her figure out things that are important to her. It's also helped me figure out my concerns, so we can discuss them. Each visit is a learning experience. With the visits we've made, she's refined her list of criteria for what she's looking for in a school. She's also learned a lot about how different schools structure the undergraduate experience.

 

Regardless of where she ends up, she'll have made an educated decision with as much information as we could provide for her.

[AK_Mom4]

I am v. embarrassed to admit that we visited nowhere with this dd. The schools she wants to go to are too far away. We are taking our chances and just applying. We read everything on the web about each one. If she gets in with some $$, we will go and look. She is v. angry about this but, all the economy stuff hit everyone (except her friends, of course), Right????

 

Awwww.... don't feel bad. DD17 is picking her colleges based on how the web sites look. We don't have $$$ to travel to visit places - the only travel we will do will be to the auditions for her top choice (she wants to study music) and even that is only possible because we have airline miles saved up. Choices #2 and #3 she is just sending tapes.

 

It will all be just fine.

[memphispeg]

AK Mom4 -

But you are in Alaska, the land of romance and beauty, we are muddling in Memphis.

We will go where dd gets in and where we can afford to send her. Many other kids did this when the older dd applied (we visited 22 with her!). I do not know what this dd really needs anymore after homeschooling, I figured the 2nd semester sr. version of her will know enough about herself to make the choice.

DD #1, for all our visits, decided on an ED app., got in, got $$, withdrew all her other apps. This all happened in 1 week. I wondered why we had stopped by so many of the schools on our travels (we visited most of them on the way to somewhere else). DD #2 is not DD #1 so there may be a long wait until April. But, we will persevere and go wherever at that time.

[J-rap]

We never visited any colleges with our children. Of the three that are college aged, they had very specific things they were looking for, which usually amounted to only a few colleges -- which they researched carefully, and then applied! Once, after our son was accepted at a college out east but then deferred a year to travel abroad, my husband and I visited the school during a business trip. But, our son didn't see it until the the first day of orientation.:)

It has worked out fine for us, not better or worse, just a different way of doing it.