Can we talk college visits again?

[plansrme]

Those of you who have been on college visits, can you help me out with a couple of things?

 

First, if your student is enrolled in one of the schools you visited, did the visit accurately portray the school, the experience, etc.?

 

Second, could I get some advice on what you did on college visits that was particularly helpful? Other than the guided tours, I suppose? I read Crazy U recently (and highly recommend it), and he makes the point that the official college tours are all alike. His riff on this was quite funny, but it made me wonder what else we should do.

 

We may make some college visits later this spring, and I want to make the most of them. She will be looking at some schools far, far from here, so scheduling repeat visits would be tough--we need to do it right the first time.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

Terri

[dirty ethel rackham]

If your student has any potential majors in mind, make an appointment to meet with a professor in that department to learn more about their programs and how they will meet your student's goals. Also, sitting in on a couple of classes can help as well.

 

My oldest ds is at the school that gave us the best vibe during the visits. The visit isn't what sold us on that school (lots of other research, plus the programs for his particular interests), that vibe helped us feel comfortable sending him there. He says that the school lives up to what it felt like when we were there. He loves it there and could not be happier with his choice.

[Jane in NC]

My son knew what he wanted to study so he made a point of meeting with the chair of the department or a faculty member who shares his interest. Faculty were most accommodating and often more down to earth than the "rah-rah" undergrads who give the tours.

 

I think spending a night on campus was probably the most valuable thing my son did. One school looked great on paper; there was an amazing professor who met with my son. But by spending the night my son saw that the Greek culture dictated the social life at the school. It completely turned him off. This is not something that one might see on a guided walk through campus.

 

Eating a meal in the main dining hall is important too if you student will be living on campus. Dining options vary and some schools do a much better job than others in this regard.

 

If your student has a chronic illness or is prone to depression, I would check out the student health facility. Some schools have a bare minimum; others have a nurse on 24 hour duty. Is there an infirmary with beds in case your kid contracts an illness and needs isolation? This may not matter to some but if your kid has some health issues this could be important.

[lisabees]

Our visit did accurately portray the school's personality. But...we happened upon two students who gave us an impromptu, personalized tour. It was summer, so very few students were on campus. These two students were so kind, giving, intelligent and interesting. They happily spent almost two hours with us. Ds is currently thriving as a freshman there. Before I visited on parents weekend, I did wonder if the original portrayal was accurate. After spending a few days and many hours at the co-op where ds lives, I can ecstatically say that all of the students were kind, giving, intelligent and interesting. In fact, when ds calls, a student usually gets on the phone to talk with me!

 

Our favorite tours were like the one above. The personalized ones. See if you can go on a personalized tour with a student, rather than in a group. Ask to meet with the admissions rep who covers your geographical area. I agree with PPs who mentioned speaking with professors. If your dd is considering certain extra-curriculars, meet with the coaches or advisors.

 

I would also recommend spending the night in a nearby hotel. Go on campus during the evening. Hang out in the coffee house. Hang out under a tree. Hang out in the dining hall. Attend an evening concert. I remember visiting Kenyon and ds leaving the hotel room (right on campus) to play his guitar under a tree. He met many students that way and ended up attending a show with them. These kinds of experiences give a clearer view of a school.

 

Be sure your dd establishes a relationship with someone before the visit. Have her start an email exchange with her local admissions rep. Or have her ask to talk with a student over the phone. This way, she has someone to meet with while on campus.

 

Greek life can have strong presence on a campus, even if its percentage is relatively small. This may or may not be a factor for your dd. It was for ds; most of the schools to which he applied did not have Greek life.

[FaithManor]

My son knew what he wanted to study so he made a point of meeting with the chair of the department or a faculty member who shares his interest. Faculty were most accommodating and often more down to earth than the "rah-rah" undergrads who give the tours.

 

I think spending a night on campus was probably the most valuable thing my son did. One school looked great on paper; there was an amazing professor who met with my son. But by spending the night my son saw that the Greek culture dictated the social life at the school. It completely turned him off. This is not something that one might see on a guided walk through campus.

 

Eating a meal in the main dining hall is important too if you student will be living on campus. Dining options vary and some schools do a much better job than others in this regard.

 

If your student has a chronic illness or is prone to depression, I would check out the student health facility. Some schools have a bare minimum; others have a nurse on 24 hour duty. Is there an infirmary with beds in case your kid contracts an illness and needs isolation? This may not matter to some but if your kid has some health issues this could be important.

 

 

 

This is exactly what we did with dd and will do again with ds. We shy away from the "standard tour" and go at other times for something more personal. Ds went to MTU this past October, observed two classes, met with three professors, ate with a group of students in the dining hall, and we went to a play later in the evening. We spent more of the weekend getting to know the area and campus.

 

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of making appointments with faculty and sitting in on classes. We found a group of students heading to one of the classes ds was scheduled for and asked them if he could head over to the science department with them. They were more than happy to take him along. We stayed in the shadows. We thought it would be a more realistic experience for him and a way to observe the interaction of the students.

 

Faith

[Nan in Mass]

With the older two (one college), we found that the open house accurately portrayed the college. The college is a bit different, so they wanted to make sure everyone understood what going there was like. I think this might not be true at a more ordinary college. A simple tour wouldn't have conveyed as much, although we found that the colleges we happened to visit all had tours that were different from each other and did convey quite a lot about the tour, probably because they were led by students and answered questions. Again, it might be because we were touring schools that were very different from each other. Even giant UMass had people in the tour asking questions about the huge lecture classes and about what living in a giant dorm is like.

 

Nan

[MIch elle]

We mostly did the BIG open houses that colleges have in the fall. The mistake we made was doing most of them in the fall of senior year. WIth next ds, we will do them ALL in junior year.

 

The open houses were a mixed bag. Some of them were excellent because at the time my ds couldn't decide if he wanted biomedical engineering or physical therapy so we got to sit in on lectures ABOUT biomedical eng. and/or chem. eng (some schools have chem E with minor in biomed). We visited the engineering labs with detailed tours of each of the labs and what they do in each of them. They don't do these types of tours everyday - only during the BIG open houses.

 

During one herding session aka open house of BIG U., (my ds now attends) we wandered off by ourselves and met some students in my ds major, and they loved the school and the major (one transferred in from a smaller private college). We also went to the library by ourselves and the student at the desk showed us the online U. system. Because his school within this BIG U. is so small they did a general info. session but not tours of the dept labs. We made an appt. with the undergrad. advisor and spoke with her one on one about our concerns with attending this large U.

 

I would say that the the big open house tours were worth attending at certain colleges at not at others. Check the open house schedules and see if the depts are doing anything special that your dc will be interested in attending.

[plansrme]

 

 

The open houses were a mixed bag. Some of them were excellent because at the time my ds couldn't decide if he wanted biomedical engineering or physical therapy so we got to sit in on lectures ABOUT biomedical eng. and/or chem. eng (some schools have chem E with minor in biomed). We visited the engineering labs with detailed tours of each of the labs and what they do in each of them. They don't do these types of tours everyday - only during the BIG open houses.

 

 

 

Thanks, ladies, for the comments. They have all been very helpful.

 

Michelle, can I ask how you know about these open houses? Do we just need to start stalking the websites of the schools she is interested in? Part of my concern is that I feel like we are a year behind, that instead of "she is a freshman, we're totally on top of it," we are, all of a sudden at, "maybe she at the end her sophomore year." After years of fighting against having her officially skipping a grade, now she is, suddenly, on track to graduate a year early. She literally went overnight being class of 2016 to class of 2015 if we want her to be. She is getting a lot of random college mail because of her PSAT score and AP tests, but the College Board thinks she's a freshman, so she is not getting invites to open houses that I presume are targeted towards juniors and seniors.

 

Terri

[Brenda in MA]

Thanks, ladies, for the comments. They have all been very helpful.

 

Michelle, can I ask how you know about these open houses? Do we just need to start stalking the websites of the schools she is interested in?

 

Terri

Terri,

 

If you have your dd put her name on the colleges' lists as class of 2015 (request info through their website, etc.), then she should start getting mail inviting her to their open houses and other events. Thing is -- since she's only a sophomore, she may still not get the invitations until she is at least a junior. I took my current junior to visit some colleges last summer after his sophomore year, and the attitude we got from a few places was, "Why is he looking so early?" For us, given my son's schedule this year, it was visit early or not at all, so we opted for early. I think that the early visits/interest are unusual because so many brick & mortar schools don't start talking to their students about SATs, college applications, etc. until late winter or early spring of junior year.

 

You can and should also look at open houses, etc. on the specific schools' websites. Most are listed in the Admissons area of the website. We will also be attending the college fair put on at a local prep school this coming April. It's another place to demonstrate interest and check out some additional schools.

 

Also -- I would agree with the others that said sitting in on a class and meeting with a professor or two have been very helpful. When I bring my son to visit a campus and he's off in a class or talking with a professor, I like to do a little informal walking around the campus myself. I like to park myself in the student union and just people watch. I also like to read the student newspaper. There you are likely to find out about some issues that are on the student's minds that the admissions office might not want you to know (things like the fact that there is some crime in the area or that the college is considering making upper class housing required, that the students don't think the administration listens to them, etc.). Also, I like to read the local newspapers in the library to find out what the surrounding community is like. If I can, I try to talk to folks (like the adult employees in the bookstore) if it's not too crowded. By doing all of these things, I think we've been able to get a good sense of the campus "vibe". I also like the "Insider's Guide to the Colleges" to give an idea of vibe.

 

HTH,

Brenda

[dirty ethel rackham]

Thanks, ladies, for the comments. They have all been very helpful.

 

Michelle, can I ask how you know about these open houses? Do we just need to start stalking the websites of the schools she is interested in? Part of my concern is that I feel like we are a year behind, that instead of "she is a freshman, we're totally on top of it," we are, all of a sudden at, "maybe she at the end her sophomore year." After years of fighting against having her officially skipping a grade, now she is, suddenly, on track to graduate a year early. She literally went overnight being class of 2016 to class of 2015 if we want her to be. She is getting a lot of random college mail because of her PSAT score and AP tests, but the College Board thinks she's a freshman, so she is not getting invites to open houses that I presume are targeted towards juniors and seniors.

 

Terri

 

If you go looking at the school's website and find the pages concerning visits, they usually have information about the open houses. We never received "invites" to open houses (at least not before applying.) We saw them when we investigated visiting the schools we were interested in. I am not a huge fan of "open house" type visits. Most of the ones we went to felt like a huge cattle call. While they said they wanted us to ask questions, the programs were designed to move large masses of people through the program and there wasn't much room for dialog. The exception was our visit to Illinois Wesleyan for their Faculty Open House last month. We got to meet with their Physics department, which included every professor in the department. It was supposed to be a 1 hour session, but it turned into a two hour session with a fantastic tour of their facilities. We really got a feel for their enthusiasm for their work. They answered a lot of our questions. Having some other prospective students with us helped us hear answers to questions we hadn't thought of. At other schools' open houses, we felt like we were getting the boilerplate experience.

 

I generally prefer a personalized individual visits over the open houses because I think we get a better view of what the school is like. There is more room to ask questions, see things off the beaten path, experience the schools quirks, and get to know the place better. They also get a chance to get to know our child better as well.

 

On another note, I don't find the huge mountains of mail helpful at all in our college search. Nothing about it seems targeted to my student. It seems that they just buy lists and send lots of mail hoping to boost their application rates in the hopes of making them look more selective by declining more applicants. My son got mail from schools that would be a huge reach for him (and his numbers are pretty good.) He has gotten mail from schools that don't even offer the major that he expressed interested in. So, I wouldn't worry about what school year you have listed on the College Board as far as whether or not you'll be included. The best way to get information is to go seek it out, not wait for the schools to come looking for you.

 

ETA: Oh, and you are not behind. If you are looking prior to her senior year, you are ahead of most people. My son is a junior. Every school we have gone to has expressed surprise that we are so on the ball getting our visits in "early." I don't think it is early because we want to see schools before applying as much as possible because he will have very little time to go on 2nd visits after he applies.

[plansrme]

ETA: Oh, and you are not behind. If you are looking prior to her senior year, you are ahead of most people. My son is a junior. Every school we have gone to has expressed surprise that we are so on the ball getting our visits in "early." I don't think it is early because we want to see schools before applying as much as possible because he will have very little time to go on 2nd visits after he applies.

 

 

This attitude from the schools, especially, is so bizarre to me. How can you put off such a major decision until mere months before you have to make it? I am a big fan of long range planning (obviously), and it would drive me bonkers not to know until spring where my kid is going to college in six months. My daughter has had friends drag the decision out until summer. That would kill me. Oh wait--I'm not actually going to college again. Must remember that...

 

Anyway, one of the reasons this seems so imminent is that if she is going to do gymnastics, she is going to have to have an offer sooner rather than later. Considering that she has had no season this year due to a knee injury 4 days before her first meet, but should be healed in time for State in 11 days, and everything (well, a lot anyway) will ride on that one meet, and now we're thinking maybe this is the end of her sophomore year, not freshman year-- :scared: .

 

ETA: By "drag out," I mean until summer after their high school graduation. They (two sisters) were still negotiating for $$, I think, but again, that would have driven me bonkers. Their mom was the mom of triplets, and they were her 2nd-4th children, so obviously she had more patience with this than I would.

 

Terri

[Jane in NC]

This attitude from the schools, especially, is so bizarre to me. How can you put off such a major decision until mere months before you have to make it? I am a big fan of long range planning (obviously), and it would drive me bonkers not to know until spring where my kid is going to college in six months. My daughter has had friends drag the decision out until summer. That would kill me. Oh wait--I'm not actually going to college again. Must remember that...

 

 

May 1 is the deadline for official acceptances/declines at most colleges (except those with open enrollment). The unfortunate reality though is that some schools do not let students know whether they are accepted until about April 1. This is one reason we loved Early Action (not to be confused with Early Decision). Several schools included a financial aid (merit aid) letter with the acceptance. My son's second choice college accepted him and invited him to a scholarship weekend after which the letter came with his merit scholarship offer.

 

Colleges seem to welcome all for their tours. It is perhaps more difficult to plan on some of the one-on-one stuff with younger students who may not know what they want to study in college. I think it is really important though for a kid to be familiar with campuses in general, i.e. how they are small towns onto themselves. If your student has not attended functions on college campuses (lectures, recitals, sporting events, classes for teens), I would visit nearby colleges (even those not on your kid's radar) just to poke around. Look at the library, the bookstore. See what is on the bulletin boards.

 

My son thought it important that a campus have trees. He came to this decision after visiting various schools. Some kids think having a football team is important. There are things outside of the major that enter into the decision process. I think it is important to talk about what is appealing about the school and whether that is going to continue to endure over time. One of my son's friends thought he wanted to attend a small school but after a year he felt that it was a mistake, that there would have been more opportunities at a larger university. Visits alone cannot solidify these things, but can help shape what we hope are the right decisions.

[Nan in Mass]

My son thought it important that a campus have trees. He came to this decision after visiting various schools.

 

I'm sure this sounds totally insular, but there are campuses without trees? Really? (Well, other than the desert, obviously.) Even the city ones we've seen had trees. Although, now that I think about it, that is probably as good an explanation for why my son wouldn't even look at Northeastern or BU as any other I've heard. They do have trees, just not enough of them for my son. Or grass. Which ones did he nix for treelessness? (just curious - no need to say if you'd rather not)

 

Nan

[lisabees]

May 1 is the deadline for official acceptances/declines at most colleges (except those with open enrollment). The unfortunate reality though is that some schools do not let students know whether they are accepted until about April 1. This is one reason we loved Early Action (not to be confused with Early Decision). Several schools included a financial aid (merit aid) letter with the acceptance. My son's second choice college accepted him and invited him to a scholarship weekend after which the letter came with his merit scholarship offer.

 

Colleges seem to welcome all for their tours. It is perhaps more difficult to plan on some of the one-on-one stuff with younger students who may not know what they want to study in college. I think it is really important though for a kid to be familiar with campuses in general, i.e. how they are small towns onto themselves. If your student has not attended functions on college campuses (lectures, recitals, sporting events, classes for teens), I would visit nearby colleges (even those not on your kid's radar) just to poke around. Look at the library, the bookstore. See what is on the bulletin boards.

 

My son thought it important that a campus have trees. He came to this decision after visiting various schools. Some kids think having a football team is important. There are things outside of the major that enter into the decision process. I think it is important to talk about what is appealing about the school and whether that is going to continue to endure over time. One of my son's friends thought he wanted to attend a small school but after a year he felt that it was a mistake, that there would have been more opportunities at a larger university. Visits alone cannot solidify these things, but can help shape what we hope are the right decisions.

 

 

Absolutely agree with Jane. And OP, be prepared for your dd to judge a school in a crazy, unexpected way! My son didn't like a certain LAC because it had "too many cars". Cars were parallel parked throughout campus. Another school visit revealed that "The kids don't look happy. Their heads are always down." Two schools "suffocated" him because the tour guides were too preppy and seemed flighty. Really. You can't make this stuff up. Your dd will likely have some strong, immediate reactions to a school. And she may not budge from her initial reaction.

 

Visiting various kinds of schools - small, big, city, country, public, private, LAC, research U - can solidify what the best fit is for your dd.

 

Someone on these boards once paraphrased a Swarthmore's admissions officer. "If this college process doesn't change who you are, then you aren't doing it right."

 

She was right. I was so proud of ds by the end of his search. He grew to know himself better. In the beginning, he wanted a certain kind of school. Well, no school is perfect, so he had to make compromises. It was fascinating watching him decide which things he was willing to compromise and which things he wouldn't.

 

ETA: Dig around the school's website for Open Houses (look on their Admissions page and/or calendar). Also, one reason to begin an email exchange with the local admissions rep is to ask if they will be visiting the area, whether it is for an Information Session and/or interviews.

[Jane in NC]

I'm sure this sounds totally insular, but there are campuses without trees? Really? (Well, other than the desert, obviously.) Even the city ones we've seen had trees. Although, now that I think about it, that is probably as good an explanation for why my son wouldn't even look at Northeastern or BU as any other I've heard. They do have trees, just not enough of them for my son. Or grass. Which ones did he nix for treelessness? (just curious - no need to say if you'd rather not)

 

Nan

 

 

My son did apply to BU. The Archaeology program there trumped the few scrawny trees along the street.

 

Sure, most landscaping incorporates trees but there are variations in the age of the trees and the drama of the trees. He definitely preferred the feel of less urban, older campuses with established trees.

 

JennW has commented several times on how impressed her Southern California son is by the trees of the Midwest.

 

Maybe I should say that there are trees and then there are Trees.

[Jane in NC]

Absolutely agree with Jane. And OP, be prepared for your dd to judge a school in a crazy, unexpected way! My son didn't like a certain LAC because it had "too many cars". Cars were parallel parked throughout campus. Another school visit revealed that "The kids don't look happy. Their heads are always down." Two schools "suffocated" him because the tour guides were too preppy and seemed flighty. Really. You can't make this stuff up. Your dd will likely have some strong, immediate reactions to a school. And she may not budge from her initial reaction.

 

We were all independently turned off to a well known Northeastern LAC because of the snobbishness of our tour guide. We had heard that this school had Town and Gown issues but the disparaging words that the girl had for the town led my son to scratch the school off of his list immediately. Perhaps not fair but so it goes...

[Belacqua]

We were all independently turned off to a well known Northeastern LAC because of the snobbishness of our tour guide. We had heard that this school had Town and Gown issues but the disparaging words that the girl had for the town led my son to scratch the school off of his list immediately. Perhaps not fair but so it goes...

 

I think that's a really good point. We toured a Northeastern college a few weeks ago, and we were impressed by how well the school seemed to get along with the town. The tour guide pointed out that the local businesses had a monthly night out for students, and she seemed just generally respectful of the locals.

[MIch elle]

Michelle, can I ask how you know about these open houses? Do we just need to start stalking the websites of the schools she is interested in? Part of my concern is that I feel like we are a year behind, that instead of "she is a freshman, we're totally on top of it," we are, all of a sudden at, "maybe she at the end her sophomore year." After years of fighting against having her officially skipping a grade, now she is, suddenly, on track to graduate a year early. She literally went overnight being class of 2016 to class of 2015 if we want her to be. She is getting a lot of random college mail because of her PSAT score and AP tests, but the College Board thinks she's a freshman, so she is not getting invites to open houses that I presume are targeted towards juniors and seniors.

 

Terri

 

My ds didn't get much college mail at all. When he registered for Psat/SAT we requested NO mail. He got one invitation to an open house and then I stalked the college websites after that which also had the programs that my ds was interested in. Most list them on their websites with the open house schedule of events, and some you have to register to receive the schedule. Some schools do spring and fall big open houses, some only fall. Some schools (Wentworth Institute) have day sessions to explore ALL the different options to major in at their college as well as days devoted to a specific major. These are helpful if you're not sure if you want for example, computer science vs computer engineering. You get to see and do things at an open house and THEN if you like what you see go back for a smaller tour (if you can). We did the smaller tour once ds was accepted and was more serious about possibly attending that college.

 

I caution about not just comparing colleges but compare ALL four years of the required classes at each college. The same degree/major at one college can look very different at another college. It can make a huge difference in what they learn and how enjoyable/interesting those classes are. My ds has the depth and breadth of classes that only a large college can offer for his major.

 

It's an overwhelming process so take baby steps, and it will probably all work out for the best!

[Kareni]

I'm sure this sounds totally insular, but there are campuses without trees? Really?

 

Our local community college seems to be composed almost solely of concrete. It's a sad looking place. I think that a tree would be ashamed to be found there.

 

 

... And OP, be prepared for your dd to judge a school in a crazy, unexpected way!

 

This is so true. One college fell off my daughter's wishlist after a visit. She said that all the students looked alike (even though they were multi-cultural). I guess they all shopped at the same stores.

 

 

We were all independently turned off to a well known Northeastern LAC because of the snobbishness of our tour guide. ... Perhaps not fair but so it goes...

 

Another school fell of my daughter's list when one of the speakers at the event talked about going in to town to have one's nails done. Curiously, I was at the same talk and totally missed that remark. Our children definitely have their own ideas and tastes.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Luckymama]

Dd rejected a well-known, very competitive LAC because both the admissions rep and the tour guide talked about their sports teams without referring to any arts events or programs.

 

Ds is a tree-lover and rejected a few schools because they didn't have enough trees nor enough green space.

 

We live in a well-treed, nicely green university town. He assumed all schools had similar campuses :lol:

[Nan in Mass]

Maybe I should say that there are trees and then there are Trees.

 

 

Ah yes - TREES. I've certainly seen colleges with just a few spindly ones. I just thought one with no trees at all at all was hard to imagine. The city colleges I am familiar with are located on streets which have trees. Not necessarily nice ones, but at least something. Even the city community colleges I've seen have trees. One of my favourite things to do when I am waiting for my son is to sit in a window which has a tree with squirrels in it right outside. It is like sitting in a treetop.

 

Nan

 

[plansrme]

I can relate on the trees issue. Way back when, I attended a week-long professional education seminar on Stanford's campus. STANFORD! And girl of the South that I was, I thought it was hideous--so brown, so barren. I don't know that I had any concept that I was on the campus of one of the most prestigious academic institutions in world. All I could see was that it was brown.

 

Terri

[Belacqua]

I can relate on the trees issue. Way back when, I attended a week-long professional education seminar on Stanford's campus. STANFORD! And girl of the South that I was, I thought it was hideous--so brown, so barren. I don't know that I had any concept that I was on the campus of one of the most prestigious academic institutions in world. All I could see was that it was brown.

 

Terri

 

I know a kid who rejected Stanford (after getting in, no less) because it "looks like a giant Taco Bell."

[Hoggirl]

I think you are wise to start early, but I must say doing so has some challenges. Often juniors are not allowed overnight visits or interviews. Period. It's very frustrating, because one can only go visit so many schools in the fall of one's senior year. Yet, for schools that want demonstrated interest, I think you may be better off waiting until senior year to see those - or at least plan to revisit. That said, we have been able to get a pretty good sense of campuses with the tours, info sessions, attending classes and eating in the dining halls. I do have to admit being very frustrated when we went to the Claremont Consortium to see three schools and ds only having the opportunity to interview at one of them. This seems to be quite common, however.

 

As a previous poster said, I do think overnights would be the best way to get a sense of the social scene on campus.

 

It's funny, because even though I am not the one trying to pick, I have been influenced by tour guides and admissions officers as well. I am really turned off by ANY snobbishness. As in, "You're so lucky we are even telling you about our fabulous school, peasant." :D This hasn't been the norm, but I have gotten that vibe at one school.

[Jane in NC]

Even the city community colleges I've seen have trees. One of my favourite things to do when I am waiting for my son is to sit in a window which has a tree with squirrels in it right outside. It is like sitting in a treetop.

 

Nan

 

 

One community college near us is urban without trees (other than some scrawny ones between sidewalk and street). It is close to a large river with an adjacent walkway---so there is some sense of nature close by. The community college is my hometown is another that is urban and treeless. Several universities have constructed satellite campuses in the downtown area there. Greenspaces are limited to small parks. Some with trees, others with sculptures. Better than nothing but not like towering trees.

[JennW in SoCal]

About TREES. We have trees in southern California. Palm trees, of course, and groves of eucalyptus. But they aren't exactly tall and majestic, and most are olive drab in color and not lushly green. The local campuses don't have much in the way of trees. One of the good local LACs prides itself on its Spanish influenced architecture, so there are only palm trees and lots of bright, glaring sun. Students are in shorts, flip flops and sunglasses year round. Even the big sprawling state schools are barren, though the older parts of the local UC have eucalyptus groves that are sacred to the students. Every time trees are cut down to make way for another building there are enormous, tearful protests. The Christian college in on the coast, with dorms overlooking the beach. Students can go surfing between classes!

 

The trees in the Pacific Northwest where we started our college tours were simply majestic -- they just wowed us! And the tree covered hills around his Ohio LAC are, to him, something out of a dream -- he thinks kids growing up there are so lucky to have those forests for exploring. His childhood was deprived because all he had was scrubby chaparral to whack through when exploring. Even the squirrels here have thin pathetic tails -- the black, bushy tailed squirrels on his LAC campus are a ceaseless delight for him.

 

But back to the topic at hand. Visits were, I think, more about getting a feel for the type of school he wanted to apply to. You can still "show love" to a school by making an appointment to interview with an admissions rep when they are in your area, especially if you feel you can't get out for a campus tour before the application deadline. I think the most important visits are after the acceptance has come in. Like Jane, my ds applied early action, so he knew by January which schools were the "finalists". We visited those over spring break, spending a day on each campus, and the decision became a very easy one.

 

By the way, there is anther regional difference we've noticed aside from the vegetation (and the snow). People in the midwest (does Ohio count as midwest?) are sooooo darn friendly! People are nice enough here, but there isn't that genuine open friendliness. My ds continues to comment on how everyone on campus, from staff to faculty to students, is so nice.

[Nan in Mass]

Squirrels - Let's talk about squirrels for a minute. Beware squirrels. Beware dirt. Beware those trees. Beware different amounts of air. Some people don't do well when you move them out of their home ecosystem at a vulnerable time in their lives. I never did adjust to black squirrels and red dirt and trees that looked like they belonged in a rain forest, and no wind.

 

Nan

[Belacqua]

Squirrels - Let's talk about squirrels for a minute. Beware squirrels. Beware dirt. Beware those trees. Beware different amounts of air. Some people don't do well when you move them out of their home ecosystem at a vulnerable time in their lives. I never did adjust to black squirrels and red dirt and trees that looked like they belonged in a rain forest, and no wind.

 

Nan

 

Heh. At one California school, we saw a squirrel the size of a housecat. He sat in front of us and looked hopefully at my granola bar. He didn't get the granola, but the incident wound up in the college's plus column.

[*LC]

My kid ruled out a nice school because it had community bathrooms in its brand new freshman dorms. Another good school was ruled out because the speaker said it wasn't an urban campus even though it is located downtown.

 

There are tons of schools. If students only used legitimate reasons to rule them out,, they could never pick.

[Nan in Mass]

Heh. At one California school, we saw a squirrel the size of a housecat. He sat in front of us and looked hopefully at my granola bar. He didn't get the granola, but the incident wound up in the college's plus column.

 

Squirrels can be very important if you have had to leave your cat or dog behind when you came to college.

 

Nan