If your kid LOVED a school early in the process, did that change?

[Daria]

We've only been on 2 tours so far, although my son has been on other campuses for camps and other reasons.  He loved the second school.  I think that if he knew he'd get in there, he'd stop looking.  Luckily for us, it's not a reach, so his chances are good.

 

I'm curious if other people have found that preferences from early in the process lasted throughout.  There's a lot that I like about this school from a "mom" perspective, so I'd be happy if he ended up there, but I'd love to hear other people's opinions.

[Crimson Wife]

I fell in love with the college I ultimately attended at age 12 and was lucky enough to get in as it definitely was a "reach". It didn't offer ED/EA at the time I applied, but if it had, I absolutely would've done it.

 

With regards to grad school, I've only visited one so far and really liked it. I'm not sure I will be able to tour the other schools on my target list prior to applying. I will probably need to wait to see where (if anywhere) I get interviews. The field is a highly competitive one, so odds are I will have only a few interviews.

[Gwen in VA]

Dd2 fell in love with College #1 early on. (She visited twice.) She received a full-ride scholarship there so we breathed a sigh of relief -- until she went for summer orientation, when she felt like the rose-colored glasses fell off. She withdrew and spent her freshman year at a local college (which thankfully re-accepted her after her April rejection of the college).

 

Ds1 fell in love with a college when his older sis visited it during the summer before his junior year. He loved it and couldn't wait to attend -- until he went for HIS visit just before his senior year. nope -- it wasn't the right school for him.

[Frances]

DS fell in love with the first college he visited as a sophomore, and ended up not even applying after interviewing with their regional rep locally. She was a grad and even though the school was very highly ranked, he wasn't at all impressed with her. He was also concerned about science research opportunities.

 

He also went from being only interested in LACs his sophomore and juniors years, to considering much larger schools by his senior year. I think this was partially due to a summer research experience at our state's medical school after his junior year and also because he took classes for two years at our local LAC. By the time he had to make the decision in the spring of his senior year, he felt like he had already had the small college experience, and chose the honor's college at a much larger research university.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 18yo loved Pace University on paper. It seemed perfect until we actually visited. Once we got there for the visit, she was completely underwhelmed.

 

She applied to Hofstra University and Adelphi University also at my insistence. She was determined to go to school in NY city and these schools were outside the city although they at least had train access to the city.

 

We visited Hofstra on the same trip that we visited Pace. She absolutely loved Hofstra. However, the campus was too large for her to walk. Her stamina for walking has decreased over the past two years and the geneticist said it is not likely to improve.

 

Adelphi didn't look like the right school at all on paper to her, but when we visited, she absolutely loved it. It was also the only school in NY that we could manage with the aid that she received. Once we visited the school, it became her top choice and that is where she will be attending next month.

[SanDiegoMom]

My dd has fallen in love with NYU.  Which would be a stretch, but we have the GI bill and we can cobble some stuff together...except that now she wants to go to Law school and use the GI bill for that! So tough choices will soon be made.  But we are still searching as she is a rising senior.  

[Mom22ns]

My oldest fell in love with a school early in the process. If it had been up to him, he would have completely stopped looking at that point, but I was very hesitant because of the price tag. In the end he was able to get enough scholarship money to make it work.  He's a sophomore there now. He still thinks I wasted his time by making him look around and apply to a financial safety.  :)

[Hoggirl]

My ds pretty much fell in love with his school after attending a summer program there the summer after his sophomore year in high school. We traveled and toured many other schools his junior year and one additional school his senior year. He *liked* many schools, but that one was definitely the "dream school." He was deferred there in restricted early action and accepted regular decision. He claims he would have completed all his apps even if he had gotten in REA, but I really don't believe him. Thankfully, he did get in in the regular decision round. It was and is a reachy reach school. He is supremely happy there.

 

ETA - he had attended summer programs on three other campuses prior to the one he fell in love with. He saw a lot of schools - several more than he applied to! But once he found the one, he didn't waver.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Hoggirl

[teachermom2834]

My ds had one he loved and he did get in but is happily attending elsewhere this fall. It came down to money and a couple opportunities available at another school. So, while he did love a school he kept his mind open and was practical about finances and has not looked back.

 

His early favorite was not a favorite of mine. I would have let him make the decision but I will admit I continued to put other schools in front of him and encouraged him to consider.

 

An interesting turn our search took was that although we started the process early in high school the choice really came down to the last couple schools that even hit our radar. I guess it took a long process to figure out what our priorities really were.

 

I am happy with the outcome but would never have gotten here if ds didn't keep an open mind.

[FaithManor]

Yes, our middle son's first choice going into the application cycle was MTU followed by NMU due to loving long winters - skiing and snowboarding - and their big strengths in freshwater research.

 

But, after visiting WMU and meeting the professors from the Freshwater Science and Sustainability major, hearing what his options would be, and falling in love with those options, he changed his mind. He is very excited about his choice as are we though we thought he'd land up north.

[OneStepAtATime]

I picked only one school.  I had it picked out before I hit Junior year.  Mom and Dad had both graduated from that school and went back upon occasion for various things.  I fell in love all over again every time that I saw it and I loved the academic programs they had to offer.  I enjoyed my time there.  It was a good fit and I do not regret my decision.  

 

That being said, I do wish Mom and Dad had been a tad more involved (they were completely hands off) and had encouraged me to at least LOOK at other schools and CONSIDER the possibility that I might not even get in to the one school I applied to (thank goodness I did get in).  I had to take out student loans and do a work study program and work part time outside the school and Grandma helped cover costs, too.  I might have found something that was less of a financial strain that would still have been a good fit if I had bothered to keep looking.

[GoodGrief]

A lot can change over the course of the application year, especially if the student gets the opportunity to look closely at a number of schools. Ultimately the school that ended up being my daughter's #2 choice (in an extremely painful decision) was hardly on her radar at the beginning of the app season.

[Paper In Fire]

While mine wants to go to college, she hasn't chosen which one she wants yet. She doesn't have a wish list either. I figure that since she is still 16, I'm not going to rush this part of the process. I want to give her a little more time to pinpont what her exact interests are, her srong suits in her Junior and Senior years and what any career placement tests have to say.

[shanvan]

Ds did have a clear favorite, but he was so aware of finances that he kept an open mind.  I told him he was exploring options and to be sure he had a variety of colleges to choose from.  He didn't want small, so we visited large and medium sized, expensive liberal arts colleges and state schools and one large university (he really didn't like).  He was content to apply and see what happened.  He had very large scholarships to his 2 favorites and both would have been extremely affordable (beyond most parents wildest dreams affordable).  One would have been living away form home, and the other commuting.  There was one he loved from the start that he just decided was unrealistic b/c of the cost of living away from home, though we had a relative he could have stayed with.    

 

I gave him some of my thoughts once the offers rolled in, but it was his decision.  In the end, he choose the state school he never thought he would go to b/c they gave him enough scholarships to cover all of his tuition, plus, after visiting he really liked the honors college.  So, yes, it changed and I am glad he had options.  

[*LC]

Well, my two that have graduated high school fit that bill. 

 

My oldest visited one school sophomore year of high school while on vacation; it was not a good fit.

 

That summer between sophomore and junior year, she and I went on a three-day college trip with the plan to see four/five schools in two nearby states. (The plan was to see in-state schools on random school holidays during the school year.) The first one was a medium/large public school that I knew she would be accepted to when the time came. After seeing this one, she cancelled our plans to visit liberal art schools the next day. The last visit was a medium-sized, super-selective private school with an engineering department. On our drive home, she said she was surprised to say she liked the first school best, because she had thought she would have to say she liked it, because it is the school her parents, grandparents, etc., attended. The plan was to visit the private school again in the fall, because there were not a lot of people on campus during our visit. She lost interest and never visited. That fall she visited the in-state school that made the most sense for her area of interest, but she did not like it as much as the out-of-state school; she will graduate from it in May. (I had her apply to other schools that offered her major, but she never visited them in person. She was accepted to all of them, but the school she liked was most affordable.)

 

My second oldest graduated high school this year. Early on, he had a plan to go far away for a specialized degree, but he changed his mind about the major and school between sophomore and junior year after visiting that school/program. That fall he visited an in-state school, and he liked it. He visited another selective school while we were on vacation that fall. That spring he came to me and announced he was going to attend the school my oldest attends. I said you need to visit/tour it, and he said I have been there plenty of times. I insisted he visit, and he came away convinced it was the right place for him. I still was not sure, so I had him tour a small, in-state private school senior year. He ended up only applying to the out-of-state public school. He loved freshman orientation this summer.