Visiting every...single....college????

[Janeway]

My son has his favorite of the ones he has seen. But there are two colleges he was accepted to that he has not yet seen. He feels he should see every single one before he makes his final decision.  We have not yet seen Trinity University or Southwestern. Any advice? Because my husband is using up all his vacation time for the year doing campus visits as well as we have to pay for hotels and such when the college is too far away.

[chiguirre]

Can't you drive to Georgetown and back in a day? I'd do that on a Saturday and not use any vacation time.

For Trinity, I think you'll need to get a hotel room for one night but you could go down Friday and visit Saturday.

Good luck!

[lewelma]

We didn't visit all he applied to (only 4 out of 6), and I think that he would have had a hard time choosing to attend a school that he had never set foot in. Luckily, he didn't get into either of them. 🙂 

[RootAnn]

Are either of them top contenders monetarily, major-wise, or just amazing opportunities? If no, tell him to make his decision woth what he has.

If one or both gave him fantastic offers, provide a great for for him major-wise & campus-wise (on paper) to the extent that he would pick them over his top choice (s), then I'd would consider going.

But it sounds like you are already struggling with whether to have him go far away to collehe, so this is a no brainer. Plus, I don't understand why your DH has to go anyway. One parent, one student is more than enough, IMO.

[Janeway]

33 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

Are either of them top contenders monetarily, major-wise, or just amazing opportunities? If no, tell him to make his decision woth what he has.

If one or both gave him fantastic offers, provide a great for for him major-wise & campus-wise (on paper) to the extent that he would pick them over his top choice (s), then I'd would consider going.

But it sounds like you are already struggling with whether to have him go far away to collehe, so this is a no brainer. Plus, I don't understand why your DH has to go anyway. One parent, one student is more than enough, IMO.

His top pick school right now is six hours away. The one he liked that is much closer gave him less aid/scholarships. Trinity is over five hours and looks like Southwestern is just under 3.5 hrs. This whole process has been mine boggling. I feel all torn up like I just don’t know what I am doing.

[lewelma]

4 minutes ago, Janeway said:

His top pick school right now is six hours away. The one he liked that is much closer gave him less aid/scholarships. Trinity is over five hours and looks like Southwestern is just under 3.5 hrs. This whole process has been mine boggling. I feel all torn up like I just don’t know what I am doing.

Really, you will never have all the information all at once.  You just have to accept the uncertainty and make the best decision you can.  I found the whole process full of FUD - fear, uncertainty, and doubt.  So you are not alone.  Good luck to you!

[regentrude]

1 hour ago, Janeway said:

His top pick school right now is six hours away. The one he liked that is much closer gave him less aid/scholarships. Trinity is over five hours and looks like Southwestern is just under 3.5 hrs. This whole process has been mine boggling. I feel all torn up like I just don’t know what I am doing.

I would wait until financial aid offer is in hand and then narrow down the top contenders based on paper. For colleges of under 7 hours driving distance, I'd probably go. The 3.5 hour one you can do as a long daytrip; the 5 hour school one overnight (if money is an issue, can you camp?) Can you take him so your DH doesn't have to use vacation time, or is childcare not feasible?

We ended up not visiting the other college that was contender for top choice for DD because it would have involved a flight, and narrowed it down based on the financial aid offer. It is not necessary to visit every school. 

[Janeway]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

I would wait until financial aid offer is in hand and then narrow down the top contenders based on paper. For colleges of under 7 hours driving distance, I'd probably go. The 3.5 hour one you can do as a long daytrip; the 5 hour school one overnight (if money is an issue, can you camp?) Can you take him so your DH doesn't have to use vacation time, or is childcare not feasible?

We ended up not visiting the other college that was contender for top choice for DD because it would have involved a flight, and narrowed it down based on the financial aid offer. It is not necessary to visit every school. 

We have them in hand except the one, Southwestern. Baylor has scholarship competitions and my son didn’t follow through on them which is why he didn’t get as much there. Every place else is equal.

[regentrude]

1 minute ago, Janeway said:

We have them in hand except the one, Southwestern. Baylor has scholarship competitions and my son didn’t follow through on them which is why he didn’t get as much there. Every place else is equal.

In that case, I'd go check out the schools. One day for the close one, two days for the other. Can you combine the trips, or are these in different directions?

[Janeway]

45 minutes ago, regentrude said:

In that case, I'd go check out the schools. One day for the close one, two days for the other. Can you combine the trips, or are these in different directions?

Same direction. I think I will do this. There are just two schools left to visit. Also..between when I made that last post and now, the last financial aid package came in.

[GoodGrief]

If they are both realistic financially, I'd visit, for sure.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Check with the schools. Coronavirus has caused some colleges to cancel admissions events and tours in March.

At the moment I'm mainly seeing this in Washington state, Bay Area, and the Northeast. 

 

[Bootsie]

If hotel expenses are an important part of your decision of whether to visit, you can make it to Trinity and back in a day.  I think it would make most the most sense to try to visit the two schools on a single two-day trip with a one night stay.  If he know what he has liked or not liked about previous schools he will have an idea of what to look for at these two schools.  I would always prefer to visit in a weekday, if possible, to see the vibe of the campus.  As a previous poster mentioned, you will want to see if coronavirus (or anything else) is impacting the university  

[plansrme]

Well, I heard today that Trinity shut down for the semester; they told their students to come back to campus and pack up their stuff.  (My daughter is at another school in San Antonio.). Not sure if that means they're still open for visits or not, but this whole thing is putting HS seniors in a bit of a bind (others, too, of course, but this is a constituency I would not have thought of).

[Janeway]

1 hour ago, plansrme said:

Well, I heard today that Trinity shut down for the semester; they told their students to come back to campus and pack up their stuff.  (My daughter is at another school in San Antonio.). Not sure if that means they're still open for visits or not, but this whole thing is putting HS seniors in a bit of a bind (others, too, of course, but this is a constituency I would not have thought of).

I saw that too. But nothing yet about the admissions. I really thought Trinity would be the one. Now the decision will end up being sight unseen.