Is it worth it to visit in person now

[Dmmetler]

If you will mostly be seeing the outside of buildings, etc?

 

We have fall break coming up, and DD has been accepted to several schools she has never visited where we could drive in one straight shot. Looking at VBRO, we could rent a house near one and book a day early to make sure there is time after cleaning is done (and the specific one we're looking at, the owner has no one scheduled after the prior Monday,and would not be renting mid-week if we rent starting Friday because she waits a day after people leave before sending her cleaning crew in, and then makes sure there is at least 24-48 hours after cleaning before the next check in). We can do Instacart, etc, just like at home, and would. 

And we could walk around the campus, get the feel of the town, etc, and probably be socially distanced. But she can't sit in on classes except virtually, talk to faculty except via Zoom or phone, etc. She can't get food on campus, or see a dorm room except via video. I suspect the campus will be very quiet-possibly even more than during a summer session, because while the campus did reopen, almost no classes are meeting in person. 

 

I think we could all use a change of scenery, and it feels pretty safe. But would it be at all useful? It's a school where DD has a good chance at scholarship money (some automatic, but she is also very competitive for their top awards), and ticks her boxes, but it is also one of the largest schools on her list, so I kind of think seeing if it is too big for her would be good before she decides whether to go all in on scholarship applications. 

 

[iamonlyone]

I think I would go—especially since you said you all could use a change of scenery. I think walking around and seeing the size of the school is a good idea. Sometimes it helps to see if a student can picture herself on a campus. It sounds like it could be a fun adventure.

[Lanny]

I am trying to picture you going to  UNC where my DD is and doing this now. My DD is "SIP" (Sheltering in Place) there in her dorm. I believe they now have approximately 13% of the normal dorm  occupancy, because all Undergraduate courses went Online, after the COVID-19 debacle in August and the majority of students went home.

You seem to understand the limitations. You and your DD probably wouldn't be able to just walk into an office and ask questions, since they are taking precautions to avoid COVID-19.  I don't believe there are any Guided Tours of the campus at this time, but you could walk around and explore. You would probably not be able to get into any of the libraries, although 2 of them are open, with restrictions.

IMO it would be a matter of you and your DD seeing the buildings, as you mentioned and possibly running into a few students as they walk around the campus. And, you could see the town and especially the neighborhood where the school is located.

If it is a "college town" like Chapel Hill, it will probably be pretty empty, because almost all of the Undergraduate students have gone home.   If a school is in a very large city, IMO it would be very nice to have the opportunity to explore the surrounding neighborhood.

Good luck to your DD!

[teachermom2834]

While it might not be super useful, it sounds like you want to take a trip and it might just be a nice getaway you can do safely. If the trip feels safe and isn't a burden and you know going in you are only getting a glimpse of the total picture, I would go for it. 

[Farrar]

I think it's slightly useful. You get the virtual tour, the contact with admissions, the student panels, etc. etc. - all the things that admissions is doing now to try and sell themselves without traditional visits - but they're not really the same as walking around campus. If you were feeling pressed and it was super far away and you felt like it was going to be too expensive or risky, then I'd say don't. But it sounds like you'd like to go. So I definitely think it will be slightly useful. I know a family who did a bunch of college visits over the summer, all to deserted campuses within a two hour drive. They felt it was very useful.

[Guest]

I think we'll try it. Usually we have at least a weekend away almost every month, plus a few longer trips a year, because of conferences, cheer (when DD was doing travel) and having relatives scattered across the country. I think we are all struggling a bit with the "always at home" and a city that is pretty much just the university when the university is mostly remote feels like a reasonably safe option. (One of the others is right by a state park, and the area looks to be very crowded that week, presumably by people thinking a state park is a good place to have a covid-safe vacation, so we'll try to visit there later). 

[klmama]

It's good to see the actual distance between dorms and classrooms, as well as the landscape.  If traveling north, be sure to ask the guide or other students about winter on campus.  How well do they clear the ice on that huge hill?   How cold is the wind coming off the lake?  Obviously, those are less important than the program, but the physical environment affects students and should at least be considered.

[BusyMom5]

I think you need to make the most of what you can do right now.  We are going on one Monday.  It isn't the tour we would have liked, she can't sit in on a class, see inside the dorms or even the food places.  We know the campus isn't near as crowded as normal, but at this point it's our best option.  The purpose of this visit is to see how the drive to and from home would be, how walkable and drivable the area is, imagine living in a dorm and walking to the classes in various weather.   Imagining living in the area and working, shopping, ect.

[Nicholas_mom]

OP- We have the same problem, we can visit the campus but only outside.  We are doing it anyway.  If he gets accepted, hopefully Spring will be different, he can get more access.  He will meet with faculty and admissions through Zoom.  After visiting other colleges last year, he is confident that this is all he needs for this one particular school we could not visit.  But we will see.  We are definitely doing it NOW, because in  a month, the campus could shut down again.  You never know!

[regentrude]

Depends on the college. I am giving in-person department tours for prospective students; the only thing that is different is that we distance and wear masks, but everything else is the same. 
It will also depend on the individual faculty your DD wants to speak with, whether they are comfortable meeting in person or only do Zoom meetings. Ask.

[plansrme]

My son (C/O '22) has done three in-person visits to mostly-empty campuses. They have been helpful, but I am worried that they've led to wrong conclusions about at least two of the three. One campus of a great fit on paper (UAH) was deserted on a Saturday; it looked unkempt; he just thought the campus was ugly. I didn't go, so I don't know--maybe it IS ugly, but it at least suffered from not having a tour guide to hype it up. It is now probably off of the table for him just because of that negative impression.  On the other hand, he loved another school that, on paper, is NOT a good fit. His stats, which are solid but not off-the-charts, are way tippy-top for this school. He visited only because it was near School #3. He thought the campus was beautiful; the baseball field was quirky but very nicely kept. It was just the opposite of UAH, essentially the pretty girl with the bad personality. The third school, a potential good fit, is still a contender, but he was rather "meh" about it; it needed someone to sell it. So we had a range of results, and it was frustrating. He followed up afterwards with coaches from two of the schools, and they both said, "If you'd told us you were coming, we could have met with you." We didn't because it was Labor Day weekend, and the trip was very last-minute, but if we do another trip, we will reach out ahead of time to give them a chance to sell their school. We did reach out to admissions at Schools 2 and 3 ahead of time, and they were very helpful with information about whether the campus was even open to visitors, and where to go and what the protocols were, but they didn't (and probably couldn't) offer a live person. 

[RootAnn]

Ugh! @plansrme There are 4-6 Hive kids @ UAH now who could have met with him or set him up with someone in his major. (I couldn't promise a sports person.) No idea what the campus looks like right now but I get that it probably looks empty. (Most campuses are very sparse right now people-wise.)

I wish him luck finding a good fit.

[Guest]

One thing that I suspect will be lacking now in any college visit is that my DD definitely uses what clubs/groups are advertising and what they are advertising to get an idea about where she would fit on campus. So, for her, the number of gaming, particularly table and role playing gaming, as well as things like "meet Weds for Theology and Popcorn" at the Episcopal student center, helped make UAH appealing. So, honestly, did some of the same sorts of things that the CC had posted when she first started DE there. The focus on parties (and the "no open containers in dorm common rooms) in Sewanee's signage turned her off. 

 

I am guessing that this is going to be completely absent now. I know DD's CC specifically disallows student orgs to meet even off campus this semester. 

 

Similarly, she also kind of judges the character of a department based on the office decor-biology departments with doors covered in Far Side cartoons and with posters and article prints on bulletin boards from conferences has a lot more appeal to her than a sterile building, however fancy. Stuffed representatives of a given lab (her mentor has a collection of stuffed lizards, salamanders, and a large snake in her professional office...plus usually a live animal or two), or art appeals (UNR's ag and organismal bio building has many labs where the study species is painted around the door. In comparison, their bio and biochem building is sterile in comparison). 

 

It may be really hard to get an idea of the character of a school right now. 

Edited September 14, 2020 by dmmetler

[Nicholas_mom]

Quote

Similarly, she also kind of judges the character of a department based on the office decor-biology departments with doors covered in Far Side cartoons and with posters and article prints on bulletin boards from conferences has a lot more appeal to her than a sterile building, however fancy. Stuffed representatives of a given lab (her mentor has a collection of stuffed lizards, salamanders, and a large snake in her professional office...plus usually a live animal or two), or art appeals (UNR's ag and organismal bio building has many labs where the study species is painted around the door. In comparison, their bio and biochem building is sterile in comparison). 

 

It may be really hard to get an idea of the character of a school right now. 

Yep!  Same here!  Office decor is so telling and the bulletin boards full of activities listed of unusual clubs is also telling if you have an area of same interests.

[BusyMom5]

Updating after a visit yesterday- it was very helpful!  Much more than I had thought!  We ended up with a tour guide who has a similar degree as DD is interested in and has had a semester abroad.  She answered all of our questions!  Seeing the campus, walking from dorms to classroom buildings, seeing where she would be driving,  parking, eating (cant go inside,  but you could see a bit) all really helped.  I scheduled another one for next Monday!  Hoping she can see as much at this next school.  Both are state universities,  smaller, but she likes smaller.  I will say that they told us to double or triple the amount of kids on campus.   Lots of online classes and kids aren't studying in the regular places like library,  lounging areas, ect bc they are required to mask.  Instead they are in their rooms or at home,  or off campus.  

[Bootsie]

If you are gong to visit a school, I would be careful about making comparisons of a school visited pre-covid with a school being visited this year.  I teach at a school where students tend to be very social; It would be common to see students in a team breakout room working on a problem together, or other similar activities.  There is usually a lot of energy and chatter. But, if you visited right now, you would  not know that.  The campus feels like it would on a holiday weekend; I can go to my office and not see or talk to another human the entire time.    

[SanDiegoMom]

Campuses all look so barren and unkempt right now:(.  We moved my daughter into her apartment for her last year at UCLA... which is such a beautiful campus... but there was trash overflowing the garbage cans, the fountains were off, Westwood itself is looking so forlorn and empty and trash covered.  Ugh.  

Plus the differences "vibrancy" of the quad won't be felt.  We visited a lot of campuses and one school that looked perfect on paper just felt "dead".  It was a very large campus but the student population was small and it just felt desolate. Plus it would get cold in the winter so it would feel even more deserted.  UCLA is the opposite -- 30,000 students crammed into 430 acres! But right now it feels barren and empty too, even though sometimes it's even hard to walk in places because it's so crowded! 

[regentrude]

I just gave a tour today. Other than the building being eerily quiet, I did the normal thing, talked about our department, and visited three labs, one with a special tour by one of our postdocs. Of course masks, face shield, no hand shake. But the prospective student seemed engaged and excited.

[easypeasy]

On 9/14/2020 at 5:25 PM, dmmetler said:

One thing that I suspect will be lacking now in any college visit is that my DD definitely uses what clubs/groups are advertising and what they are advertising to get an idea about where she would fit on campus. So, for her, the number of gaming, particularly table and role playing gaming, as well as things like "meet Weds for Theology and Popcorn" at the Episcopal student center, helped make UAH appealing.

This is something that was sorely lacking when DD started her freshman year. Welcome Week usually has gobs of clubs out recruiting kids and advertising stuff. It was just crickets... She's tried connecting with some clubs she had looked up with interest, but none of them are doing a gosh darn thing. I think everyone is even "zoomed" out right now. 😕 Clubs are such a huge, fun part of the college experience!

On 9/15/2020 at 2:37 PM, BusyMom5 said:

Updating after a visit yesterday- it was very helpful!  Much more than I had thought!  We ended up with a tour guide who has a similar degree as DD is interested in and has had a semester abroad.  She answered all of our questions!  Seeing the campus, walking from dorms to classroom buildings, seeing where she would be driving,  parking, eating (cant go inside,  but you could see a bit) all really helped.  I scheduled another one for next Monday!  Hoping she can see as much at this next school.  Both are state universities,  smaller, but she likes smaller.  I will say that they told us to double or triple the amount of kids on campus.   Lots of online classes and kids aren't studying in the regular places like library,  lounging areas, ect bc they are required to mask.  Instead they are in their rooms or at home,  or off campus.  

This is encouraging!!! DS really wants to tackle some and I have been digging in my heels. But, it sounds like it's possible to have a worthwhile visit after all!

On 9/15/2020 at 10:39 PM, Bootsie said:

If you are gong to visit a school, I would be careful about making comparisons of a school visited pre-covid with a school being visited this year.  I teach at a school where students tend to be very social; It would be common to see students in a team breakout room working on a problem together, or other similar activities.  There is usually a lot of energy and chatter. But, if you visited right now, you would  not know that.  The campus feels like it would on a holiday weekend; I can go to my office and not see or talk to another human the entire time.    

When we dropped DD off, we arrived for her move-in day and expected to see lots of people also moving in (it was staggered, but there are a ton of dorms, so we expected to see SOMEONE on campus! lol). It was creepy. Our whole family walked around the ENTIRE campus perimeter and through the middle and the only person we saw was a security guard. It was the oddest feeling. Older DD (who had just graduated college from a smaller campus) said it was the creepiest thing she'd seen since she started college. lol On our last day there, we finally started seeing people walking around campus and it was an enormous relief!

But now, dd2 says she runs into the same few people on her way here or there - but everyone else seems to be holed up in their dorm rooms or something. Sometimes she has had an entire floor of the huge student study building entirely to herself. It's surreal.

[MamaSprout]

On 9/14/2020 at 5:18 PM, RootAnn said:

Ugh! @plansrme There are 4-6 Hive kids @ UAH now who could have met with him or set him up with someone in his major. (I couldn't promise a sports person.) No idea what the campus looks like right now but I get that it probably looks empty. (Most campuses are very sparse right now people-wise.)

I wish him luck finding a good fit.

Good idea! We are very tentatively planning to schedule a visit to UAH in early January. We may put out a call for Hive kids then.

The uni I work at is open and giving tours. No group tours, just one family with one guide. All masks and social distancing.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, MamaSprout said:

Good idea! We are very tentatively planning to schedule a visit to UAH in early January. We may put out a call for Hive kids then.

The uni I work at is open and giving tours. No group tours, just one family with one guide. All masks and social distancing.

 

We're doing a local tour next week. One family,one tour guide, we are not allowed to visit other buildings or wander campus. The school is one DD only added to her list in case she needs a local option. 

 

We booked the house and will try to set up tours, etc. It should be a nice change to distance somewhere else 🙂

[katilac]

I think it's just going to depend on the school to a large extent. 

dd2's school is back to giving in-person tours (limited size, masks and distancing, prospective students can only have one guest). They have a mix of online, hybrid, and in-person classes - I think the in-person component is optional for most classes, you can just do the online videos if you prefer. The library is open, they're tutoring in person. I'd be surprised if an interested student wasn't able to set up a meeting with a particular department. 

I'd go anywhere in a day's drive to see a campus on the short list, even with covid restrictions. My kids really needed to see the campus in person. Some schools that were very promising on paper didn't make the cut in person, for example because they really didn't like the feel of certain campuses that were more like a scattering of office buildings in the city, but were fine with ones that were in the city but with a discrete campus (and mom also preferred that for safety reasons). Other kids don't care that much about the setting. 

Her campus is quieter but definitely not deserted. You would still be able to see that it's very diverse and walkable, and that you really are a three minute walk from a beautiful lakefront.  

We would probably choose to do any visits that weren't cost-prohibitive. 

[katilac]

On 9/15/2020 at 10:39 PM, Bootsie said:

If you are gong to visit a school, I would be careful about making comparisons of a school visited pre-covid with a school being visited this year.  I teach at a school where students tend to be very social; It would be common to see students in a team breakout room working on a problem together, or other similar activities.  There is usually a lot of energy and chatter. But, if you visited right now, you would  not know that.  The campus feels like it would on a holiday weekend; I can go to my office and not see or talk to another human the entire time.    

While not perfect, niche.com might be particularly helpful right now to get a feel for the personality and vibe of a campus.