Son applied to 15 colleges and is now getting offers. He “cast a broad net” because FA offer would be crucial. We did not have the time or money to visit more than 2. At the time I said “lets see who accepts you and then you can visit and choose” and he filled in with virtual website visits and reading student blogs, etc. Now that my promise is threatening to be a reality, I realize that I don’t have the faintest idea of how to help him visit these admitted campuses. (other child just went to adjacent BSU and that was great). I have read a couple student posts on this subject, but I am coming to the adults to say:
What should I help him ask for (besides admitted days is there anything else he could reach out for, he wants to visit classes or sit in on vocal rehearsals, see a dorm) - maybe none of this matters - what do you think?
He has Presidential scholarships to these schools, can this be an opportunity to a “customized” sort of day tour so he can visit classes, etc?
I’m sorry if these are obvious questions - late to work and have limited time/experience to help him. If there’s a link you know, please post.
Thanks again! You guys have been crucial help this year!!!
Most schools will offer an admitted student an opportunity to stay overnight – they get to hang out in the dorm with current students, go to classes, sit down with admissions folks – and I’d say that’s the best way to really get a feel for a campus. Of course I doubt you have the time/money to do that with 15 schools, so I’d recommend helping him whittle down the options before you even pursue that. I’d encourage him to connect with current students (either ask the school to do an email intro to a student ambassador, or through his own channels either here on CC or elsewhere), first, to figure out where he really wants to visit, then go from there. Congratulations to him and good luck!
Many colleges will let your son visit whenever he likes. Just call and ask. He can have a customized day and sit in on classes, meet students, eat lunch with them, attend a club maybe, and stay overnight if it’s Friday-Sunday, depending in the college. My D did three final visits. One was customized, as I just described, but no overnight. She really enjoyed it. Another was accepted students day, did not find it super useful. She did a fly-out for accepted students at another college, spent a day and half, stayed in a dorm overnight, and enjoyed that one too. Bottom line, aim for the most immersive experience that allows real student interaction. In my D’s case, the regular accepted students’ day didn’t really achieve that.
Keep the final choices down to two or three, certainly not more than four. It’s very time-consuming fitting visits in, especially in April if he only gets decisions in late March.
Look on the school websites and/or contact admissions to find out when admitted student days are. We got lucky in that twice, 2 schools had them on adjacent days. Also check out when “make your own day” events are available. While it can be overwhelming to visit a few at a time, it can also help in comparing them.
DS found accepted days helpful because he could connect with all resources at one time. Others felt like these days weren’t enough like a “real” day, but our experience was that these are very dependent on the person you’re shadowing, class you attend, etc. You sort of have to pick your poison on this one. But if you go make your own, make sure you can see whatever is important to you.
I’d definitely whittle the list a bit, although since you havent visited, I might think about top 6-8 is you can swing it.
I personally would have him narrow down the list before he visits. Surely he can narrow it down to 3-4 schools to visit in person. Also he could start with say a big State school and see how he likest that and also a smaller school. If he hates big schools that will narrow down the rest of the list. You could also do this with urban/rural etc.
I agree with attending the accepted students days…they will be set up for him to see a lot of different things at once.
This is how it worked for us. Abbreviated version of the saga, of course.
We were looking for big merit aid. D applied to 7 schools. She had visited three of them, the ones closest to home, before decisions came in.
She had her own ranking 1-7 based on whatever her criteria was at the time.
I had my own ranking, 1-7 based on affordability. Note: my spreadsheet had the FOUR YEAR cost. It’s “only $20K” (for one year) is a lot different than it’s $83K (for four years, add in some inflation!).
When decisions and merit and FA and one competitive scholarship answer came in, I vetoed some schools on her list, based on cost. Of the remaining affordable options, she was feeling negative towards two of them, and that left one option that was “the least offensive” for her.
She went to an admitted student event in the spring where she met other kids who were receiving big merit aid. The students had the opportunity to meet with an advisor and register, without committing.
We could have dragged her to two more schools, but she herself was not thrilled about them any more by the time spring rolled around. I didn’t push it because it would have been expensive to get to one or both of these schools, and they were not the most affordable options on the list.
I found making a spreadsheet was helpful. Anything worthwhile in life is worth making a spreadsheet for!
You can add requirements for scholarships, and things like that too.
I’d advise both of you to do further research to narrow down the list. Most schools have an app or social media site that is only for accepted students. My D has found those useful. Search for the university on youtube and watch both official and unofficial videos about the schools or made by students. Look further into the towns/cities and see if that sways him one way or another. Pay attention to the logistics of getting to each school by seeing how close they are to an airport and how expensive it will be to fly.
My oldest D didn’t do any admitted student days, but she did a few overnights which were very helpful. If the school doesn’t offer overnights and you can’t get to admitted student days, definitely have him request to attend a class and sit in on a vocal rehearsal. Some students also request a meeting with a professor in the department they’re applying to. Congrats to him on so many admittances, even if it’s a bit overwhelming now!
My recommendation is if you go with an individualized visit, start by contacting the department that he wishes to major in. We’ve done this twice, and both times someone has provided us with a recommendation for a class to sit in, a contact for a student to eat lunch with, and was willing to set up time to talk about the program. If you’re pressed for time you can divide and conquer. I’ve gone on campus tours and to information sessions while D did something else like sit in on a class or interview with ad admissions counselor (in the fall).
We were in a similar position in that we are on the west coast and my son applied to lots of schools, mainly on the east coast, so we didn’t visit ahead of time. Once the acceptances were in, there were 2-3 top choices, and we ended up visiting just his top two. The first one we visited before the admitted students day, but were able to set up for him ahead of time a student to show him around all day and take him to a class and to eat, and we also did the normal campus and admissions tours. Then the second school we were able to attend admitted students day, and that was fantastic. My son ended up at the school where we attended the day set up for admitted students, and I have always wondered since then if we did the first school a disservice by not attending their program designed to entice you to attend there! But you can’t be two places at one time, so you arrange things the best you can!
I would agree with narrowing down the colleges before visiting. Then only visit the top few or the ones that he is seriously considering. Admitted students day, overnight stays, shadowing students, or sitting in on classes/contacting departments he is interested in may be a good start. Try to have him write down what he really wants to remember and encourage him to talk to students. I found that this was a big deciding factor: the people that go to the school because they can provide an outlook that simply a tour or admissions cannot
Just finished a tour at an accepted college that was super helpful. We happened to visit right as break was ending so there were not scheduled tours, but our admissions contact got us a student tour and wow. Having a one in one tour was great. We got the usual highlights and info but also got to ask personal individualized questions. We also met with an admissions counselor who gave us more “why you should choose us” on a big scale and could provide co,parisons to mother schools. Finally they also set up a meeting with the dept Chair of DDs major and that was fantastic too, we got an overview, great info on the culture and philosophy and internships and career prospects, and a dept tour. It was a fantastic experience and DD definitely got the info should needs to make a decision. No harm in asking for what you want in terms of tours and meetings. If he’s accepted, they will want to accommodate in would think!
