<p>Anyone have any good tips for getting in college visits and surviving the application/testing process when your kid is in a different part of the country? My son is a junior, and his school has excellent college counseling, but it still seems like it is going to be difficult. We made one visit in October (Cornell) after parents' day, and will have to do a few over spring break. I don't have unlimited vacation time, so it will all require some planning. Would love to hear from other boarding school parents. Thanks.
Karen</p>
<p>Karen,
Does the boarding school do any sort of group tours for the kids? I know several of the private schools here in So. Cal. schedule a week of tours for their kids. Usually, they are divided into west coast and east coast schools. Not the best way to visit (you're stuck with the schools they are visiting) but still efficient. I know that there are some services that do these types of trips over the summer as well - just can't think of the exact names of them.
In any case, you will certainly be having fun this year won't you?
Carolyn</p>
<p>Spring break. I gave my son a multi-city,multi college tour as his birthday gift. He flew to LA and made his way back to the east coast, visiting Santa Fe, Denver, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh en route. It was surprisingly cheap. I honed in on schools not on break that weak and most boarding schools have a directory of where their kids are still in college and he managed to stay with former students of the school most of the time though we had him stay with friends at some cities as well where we knew someone who wanted to pick him up at the airport and be his host. For other schools, we piggybacked with other kids going to the city, Boston for example. Just last week I had a carful of kids that I took to Trinity in Hartford while my son auditioned at Harrt, and then we all visited Vassar on the way back.</p>
<p>Our school does offer tours some years. With our oldest, we did a tour of schools within a 1500 mile range of our home over the summer which was somewhat helpful. With #2 we did not even bother to go anywhere.....when she gets in, we'll go visit in the spring and decide. It is much less intense, but is also a West Coast attitude, as there are simply not the volume of LACs to review in comparison to the East.</p>
<p>Summertime visits don't show the student body, but does give you a feel for the area & the campus, etc.</p>