<p>posterX: "Visit each for 2-3 days, including a weekend day, sit in on a half dozen or so courses in different areas, talk with a couple dozen or more students and professors."</p>
<p>Do have this permanently copied to your little computer clippy board? Lame ass.</p>
<p>^^haha :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
but I would rather be in an intellectual environment where people want to learn than go to classes with a bunch of prestige whores who are just in a school to use the prestige.
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</p>
<p>Which implies that Yale is one of those schools? I hardly think the students at Yale are there SOLELY for prestige, though it's an excellent perk. The overall student experience from Yale seems to be among the best in the nation, and always has been. The same can be said for Brown, just as it can be said that students attend Brown with prestige in mind as well. So, let's not bring that into this discussion. Perhaps if we were discussing Harvard and Brown, but I think Yale is different.</p>
<p>I agree with brand_182. The difference in prestige between Brown and Yale is miniscule. Particularly in the minds of cross-admits, as both schools bear 89% and 65% losses, respectively, to Harvard. </p>
<p>However, I would say that prestige whores, uninformed applicants, and fools brainwashed by their family, rankings, etc. crawl more towards Yale like maggots on a peice of shyt.</p>
<p>Oh My God. These threads are getting lame. Pick the school you like best. Whatever it is.</p>
<p>Renix -- what makes you think the average person possibly has the resources to visit a variety of colleges for 2-3 days?</p>
<p>^I assume you might narrow it down to a handful first, and save some of the visits until you are actually accepted to a place. But in regards to your question, I guess it depends on whether or not you feel that it's worth spending a few hundred bucks on a very important decision that will massively affect you for the rest of your life, or, at least the next 4 years. Personally, I'd say that making the right decision is worth at least a few thousand dollars, if not more. Also, college visits are not actually that expensive if you stay with students (perhaps someone who graduated from your school the year before, or someone you find by emailing the admissions office or someone else) and use cheap transportation to get around. Most top colleges will even pay for your trip if you can demonstrate that it would be a major financial hardship, and not just a question of a new Iphone versus the visit.</p>
<p>"few thousand dollars"</p>
<p>this guy cracks me up</p>
<p>and claysoul: you are apparently blind to quotation marks</p>
<p>yeah, sorry, that was supposed to be addressed to posterX. </p>
<p>yeah, first, a few hundred is totally off mark. try a few thousand, like you say later in your post. I've never heard of a school paying for trips to schools, and if they did, you would probably have to be below the poverty level poor. Most middle class people (let alone poor people) can't lay down a few thousand for college visits. Sheesh. Get a grip on reality.</p>
<p>A) they do pay for trips, if they are HYP level schools, </p>
<p>B) people can pay that if they think it is worth it. The average family spends 6-20 times that each year on their car.</p>
<p>I guess it's great for the average family. posterX you're sounding pretty out of touch with letter B.</p>
<p>the average family buys a new car every year? lmao!! keep the jokes comin!</p>
<p>let's see...few thousand dollars. </p>
<p>
[quote]
The average family spends 6-20 times that each year on their car.
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</p>
<p>So the average family spends 18 to 60 thousand dollars per year on a car? I'm upper middle class...we typically get a car every two years or so, and it's usually around 45k. So...</p>
<p>Say you get into three colleges, the college visits to the three cost 1,000 dollars. Average cost of owning a car is close to $7,000 annually after gas, taxes, car loans, leases, insurance, etc., and sometimes up to $14,000 per year if you live in a city like Detroit. Multiply that by 2 since the average family owns two cars, and you'll see where my numbers came from. It has nothing to do with buying a new car. Plus, I'm not saying it's not a sacrifice to take a week and visit your choices extensively. It obviously is, for most people in this country. But it's also one that's worth it. You can live without a cell phone for six months. A college decision will affect you for the rest of your life, so it's worth doing something like that in order to make the right choice.</p>
<p>i disagree..with the whole post.</p>
<p>Yeah...taxes on your Bently are bound to be high. </p>
<p>Where are you getting these figures? Furthermore, people need cars, to get to work and the grocery store, so these costs are required. Most parents will not agree that you need to visit a school for 2-3 days, let alone several. </p>
<p>Let's say you get into 3 schools. You live on the west coast. One school is in Rhode Island (clearly the superior choice), one is in Texas, and the other is in New York. </p>
<p>Airfair for you and your parent to Rhode Island alone would be $800. Then your mom or dad has to stay in a hotel for your 3 days at the school. $150 at absolute minimum. You rent an (economy) car to get to get from the airport to the school and around, and to drive to New York. So that's 7 days at around $40 a day, that's $280 dollars. Let's say you spend at least $100 in gas (I think that's a low estimate), and a good day driving to New York. You spend 3 days in New York, so that's another $200 in hotel bills, if not more. </p>
<p>Then you fly to Texas for $600 for the two of you. Another 3 days there and you have another $150 in hotel bills. The car you rented would cost $120. Gas, maybe $40. </p>
<p>That's $2400</p>
<p>This doesn't even begin to cover the cost of food, most of which will be eaten at restaurants, which is pricey. And the fact that your mom / dad just spent their entire vacation for the year taking you to schools. And you missed over a week of school so you could visit schools while they were in session. And that is expecting that the school will put you up for all 3 days you are visiting, which is unlikely.</p>
<p>Btw, there is nowhere in NY you can stay for less than 200 dollars a night (the city at least) and not be fearful of your life. If you went somewhere far out of the city (say, LI while you wait to fly out of JFK), it'd still be at least 100 a night.</p>
<p>There's hardly even a place you can stay anywhere for $50 a night, which I estimated. I stayed at a really sketch place outside of Chicago when I got stuck at OHare and it was $65, discounted. </p>
<p>I just wanted to keep my estimates low so they couldn't be seen as an overestimate.</p>
<p>interesting article</p>
<p>oh snap...</p>