<p>We also put together a list of the key items that D was most interested in for college…Are the science buildings old, run-down and inconveniently located or new, obviously funded, and in her case, right down the road from her dorm? It can be anything from what kind of food options on campus, what do the dorm rooms look like, etc. and focused on those and used them to compare when it came down to that. After a while, the information sessions all really do begin to sound alike. It was the campus tours and especially the wandering around campus on our own that really helped her see if she could really imagine herself there. As others on cc have put it, “Is this my tribe?” kind of feelings.</p>
<p>Wow - What excellent suggestions! I really appreciate everyone’s feedback and as a result have planned two full days of down time in NY with relatives. Will also try to abide by the one-school-a-day suggestion. We’ve already visited Michigan (with its unforgettable monster squirrels), but had the luxury of a whole weekend there. A common theme here seems to be that the girls were more enthusiastic about the intensive visits more than the boys, but I agree that it will be better if we can see as much as possible during spring break. Just went on the Southwest website and miraculously they go to most of the places we’re visiting.</p>
<p>Puzzled88, I just had a chance to check out the squirrel rankings and I can’t thank you enough. You have provided us with the perfect theme for our trip. I must say that I don’t agree with all the ratings on the chart. The squirrel reviewers seemed to have beem guilty of grade inflation when they ranked UCLA’s squirrels. We live close by and there is really nothing noteworthy about them.</p>
<p>I’m going to be doing a college tour with my son over spring break, and here’s my problem: my wife thinks we should all go, including my 13-year-old daughter. The trip will include a visit to our alma mater, which is why my wife wants to go. At the other schools, she says that she and my daughter will go do “other stuff” and not go on the tours. My gut instinct is not to do this–that she and my daughter should go someplace else together. Any thoughts or experiences?</p>
<p>When we were college shopping for my son I took his older sister (then in college) and younger brother (11) with us for one college visit. We all had a great time. My older son and I did the college talk and tour while the other two walked around town. Later, I picked them up and we all had dinner together and then watched a play on campus. Three years later, my youngest son says that’s the college he’s going to attend!</p>
<p>As long as the whole family doesn’t do each campus tour en masse, I think it will work out fine.</p>
<p>I think it should be up to the visiting child. We took our younger sibling when looking for D. She enjoyed wandering around with him without the rents. And since he is a lowly younger brother, he didn’t any influence on her, so that was fine.</p>
<p>When it was little S’s turn we didn’t take her at first because she is so influential we wanted S to get his sea legs himself.</p>
<p>One thing we did when both were present was to send sibling with parent to gift store to come back with little remembrance of the school. Since neither kid wanted to wear items from school they would not be attending, this would usually be a magnet.</p>
<p>Sibling gives a back seat buddy, a parentless world where college will NOT be discussed.</p>
<p>Hunt, that’s a tough one. Our kids are 5 years apart as well, and we didn’t take our younger D on any college trips with her older brother; DH and I took turns taking him on college visits. However, she did INSIST on coming along when we moved S into his freshman dorm.</p>
<p>I think that part of our decision was because, even when D was 13, we knew she would be looking at totally different kinds of schools than her brother–and we were right–so her visits to “his” schools were not going to have any ultimate benefit for her.</p>
<p>I think it depends on your family dynamics and how patient your younger child is.</p>
<p>Update! We didn’t take my daughter along on those college visits back in 2007–instead, she and my wife went on a nice vacation. So now it’s time for my daughter to visit colleges–and I’m taking her, while my son and my wife are going on a nice vacation. How did that happen?</p>
<p>Hunt - Too funny! Thanks for the smile.</p>
<p>But you get to spend alone time with your D - so everyone wins, right?</p>
<p>When D1 was looking at colleges we put together a series of short trips built into 3-day weekends and winter and spring breaks. No trip lasted more than 3 days and we never did more than 2 colleges in a day. We have been taking a similar approach with D2, who will be going to college in Fall 2012. This worked for us because in both cases we are looking within a day’s drive of home. That’s not going to work particularly well for those of you travelling to the Northeast from California or flying from Asia to the west coast.</p>
<p>I did 5 colleges in 5 days, twice, once with son #1, once with daughter. One collge per day. There definitely was some blurring, but I think it’s unavoidable, I don’t know how else you cover the ground. The week with my daughter was one of the best weeks I have had in a long time. Hours driving, her playing all variety of “her” music for me (I had never heard of ska), explaining the music and it’s background to me, her telling me all sorts of things about her dreams, her ideas. I could have driven forever and been happy.</p>