<p>We live around 2 hours away from Princeton and aren't often in that area. But on Sunday we need to take a family member who's visiting from out of town to Newark airport, around 50 minutes away from Princeton. I was wondering whether it's worth it to drive the extra distance and do a Sunday afternoon campus tour since we'll be in the area anyway. But when I mentioned it to D (a 10th grader) she said she doesn't think it's worth it since she doesn't have any chance of getting into Princeton.</p>
<p>WWYD? I wouldn't say that D has no chance at all of getting into Princeton. I know their acceptance rate and I know they have superstar students, but I've also heard that not all their students have perfect records either. She's not a stellar student but does excellently on standardized tests (might make it to NMSF), is going through a bit of sophomore slump but has good grades and very good ECs too. I don't know how well she would do in such a high pressure atmosphere but I thought it might be interesting just to look. However, is it not worth it especially if D would need to be talked into it?</p>
<p>It’s really hard to know without knowing her grades or standardized tests, which I don’t blame you for not giving. I have read, however, in multiple books and magazines that visiting schools and expressing interest in their university will often help a bubble student. If your daughter becomes a bubble student, that extra bit of effort to present an interest in a school may be the extra bit that gets her in. Though, if you want her to visit as a Sophomore I don’t know if she’ll get as much out of it as she would as a second semester junior or first semester senior. Just a thought.</p>
<p>Rather unusually for a super-selective school, Princeton does consider “level of applicant’s interest”, according to its common data set, section C7.</p>
<p>In general, take a look at whether “level of applicant’s interest” is used by a given school before trying to figure out how to “show interest” at that school.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t bother. Sounds like you’re close enough that you could visit next year when she might be more receptive and you’d both have a better idea about what is realistic.</p>
<p>^I agree, if it’s only 2 hours away, you can get there easily enough when you get a little further along. And try to incorporate an information session along with the tour.</p>
<p>It’s kind of like going inside one of those really expensive stores just to browse; it’s fun to just see what it is like. I don’t think that Princeton does the info session on sunday though, just the tour. That could be “bad” because mom might want the info that the info session provides, or that could be “good” because the experience is shorter for the kid. On college visits, DD didn’t like the info sessions, only the tours; whereas I liked both.</p>
<p>I guess I would go visit campus. I’m pretty positive you would not get a formal tour on a Sunday for a sophomore in high school. Drive to campus and just wander around on your own, not so much as “hey, this would be a good place for you to apply” but more of, this is is what a campus this size looks and feels like. That is what you want to do with your first tours for college anyway. It certainly helps the selection process if you know she wants a huge, urban campus or a small rural campus, etc.</p>
<p>I’m surprised ivy’s even bother to do tours til after your accepted. They certainly don’t even need to do it, though I’m guessing it’s all about getting a bazillion apps so they can drive their numbers down to 1%.</p>
<p>If you think she is a viable candidate, I would do the tour. This is the prefect time of year to do it - the campus and surrounding area are beautiful and weather can affect a teenagers final “take away” of a school. It would be a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon and might encourage her interest.</p>
<p>We live in the Midwest, and were going to New England on Spring Break of my DD’s freshman year. We made it a point of visiting several Ivy’s and top LAC’s. It was a great decision for her. I think she was surprised by the students she met. She came home committed to attending an elite school, and with a much better sense of what she liked and didn’t like.</p>
<p>My daughter is also a sophomore and we have already visited 8 schools this year, many of which are also quite selective. We started early because the list is very long. Although most of the students on these visits were juniors and seniors, there were quite a few sophomores and freshmen visiting as well. I really can’t think of any cons to visiting Princeton. It will give you a head start on choosing the type of campus she wants ( big- small etc) and may even rule out a school.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that I think Eyemamom makes a good point. We would definitely take that route except for the fact that some consider “demonstrated interest”. If you are applying to 3 or 4 Ivy’s, with their acceptance rates it almost seems like fool’s errand unless you are being actively recruited or have some special talent. Not sure how we are going to approach this for schools that are considerable distances from our home.</p>
<p>Harvest we have the same problem with distance. There are 1 or 2 schools that we may not visit simply because of distance. In that case she will research the schools, meet for an interview close to home, apply and see what happens. We will do our best to visit, narrow down the list, re-visit, interview, etc… But it certainly won’t be 100% perfect.</p>
<p>The con is that the student doesn’t want to go. Given that she lives only two hours away and therefore could easily visit if she eventually expresses an interest in Princeton, it seems harsh to force a visit on her now. I think it could cause a lot of unnecessary unhappiness.</p>
<p>When you’re house hunting, do you tour houses that cost much more than you can afford? I wouldn’t. It would accomplish nothing and make me unhappy. I think this is a similar situation.</p>
<p>I think the main advantage to touring highly-selective, single-digit acceptance rate colleges prior to being accepted is if the tours helps the kid decide which ones to not apply to. If the kid doesn’t like the look the of the place or otherwise gets a bad vibe, she/he can save themselves the trouble and expense of applying to such a long-shot school in the first place. </p>
<p>If the kid is already determined to put in an application, then I agree that the visit could be deferred until after there is an acceptance in hand.</p>
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<p>I do too, but that’s just for my own sake - not because anyone I know is going to apply. Heck, sometimes on business trips if I’m staying in a hotel near a college I’ll go over and tour the school and just hang out a while. Even if it is some no-name local college that no one I know has any interest in attending. But I sure wouldn’t pressure some uninterested high school kid to go with me.</p>
<p>No way would I make my kid go if they didn’t have an interest. You are talking at least 4 hours toward sight seeing.
It could close the door to open college dialogue and more manageable visits in the future. </p>
<p>Not a fun way to start this 2 year journey.</p>
Thats just it. Is can be partly a fun family outing on a Sunday afternoon (rather than just riding in the car to/from the Newark airport with less than exciting scenery and aromas) and also an opportunity for a 10th grader so simply test the waters to see if she likes a small-ish suburban campus. Our college counselors encouraged us to take our kids to see some nearby campuses in the 10th grade so the kids could get an idea if they had a preference for big, small, urban, rural, LAC, Uni, HBCU, single sex, greek vs no greek life, etc. This is an opportunity to have some family time and begin to test these waters without necessarily having to sign up for the whole tour/info session dog and pony show.</p>
<p>I went to a conference recently in a small town and took a side tour afterwards to see the nearby college campus. Beautiful!!</p>
<p>Make sure you are not adding pressure in what will be an already intense process. Ives are so selective that you can apply and then visit if accepted. The last thing you want is that she falls in love with a school, not get in and feel like a failure ( just look around CC posts titles). My son just started to show some interest for schools right before applying while others starting visiting schools during junior year.</p>
<p>The con is that the student did not think she would get into Princeton, and that is why she did not want to visit. I did not get the impression that she did not want to visit schools. Again, if she was up for getting some exercise I would use it as a chance to see a campus and have an enjoyable day. If not, no big deal.</p>