<p>
</p>
<p>Completely disagree. We visited Brown, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton on one trip, and Cornell when we happened to be in the area. S decided NOT to apply to three of them on the basis of his visit.</p>
<p>Why not? Sometimes you realize that the school you got into is actually nicer, etc than the lottery schools.</p>
<p>Ogno,
Last yr, DD and I did a weekend pton tour. There is a sign in sheet when you get there. Dd did not apply, but if u plan on applying and need to show demonstrated interest (based on CDS), then I’d call or email to be sure that your sign in on the sign in sheet made it somewhere.</p>
<p>Marian,
I love to browse houses that I can’t afford. It’s fun to see all the cool things in them!!</p>
<p>I agree with the posters that said that think of it as figuring out what “type” of college that may appeal to ur kid: suburban, rural, urban, private, public, large, med, small, LAC, research uni, etc. If there are other suburban, 5000 Ug student, private schools nearby, then u can visit that one instead.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s a lovely town. If it was a short detour it would be a great place to stop for lunch and wander around the campus for an hour.</p>
<p>Even if some newbie parents may not be as aware of what it may take to get into a school like Princeton, most kids, through rumors at school, are aware how many top students are rejected each year. I woukdn’t be surprised if OP’s daughter is trying to manage her parent’s expectations.</p>
<p>Most schools have Naviance (especially NE schools) for students to see what their chances are getting into various colleges. I would start there first. Come up with a handful of schools your kid may be interested in, based on location, possible major, size…then figure out where your kid stands. It maybe a conversation of, “You have great test scores, but your GPA is a bit low, if you were to have few more As then these schools could become possibilities.” or vice versa. Visiting schools your kid couldn’t have a seat at the table is too much pressure, and would discourage him/her from participating.</p>
<p>I agree that finding a safety school your child really likes is the most important agenda item, I really don’t think a low key visit to a lottery school is out of the question. I do think it’s important to make it clear that you aren’t pushing unreasonable dreams upon your child, but you can say that you want to go to Princeton because it’s representative of a certain type of school (suburban/small town, midsize research university, eating clubs vs other dorm/eating arrangements whatever.) There’s always a small chance that it will light a fire under a kid with somewhat slackerish tendencies.</p>
<p>My younger son got dragged on a college tour trip with his older brother - they have very little in common - older brother is a computer science nerd, younger son is a people person. Interestingly they both loved Caltech and I know younger son looked for things he liked about Caltech in campuses that offered something besides science.</p>
<p>It really depends on why you’re on a campus.</p>
<p>One doesn’t only visit a college in order to assess its charms as a potential place to matriculate. There are lots of other reasons to be there: concert, meeting, museum, sports, etc…</p>
<p>Why not enjoy the campus and its surroundings without the added agenda of a college tour.</p>
<p>With that in mind, on a drive between Philadelphia and NYC, bored with the turnpike, we took back roads and stopped in Princeton for a respite. Thoroughly enjoyed a fantastic local ice cream place. Years later after a lackluster admissions tour of the campus the highlight was returning to that ice cream place.</p>
<p>I, and I’m sure others, can provide examples for other college towns.</p>
<p>@Yohoho, thanks for the feedback. That is a good idea that I didn’t think of!</p>
<p>@Tuppence, we also did a roadtrip in that area and also stumbled upon Princeton but kids were still in grade school and didn’t know that that was the Princeton. Kids just paid more attention to the black squirrels and chasing after pigeons at that time. Campus was oh-so quiet during the summer though, so we thought “nah” this couldn’t be the college campus. We also enjoyed a cone at the local ice cream shop. To this day we refer to Princeton as the black squirrel campus.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore and I already know that the guidance counselor will tell her to apply to a few Ivy League type schools. They do not give merit aid and we don’t qualify for any FA. I just can’t afford to spend $50,000 on one of these schools in the event that she happens to get in. We already looked at Cornell and she fell in love. We won’t be looking at any of these lottery schools because it would just be a tease - these schools are a financial reach as well. We will be sticking to our in state schools which are very affordable, and any OOS that gives merit. I would love to take her to Princeton but since I can’t afford it, I don’t see the point.</p>
<p>I took my daughter to see Cornell even though it is an ultra-reach when we were in the area. I made it clear that she was not likely to get in there, but that it’s an interesting campus and was worth seeing. She didn’t say no, but she expressed absolutely zero enthusiasm. She really enjoyed the tour, including (well, maybe not) the usual ridiculously long info session with 30 parents and kids asking questions that basically boiled down to “will I be accepted and will you give me a lot of money?” We had a terrific tour guide and a nice group. She could really see the difference between Cornell and the school we had seen the day before, a premier state u. but not an Ivy.</p>
<p>Even though we both know she’s not likely to get in, I think it was time and gasoline well spent.</p>
<p>OP, I would be very casual about it if/when I brought it up with my kid, just mention that you’ll be in the area, that you are curious about the campus–take the red-hot coal of disagreement away from her, would she indulge you with a little look-see?</p>
<p>Two girls,
Very good point. pton COA is around $57k per year.</p>
<p>Hoping the OP will update us on her decision today.</p>
<p>Thank you YoHo I think it’s a good point as well. There is no use applying to a 57,000 a year school when I do not qualify for FA and the school does not give merit. We were looking at a few schools in Boston recently and we decided to take a walk over to see Harvard just for fun. We also happen to see a few MIT vehicles driving around. I was THRILLED to hear my daughter say that she was not impressed with Harvard (LOL) and did not want to apply there or to MIT. That works for me!!</p>
<p>You all do know that Harvard, Yale and Princeton give aid for families at a level that most colleges don’t, right? From Harvard:
[Harvard</a> College Admissions § Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/index.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/index.html)</p>
<p>How do we know what the exact upper limit is? I still doubt that we qualify but it certainly is worth asking. What happens to families who go to these pricey schools based on financial aid, only to find out that the following year they no longer qualify because their salary went up a bit?</p>
<p>When we were at pton, the FA graph showed that pton was still giving FA awards with income of $250k per year. It was on a handout that we pickup up with the tour.</p>
<p>Really- 250 a year? How much was given at that salary?</p>
<p>OP here; thanks to everyone for all of the ideas and input. We didn’t go on the tour but did some other activities in the area (a trail ride at a horse farm, a Revolutionary War reenactment of the Battle of Princeton) and then drove around the campus, found parking, got food at Olives Deli/Bakery and walked onto campus, found a bench in front of a building and had a little picnic while watching students doing a juggling workshop. </p>
<p>It’s hard to tell what D thought but I don’t think she felt too pressured, overwhelmed or turned off. When we got home we talked about the “lottery” aspect of HYP applications and that a lot of students with perfect records and scores don’t get in. She said that she knows her grades aren’t perfect, but she thinks her strengths are her high test scores and her essay writing skills (which I hadn’t thought of; she’s had a strong writing interest since early childhood) I think she’s aware that HYP would be a real reach for her especially if she doesn’t put the work into getting her grades up </p>
<p>About COA, I thought we were solidly in the donut hole but last year I heard about Harvard and Princeton’s aid levels and ran the numbers on the calculator on the Princeton website. And our COA wouldn’t be the full 57k; we could expect a financial aid package to cover around 40% of that.
Here’s a link to their chart, which has 100% of families with incomes of up to 180K qualifying for financial aid, and families with incomes of over 200K qualifying with 2 children in college:
[Who</a> Qualifies for Aid?<em>-</em>Princeton University | Who Qualifies for Aid?](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/how_it_works/who_qualifies/]Who”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/how_it_works/who_qualifies/)</p>
<p>I’d heard that Yale was not as generous as Harvard/Princeton but their website says that 99% of families earning 150-200k qualify for aid; the average grant for families in that bracket is $26,500. For the 100-150k bracket it’s $38,000. Here’s the link to their chart
[Financial</a> Aid for Prospective Students In-Depth | Yale College Admissions](<a href=“Affordability: The Details | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions”>Affordability: The Details | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<p>I can’t find a comparably detailed chart for Harvard but this page says that 240 families with incomes of 180-200k received financial aid:
<a href=“http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k51861&pageid=icb.page246751[/url]”>http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k51861&pageid=icb.page246751</a></p>
<p>twogirls–not that she has to apply to an Ivy or even want to go, but a lot of the higher cost schools have more generous FA. It’s worth running the NPC to see what you would get. Typically at the Ivy’s it’s about 10% of your AGI and goes up from there. The other bonus is several convert loan aid into grants so kids also graduate with little to no debt. For many people, the Ivy’s actually are a financial “safety” if they can get in. Don’t discount any college because of cost until you investigate how they do their FA. We are a full pay family, however, at some of the more expensive schools we looked at the kids actually got some FA. One school, according to the NPC anyway, started at $58K but their net to us was $20K. Other schools started at $40K with a net of $34,500 (meaning all they got was loans).</p>
<p>This is very interesting information- thank you! Does anybody know how generous Cornell is with their FA? As a NYS resident we already qualify for the tuition discount.</p>