<p>We just visited S2’s first two colleges the other day. I think time of day might make a difference as well. The first one we went to in the a.m. and it was bustling and full of life, the next one (a top 10 USWNR school) was dead. It was Friday afternoon. Add to this a DVD player they couldn’t get to work in the info session, and a tour guide who ate snacks non-stop throughout our tour, we were less than favorably impressed.</p>
<p>Great advice everyone!! My S and I are flying across country…CA–Maine, and I’m a little worried as we are taking the red-eye and he has an overnite that first night… with an interview the next morning at 8:45am… AHHH… it is a Thursday night though, as I agree with mini, so I hope he gets some sleep. I am just envisioning him at his interview with messed up hair and blood shot eyes trying to put together a cohesive sentence.</p>
<p>*The first one we went to in the a.m. and it was bustling and full of life, the next one (a top 10 USWNR school) was dead. It was Friday afternoon. *</p>
<p>We’ve had similar experiences with Friday afternoon or Saturday visits. People often think that top schools are full of activity 7 days a week, but it’s not true.</p>
<p>For first college visits, let him get a sense of what college is all about - as others have mentioned, walk around, talk with students informally (we had some good chats with students who worked at the on-campus art gallery), and soak in the ambience. That’ll help him focus on more specific elements for the next round - smaller/bigger schools, urban vs. suburban, LAC vs. university.</p>
<p>If you have the opportunity, sit in on a class in a topic of interest or meet with a rep from an appealing EC. Given that the visits are coming up, you can aim to try that in future visits. Also, enjoy a meal in the local hangout.</p>
<p>Have fun!</p>
<p>Just make sure to make you and your student make your notes as soon as you finish with the school - don’t wait until the end of the day if you’re seeing 2 campuses - things do start to run together when you’re visiting lots of campuses!!</p>
<p>Not only “enjoy” a meal on campus, but this is where the “outgoing” Mom (student eye rolls!) is an asset. Both my student and a relative I just took on some school tours were a bit shy, but grateful after it all that I would not hesitate to strike up a conversation with students around us at the campus dining spot. If you are not there lunch or dinner, then even the local on campus snack spot will do.
And definitely don’t hesitate to go back if you can. My student disliked the school at now the first time “dragged there by parents” but it became first choice when back for overnight stay.
Make sure to take up students offers to “be available” if student has questions, get the e-mail or phone number. If your student has questions later, esp if they don’t know others who go there, those students are often flattered to get questions down the road about course selection, dorm details etc.</p>
<p>By far the best part of our college visits was going off on our own after the canned info sessions. We always went into the compsci department building to get a glimpse of the lab facilities, bulletin boards and poster board displays. Almost without exception we were greeted by a faculty member. At CWR we were given a tour of the lab facilities and invited to a department picnic that afternoon. At URoch we were given a tour of the facilities and at RPI and Allegheny we were invited into a faculty office for a short discussion of the department offerings. The RPI prof also invited my son to sit in on a CompSci 2 lecture. We also spent some time in the Student Union to have lunch and observe the students gathered there.</p>
<p>The visit to the RPI Student Union was the clincher for our son. He saw many tables of students working in groups and on leaving he commented that he could see himself going to RPI which he eventually did. And yes, because the RPI engineering/compsci curriculum focuses on group projects in upper level courses our son spent many hours in the Union working on projects with other students.</p>
<p>We are probably overly-organized, but… we have a checklist of questions for each school. They range from general stuff like how is the food, are the buildings well maintained, describe internet access, how many classes are a full load, what is the school calendar, etc. to things specific to her major (research opportunities in her subject, # of majors in her area of interest, etc.). I have a couple of “mom” questions about campus security on this list, too. I generally carry a leather folder with the questions and a notepad, and take notes as we go along (and jot down any unusual info or things we see). Usually they cover 80% or so of the questions between the tour and info session (some we look up before we go, too), and we ask whatever is left near the end of the tour (or if we meet a prof or something). D1 had a few questions like where is the nearest public library. We tweak the list for each college and print it out before we tour, then stick it in a folder with all the college materials when we are done.</p>
<p>We also pretty much always have the kid attend a class and eat in the cafeteria.</p>
<p>D1 found these notes hugely helpful when she had to write her “Why <college x=”">?" essays, and I expect D2 will as well.</college></p>