College Visit in Northeast

<p>surfette,
Go to the financial aid calculator and have your parents run some numbers. Some of the schools on your list may turn out to be wildly unaffordable. I just don't want you to fall "in love" with a school that is unreachable money-wise.</p>

<p>My sons go to a Jesuit HS and so tons of kids end up at BC and Fairfield but I have to tell you they do not get money. Same at Skidmore - no merit money at all available there (but see if you qualify for financial aid).</p>

<p>You might want to try to identify a couple of schools on your trip that are clear safeties and where you will definitely qualify for adequate money. </p>

<p>Good luck and have a great time.</p>

<p>visiting schools can be exhausting -- two in one day very hard unless they are very close and the schools you are looking at don't seem THAT close in most cases. have you looked up the times of their tours and info sessions -- sometimes you will think there are two schools you can fit in one day and then find that their schedules make this impossible.</p>

<p>also - think about how much you want to see at each school. do you just want the official tours and info sessions? or do you want a chance to hang out in the dining hall to look at the students and possible talk to some? do you want to contact a department you may be interested in and try to speak to someone? these types of things give you a fuller view of a school, but take more time and make 2 in a day impossible. you have to weigh quantity of visits vs. quality of visits.</p>

<p>weenie has given some sound financial advice. Before running to all of these schools, find out what your parents can afford, and what kind of financial and merit aid you may get. Call the schools about your stats and see if they can give you a ballpark estimate on changes and amount of merit aid. Also, look at the collegeboard website. It will give you the breakdown of grants and loans and % of need met (these are averages, and it is not necessarily going to be your breakdown). </p>

<p>When looking at so many so schools in such a short block of time, you will begin to forget the schools. One school may blend into another in your memory. Take pictures, and take a notebook so that you can make notes to yourself immediately after visiting. This will help you later. If you confuse some things, you can refer back to your notes and pictures.</p>

<p>I think the above schedule would exhaust even the most energetic student, and I don't know about the OP's parents, but it would sure exhaust me and my DH (and we figure into the equation when it comes to trips!).</p>

<p>I know school isn't in session, but there will still be some folks around, maybe kids doing summer school, profs teaching, etc., so that there would be some other barometer than just how the school "looks". That was all I was trying to say.</p>

<p>I have heard kids say come back from visits with comments like, "I didn't like X-Y- or Z school because it looked like camp" or "I saw a kid with a piercing so didn't like XYZ college." That just seems like a silly way to pick a college, but maybe that is just MHO.</p>

<p>i think that 2 schools per day is the most one should do so the impressions of the schools all dont run together. someone else made a very good suggestion- as soon as you get back into the car, take notes- indicate what you liked and did not like about the school, any thing that stuck out for whatever reason, questions that you didnt get the chance to ask, and so on. if you really want to be anal about it (like i was), you could have a standard list of criteria that you use for each school, and 'grade' them (i.e. campus, friendliness of students, dorms, academic opportunities, food, location, etc), which may make it easier to compare among the list of schools.
just enjoy the week though! spring/early summer in new england is beautiful.</p>

<p>Allmusic, I will join you in trying to suggest a more thoughtful approach to the college visits. A few hours on a campus does not provide much information and it more likely to leave some inaccurate impressions based on a few casual observations. </p>

<p>I winced when I read the an observation that Vassar does not give interviews. So I guess that means it makes sense to do a quick tour and go on to the next campus visit. It is true that Vassar admissions does not do interviews as part of the campus visits. During our visit to Vassar, my D had meetings/interviews with 2 faculty members. She also met with someone in advising about premed programs and support for medical school admissions. A fourth faculty member gave us a tour of the music castle. Anyone one of these interactions was far more valuable than the tour or time spent hanging out. Vassar gave us very special attention because we called and emailed ahead of time and scheduled 2 "interviews." The other interactions occurred as referrals or because my D expressed interested and asked for input. </p>

<p>Maybe there is a place for quick tours just to get some idea of what colleges look like. For a serious visit, I strongly recommend a thorough visit even if that means greatly limiting the number of possible visits.</p>

<p>Vassar also doesn't offer merit aid; financial aid is need-based only.</p>

<p>Sorry for double posts, #20 and #21. Thought I was editing...</p>

<p>Might want to look at Holy Cross-1 hour west of Boston. HC is very good LAC with more financial resources than BC or Providence. Holy Cross has a 41% increase in applications this year and has nice campus.</p>

<p>If you do decide to go to the Colgate/Hamilton area, you might want to visit Hobart and William Smith. It is a match stat-wise for you and it has a very good creative writing program. It offers many merit scholarships and you can see if you qualify for any of them by checking its website.</p>

<p>You might look at Sarah Lawrence - also Kenyon and Oberlin in Ohio.</p>

<p>Thanks for all of the replies. I didn't realize that so many schools were so stingy about financial aid. I have also decided that more than 2 schools a day is impossible, and I am going to try and cut down my list a but more.</p>

<p>Make sure that you end up applying to financial safties too. Don't count on just one either. My son had a safety for admission, and I assumed there would be a lot of merit money, but he was not offered a dime. Also, they met need through loans only. Be careful about this.</p>

<p>You might check out Bard which is between Vassar and Skidmore on your trip.</p>

<p>On scheduling: we found even two schools a day barely possible to do each a semblance of justice. Columbia/Barnard (across the street) or Smith/Mount Holyoke (20 minute drive) were doable. But if you're looking to absorb more than just the prepackaged info session & tour, the two-a-day is pushing it. Though with time & money, you gotta do what you gotta do.</p>

<p>A very good point. I think it is a good idea to sit through the information sessions. Many times the kids didn't want to do that but I think comparing those gives you a good perspective on schools. It is not entirely fair comparing tour guides and info sessions to reality but the schools try very hard to put their best foot forward so it is fair to compare them against each other. Just be sure to get information from more sources before actually going to a school.</p>

<p>You might try Brandeis while in Boston. It's about 15 minutes down the road from BC if my memory serves me correctly. It's Jewish founded, which might put you off, but only about half the population is Jewish. It also gives excellent financial aid in terms of merit and need. Most people I know, including myself, got quite a bit of money. It might be a bit of a reach though.</p>

<p>SilverClover is right, Brandeis is very generous with financial aid (as long as you're not Jewish). If you are in the Vassar area you should visit Bard College only 20 minutes away. Your stats look good for Bard (though financial aid is not generous).</p>

<p>in the same area as Vassar and Marist, less than an hr north, along Hudson River is Bard college.</p>

<p>Located in Annadale -on -the-Hudson. This school has fantastic English, writing and humanities programs. It is well respected but is definately liberal and loosely structured. It is not for everyone. we visited last summer, very intrriqued but my d decided not to apply. Stats are about the same as Vassar maybe less. They are rivals w/ Bard. Interesting mix of traditional and progressive programs. Began as an all men's school for Writing and English and humanities ( Columbia University and Bard were once one school until Bard was willing to go co-ed and Columbia was not.</p>

<p>Fordham is another good one. Middle of the road between Vassar and Marist, but demanding core. Strong in writing. My d applied there and got a good fin aid pkg but declined.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

<p>Is Brandeis more of a business school? I can't remember if it was that one or a different school that started with a B. </p>

<p>I should also probably tell everyone a little about my personality. I come from a small town so I am intrigued to learn new things. I would love to live in a city, but I definitely need a school with a community/campus feel. Size wise, I am looking at anything from 2000-15000, but my heart is with the smaller schools. I love to read and write, but I'm not exactly the typical "dork". I do like to let loose and party occasionally, and I would like to go to a school that follows my "work hard, play hard" theory. I don't know how well I could handle extreme liberals or conservatives, considering that I am neither religious nor politically active. I want to immerse myself into a new and exciting culture, and the East Coast has always interested me. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the suggestions so far...please continue! :)</p>