There is no direct flight between home and my daughter’s college. The first time she visited was after she was admitted and missed two or three accepted students events. As I mentioned above, she called her admissions rep and arranged an overnight visit on her own to see the school (as a matter of fact, the admissions rep preferred to deal directly with the student applicant over me, the parent). Like you, I was very concerned how she would make her way on her own from home to school. I wasn’t sure she could manage. Ha! She was more than capable. For this first visit, I made sure there was close to three hours between flights (okay, that may have been a little overboard) and I paid for a shuttle to take her from the airport to the school. My daughter learned that she could go back and forth between school and home with ease.
I agree with mathyone. Start thinking of your son as a grown, capable person. Chances are, he doesn’t need you to guide him so closely.
Oh how things have changed. I had never seen nor visited the college that I ended up attending, 1000 miles from home. I made no visits to any other colleges that I applied to. I think that was typical way back when (40+ years ago!). And the day I arrived on campus, after the train ride from home, after I checked into the dorm they immediately took us off-campus by bus for the orientation on the Oregon coast.
Now there’s all this hoopla and wooing and social in-gathering. But not for my kids. I think they were reasonable.
My older one, my son, had no interest in visiting colleges before he applied. He’d been to a couple of them, however, with his debate team. The nearby in-state large universities he’d also visited for summer debate camps. But other colleges, like way out east? Not interested in visiting. The one he ultimately attended in the midwest was only 200 miles from our home but he only saw it for the first time on admitted students day – and after the overnight his decision (“this will do”) was made. He didn’t bother to visit a couple of the other colleges that had admitted him. In my opinion, his decision process was rational. And his choice was excellent for him.
My daughter did want to check out colleges before she applied. We made one grand tour of 11 colleges in 10 days. A few of them (e.g., CMU, RISD) she interviewed at on this grand tour. But in the end, of the 5 that she applied to (she was admitted to all), she had only visited 3 prior to applying. After the Yes envelopes came in, she saw no need to visit on admitted students day. She knew which college she wanted to attend. Decision made.
“I should just plan it”. I don’t think so. You should assist your son in planning it. If he doesn’t know how to use travel websites, shop for good fares, book tickets, use maps, work out time zones, figure out how to get from an airport to a final destination, etc., these are important adult skills he should learn.
Thanks to everyone, I learned a lot! 1. Don’t insult the wealthy 
2. let my son grow up. 3. there is something to be gained by attending the scheduled visit programs that may no be gained on a random weekend visit. I will try write more carefully on public forums to be more clear.
@Coloradomama I’m glad you posted this thread. I learned what a accepted student day was. Before this thread I never heard of it. Georgia State have something call Incept that cost about $50 dollar for a day and $110 dollars for overnight. I had no idea what it was. After reading this I now realize it’s their version of accepted student day.
Hmmm…None of the days/overnights my kids went on cost us any money for the actual event (I realize for some, the travel or a parent’s hotel might). This is their time to sell themselves to you, I’m surprised a school would charge you to do that!
Whoa. Never heard of a school charging for this but there it is. I’d be wondering what else GSU will find to charge me for down the line! http://incept.gsu.edu/incept-basics/fees/
Wow! So getting charged for it isn’t the norm? Thank god I found this site. What in the hell? I will be calling GSU about this asking why their charging for something that other school clearly don’t.
Good idea. I’ve attended accepted student events at public schools, private schools, large and small and never paid anything. Most gave us free food, even (quality varied from school to school :D). Some provided an overnight host for my kid (her sleeping bag on floor of host’s dorm, typically), some didn’t. But we were never given less than coffee and cookies.
Just from a quick google search of Georgia State Incept it looks like it isn’t a accepted student recruiting event but rather a more traditional pre-orientation for incoming students who are not only accepted but have committed to attending. It includes registration for courses, placement exams, etc. Some universities charge for these pre-orientations, some don’t. But it is quite different from the accepted student events that are about recruitment and take place before you have accepted the offer of admission.
^I enjoy the satire of The Onion, but let’s be sure people know it’s just that – satire. (And, yes, it’s funny and there is an element of truth)
I saw that about Incept but it seems odd to me to charge for that, too. For registration and placement? That’s why I’d look very hard at whatever other fees they plan to charge…
ETA - singermom, that’s hysterical
@OHMomof2 I agree with you and will be calling them in the morning to talk about it. This is my 1st going to college. I know I can’t compare it to when I went since it was so long ago. But I don’t remember paying a fee for registration. I also thought placement test only applied to people who didn’t take the SAT/ACT or didn’t score well enough on them to be placed in the college level classes.
Both of my kids had to pay a fee for orientation. Their orientations were a couple of days long, included lodging in the dorms, and meals. If parents chose to attend, there was a separate charge for the parent.
The placement tests at pre-orientations are often for foreign languages, or at least that was the case at our son’s two day pre-orientation for a LAC. In his case there was no charge, but I’ve seen many posters on CC mention charges for these kinds of pre-orientation events because they cover housing, meals, etc.
Placement tests are pretty common and not at all limited to students who don’t have SAT/ACT scores. It’s commonly a way for advanced students to be placed in higher level classes and in some cases even get credit. In fact my D’s AP calf teacher mentioned that seniiors sometimes opt out of taking the AP test because they know they are going to a college that gives its own tests.
My son’s school charged a fee for orientation. From what I’ve gathered that’s not unusual, although not all schools charge.
AP calc, not calf.
If I try to edit my post is just a nonsense string of letters. Odd.
^There is a separate thread reporting the nonsense string issue.