College Visit Road Trip Advice Wanted - MD/DC/VA/NC

Parents Forum
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<p>My husband, my HS junior son and I are planning a college visit trip for S's spring break in April. The plan right now is to visit the following schools -- of course, this may change!</p>

<p>St. John's College (Annapolis)
American University
University of Virginia
University of Mary Washington
College of William and Mary
Davidson College
Elon University
Wake Forest University</p>

<p>We have about 11 days, from 4/13 until 4/22. We will have to fly from South Florida and rent a car when we get up there. My thinking was that we should start out in Annapolis and end up in NC, flying home from Charlotte or Raleigh. However, we could reverse that and fly home from Baltimore instead.
One problem is that Easter Sunday falls smack dab in the middle of the trip, so that pretty much wipes out any visits over that weekend. That effectively leaves us with only 8 days to visit 8 colleges, since no tours will be offered anywhere on that last Sunday.</p>

<p>The St. John's visit will span a Thursday and Friday because they strongly suggest that a student attend seminar and the Friday lecture, as well as overnight in a dorm. Because their Great Books program is so unconventional, I really think it takes this type of a visit for the student to know if it's a fit or not. But since we will be spending 2 days at 1 college, this only leaves 6 days to cram in the other 7! </p>

<p>We might be able to visit Mary Washington on Easter Saturday. It's my alma mater, so even if there's no tour available I can play tour guide and show S around the campus myself. And it's fortunate that Elon, Davidson and Wake are all pretty close together. But are we trying to do too much in the time we have? Will we be exhausted trying to keep up the pace? </p>

<p>I'd really like to hear from others who have done a similar visit schedule, whether with these schools or others. Was your child able to enjoy the trip or was it too much? Did the schools all start to run together after a while? I wish S didn't have to do them all at once but we live so far away and the only other time he has free is summer, when colleges are out of session. And he may need to go again in summer anyway. to visit any that are new on the radar screen by then.</p>

<p>I know it's early yet but it's not too soon to start making plane reservations, especially for Eastertime. Seats on the low cost carriers are already filling up so I don't want to wait much longer!</p>

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<p>You will hear two perspectives on this. One is that you need to give each and every school the kind of time you will be doing for St. John's. (And I think your rationale for the time investment at that particular school is right on the mark). Another is that it is perfectly fine to even do two schools on the same day. I think fo rmany of us, the time is not available to overnight, spend a full day, see a class at every school. I also think not every kid is ready for that intensity at every school.</p>

<p>We succesfully did the type of trip you outline. Usually spent about half day per school; at some schools we stayed around for evening, saw the area, ate out etc. At others, we were at one school in the am, one in the pm. I do like to see the area, so I think if you are doing two schools in one day, it's good to arrive the night before for the am school and get a feel for surroundings/campus. </p>

<p>If you are doing two in one day, you really need to work it around the schools' info session/tour schedules if you're planning those. We sometimes did both, sometimes one or the other. </p>

<p>Our trip was beneficial, even though DS often fit the profile of the kid in "Accept My Kid Please: A Father's Descent into College Application Hell." This is a fast read and a MUST read, for keeping your sense of humor during this process, imo. The trips (we did one in April - like you - driving on the East coast; and one of necessity in June flying south and west) were the primary times when DS focused consciously on what he wanted and didn't want in a school. He was not one of those kids deeply "into" the process at other times. </p>

<p>I don't think they really "all run together." And, if they do, it probably means the ones which don't stand out are not the ones of interest. DS tended to like each school for various reasons and was not a big talker/analyzer. But, as we moved along, he was able to continuously revise and articulate his "top choice" list. </p>

<p>I think these kind of trips are quite valuable. In the end, it will help him choose or rule out "types" as well as some specific schools. In the end, when he has acceptances in hand next year, there will be time to visit the real contenders for in-depth overnight visits as needed.</p>

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<p>I think it is a realistic plan. My daughter and I did a similar trip across the midwest last year and it worked well. However, I will warn you that my daughter got a bit burnt out after the first few days and we ended up canceling the last college stop we had planned at the last minute. If I had to do it over again, I think I would probably have built in more "down time" for her and I to do things that didn't involve college stuff --- even an afternoon just hanging out with no plans would have helped but we had many miles between schools to cover. Luckily, you will be visiting some nice areas of the country, with some schools grouped quite close together, so you should be able to fit in some more relaxing non-college sights and elements along the way. I would, for instance, seriously consider NOT going to Mary Washington on Easter Sunday and instead just doing something FUN instead. On the other hand, if you're going to be playing alumni tour guide, that might be pretty fun too. :) I definitely agree with Jmmom: pack a healthy sense of humor and be prepared to ditch at least one or two schools at the last minute, if your son decides he's had enough.</p>

<p>Good luck and have fun!</p>

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<p>It's workable, as long as you've accepted the fact that it will be a very hectic trip. Keep a calm head and roll with the punches, because at some point in the car you will all want to kill each other. </p>

<p>On specifics -- Elon, Wake and Davidson aren't as close together as you may believe. I'm not a big fan of I-85/I-40/I-77 in NC. Traffic can be bad at times, and the roads aren't that great. Still, it shouldn't be a problem if you space it out enough. Is it safe to assume that you're planning on doing Elon and Wake on the same day? Those look to be the closest together. Mapquest will tell you that it's an hour between them, but I would plan on 2 hours just to be safe. Otherwise you should be fine.</p>

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<p>You will be tired, but you can do it. Take some notes of what you son says about each school - it might be asking a bit much to suggest HE make some notes! It will be easy to do some combo of Elon, Wake and Davidson in one day - we did Davidson and Duke over 2 days, but ended up with time to kill. Our faraway trip was packed like the one you are planning. I would suggest a stop at a theme park on Easter Sunday - either Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens, or take in Yorktown or Williamsburg if you are a History Channel family.</p>

<p>The biggest danger is that the less selective schools get somewhat overshadowed by the reaches, you've also got a wide range of sizes - if your son develops a strong preference about size you might be able to pare down the list a bit.</p>

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<p>Not knowing your son's interests other than he would consider St. John's, which is an unusual school, you might consider swinging by a few others on your way as well as some good sightseeing. On the Way from Annapolis (and you must tour the Naval Academy as a tourist on general principles) you can swing by U. Maryland at College Park on way to American U. There are many colleges in DC and you might drive by just to say you did, i.e. Georgetown. And don't forget the monuments! As a MW Alum, you know that UVA is out of the way. Stop by Randolph-Macon off 95 and University of Richmond (much like Elon and Davidson) - wonderful school. W+M is so much larger than you remember (in fact, all the VA schools are). Have a wonderful time, sightsee, etc. School trips can be a fun time together if you don't go hyper and have some fun. He'll get more interested if he gets to talk to other students (without you around) and gets a better idea of whats involved. It's a lovely time of year to visit.</p>

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<p>We probably will combine Elon and Wake in one day. We are planning to attend an Elon Hospitality Night at a local hotel later this month, so that will probably pretty much equate to an info session. We can just to the tour at Elon in the AM and spend more time at Wake in the afternoon. And there's a good chance that William and Mary will drop off the list before April rolls around, as S's interest in that one seems to be waning already. </p>

<p>That's a great suggestion to do a theme park or some sightseeing over the Easter weekend. We also have family and friends in the DC/Fredericksburg area so we might be able to spend time with them. It will make for a nice break.</p>

<p>Cangel, good idea about making notes. And you're right - HE will never do it, though he'll be snapping lots of pictures.</p>

<p>Thanks to all for the replies. Lots of good ideas and suggestions in there, and you've given me confidence that it CAN be done.i</p>

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<p>Last summer my mom and I completed an trip very similar to the one you are describing. Elon and Wake can definitely be done in a day (they are both GORGEOUS, by the way). Though they run together a bit, I would suggest taking lots of pictures of the campuses. Also, take notes after each one (I prefer pros/cons lists) immediately after leaving campus, while the school is fresh on your mind. Bring granola bars and other snacks, because chances are when you get hungry there will be nothing around.
But, the number one key thing to remember: don't stress out about it!!! Traffic can (and will) be bad, and you may be late to a tour or something (we were late to Davidson, oops). If you keep the attitude relaxed, everyone will have a great time!</p>

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<p>We used to go to a lot of swim meets all over the place and always made a point of wandering around campuses and talking to anyone. It was a great way for my daughter to get the feel of a campus and the variety of campuses. When visiting California, in 9th grade, we went to Berkeley and met the swim coach - and after hearing the work, times and grades involved, really got a grip on herself in a way her nagging parents couldn't communicate to her. Another trip to NC, we visited UNC, Duke and NCState - to this day she describes them as brick, stone and concrete!</p>

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<p>So far you have been encouraged to complete your tour as planned, including seeing 2 colleges in one day. I will give the minority opinion that at least one full day should be devoted to each visit. Before I do that I would also suggest that you try to arrange your visits so that you have Easter Sunday to spend time in Washington DC.</p>

<p>For most kids and parents, college tours are pretty much the same. The tour usually consists of some presentations by admissions and a tour of the facilities conducted by a student. Colleges get and encourage thousands of visitors so they need a system to handle the flow. The impressions and knowledge you gain will be indeed much focused on the appearances of brick, stone and concrete. You will also get some "feel" of the campus culture which is largely determined by the skill of the student tour guide and a few other casual observations. </p>

<p>You can listen to the sales pitch and be herded around or you can choose a different type of experience. As a consumer you have tremendous power if you use it. Call and/or email in advance for departmental visits. Try to visit 2 departments of interest at each college. At some colleges you can also schedule an individual "meeting" with admissions. Every time we used this approach we got the royal treatment with department heads or other faculty members giving us a tour, explaining academic programs and providing all sorts of information about the campus culture and often making arrangements for visits to other departments. When approached this way, faculty members are almost always very helpful and encouraging. We learned 10x more with this approach than from the official tours. Private meeting with admissions were usually less valuable.</p>

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<p>I'll put in a plug for Edad's post - that is the best way of getting a feel for the campus, and, after all, the classes are why you are there. We had 2 problems with this approach - at the stage your son is in (junior spring) she wouldn't hear of E-mailing profs, etc. Way too much teenage reluctance. She visited classes on senior year revisits to 2 finalists, and actually got to the stage Edad describes at the event for admitted students in April of senior year. If your kid will do it, super. if your child will walk around campus and just randomly talk to people(students or faculty) about the college, great. Edad is right, you can learn much more than the slick sales pitch, and people are usually excited to share about their school/department.
The other problem was parental and logistical. We came from a long way to do our college visits, the closest school we visited was almost 500 miles from home. On our big driving trip, comparable to what you are describing, we 'rents felt a lot of pressure to see every school that we were potentially sending our DD off to - we couldn't send her to any place we couldn't visualize. She did not want to apply to any school unseen. We couldn't afford any extra time, and we had to go in the summer - not the optimum at all.</p>

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<p>Is it possible that this will be a week that seniors making their finalists decision trips will be on campus? If so, a junior visiting at that time may get "slighted".This happened to DD at Oberlin while visiting in her junior year, she coincided with their "admitted frosh" days.Resources at admissions and major dept (music) were just stretched too thin.
Just something you may want to check with admissions on.Doesn't mean you can't show up and just wander and tour but extras may not be available.</p>

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<p>cathymee's point comes up often. Many, many juniors do their visits during hs spring vacation. Colleges are set up for them. In our own case, we found that the "accepted seniors making decisions" were a distinct minority/non-existent. In some cases, the adcoms separated them out right away. In most others, I am guessing, they were in specialized sessions in different venues anyway. I do think it a good idea to check ahead for each schools "Admitted Students" days - if they have a formal program. That way, you can try to schedule which school you visit on which day to avoid the conflict.</p>

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<p>All great tips here, thanks! My son is considering edad's approach of contacting departments of interest but he's a little reticent because he's not really sure WHAT he's interested in! He likes philosophy now but doesn't see himself majoring in it anymore like he used to. He thinks he might like a business major but doesn't know enough about what it's about to know for sure. He'll probably save that approach for senior year visits, as cangel mentioned, when he'll have a better idea of what he wants. This trip will mainly be for him to get a look at the schools and surrounding area, to compare large and small, university and LAC, and to see if the safeties (Elon, UMW, American) are safeties he could love.</p>

<p>Good point about the admitted students days. I'll check on that but I'm not too worried about it. It happened to us a couple of years ago when my older son was visiting colleges and it really didn't detract from his experience. I am finding that many of the colleges we want to visit are having special days for interested juniors, and we'd love to be able to go then but we just live too far away. Logistics is our main problem in the whole college search process -- I envy you northerners who can just jump in the car and drive 3-4 hours from home and see zillions of great schools! It takes us 7-8 hours just to get out of the state!</p>

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<p>We had an experience at JMU where an accepted student got most of the attention by the tour guides (we had 2) to convince her to attend. There were a bunch of juniors on this particular tour.</p>

<p>I have noticed that many schools offer a seperate program for accepted students where they have a day where one attends classes, eats in the cafeteria (compliments of the university) and is paired with a student for the day, and they offer a tour while they are there. Some even have an over night program. My son was offered 2 weekend programs prior to even being accepted (offered upon receipt of his applications).</p>

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<p>I think I should clarify a couple of points. My W made almost all of the arrangements. A 17 year old usually will not have the skills needed. In addition the kids are in school when phone calls need to be made to reach the dept offices. Second, it helps to have a bit of an attitude in this process. You want to be in the position of an interested consumer trying to gain information, rather than as an applicant trying to be accepted. </p>

<p>Classroom visits are usually part of the accepted student presentations. These visits are very time consuming and probably do not make sense unless you plan on spending a couple of days on campus. I also have my doubts about the value of overnight dorm stays.</p>

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<p>Another minority viewpoint here: I took DD to visit schools last April and after about three I had this "seen one seen 'em all" feeling. For her it was enough to spend a couple of hours on campus--we weren't trying to find the perfect fit, since like your son, she was a junior and didn't know what she wanted to study. We spent more time in museums and sightseeing and getting around town on the local mass transit system so that she could get a feel for the city and decide whether or not she wanted to attend school there. </p>

<p>We ended up visiting a school every other day and on our off day would do an informal "wander" across a campus. She didn't like cramming the visit full of college visits; she had never visited Boston or Philly or DC before and it's unlikely she'd be able to do so anytime soon, so we tried to balance visiting schools with visiting the area.</p>

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<p>Your son may very well get burnt out on so many visits. Can you make it a shorter trip, and do another one at another time (I know, could be impossible)
I kept a notebook and "interviewed" my son at the end of each visit about his likes and dislikes, pros and cons of each school. This way he could look back later and remind himself of specifics about the school, they do tend to blend together. Easier than getting him to make notes.
One word to any out of shape moms or dads (like me), campus tours are often physically exhausting, involving huge amounts of walking, especially on a large campus. Wear REALLY comfy shoes.April should be good weatherwise, but I still have memories of doing Univ of Toronto in summer 90's heat, for example - loved the school but the tour almost killed me ;-)
On most of our trips we made a point to see a local site of interest, to give ourselves a break from college. Did Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Natural History Museum in DC, Times Square in NYC, etc.</p>

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<p>We are doing a west coast tour for those same dates.
Well, two thoughts:
Does St. John's (or any other school) have classes/tours on Good Friday? If so, start there, then map your route. If not, you may need to end your trip at St. John's, rather than start it there.
Do you need to fly in and out of the same airport? </p>

<p>We found nothing we wanted to see open on Good Friday, but our frequent flier miles require a Sat. stay and in and out of the same airport. Many schools were also closed on Easter Monday so we fly into where we will end the week, take a weekend drive to where our route begins with an Easter Monday open school.</p>

<p>Good luck to you.</p>

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<p>I did a college trip to North East schools with my D in April 2002. We visited 7 schools in 6 days -- the only 2 on the same day were Columbia and Barnard, which are virtually across the street. Even that close together, we were not able to see all we might have wanted to.</p>

<p>I agree with earlier posters that having a visit arranged with a professor or a coach outside the admissions machine is valuable. They are usually happy to meet with prospects and you just have to email them to try to set something up.</p>

<p>It is also revealing to attend a class, if possible, and to eat a meal (usually lunch) in the cafeteria/dining hall to get a sense of student life.</p>

<p>If you try to do all this at each school, as well as attend an orientation session and/or campus tour, you will only be able to do one school per day. Depending on how far you need to drive from place to place, you may have time for some down time in between colleges.</p>

<p>I also agree with earlier posters that taking notes after each school is important, and photos can be a useful reminder as well. We each made lists of pros and cons or just observations each afternoon or evening, and then compared notes.</p>

<p>Especially if the trip does not turn out to be a forced march with too many destinations, I feel these college trips can be a wonderful bonding time between parent and S or D. In this regard it is important to remember that you are doing this for them, not for yourself. They will pick up on this pretty quickly.</p>

<p>One of my best memories of my trip was going to some stupid movie after visiting Princeton just to get out of the heat (it was unusually hot for April that year). The trip was a very special time for me and my D, and I plan to do something similar with my high school junior S this spring.</p>

<p>One valuable thing that can come out of this kind of trip is to clarify what kind of college your S or D is interested in: large, small, university, Ivy, etc. In our case, it confirmed for my D that she was interested in a co-ed liberal arts college. So the visits can focus the college search -- my D applied only to LACs and that is where she is now, and loving it.</p>