<p>Ealier this month my son and I visited three schools. Each is affiliated with a different Protestant denomination....on paper, the religious atmosphere of the schools appeared to be similar. After visiting, we realized they couldn't be be more different, ranging from one with such a loose affiliation that it is a wet campus to another with mandatory daily chapel with a lot of indoctrination into that particular denomination.</p>
<p>DEFINITELY visit schools
a) the schools actually keep track of your interest (visiting once or more helps, they will see that you came)
b) the location of a school is a HUGE part of why you may like/dislike it, and you need to experience that
c) you need to see/meet the students to truly know what the school is like</p>
<p>I think it is much easier to write the "why this college" essay after a visit.
If the issue is that your parents would prefer not to go on the trip themselves, there are several other options:
1) there are companies that run summer college visit tours
2) you can tag along with a friend's family looking at the same schools you are interested in
3) you can convince a grandparent/aunt/uncle to take you.
I think visits are crucial in shaping the right application list...both for cutting schools where you can't picture yourself being happy, and for adding more schools similar to a college that you really like.</p>
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3) you can convince a grandparent/aunt/uncle to take you.
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<p>That's a great idea. Heck, if you were my niece I'd show you around the Balt/Wash schools. :)</p>
<p>I say definitely visit your schools, but:
- if you are applying ED, I cannot stress how important a visit is BEFORE you apply!!!
- for RD or nonbinding EA, wait until you get accepted to visit the schools, therefore you dont need to feel you wasted time and money visitng schools to which you didnt get accepted</p>
<p>I think it's very important to visit schools - unless you have a lot of experience with college campuses (ie. attended summer camps or competitions at several schools). We live out of the US so were limited in opportunities to visit during the school year and also have no "state" to call home - so the choice of where to apply was wide open. I felt that my d needed to see a variety of schools with a variety of academic paths. Based on her grades, scores and interests we saw 10 schools during the summer 2 years ago (10 was a little high but this was the first time we had gone through it - and we did them in 3 road trips). She had a couple safety schools, a couple reaches and some matches. She applied to 6 that we visited plus 2 that we didn't. I think the most important thing in the visits was to find a safety school that she would be happy attending - it's easy to picture yourself at the fantastic reach school but to find a good safety can be a little more difficult.
She ended up having to do a second visit in March of her senior year to decide between 3 final choices and the one that she picked was the one that had an admitted students weekend that blew us both away. The interesting thing was that she loved the program there but was not really impressed with the overall school when she saw it in the summer - the March visit changed her mind.<br>
With my son this summer we are visiting 8 schools including the same variety - safety, match, reach. His top 3 choices plus 5 schools I think he should also consider.</p>
<p>I appreciate the responses. :) </p>
<p>I only have one relative who could maybe take me to NYC. Most of my aunts and my grandparents never travel outside of Nebraska, but I do have one aunt who promised she'd take me on a graduation trip to Manhattan and told me I should consider Swarthmore. We're close. Should I just beg her to take me now? Hmmm...</p>
<p>I have a year to figure out where I want to go ED. I'm not sure what my top choice will be. As I said, right now I'm looking at Columbia, Georgetown and (in the region) Northwestern as reaches/dream schools, but between those I need to narrow it down. I have a long time to do so, but the campus visits will be critical in my decisions, I think.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned college campus tour company. Anyone know anything about that?</p>
<p>Before making your final college decision, I think it is critical to visit the college in person and see if it is a good match for you personally. As an example, I had always been impressed by MIT until I walked around the campus and saw that its impressive front facade hides a lot of ugly industrial looking buildings that comprise the majority of the campus. You don't want any unpleasant irreversible surprises your first week at school in September.</p>
<p>To me it sounds like your Dad would be going way outside his comfort zone by taking you to Chicago, DC, NY. He may not want to look foolish in locations where he doesn't know his way around. He may want you to stay local for college and may think that by preventing you from making far away for campus visits he will discourage your interest in far away schools.</p>
<p>I don't know how you fix this attitude. But you could suggest a visit to Minnesota or Iowa, somewhere closer, to see if he'd take you there, and then bootstrap from there. You could also suggest that, at least in the case of Northwestern, you don't have to go into Chicago at all to visit there. Use a map to plan a specific road route there, a motel to stay in. He may do better with more concrete suggestions. Good luck!</p>
<p>They are CRITICAL. First....because you may go on campus and simply say, "This is NOT me!" Cross it off your list immediately. We did. (It was Duke, btw.) Next, you may visit and say, "hmmm.....this wasnt a top choice before we came but I like it here!" And it rises to the top. </p>
<p>Then make your list for applications.....10 schools or less. When you get accepted, you have one month April 1-May1 to decide. Visit your schools AGAIN in that time frame and make your decision.</p>
<p>Its a question whether an interview is important or not, or even wise. Sometimes interviews hurt more than help. Sometimes they are required. Proceed accordingly.</p>
<p>We had an Epiphany and that is where my D is now.</p>
<p>Nobody is the same. Different strokes, so to speak. Acknowledge that some school tours are all blah blah blah....and dont judge the school by the tour leader. BUT.....they are helpful.</p>
<p>And yes, go to schools outside your region if you can. It is as helpful to decide what you DONT want as much as what you do.</p>
<p>(i.e. some LOVE Dartmouth for being so far away from everything and in the boonies. Some hate it for that same reason.)</p>
<p>While these tours give a good view of campus, there is nothing that can prepare you for New York City other than being there. The pace is so vastly different than a small town, and indeed different than most other cities, that you must visit New York before applying ED to Columbia. In fact, I think that the NY visit is one that really should occur before you make your list. You may not be able to stand it. (Yes, perhaps your aunt would take you in advance of graduation to look at schools. And then, from NY, it's an easy shot by train or a short flight down to Washington to check out Georgetown; it can be done in one day - business people do it all the time.)</p>
<p>Chedva, that's what I'm worried about... I'm not sure if I'll like Columbia or hate it. I like the bustle, the presence of culture, and the public transportation in the cities I've visited, but admittedly said cities are by no means NYC. That's why I need to visit before I prepare my apps.. I can try to schmooze my aunt.</p>
<p>Anyway, maybe my dad doesn't want me to venture too far. In fact he probably doesn't. He hates big cities (he's uncomfortable in Omaha). If he chose my school, it would either be UNL (where my entire family went), UMich, U of Wisc, or U of Iowa: Midwestern state schools in midsized college towns.</p>
<p>I like big cities, though my experience with them is limited. I think I'd like to attend college in an urban center.</p>
<p>BTW, my friends aren't very interested in leaving the state for college, so that won't likely work.</p>
<p>Wigwam, if you can, you should visit. </p>
<p>My son decided not to apply to three highly reputed schools based on campus visits and interaction with students and staff. He surprised me by deciding to apply to a completely different school which we visited only because it was only a few minutes away from one of the schools on his list. In his case the campus visits re-oriented his list quite a bit.</p>
<p>Be aware that many LACs track interest and note whether you visited or not. This isn't true for larger schools or schools that get a high volume of applicants like the Ivies or state schools or other large universities, but at Middlebury and Carleton and a couple others I was told that interest IS tracked and used...</p>
<p>Remember, though, that interest can be shown in multiple ways, not just by visiting. If an admissions representative visits your school and you show up, that counts. If the school appears at a college fair and you show up, that counts. If the school does regional meetings/interviews and you go to those, that counts. If you request an alumni interview in your area, even if not required, that counts.</p>
<p>Do whatever you can to get your name/face in front of the admissions representative. It doesn't have to be by visiting.</p>
<p>When we decided to tour the East coast schools, we had enough small-town schools mixed in with the big town schools that we were able to arrange it that we stayed overnight at cheaper places in smaller towns. Even when our itinerary put us in a big city area at the end of the day, we stayed far emough away that everything was a little easier and cheaper. That strategy sometimes precluded us from getting a sense of the surrounding area of some schools at night - which is part of the picture - but saved us money and some level of hassle. You could stay outside NYC and DC and take public transportation in - that limits how many schools you can see in one day of course.</p>
<p>I think it's important to have a feel for what type of environment you want to be in for four years of your life. If you can't make it to the actual schools on the East coast, try a school with a similar environment in the Midwest - an urban school, a LAC, a large university, a school in-the-middle-of-no-where, etc. After know what type of surroundings you want to have, then turn your search to the specific academic desires you have within a group of schools fitting that description.<br>
Your list will then be less likely to include a school that doesn't "fit" you.</p>
<p>I had great success with this - lacking the time to do far-away visits before the acceptance letters rolled in, I took advantage of the diversity of schools around the Baltimore-Washington Metro area. Only after I was accepted did I visit schools that I had actual interest in. The school that I will be enrolling in this fall had not been high on my list until I attended the Accepted Students day and was completely blown away.</p>
<p>If you decide to go the same path and visit only after acceptances, be careful. Keep in mind that these events for accepted students are usually large, orchestrated events meant to WOW a student into choosing that school. Take everything with a grain of salt until you can take a step back from what's going on to really think about the college. But enjoy yourself on your visits, overnights, etc. - they are meant for you to get a better feel for the college! :)</p>
<p>How do they track whether you've been there or not?</p>
<p>We are visiting a bunch of state universities in Florida and almost all of them ask for detailed information, such as name, address, graduating year, high school, etc. Just about everything except SS#. Is this their way of tracking?</p>
<p>any information you give is purely voluntary. They will put you on the mailing list for sure. Some ask for SAT scores and start pre screening. If you want them to know you have been there, simply stop by the admissions office and tell them, fill out a mailer card and so forth. Go on the tours. If you want complete anonymity, you show up and just hop on a tour or go self toured. But you wont get some tidbits of information from them. Some are very organized and give lectures after or before the tours. The key is to talk to students if you can and any professors you can grab a hold of. </p>
<p>But its still surprising the number of people who accept at colleges sight unseen. Amazing.</p>
<p>wigwam, my S thought that Yale would be his first choice and that he would love it. When he visited, he hated it because of the location. I never would have predicted that outcome. If you can visit, try to visit. As a previous poster said, when you have seen a campus in person, eaten in a dining hall, spoken to students, and/or sat in on a class, it becomes so much easier to answer the college's essay question, "Why X university?"</p>