<p>In the past folks have given some excellent viewpoints about colleges visited during spring break with their kids (juniors on their first visits...or seniors on accepted student visits). I'd love to hear about this year's visits!! And I know it would be great info for others.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm especially wondering about the Pacific Northwest Road Trip, and the California Road Trip. Wonder if I have to bump those threads, or if people will just add their info here. </p>
<p>The College Visits site is nice, but I like the informal news bits that people put on these threads, too.</p>
<p>If the school is in session it's a great idea.</p>
<p>Hi Rex, I think you may have misunderstood my OP. I was looking for information from those who have GONE on college visits this spring....not a discussion on the merits of doing so (although some may point out issues if the school was or was not in session). I'd be interested in hearing this year's folks impressions of the schools they visited this spring.</p>
<p>DS1 and I traveled 1500 miles during February break in order to visit five schools in New York and Pennsylvania. He and I really did feel similarly about the schools we visited. Our list, from most to least favorite, was:</p>
<ol>
<li>Susquehannah</li>
<li>University of Rochester</li>
<li>Grove City</li>
<li>Bucknell</li>
<li>Union</li>
</ol>
<p>Thank goodness he appreciates that college is going to cost a lot. At Union, he looked at me and said, "This would cost $50,000 a YEAR?? No thanks."</p>
<p>The folks at SU were very friendly, and we were impressed with the campus. There's a beautiful science building under construction. The track coach spent a lot of time with us - it was fun for DS to be recruited like that!</p>
<p>The University of Rochester impressed us for its campus and research. It felt like there was a lot of energy and enthusiasm among the staff and students.</p>
<p>At Bucknell, the information session was boring and long. We felt as if we were being told, "You would be VERY LUCKY to come here!!!!" Uh, again, no thanks.</p>
<p>Grove City has a good reputation as a challenging Christian school, but the campus felt kind of tired, and we weren't very impressed with it.</p>
<p>So that was our trip in a nutshell! Next week, we're going down to the University of Texas campus. He won't have much chance of getting in there, but it's worth a try.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn -- the daughter of a friend goes to Grove City and really loves it. She's planning on being a teacher, though, and they have a strong teaching program. They got lots of financial aid, too. Family says the kids on campus are very nice.</p>
<p>We are heading out tomorrow for some college visits in California with D. We're visiting USC, Occidental, Loyola Marymount, and Chapman (in that order). Will report back later!</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, Jolynne. I've heard good reports about other students liking GC, also. Maybe we should visit again when the weather is better. </p>
<p>Part of the reason DS didn't like it was that they don't have a very strong track program. He'd be the fastest runner befpre long, which is NOT what he wants.</p>
<p>We just came back from a week traveling up and down the east coast, looking at some of the 'usual suspect' reach colleges with our junior D. The trip was enormously informative. Here were some of our conclusions in general about such trips:</p>
<p>a. Budget for no more than one college per day.
b. Do not visit if the college is on break. You need to see the students.
c. Don't focus on the buildings and grounds. Most are fine.
d. The prospective student MUST sit in on a few classes and observe the professors and their interactions with the students. My D found this to be the single most informative thing to do. At some colleges she sat in on 3-4 classes.
e. The prospective student MUST ask plenty of questions during the tour and possibly at the info session. The parent(s) should not dominate the sessions.
f. Supplement the tour with before and after visits to the websites. Pick up the student newspaper(s) and other unofficial flyers and magazines that can be found around campus.</p>
<p>I teach 12th grade English in California...many of my kids will travel these next few weeks. I'll try to post any "gems" they come back with :)</p>
<p>The one thing my kids were VERY impressed with from touring colleges was the "snow poles" and fences. Before we went to Rochester, my kids said they'd be happy anywhere. After we visited NYC & Rochester & Niagra Falls, they became a bit more specific in where they'd be happy & decided they'd prefer not to go where they'd FREEZE.</p>
<p>S was not interested in touring campuses before he chose the U he'd attend. Most of the schools we visited he did NOT apply to & he applied to several we had never visited. It was very interesting touring schools and I'm glad we did it as it gave all of us more of a feel as the different campuses and the differences in size and feel.</p>
<p>My kids did NOT attend any classes at any of the schools they visited. My S was not too concerned & said that he was sure he'd find a way to fit into whatever school he ended up attending.</p>
<p>Last spring we visited several campuses - Hiram College, College of Wooster, Syracuse University, Juniata College, and Allegheny College - in that order. </p>
<p>We were visiting my mother so we started with schools that were close by. Hiram admissions office was very friendly and our tour guide was great. </p>
<p>At COW, we found the admissions office was not friendly in comparison to Hiram. We were given an tour which was fine. Ds liked the larger campus and comparatively larger town. There seemed to be a lot of energy on campus the student center was hopping. There was a display table with students registering voters for the Obama campaign. </p>
<p>Over spring break we toured Syracuse. We were in a large lecture hall for an information session with a video presentation. Our tour was okay but in a large group - around 25. It felt impersonal. No lunch offered - we were on our own but got to visit the street where all the student hangouts (bars) were located. It confirmed my feeling that at larger campuses it's easy to get lost in the crowd.</p>
<p>Juniata had a nice tour and pleasant admissions office. The campus seemed a bit lethargic though. The town was small, campus pretty, and the view from the cafeteria was stunning. The emphasis seemed to be on their biology department. </p>
<p>We visited Allegheny for a prospective student Open House. It was a beautiful spring day and lots of activity outside, especially at the frat houses. Ds went to a class and saw students who didn't seem to want to be there - slumping over their desks. Ds didn't think it was a fit for him. </p>
<p>Over the summer we visited Hobart and William Smith College. Beautiful campus. He was given an interview and the admissions counselor seemed very interested in him, suggesting he apply for a trustee scholarship. </p>
<p>This past fall we visited University of Rochester. Ds liked the idea of a city/suburban campus. The underground tunnel system was a selling point on a cold November day. Since it's only an hour away, ds went back for an interview and dh was able to speak with a rep from the finance office. </p>
<p>Lastly, we visited SUNY Geneseo. Not sure about the small town but liked the campus. </p>
<p>Coming up this spring break we're going to the admitted student preview days at Wooster and Geneseo. Wooster has been showing interest by offering him a good scholarship and the tennis coach has been in contact with him. Juniata is the only other school where he's received any personal contact. It really seems to have made a difference since COW seems to be the school at the top of the list.</p>
<p>I know I am in the minority here, but I like to schedule 2 visits per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Note - these are 1st look visits. We do the info session and the tour and then move on. We are trying to visit multiple schools in one week and we are only looking for 1st impressions. No interviews. (By "we" I mean high school junior child and I.) We try to cover a lot of ground and the goal is to eliminate schools from consideration - this is the weeding out tour, not the decision tour.</p>
<p>It worked well with D and I 4 years ago. Some schools got the "thumbs down" as we were driving through the campus. We managed to get her list down to a manageable size.</p>
<p>This Easter break it will be S2 and I.</p>
<p>Regardless of where you visit, it is extremely helpful if you make up a list of questions about college that are essential for you to make decisions on later. We had our question list printed out (same questions for each school) for each school and as we got them answered it better helped us with doing an apples to apples comparison and definitely kept us on track. We each carried a very small spiral notebook and jotted down our various impressions and observations, so that after each visit, we had both objective and subjective information to bring home with us. It helped tremendously,especially if you are doing 3-5 schools in a week!</p>
<p>I agree with hope - the notes really help. DS was the ONLY student I saw taking notes at the five schools we visited. A professor at Susquehanna actually stopped our group and commended him for that. He said he was the first student he'd seen taking notes in two years!! That seems very surprising to me - there is so much information thrown at you, I don't see how you'd keep it straight, otherwise.</p>
<p>One piece of advice.
"Don't be a helicopter."
Peace out.</p>
<p>Just got back from our short trip - Princeton, Swarthmore, and UPenn - with DS. It is so important to step back just let the student do their own exploration.</p>
<p>So, Dad II, what did your S think of the schools? D will be looking at Princeton and Swarthmore, but not UPenn.</p>
<p>So far we will be going to two admitted student day programs. Where else we will be going will depend upon what kind of news s gets in the next 8 days (about admission; and then of course we have to find out about finaid!). </p>
<p>So it looks like we could have a very busy spring break week (Apr 10 - 19), or one where we don't do that much traveling.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2, on this trip, Swarthmore was our #1 target and we spent most of our time there. At the end, DS likes Upenn a lot but he is not talking much about it. So I could only speak for myself. </p>
<p>It was the last day of SB at Princeton so we did not see many students there. It was difficult to get a sense of the campus when it is almost empty.</p>
<p>I now understand why others suggested a visit to Swarthmore is a must. It has a very pretty campus and the students there are so super nice. However, it is very small and some of the dorms are far away from classrooms. S took a class there and he said he learnt more from that one class that 1/2 a semester in his AP class. </p>
<p>Of all the schools I have visited, I still like Stanford the most.</p>