Colleges you/child crossed off the list after visiting

Parents Forum
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<p>I can’t imagine being a teenager trying to motivate myself to apply to a college I haven’t seen and am not certain I’d like when the application involves multiple, time-consuming, and possibly annoying, essays. This must only be a strategy for people with extra money to throw around on application fees, and for kids applying to state schools with very simple applications.</p>

<p>One family we know visited a few of the closer schools, but none of the more distant. When decent acceptances came in, there was no longer any motivation to visit and so they stuck with the familiar at the expense of what was a more prestigious option (Ivy) they hadn’t seen. I thought that was a really odd thing to do.</p>

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Even for folks like us who weren’t full pay, it made sense to visit before applying. Yes, there was a cost, of both days and dollars. But for a $180K price tag and four years of D’s life, I would say it was the prudent thing to do.</p>

<p>We started early, throwing one college visit in on a family vacation in 9th grade. Was useful in that it established a baseline and got D’s head into starting to make concrete, if changeable, criteria; it gave her something to react against. A trip to five colleges in 10th grade and then by 11th grade, she was a pro at it and fully engaged and had some idea of what she was doing as she made evaluations. The criteria and the colleges selected for visits were all her choices. TheMom and I mainly handled the logistics though we did have a compare-notes kind of exchange over a meal afterwards.</p>

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<p>20 years ago when I was applying to colleges, that’s how we all did it. The GC had brochures in her office and we looked through them. Somehow we all got motivated.</p>

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Much has changed in the last 20-40 years. And maybe some of the changes are why D had a much better college experience than I did, quantitatively and qualitatively. Very thoughtful in depth process, very good results. Much of which I owe to what I learned here on CC.</p>

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<p>ahhh, the brochures…in those days there were no Internet pages, no videos of the school and people with little money rarely traveled across country to see the colleges that they applied to…</p>

<p>You only dreamed what it would be like to be walking on campus and attending those schools.</p>

<p>those were the days!</p>

<p>very special days…</p>

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<p>Personally I still remember my first hour of my first day in college during that hot magical September day. It was the first time that I set foot on campus - and it was ever so beautiful as I had imagined - my long walk with my luggage from Nassau street to Dillon Gym to check in - then to Cuyler Hall…</p>

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<p>“I can’t imagine being a teenager trying to motivate myself to apply to a college I haven’t seen and am not certain I’d like”</p>

<p>I don’t know, the internet provides such amazing resources – you can virtually walk the streets of the town and peer into shop windows, chat with the leaders of the student groups that interest you, watch video of the a cappella groups/orchestra/band, etc. If you make full use of the online possibilities, including getting in touch with current students, you can get a pretty good feel for the school, even if you can’t afford to visit during term time.</p>

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<p>Oh, JohnAdams12-- I hear you loud and clear. Grad school-- not only had I never been to the school, I’d never been to the state! The heat, the brand new place (Iowa, where the corn report was a prominent part of TV news…) the cicadas drowning out every sound. What a great time.</p>

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<p>My ds is a junior - marching band would be his major if offered, I think right now he’s thinking psychology…but his college visit impressions are highly tainted with the love of marching band - not football, but yes, band.</p>

<p>Off the list after visit:</p>

<p>Rutgers - decent info session. followed by bubbly tour guide who cannot answer questions and keeps mentioning how great her particular campus is because the football players wait for the bus alongside her and they are so strong and muscular (OMG!) - tour is literally a charter bus for 1 hr between the disparate “campuses.” When passing the Performing Arts Center guide says “And on your right is the Mason Gross Perf. Arts Center, I dunno, I guess they perform some sort of art there or something? (giggle giggle)” My son says “There is no way I am going here.”</p>

<p>NYU - loves it, great energy, can see himself here (tour goes through library, literally 2 hours after suicide occured (we found out later)) - off the list.</p>

<p>Columbia - “too stuffy and uptight” 'nuff said.</p>

<p>Cornell - parking garage is right next to football stadium, “wow - that would be a great field.” it’s a freezing Jan day, unfortunately the day before people return to class so campus is quiet, good knowledgeable and professional tour, but cold like the weather. son loves it, and the sweatshirt we “have” to buy because like I said, it is freezing. Nice college town area, big enough, very picturesque, gorges, lake in background. (but neighbor’s son is a frosh and talks to son over break, he’s discouraged by size of classes and grade deflation, cutthroat feel (in pre-med) and also suicide rate. Off the list. Might go back on, it is perfect on paper.</p>

<p>UVA - OK, this was the school I stepped foot onto in '81 and said “Nope, let’s go” before taking the tour. I have serious reservations. I bite tongue. Son and daughter take info session and tour, love it. I can’t help but count how many kids in suits I see, 32. Seems oddly formal. Every woman it seems has those colorful wellington boots on, like some sort of uniform? And it wasn’t muddy or raining? Weird. Dean of Admissions spends most of info session venting about how people bore her with their canned essays ending with “This is how I learned perserverance, determination and dedication.” and how she is exhausted reading essays about the book “1984.” Off. </p>

<p>On:</p>

<p>UNC - Heaven on earth. Lots of green - hiking trails, an arboretum on campus. Son loves it, must have tshirt. Cute college town. Smiling happy students. And Ahhhhhh, stadium is beautiful. As for the size being huge? Go see Rutgers - in comparison, UNC is dinky.</p>

<p>Penn St - grey winter day, threat of snow. Park by stadium (oooooh), info session was great, actually short film highlights some marching band students and their experience, “you had me at marching band” my son whispers. Tour led by enthusiastic and knowledgeable guides. By now, it is snowing huge flakes, an inch on the ground, nothing on the sidewalks cuz their (gasp) heated! tour guides yell “we are” and random students yell “PENN STATE” - they do this 4-5 times during the tour and this isn’t even football season? They are not being paid by admissions to do this, it is just real. Tour winds through classrooms, library, dorm (sample room), food court, student union…FANTASTIC impression. #1 on the list.</p>

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<p>amandakayak - your comment on UVA brought back memories of the info session we attended there 2 years ago - the admissins person talked extensively about not writing a “McEssay” about sports triumph or injury, death of a pet or grandparent, etc. He was an engaging speaker, but it was a little bit intimidating. Guess they get a lot of boring, reptitious essays!</p>

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Based on that, I can’t say I’d blame him.</p>

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<p>“…at Harvard…one of the tour guides was blonde, busty, had a cutesy name, and seemed a bit airheaded.”</p>

<p>Once again, Harvard is in the forefront of giving preference to underrepresented minorities.</p>

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<p>Dean at UVA also mentioned one unsuccessful, yet entertaining essay to one of their prompts - “What is your favorite word and why?” Kid wrote “My favorite word is Brevity. It’s concise.” She made a pt to say he did not gain acceptance. But he was amusing to the admissions dept.!</p>

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<p>I did indeed visit the colleges I applied to back in the 70’s. We were not rich, and that is why I was required to attend a school within and hour or two driving distance from home.</p>

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<p>We had the same “essay lecture” at UVA. So DS went a bit “out there” for his UVA essay…didn’t get in…ha. </p>

<p>DS is now in his fourth year at Penn State. Didn’t know they had heated sidewalks! (but it did go from last to top three after he visited). He liked UNC too but didn’t like how many NC students were there. Great campus. </p>

<p>These reports are fun to read…</p>

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<p>"“My favorite word is Brevity. It’s concise.”</p>

<p>I would TOTALLY have fought to admit this kid if I were on the committee. He’s the next Conan O’Brien. I wonder where else he got in.</p>

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<p>Funny, for D the “perfect on paper” was Columbia. She didn’t find it stuffy but when she talked to students, all they talked about was being in NYC, nothing about classes, profs, etc.</p>

<p>As off-putting as it was, the advice about avoiding certain extremely common essay topics is spot on. Fwiw as free advice, I think the selection of essay topic(s) is given far too little time and attention in the process.</p>

<p>Of course, if the major obstacle is getting your student to engage and get the !@#$%^&*! thing done, it’s understandable. I remember having the fantasy that summer between junior and senior year was the perfect time to get them done and out of the way. Nope. Senior year, amid tests and papers.</p>

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<p>Our UVA admissions speaker was 30 minutes late. Therefore, little information. She was also, fairly unapologetic. The difference between UNC (super informative and engaging) and UVA admissions was stark especially since they are similar in so many ways.</p>

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It’s interesting that this bit was perceived to be most of the information session. I spend 30 minutes on UVa (history, academic structure, class size, faculty) and 30 minutes on the application process. Of the second half, 5-10 minutes is spent on essays.</p>

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Wait! The “brevity, it’s concise” kid DID get admitted! I use that example, but always with caution that the other two personal statements the student submitted were far more traditional. I also always say that the goal isn’t to brainstorm ways to be weird, but that risk is okay if the essay is authentic. I usually follow up with a little bit about one of my favorite essays, a more typical one about dancing. The goal is to show that you can write about your topic in a thoughtful, interesting way. We aren’t judging the topic. We’re look at how the student writes about their chosen topic.</p>

<p>The one example I use for a student who didn’t get in was someone who sent a ridiculous number of recommendations. </p>

<p>Both of those examples are from a few years ago…they aren’t from the last few years. That being said, people thank us time and again for our essay advice. I think it’s better to give students some tips than to recite the information that is easily found in the brochures and on our website. I’ve been doing this for a decade and never really enjoyed information sessions with a script and a power point presentation that went over statistics. </p>

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A dean? Was this recent? Feel free to email me about it, if you wish. deanj “at” virginia “dot” edu is my address (changed to prevent bots from spamming me).</p>

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<p>I think it’s good to hear that essay advice, my kids got similar advice from a couple of different sources. I have to say though that when Tufts put up essays they liked last year on their website - there were a couple that it seemed to me did just what they told my son not to at the info session!</p>

<p>I visited three colleges when I applied back in the day. Applied to one of them, and to two colleges I hadn’t visited.</p>

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<p>UVA Dean J - Don’t get me wrong, we appreciated the essay advice. Point is, every info session we have attended focussed on highlighting the positives of the school, allaying any concerns and speaking to the audience (which was mostly juniors and their parents) - perhaps they are not sold yet on your university? Focus on the clubs, sports, feel of the college, housing options, financial aid? Options about eating in the cafe, visiting a class? Given that it was in a theatre, some video/slide show? </p>

<p>Sorry about the mistake on the “brevity” person getting in, I misheard you.</p>