<p>Feel the place, talk to students, not just admissions, ask about opportunities, what do students do on weekend, clubs, organizations</p>
<p>Be careful about the class size issue. Often lecture size is huge, 70+ at small schools 150+ at others, for introductory courses. This is only part of the story because the classes will likely break into small lab groups and discussion sections. So also ask about the language and literature class sizes, you will need to be able to speak and discuss in those.</p>
<p>So much wonderful advice here. I let my D take the lead and generally kept quiet. On the drive in, we agreed to try to "pretend" we were from elsewhere. I did "ask" her if I could ask one question regarding the dorms. Permission was granted! </p>
<p>I have a little bit of advice to add, and it probably doesn't apply to parents and students at CC, but DO NOT believe everything the student tour guides tell you. They can get things wrong. </p>
<p>This was a great dry run, and D is hopefully thinking about where she would like to visit the next time she has a day off. (haha--she thinks she's going to get to sleep late.)</p>
<p>Our poor guide kept looking at me the whole time as he knew we were from the town. I just let him do his thing. He did ask me to answer a question some parents had about winter weather in the area.</p>
<p>"...DO NOT believe everything the student tour guides tell you."</p>
<p>Check out the attached article about Yale Tour Guides.</p>
<p>My best advice: Become invisible! Oh, and save the best schools for last. You'll get better at knowing what to do, how to dress, how to act, weather you're allowed to speak, etc., with practice.</p>
<p>Seriously, I have a wonderful relationship with my daughter. She goes out in public with me, laughs with me even when her friends can see, is open, honest, etc. But I swear she was possessed by an evil alien during the first few campus tours! </p>
<p>I finally "ditched" her during our second tour; well, I fell to the back of the pack & walked with another mother. That helped. We saw seven schools & the last three were great.</p>
<p>I hear you, knc. While my daughter and I loved the travel and the whole process of touring schools (driving in, visiting the bookstore, having lunch), she simply would not speak up on tours. I didn't want to speak for her, but there were a couple of LACs where we were practically on private tours, two or three of us with the guide, and I felt SOMEBODY better say something and help this poor guide out.<br>
In retrospect, I should have done what some people on these boards advocate: let her take the tour while I go to the info session or hang out at the library.</p>
<p>Last year we did the NE Ivy type tour started in Boston (Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Penn over spring break and Duke on a trip to an athletic event). The plan was to do others during the summer. After the first 7 my D said they were all the same and said really variations of the same thing and was not interested in visition much more at all. However, she was generally indifferent to campus issues that may be important to others. Comment was, "I could go there", after she ranked them. However, she is an athlete and knew she would likely have to do more visits or revisits, which were done this past fall.</p>
<p>It's funny, but to us, each of the 20 we visited seemed unique and so distinct we stopped taking photos because no way would we get them confused. Every family is different and every kid is different.</p>
<p>Do not ask the questions, let D do it, let her find the buildings, let her navigate the process, ....as much as she can do, let her do....I understand somethings we need to do, but once on campus, let them take charge....</p>
<p>I alawys stay out of the picture as best I can, us that time to find a comfy chair and nap!!!</p>
<p>I agree CGM. I stayed in the back of the group and never asked a question. I always thought it would have been better if the guide asked the prospective students to step forward and tell the parents to stay in the back. I know, I know, a little too bossy am I.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the information. I just recently found this website. My D is a junior and we are planning our first college visits over Spring Break to schools in California. Looking at the visit "instructions" on the school websites I am getting such different impressions of the schools. Harvey Mudd says call in advance to plan a personalized visit with a tour, interview, class visit and overnight stay. In contrast Stanford gives the impression that they get millions of visitors so schedule online way in advance and maybe you will be lucky to do a tour. Cal Tech kind of takes the middle ground (no interviews but you can eat in the dining hall and talk to professors). Will be interesting to see how the real thing matches up with the impressions I'm getting from their websites.</p>
<p>dbwes. We were the only family on a tour in Nov. I never thought about it before but that poor guide! Wanting my girls to take the lead, I refused to ask questions but smiled and politely answered any that were asked. They...quiet by nature were pretty much doing the same. I never thought about how great our guide, Mike, really was until I read your post. He led us on an entertaining and informative tour though I am sure he was relieved when a prospective soccer player and his dad joined out group mid-way. I know the girls were happy to have his focus off of them entirely.</p>
<p>I did manage to embarrass them however because I had an asthma attack during our tour and my inhaler was in the car.</p>
<p>By the way, we toured a number of LAC's in California, and Harvey Mudd had one of the most entertaining tours, and the admissions officer was a hoot. Most of the places had no trouble getting us a tour a week in advance- except at UC Santa Cruz, their tours fill up weeks in advance (we were there in the summer).</p>
<p>My Nephew did the same CA tour you are talking about (Harvey Mudd, Cal Tech and Stanford) plus he did Occidental for a small general LAC and Cal Poly Pomona for comparison since it has good sciences/math, too. Occidental has cross registration with Cal Tech and a few dual programs (engineering, for example) and is very close, so you might want to throw that one into your tour plans, too, in case she thinks she may like a general LAC rather then a strictly science/math one. </p>
<p>My Nephew came away loving Harvey Mudd the very best, even with its weird architecture. He is a Junior and looking forward to applying next Fall. He found Cal Tech 'cold' on the following day. He liked Occidental, but preferred the more focussed science/math schools. </p>
<p>Stanford is really far away from the other two, but they took a couple days to get up there, do the tour one day, and come back down. It was a little big for his tastes. Cal Tech and Harvey Mudd and Occidental are good to tour in the same visit. Harvey Mudd and Cal Tech are very different in atmosphere, but with similar programs. Occidental has the potential to take advantage of all Cal Tech offers, but with a more general education. Each student will usually come away with a favorite of those three. Have a good time!</p>
<p>dsultemeier
Oxy offered us free lunch (terrific food) and called physics prof to meet with son. Caltech gave us tour with one other GC, and had a list of classes for S to audit. The admissions director met with S(& me) informally for a while, and encouraged him to return the next day to audit other classes.</p>
<p>DD had just finished her last college tour. We were veterans and had seen the good, the not-so-good, and the ugly. The tour guide for this last tour was terrific - cute, knowledgeable, funny, interested in the kids, etc. We stayed afterwards and wrote up a very positive evaluation of the experience. </p>
<p>Next week, DD has an interview with alumnus from another college. At the end of the interview he tells her about his son who is in college and just gave his first tour last week. It is quickly apparent from some details that the tour guide and the son are the same person. DD started to laugh and told the father (interviewer), I think I was on that tour. </p>
<p>Small world</p>
<p>Campus tours:
If possible, plan to attend either a music, theatre, or dance performance on campus or hit a popular entertainment spot in town that appeals to your student. You will get an idea of what offerings will be available and the costs such an outing will bring. You can also use this time to indicate that enjoying a night out once in awhile is appropriate, but it shouldn't be a weekly occurrence if you're on a tight or moderate budget.</p>
<p>Re: finding a bathroom before going on tour--the bathrooms in the admissions buildings are generally better appointed and cleaner than the student-use ones in the other buildings.</p>
<p>Check out the area's chamber of commerce website to find out about the town and surrounding communities.</p>
<p>Dsultemeier, I think you'll find that the schools match the websites. Son visited Caltech and Harvey Mudd, and the first was kind of a "Here come the tourists" attitude, although the tour guide was very personable (and good-looking!) Harvey Mudd went out of their way to make their school appealing. Do take advantage of the overnight for your daughter. Mudd and Caltech are disproportionately male, and that produces an odd dynamic in many ways. She may want to look at Pomona for contrast (and because she can take classes at any of the consortium colleges.)</p>
<p>Oh, and since this is your first set of visits, don't be shocked when you find out you are something of a decorative accessory. Find a museum or spa, or look up an old friend, so that you have something to do while your child is trying out her new role.</p>
<p>When I was younger, my parents tried to take me just on a walk through any college that we were near on any sort of vacation. This helped me because, I now (junior year) don't have to worry about what type of college I want to apply to. I know that I want a small LAC that is preferably in not in a city environment.</p>
<p>As a recent college grad myself who used to work as a tour guide, I think some of the important things you might want to ask are the following:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Number of active student organizations - I think an active campus with many orgs will provide your daughter with a lot of options to pursue her academic/non-academic interests.</p></li>
<li><p>Housing and Food - I would think it is important know what the dorming situation is like, whether they provide will provide housing for 4 years and whether and if students get singles, doubles, triples, etc. I also think the quality of the food is important. </p></li>
<li><p>Post-college opportunities - You should ask what students at that particular college tend to do post-graduation. The resources of the school's career/recruiting center is very important.</p></li>
<li><p>Diversity - Cultural and geographic diversity will definitely impact your child's college experience.</p></li>
<li><p>Social Life - I think it's good to know whether students party on campus/off campus or have other avenues to enjoy their social life.</p></li>
<li><p>Academics - Availability of professors/TAs as well as tutoring resources are important in transitioning from HS to college.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I hope this helps :)</p>