<p>D and I are going to look at 3 schools-any tips/suggestions or questions to ask during information session- we have only looked at 1 college so far so this will really help to compare schools-</p>
<p>I have always recommended that parents and students spend some time in the eating facilities on campus. This will allow your daughter to get a better picture of the students while also experiencing the food that she may be eating for the next four years. It is also a good time to initiate conversation and get the “real” picture.</p>
<p>I am very impressed by your statement that you are doing 3 schools, and from the title of your post you are doing them one each day. That is really good, and that speaks volumes about your stress levels! I always recommend that less is more, regarding college trips, because it can get very overwhelming very fast. I am sure you will have it all under control. Use your intuition, your insight, and your gut level reactions. Most of all, relax and have fun! Good luck as you embark on this process.</p>
<p>Consider travel time between places specially if you are using public transportation.</p>
<p>If you want details about a particular area, just ask here - there are people from all over the USA who can help you.</p>
<p>Have fun</p>
<p>Go to the student center for a meal or snack.
Have your D go to a class (without you 
).
Take the official tour.
Attend the official info session.
If there is anything that your D is particularly interested in–art, music, a sport, an academic discipline–ask questions about it at the info session and during the tour, and try to check out the facilities on your own if it isn’t included in the tour.</p>
<p>When traveling between schools, try to arrive in the vicinity of the next day’s school the night before so that you have time to really explore the school.</p>
<p>If you can arrange to have your DD (preferably w/o you) sit in a class that is within her major, she will have a chance to see her future professor/s, and fellow students she will most likely interface with when she attends next year.
Enjoy this time w/your D-it was magical for me and my DD.</p>
<p>After you see each school, try to talk to D about what she liked and didn’t like about each school. If can get her to write it down, even better (but good luck with that).</p>
<p>When my D especially liked a school we visited, we found out when we were there who the admissions officer was for our geographic area and then she sent a follow up email asserting her interest and specifically mentioning something about the school she liked. I can’t say for sure if this helps, but I can’t help but believing that expressing interest is a good thing.</p>
<p>Enjoy the time with your D. I found it an amazing bonding experience - very important before she flys the coop!</p>
<p>Where are the three schools you are looking at?</p>
<p>my kids wouldn’t write things down either and they were surprisingly muddled at decision time.</p>
<p>Maybe do a report cart of each campus. </p>
<p>food
friendliness
atmosphere
facilities
dorms
overall</p>
<p>That way your D knows what she is looking for ahead of time and it will make it easier. If I had been more specific maybe the girls would have been able to articulate their feelings about the schools instead of saying things were “fine.”</p>
<p>We did a three-college, three-day tour last summer and had a great time. Not a lot of classes in session, so ds wasn’t able to do that, but I feel like he did get a good feel for each place.</p>
<p>I agree with above advice to get to your destination the night before. We were able to do that each time and actually drove to the campus to see what it looked like in off-hours, check the surrounding area, make sure we knew how to get there so that we would be less stressed in the morning.</p>
<p>One thing I made ds do immediately upon getting back into the car after a tour is pull out a notepad and write at least three pros, three cons and then a one- or two-sentence narrative about overall impressions. Sometimes it can be difficult to keep it all straight. The little list and narrative is minimal effort, and you can learn a lot. For instance, if ds wrote several sentences, then it was obvious the place made an impression, good or bad.</p>
<p>We weren’t very aggressive about setting up interviews with profs and such because it was summer and at some places no one was around. All of our college visits, including a three-day, three college visit that was done solo by ds, were done during the summer. In some places, I’m glad we didn’t go through the effort; it was obvious 10 minutes into the tour that it wasn’t a love-match. The top two schools on ds’s list he went back to during the school year and that’s when he sat in on classes, talked a lot to students, etc. I guess we operate a lot on gut – we used the initial visits to weed out places we no longer wanted to consider and then, as finances allowed, he revisited alone.</p>
<p>There are lots of different ways to do it, depending on your time, finances and inclination. Good luck and have fun! I look back at those days fondly.</p>
<p>Take a few photos. Not l00 smiling portraits of each other throughout the day (that breaks the flow). Instead, consider keeping a walking document to go back to later when memories blur. Start with any sign that includes the college’s name as your “establishing shot” - so you know the others after it come from that college.</p>
<p>If your D likes to snap photos, let her; she’ll feel more invested in the tour.
I mean just a few snaps per campus, onto a cellphone or small camera.</p>
<p>When you walk around tours, some things might seem siimilar at each place; for example: empty sample dorm rooms. Or your D might see something unusual or quirky that she likes or dislikes, so snapping that shot will help her recall later. </p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be a postcard-pretty tour, just a way to later go back and recall, for example, which was the college with a central cafeteria vs. many small cafe-kiosks, or which one had the dorm with wide staircase vs. big lineups at an elevator.</p>
<p>The report card approach really worked for us. We had a list of criteria and each one was give and score of 1-10, (I always had my sons go first). The point wasn’t to come up with an all encompassing final grade but to get the discussion flowing about what was important to my sons.</p>
<p>Our List</p>
<p>Info Session Value
Tour Guide Quality
Campus Beauty
Perceived Academics
Dorms
Cuteness of Girls
Food
Overall Grade</p>
<p>After 2 or 3 there were some trends that made future assessments much easier.</p>
<p>I like Vinceh’s list, but would also add location, location, location. (I recall a great campus, highly rated for my D’s interest, BUT miles, and miles from nowhere…) </p>
<p>Another school pointed out that they had a bus that travelled on Holidays and after/before terms that delivered the kids to/from our local mall from the school - a big plus for them.</p>
<p>Focusing more on the college life side …</p>
<p>I would ask what the orientation process is. How do they ease freshman into the college experience. I would ask what social activities there are for the students on a regular basis. I think this is especially vital information for freshman - particularly if they are on the shy side.</p>
<p>It’s not all academics - classes can be great, but if they don’t find their comfort zone and circle of friends they are going to be miserable.</p>
<p>Focusing more on the travel side, if the schools are far apart I would rent a car, because it is a lot of wear and tear on your car, especially in the big cities. We did a tour of Brown, Yale, Columbia, and Penn over four days. I thought they were close together, but all of the driving close to the cities was very stop and go, and in some parking areas I was also glad it wasn’t my own car I was leaving!</p>
<p>Take a good look at the bulletin and announcement boards around campus. They offer an interesting snapshot of what is going on that week or so on campus. Can be eye-opening, off-putting, or fascinating!</p>
<p>I would say to relax and have FUN! I didn’t get to tour colleges for myself back in the day. That just wasn’t done. And my family didn’t have money to send me away, even to a state school. So I enjoyed taking my daughter to see various universities. Our college trips were like mini vacations. I wish the same for you!</p>
<p>Tell CC the 3 schools so the members can suggest “not to miss nuggets” about each campus.</p>
<p>My DS and I would split up for at least part of the time, and he would try to speak with a stuent or two about the things they wont say in front of a parent: what is the social life like, is there a lot of drinking? drugs? Do people study a lot- and given that we were looking at a lot of high powered schools: do they take the time to play, or is it all work, study, sleep. He got a lot of good info this way.
We also did the pros and cons list and took photos. Its amazing now that the admissions are starting to come in, how little you remeber from a year ago- those notes and photos really help.</p>
<p>If there’s any EC your kid might like to continue, look it up on the school website and see if it’s possible to view an event or meet some of the kids.</p>
<p>For my oldest the info sessions were close to useless … the info presented was info on the web-page and/or the mailings … and most questions asked were far from helpful to a broad audience (“is it more important to get an A or take a tougher course?”). Like others said my oldest found time hanging around much more useful … eat in a dining hall … and find the off-campus hangout … and hopefully your child will be willing to talk to the students.</p>