<p>So here's the deal: I'm a little overwhelmed looking for a college right now. I'm starting my senior year in a little over a week and want to get as much of my college search done as possible before I'm flooded with AP class homework. </p>
<p>My problem is simply this: my parents are probably going to be unable to pay the EFC that comes with our family's income level and the colleges I'm looking at (east coast places like Swarthmore, Middlebury, Marlboro, etc., etc.). However, I think I have a good chance for merit scholarships as far as academics and extracurricular activities go (except for the lack of community service). Before ruling out any colleges because of financial reasons, though, I want to get the chance to take a good look at them--and that means college visits.</p>
<p>Since most of the colleges I'll be looking at are on the east coast, I decided to take a road trip up from where I live in Houston through Arkansas (to hit Hendrix), Tennessee (for Rhodes), then up the east coast through Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and Vermont (perhaps even Maine if time and money permits). I'll take a couple of days off of school so that I can get the opportunity of seeing the schools in classes, but I dont want to miss too long so that I dont cause a stress on my parent/parents time off and my time off of school. Im trying to make this trip as frugal as possible too. </p>
<p>Ive pretty much decided the means and vaguely decided the route, but now its just a question of which colleges to visit. I want to visit colleges that have high academic standards like Swarthmore and Marlboro, but I also want to find the ones that will help me the most with aid packages and merit scholarships. Thats where Im at a real conflict. Its also in my best interest to limit the number of schools I go to so that I can spend more time at them and hopefully schedule interviews and turn in applications while Im at the school (to waiver application fees).</p>
<p>Does anyone have any advice on college visits, or advice on which schools to go to? This will probably be my only opportunity to really go out and visit colleges, so I need to do it right </p>
<p>I would be very, very appreciative to any help at all!</p>
<p>This is probably the worst possible time for visits. College administration and faculty are focused on move-in, dorm assignments, orientation and beginning classes for the new freshman in addition to all the issues which arise at the start of any new semester.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon had some very useful posts about some of the schools you are interested in - merit aid being very much a factor for his family. Try to search his threads. Both Hendrix and Rhodes, from what I recall, are well worth your look - but perhaps, as they are closer to home, schools you could manage to see when school is in session (and hence more accurate a picture) over some official high school break, like Columbus day, teacher conference days, whatever, leaving you more time to travel further afield this last week. Check the websites to see if they have any fall, on-campus programs for prospective students. </p>
<p>On-campus interviews seem to be less and less available so don't automatically expect them (check ahead). As an alternative to direct, on -campus experience, you might check to see if any of the schools on your list have "ask a student" type opportunities for you to at least make email contact.</p>
<p>Its so difficult to cram a trip to VT or ME from TX in one week, and its probably not possible to do full justice to an application in one week. I don't think that hand delivering an application will save you anything more than a stamp - there is, I believe, still a fee associated with most applications, and if you qualify for a waiver you will get one whether or not you apply now or later. So give yourself time to do your very best - you don't even know yet what new things you might want to add to the application after a few weeks of senior year.</p>
<p>Possibly, you will have to do a lot of research online and then visit the schools you are accepted to during spring break if it comes down to any really difficult decisions.</p>
<p>OK, so you're looking for schools with good merit aid. There is a thread stickied at the top of the parents forum which addresses this. Also, a little closer to home, check out Southwestern University. They offer "automatic" merit scholarships for certain academic achievements. Go to their website and look for the scholarship calculator. </p>
<p>Check to see if admissions reps from the colleges in which you are interested will be coming to your area. They pretty much all hit Houston in the fall. You should contact the admissions office and try to arrange a meeting.</p>
<p>I can't recommend much regarding merit aid, but my son and I did a college tour last April and I have some advice with regard to what you are planning. First, try to choose colleges on your list that are as different from each other as possible. Choose your smallest and your largest. Choose your furthest south and your furthest north. Choose your most academic and least. Choose and urban one and a small town one. The idea is to get contrasts in order to better get a feel for what kind of college fits you best. If you choose too many that are alike they all start to run together in your mind. Also, take photos and notes. You will forget a lot. Once you decide, for example, that quiet, small, urban, academic fits you then you can narrow down your list to schools like that. If you have a don't care (like the weather, for example) then you don't narrow down by that category. Some of these things like size or urban vs rural can be narrowed down by taking trips close to home. Look at Rice, look at SMU, look at UT, look at Trinity, look at Baylor. Do any of these schools feel right to you? Then, choose similar schools in different locations. Rice in a rural location in cold weather (Colgate, for example), or Rice in an urban area in cold weather (Yale) or UT in the north (Penn State), Trinity in the north(Villanova, Holy Cross), a slightly larger Trinity (Boston College), you get the idea.</p>
<p>Did not see your Post # 3 until after mine posted - so much does not apply. I am a little confused though - you can't wait until February or March to first visit schools before turning in applications clearly. If you can't make any visits until that late in your Senior year, you will have to do a lot of research, make what contact you can, attend local college fairs as fireflyscout said and make your decisions sight-unseen - then reserve a week AFTER all decisions come out to visit those schools to which you have been accepted that you are truly deciding between.</p>
<p>DD visited two schools and then applied to 7, only one of which she had visited. She then decided to visit 3 of the 6 that accepted her. </p>
<p>We found this a reasonable approach. There's a lot of information available about colleges and universities and a few criteria can make a big difference in cutting down the list. DD wanted a location that was urban or college town, we wanted schools that had costs within reason for us, including by meeting EFC (and offer some merit aid), she didn't want a big Greek scene....those were key components, but there was some element of fit/campus culture.</p>
<p>I would also suggest looking into Smith, Bryn Mawr, Oberlin, Mt. Holyoke, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire, Bard, and Simmons. Assuming that you're competitive for admission at Swarthmore, you have a decent chance of getting serious merit money from these schools.</p>
<p>Check out Bennington if you are coming to Vermont. It is only about half an hour from Marlboro and quite similar though twice the size (still small :-)</p>