It's easy to find dream schools. It's sometimes a challenge to find that sure thing, slam dunk school. Personally, I think that's where students should,start their college lists...and visits...with safety, sure thing, affordable schools. <<
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that is really smart advice. i agree 100%.
Hmmm . . . user name Brentwoodmom - like where OJ lives?
At this point, your kid is just a 10th grader. So don’t over think it. You have no idea how strong his stats are and also no idea of what kind of schools he might ultimately want.
So the best you can accomplish at this point is to get your kid focused on a TYPE of school rather than one particular school. Big state school, small liberal arts school, school in a city, school in a college town, school in the country, etc.
So just pick a route that lets you hit a number of the different types of schools in a convenient manner. And make the trip fun. Don’t hesitate to bail on tours if your kid isn’t into it, or is hungry, or the weather is bad, etc. Also, just doing a drive by and walk around can be just fine and faster than the typical info session/tour that (after you’ve done a couple) all blend together.
Also, PLEASE listen to the posters above about the merit aid. They all know and are correct. As a practical matter, merit aid does not exist in the top 25 schools. Don’t waste time on a pipe dream. Your kid is NOT, repeat NOT, going to get merit aid at Duke. Sure he might get a Roberston; by the same token he might also get a merit scholarship to Oxford (i.e. Rhodes). My 35 ACT kid is getting into a number of top 25 schools this cycle, but isn’t even getting nominated for those ultra competitive scholarships.
If you really need merit, start shopping with Wake (USNWR #27) and go down from there.
I totally understand merit at Duke is a pipe dream. I found a old thread on here a few weeks ago where someone had a perfect SAT score and didn’t get any merit aid from Duke. I showed it to him and we discussed it before booking the trip.
He’s a really level headed kid. When we went to a college fair, he went through all the brochures and figured out how much money he could automatically get for certain scores to the different schools.
His current list includes a lot of other schools where he should be able to get merit, and some where he may not.
Duke is the furthest, so we are using his Spring Break to go there.
He’ll have good stats, but I know that will make him a dime a dozen in the kids applying to Duke.
He made a 31 on the ACT in the fall of his freshman year, and a 1440 on his PSAT this fall.
So by his junior year, I think he should have some good test scores, but again, I know all the kids applying to Duke have these same type scores, and we have discussed that.
You may also wish to contact your school’s college counselor, or check Naviance, if you have it, before you plan any trip. I can’t tell you the number of my daughter’s classmates who visited Duke (or similar schools) in 10th grade, and then learned in junior year that they basically had no hope whatsoever of being admitted. For some, that was a hard adjustment and in the process soured the whole college process. So I would caution that visiting schools with single-digit acceptance rates this early is a very high risk proposition.
it would be a shame to visit Duke and miss Duke Gardens. make sure you leave enough time for it.
NC State is really so close that if he wants to do engineering or any STEM field, you should squeeze in a visit. the Park Scholarship is NCSU’s big one, but there are a couple other big ones as well.
visiting Davidson sounds like a good idea too.
I am thinking along the lines of Brentwood, Long Island … LOL ?
I would focus right now on safety and match schools, especially since you are looking for merit. Those are the hardest to find.
We are in Brentwood, TN, just south of Nashville 
I would like to follow up on thumpers post. You have a great list that will give you son a feel for different types of schools (very small to very large, small town (Davidson) to small city (NC State), STEM Focused-Non STEM focused). It should give him a feel for what he might enjoy. However, they are schools that can be easy to fall in love with and could set a very high bar for what he wants in a school. Something to consider if this the first set of schools you will be seeing.
Setting merit aside, UNC-CH is a crap shot for ANY OOS. The acceptance rate for OOS students is low and the average OOS stats are high. Great school just understand the odds.
Also since this is your first kid, I warn you what he wants (or thinks he wants) can change greatly in the next two years. When we started the process (way too late in our case) we visit the same schools. What we thought our daughter wanted in the summer was completely different then what she wanted in May. Surprised us.
“I totally understand merit at Duke is a pipe dream.”
Great; then you are good to go. Just focus on the types of schools. The trip is a success is your kid comes away thinking I do/don’t like as school LIKE NC State as compared to a school like Duke or Wake or Davidson.
And have fun. On my kids’ exploratory trips, we always made it a point to scout out the best local dive for pizza, burgers, fried chicken, BBQ, cheesesteaks , whatever.
Big fan of University of Richmond. Often under the radar but excellent school. Including undergraduate business–well respected accounting program.
When my S was a junior in HS, we did a trip to NC and VA (driving from the Midwest). We saw Davidson, Duke, and UNC Chapel Hill, then went to Virginia and saw the University of Richmond and the University of Virginia (my alma mater). S liked the University of Richmond the best; also applied to Davidson and UVA but ended up getting in somewhere else ED so withdrew those applications.
A friend is on the faculty of High Point University (poached from the Midwestern university where I worked). I don’t think it compares to the others academically, but I’ve read so much about it I’d love to see it in person if I was in the area.
We were primarily seeking need-based aid.
+1 on Richmond, especially since it is a realistic merit aid target. 29-32 ACT range with about 25% of students getting merit money. So smart, but mere mortal kids, can qualify.
I don’t think we will have time to see Richmond in this trip, but I’ll definitely check it out based on all the feedback here.
His school asked the sophomores to work in a list of 8-10 colleges. So the rest of his possible list includes:
Washington University
Miami of Ohio
Clemson
South Carolina
Georgia
Alabama
He is also interested in Vanderbilt, but we’ve lived in Nashville his whole life, and I’m encouraging him to spread his wings a bit in college.
Clemson’s OOS freshman recruiting merit scholarship has been maxed out at $15k for last few years. That used to be enough to get OOS tuition close to the IS price, but not any longer, with OOS direct costs totalling $45k this year.
Their NSP national scholars program is awesome and offers 10ish full ride scholarships each year, but is incredibly competetive. My 35 ACT high stats D was one of 40 students invited to the NSP scholarship weekend back in 2014, but was not offered the full ride in the end. They ended up offering her an additional $1500 on top of the $15k originally offered with admission, along with $1k for NMF.
It was just not enough to make Clemson affordable for us, considering that she had several full tuition scholarships at other schools, including U Alabama’s fantastic NMF package. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she attends U of Richmond on a full tuition scholarship.
Clemson is a wonderful school, but the full rides are very difficult to get, and unless they increase that freshman recruiting scholarship, the remaining OOS cost is still $30k+.
As others suggested, I think Davidson would be good to visit since you will be in Charlotte. That will be great to compare that size of school to the others so he can get a feel for an LAC. Later if you come look at South Carolina or Georgia schools, you should check out Furman. He might be able to get some merit there and it is beautiful!
Have fun! It will be such a pretty time of year. Although last spring break we had bad luck with one incredibly cold and windy day when we visited UNC-CH and Elon. They were still gorgeous though.
OP I have a child at one of the NC schools on your list. She was also a very strong HS student and here is what we learned: having high stats can get you into top schools ( not all top schools) OR will get you merit money to lower ranked, yet very good schools. Good luck on your journey!
Thanks everyone for being so helpful! We are planning to visit UNC and Duke on the same day. And do a self guided trip to NC State on one of the days. And then visit Davidson the day before we fly out.
northwesty- I had a friend who attended Duke send us suggestions for fun places to eat while we were in the area. Whenever we drive through towns with large campuses, we usually stop and eat at a local campus hangout. It’s fun to get a little of the vibe from each campus.
I personally think if you are in the “area” so to speak…you should check out elon and wake forest. do not pre judge the costs. I know a former student (different school)who by senior year of college not only had a full ride but the school gave her a couple hundred dollars back. (not a stipend) they kept adding scholarships and grants…along the way. she was a star student but it was not expected or listed in any literature that you could have pre-screened to make a determination of estimated annual cost. elon and wake are worth the visit in my opinion even if you do not end up applying. (davidson too).
also two schools you should add not in north carolina (because I think everyone should look at them)
hendrix college
https://www.hendrix.edu/
and
muhlenberg college
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/
I think Wake Forest is also worth a visit because it has such a different feel than UNC… which has a very different feel than Duke. At the very least it can help narrow things down a bit.