<p>I think websites can be particularly useful in telling you that a school is NOT a good choice–for example, if it doesn’t have the major you are looking for.</p>
<p>Visits can serve the same purpose.</p>
<p>One of my kids knew before we got out of the car that she wouldn’t go to Johns Hopkins if it was the last university on Earth. We went through with the tour and information session anyway. She didn’t change her mind.</p>
<p>If there is a way to just drop her and pick her up later? Go sit in a park with the baby? </p>
<p>I’m going to put forth a theory…you have a teen and a new baby…this is a way perhaps for the teen to reconnect with mom? Something that is hers and exciting? That isn’t baby centric?</p>
<p>Just a thought</p>
<p>*Early *in the process it can be useful to visit almost any college. We live in a college town so S went up to do a visit there early junior year. It gave him an idea what to look for, what to ask, what a “typical” campus-dorm-dining hall might be like. He didn’t want to attend that school, too close to home, but it was a baseline of sorts…and easy, as it was a day he didn’t have school and we walked there.</p>
<p>I know a number of parents who are happy to bring an extra kid or two along on college visits. Could your daughter look at a few schools with other families? Just to do the standard half or full day planned trip? She can always go back to a couple of them to do a more indepth look after she is accepted. </p>
<p>Both of my boys had schools that they were admitted to that they never did visit. Too far away for a look see sort of visit, and after they were accepted, with financial and scholarship packages in hand, those schools dropped off their short lists.</p>
<p>i like touring with my daughter BUT that said… best tour EVER… they separated parents and children… we each could ask what we wanted to…
so i don’t see why you can’t go off with baby… it would be better then dragging the baby along (i’m assuming your child doesn’t want baby in tow)</p>
<p>My D visited 4 colleges, three of which were between 2.5 and 4.5 hours from home, and one of which required a plane trip. The closest one was a 1 day trip where she and her dad left early in the morning and returned late at night. They headed out to all the others the night before and then spent a full day on campus. She did these four visits junior year, all on school holidays so she never needed to miss a day of school, and she never made another college visit until orientation at her chosen school. I think having enough time to explore the campus and the area around the campus without being rushed is important. If my D wanted to do that at a dozen schools, that probably wouldn’t work, but for 4 it was no big deal. Also, we had done extensive research on the websites of all of these schools before the visit, and that was important in knowing what to ask, what to look for, and what not to bother asking because the information was already known or easily accessible elsewhere.</p>
<p>I would not want to make those trips with a baby. Is there any way she could go with someone other than you? My mom had a baby and my dad was ill back when I was looking at colleges, and my grandmother, an aunt and a cousin took me on my college visits. Since I was the one who needed to see the colleges, not my parents, that worked fine.</p>
<p>We try to incorporate college visits into summer vacation (my son is on varsity teams and can’t go during school breaks). Sweeping a geographical area worked well. Since there are no classes in the summer time, it is basically a tour and info session, which can be done in under 2 hours. My younger son is not interested in the same schools and it would have been easier with a portable baby that a with second teen. We had to split up our group at times so he would not feel like sacrificing his vacation. </p>
<p>IMHO seeing is important for both student and parents. In one place seeing a dorm was a complete turnoff for him. As a parent I want to feel good about the biggest investment we will be making. For this reason I would not send my kids with another family.There is a company in our area that takes kids on group tours, and they cover many schools in one 3-5 day trip. Google Gocampusing.com or similar, if you are in New York. This may be a first trip then followed by a detailed trip to a couple of schools when it comes down to choosing.</p>
<p>DS #1 has visted (campus tours/info sessions, overnights, weeklong summer program) 6 colleges during weekends, holidays and summer breaks since the summer of freshmen year. He’s been able to scratch off 3 of those schools. We’ve done our own campus walks/drive-thrus at 4 he was considering-“just to get the vibe”; 3 close to home and 1 out of state while visiting a relative. He was able to eliminate one. There are 4 more, out of state, that he will apply to but will only visit if it becomes necessary (by order of choice) & viable options based on financial aid package/scholarships. This method has worked well for us in that it was done gradually and we brought along DS#2 so he was able to begin compiling his list early. Our hope is that one of DS#1 Early’s come through for him so we can be done with this process and he can thoroughly enjoy the rest of his senior year.</p>
<p>DS is a senior this fall. Our trips have been one day, except for the schools that were so far away that they required an overnight. We have, for the most part, aimed for open houses, particularly engineering open houses, where we were able to schedule it around our and DS’s schedule. There have been no campus overnights or class visitations - we are saving those for after he is accepted. He will go to a few of those schools in the spring and stay overnight to get a better feel. I don’t see any need to spend that amount of time at a school that hasn’t accepted him, particularly since he didn’t have his license until a couple of months ago and one of us had to travel with him. We did encourage him to review web sites but he really needed to see campuses to rule out some schools. One visit moved a school up higher on his list.</p>
<p>Bottom line - long visits seem overkill for a student’s long initial list. A half day visit and a review of the web site should be enough to narrow down the list. I like the suggestion to limit the long visits to 3 schools - we hadn’t thought about a specific number but may do that now.</p>
<p>If you’re considering the option of having your daughter do some college visits on her own, make sure that it will be possible for her to stay in a hotel in the college community if she needs to stay overnight and a dorm stay is not possible.</p>
<p>This can be a problem in some communities and with some hotel chains. Some of them will not rent a room to anyone under 21.</p>