<p>Re: an earlier question about campus visits during the summer. Yes, it is better to visit during the school season whenever possible. So for schools that are within an hour or two of home, try to do those on fall weekends. Check the school’s website for special events such as Open Houses, since those often provide a more in-depth look than the usual admissions sessions and tours.
We did use summer visits a lot for the schools that were further away. We turned those into vacations by adding in some site-seeing (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was awesome!).
But even a summer visit is better than no visit at all.</p>
<p>Not sure I replied to this before–sorry! Great advice–thank you. We have not ruled out rural–as a matter of fact, we recently (since I originally posted) visited Kenyon, which D loved. Didn’t mind that it was in the “middle of nowhere.”</p>
<p>Thanks, BeanTownGirl. We did do some summer visits. It was nice because we were able to rule some out, but the ones D liked, she’ll revisit senior year when school is in session and can spend the night and interview, etc…</p>
<p>What you may want to do is take intparent’s checklist in post #18, tailor it to the specific preferences of the student, then try to fill in as much as possible from the school web site. Any categories for which information is not available on the web or where you have additional questions can be highlighted for that specific school so that you can know what the look for on a visit.</p>
<p>I would also add to the checklist the net price from the school’s net price calculator using only need-based financial aid and guarantee-for-stats merit scholarships, with a separate item on potential merit scholarships from the school. Those with no chance of affordability can be removed from the application list; those with low chance of affordability relative to initial desirability might be a lesser priority to visit compared to others.</p>
<p>You’ve been given very good advice here. My d’s both have already graduated from college and one from grad school as well. At our high school you begin college planning with your guidance counselor in the winter or late fall of your junior year in high school. You meet as a family with the guidance counselor and discuss some of the questions you are asking. If you’ve already begun doing some research or have already done some college visits, even better because they help you focus on schools to look at based on your stats, your geographic preferences, college types, merit possibilities and so on. Of course there is only so much that they know and may not be that familiar with “hidden gems”.
We also knew that we would not qualify for financial aid, but merit would play a big part in decisions and we focused on schools that at the time were known for merit aid. Older d did apply to 2 Ivies where she was waitlisted at both, but received merit aid for all schools she was accepted at with the exception of Skidmore who congratulated her by telling her “she could comfortably afford a Skidmore education”.
We had visited a few schools tied in with out of town trips already but not that many. In older d’s case, she did not want to go to very large school, did not want to go cross-country, did not want to go to school with rah,rah heavy sorority/frat presence… and those criteria did help us make a list of possibilities. She was initially science/studio art so school needed to be strong in both with somewhat flexible curriculum. Younger d had some similar concerns and was faced with different dilemna… music conservatory or music major in university? That gave us a lot of different options to research and address.
In late spring, our school district joins with other local school districts for a very large college fair where you can speak with representatives of many schools and pick up literature…and attend panel sessions. This was very helpful.
Beginning of senior year, you can attend info sessions both in high school and at hotel gatherings when admission reps are traveling to your area. You can sometimes have appointments for in-person interviews. In our high school, you then meet again with the guidance counselor to go over specifics about the admissions process and deadlines and so on…and there was another college planning meeting for parents only about the application process.
We also attended a session on financial planning for college that was held at our local library at one point.
Finally… you will be getting so much mail from colleges that you can sift through… some you will toss immediately and others may interest you enough to visit the school’s website, research departments, read campus newspaper online and so on.</p>
<p>Testing…I’ve had some rejected replies due to expired token?</p>
<p>Okay, then…Bookmama,
“In older d’s case, she did not want to go to very large school, did not want to go cross-country, did not want to go to school with rah,rah heavy sorority/frat presence… and those criteria did help us make a list of possibilities. She was initially science/studio art so school needed to be strong in both with somewhat flexible curriculum.”</p>
<p>Your d sounds practically identical to mine! Do you mind telling me where she ended up going and if she liked it?</p>
<p>I’m definitely interested in exploring all merit aid possibilities. Some seem to require very specific criteria from students!</p>
<p>Great suggestions! You sound extremely organized! I’m going to make a fill-out form! Intparent had a great checklist!</p>
<p>You have all been so helpful!</p>
<p>Mommy22, my D2 also is interested in science and studio art. She ended up at Harvey Mudd (dropped her off yesterday 
). Obviously does not match your east coast/Midwest criteria, but thought I would mention it since you had that specific academic combination in mind.</p>
<p>We started by visiting an array of local schools, whatever was in our path when we were headed somewhere- and some purposely chosen. But the first idea was just to give D1 the feel for various environments- didn’t matter if she might be interested in those, we wanted her to get a sense of what was important to her, beyond just academic quality. We had a few very boring experiences with info sessions, so stopped going to those. Very quickly she narrowed down her basic preferences.</p>
<p>She knew her major, so DH and I took a hard look at the quality and range of classes, who taught them (humanities) and what their own education and professional activity is. We always looked at dining facilities and dorms, did ask the questions about how many live on campus. Community engagement was important to her, so we always asked that question- but the surrounding neighborhoods didn’t matter, if it appeared the campus itself was its own entity. We also looked at the campus calendars- different activities going on- from sports to guest lectures, concerts, traditional events and more. That counterbalances what’s offered in the local area. </p>
<p>After a while, she started to get a sense of the sorts of kids at various schools and decided she wanted to be where peers would keep her motivated. I feel the big fish/little fish question is an important one.</p>
<p>We had been warned that kids change a lot by app deadline date, then to May. That was true, for us. In the end, she applied to a handful of schools she knew she could be happy at, enjoy the opportunities, make friendships, be challenged and grow. Watch out for the notion of a “dream school.” It’s emotionally challenging.</p>
<p>No, we hadn’t thought of Notre Dame. Not sure how religious ND is, but we’re looking at mostly non-denominational schools. Also, it might be a little too rah rah for her. She has zero interest in going to football games.</p>
<p>She is a proud graduate of Brandeis University. She is also a proud MFA graduate of Tyler School of Art/Temple University. She did not apply to any stand-alone art schools because she did want to attend a university or college with strong academics and although she did apply to several Ivies and was wait-listed, we were looking for merit money. The merit picture has changed in recent years for many schools so schools that were known for merit are not as merit-friendly as they once were. </p>
<p>She did not want to travel too far from NY where we live which is why she crossed Wash U off her list of places to consider. She was interested in a joint art/science program offered by Carnegie Mellon, but we never were able to visit and they did not offer us any merit money.</p>
<p>She did not want to go somewhere remote although I suspect that if Skidmore had come up with some big merit money, that might have changed, not that Saratoga Springs is especially remote compared to other places, but other than a car, you are limited to Amtrak. Skidmore is a much hotter school now than it was when she applied. Younger d actually had four people she knew from different parts of her life attend Skidmore and loved it. </p>
<p>She did want to study abroad. She wanted to go somewhere where you have access to things to do beyond your own campus but did not want to go to a totally urban school like BU or NYU. </p>
<p>Being accessible to easy access to travel was a consideration. Having a Jewish presence was important… so that led us to rule out certain schools from the get-go.</p>
<p>We visited Brandeis this summer–D liked it a lot, but didn’t love the campus. It will probably remain on the list, though. It seems like an amazing school. Wash U would be great (and more geographically convenient for us), but I don’t think they give much merit aid, if any, and even if they did, they would have higher qualifying applicants than D. There seems to be a lot of science/art combo interests. It sure isn’t an obvious combo! D definitely wants to study abroad, but almost every school we’ve visited or had contact with seemed very proud of their travel abroad programs.</p>
<p>Another thought… I know nothiing about merit aid possibilities at Swarthmore, but d does know some faculty members there and has been impressed with their studio art program. She did tour Vassar but the open house day for prospective students was so poorly organized, she did not want to apply. Although Vassar has a gorgeous campus, the surrounding area is not especially appealing.
She did not apply to Oberlin but we toured with younger d. I personally did not care for the remoteness of the town but apparently everyone who goes there says the campus offers so much you don’t miss other opportunities to go and do things. What I did not like about the remoteness was it seemed hard to get to the airport if you wanted or needed to come home for some reason, apart from Thanksgiving/Winter Break and so on.
We like our kids to come home if doable (and it wasn’t always doable to do so) for holidays like Passover and Rosh Hashonah… but that is our family’s choice, not everyone’s family situation. Sometimes there is a family wedding or some other reason you need to leave school for…</p>
<p>Mommy 22, whatever school she goes to… if the Temple Rome program is offered, I recommend!! It is one of the oldest study abroad programs in Europe, very well organized… and studying art and art history in Italy … what more could you ask for!!</p>
<p>Good luck with the search… the art/science combo… I guess it is a right brain/left brain kind of thing. Usually one side or the other will win out. We do have a family friend whose d is older than my d and she went to Tufts but while at Tufts as a bio major she decided to explore the art side and ended with a joint degree, 5 year combined Tufts/ School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She is a Ph.D. candidate now in a science related field at Rutgers but she did not to complete additional science courses that she did not have in order to do so. That is not uncommon. I know of another family friend’s daughter who attended vet school after graduating as a math major. She did have to spend a year in a post-bac program for science.</p>
<p>I totally agree with you about the remoteness, but when D loved Kenyon and didn’t mind the remoteness at all, while it made me a little uncomfortable, I also felt like it opened up more possibilities. As for holidays, I didn’t figure she’d come home and as for special occasions, I figured we’d figure out a way to make it work if it comes to that.</p>
<p>My son who was looking for Art Studio + Art History, also liked Kenyon a lot. Others that I would recommend for the combination of Art Studio and Sciences are Williams, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Smith. Other than Smith these are all need-only schools, though.</p>
<p>My son ended up at Williams and had a great experience there. Both studio art and sciences are excellent, and double majoring in arts/sciences is common. For my son, the insular, rural location was the major draw. The natural beauty and outdoorsy activities are a good antidotes to academic pressure. In addition to wonderful studio art facilities, there are also three world class museums on or near campus – an unusual perk for a rural school.</p>
<p>PS, when touring colleges, be sure to visit the art department. It’s not usually included on the standard tour. You can learn about by viewing the facilities and student artwork.</p>