<p>■■■■■■■■■■ has a college visit planner tool. You can plug in all the schools you want to look at within a trip and it will plot out a trip for you. Of course, I’m contrary and wanted to add in visits with family & a Springsteen concert so I didn’t use it.</p>
<p>We had a book at some point that had the colleges listed on maps but I must have passed it along. I’ll have to see if I can remember the name.</p>
<p>Our strategy was to visit safeties and top choices. By definition, safeties are the ones that our kids had to “settle” for, and I wanted to make sure they would be happy with the environment and the location. Our kids applied to ED, so we visited those top choices.</p>
<p>D2’s top choices were Cornell, Yale, (Stanford, Berkeley) and Williams. D2 knew Cornell very well because D1 went there, so she used that as the benchmark. We visited Stanford and Berkeley while we were visiting relatives, and she crossed out the West Coast. She then visited Yale, got so so feeling, but it was a very good fit on paper. She then made another trip t visit Yale and Williams on a same trip, but she came away liking Cornell better, and that’s where she decided to ED.</p>
<p>She applied EA to UMichigan and UVA without visiting. There were 5-7 schools (match to reach) on her list she didn’t visit because we figured we would visit if she got accepted, and many of those schools didn’t care if she visited. She was lucky to be accepted to Cornell ED.</p>
<p>We also had a lot of fun visiting schools with our kids. H and I took turns sometimes, and it was fun to do 1:1 bonding with our kids.</p>
<p>Caveat to this, we enjoyed visiting and did a lot of it. Started early, and wove visits into trips over a couple year period for both kids. That said, it is MUCH harder to find admissions/financial matches & safeties than reaches. Don’t skimp on visiting colleges in these categories. It can really pay off – D1 found a match/safety school with great merit aid that she loved, and is graduating this spring at the top of her class and with excellent job prospects. I saved a bundle of money; although we spent quite a bit on visits, it was still definitely a good investment that paid off financially for us. Even if you don’t save something financially, there is no worse feeling in senior year than getting rejected at your top choices and not loving your safety/ies.</p>
<p>We have found visits to be very important. Schools Ds (and I) thought they would love have been scratched from the list after campus visits, and schools that were almost an afterthought (“we have a free afternoon on our trip, lets visit X”) have ended up as top choices.</p>
<p>Counting drive-bys, my D and I visited about 15 schools, starting the spring of her sophomore year. Some places only rated a drive-by, because location and campus setting are very important to D. If a campus was in the middle of nowhere, we moved on immediately … (Quote: “I’ll stay for the event if you want me to, but I’m telling you right now I’m not going here.”) As others have suggested, if you can’t visit everywhere, I’d for sure visit any place where “demonstrated interest” matters. Visiting the safeties makes a lot of sense, too, for the reasons oldfort describes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Here’s a real map you can fold up and take with you as you drive:
[US</a> College & University Reference Map: Over 1300 top colleges in the US and Canada (9781593530068): Hedberg Maps Inc. (Author), Nat Case (Editor)](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/US-College-University-Reference-Map/dp/1593530064]US”>http://www.amazon.com/US-College-University-Reference-Map/dp/1593530064)</p>
<p>We probably took S to visit 14 - 15 schools. We included a mix of reach, match and safety schools. The visits were coupled with summer vacation at the beach in SC, summer baseball camp at Princeton, and a couple of early visits to local schools that he had no interest in just for the benefit of being exposed to the campus visit and touring process. Of course he ended up at a school that we added at the last minute as we had an open day on the way to his baseball camp (Georgetown).</p>
<p>We feel that the visits are very important and we are currntly discussing a couple of summer road trips for our 2014 D as she wants to look at schools in the south and up the east coast.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how many we will end up doing? It sounds like we are doing/did things a little backwards. Each of the kids researched schools online, we found a few for them talking to people as well. They looked into the programs they were interested in and if the school looked good online, we visited/will visit (on round 3 of this now). They haven’t applied to any schools they haven’t visited.</p>
<p>Our oldest only went on 4 “visits”, 3 drive-by’s and one “official” visit. He knew exactly what he wanted and when he saw it he was done…that was too easy. We went on about 12 visits for the next and are up to visit 10 or so for the 3rd. We will probably have a few more this summer but we like to have the kids have their “list” ready by August and get applications done asap in the fall, especially for any schools that have rolling admissions.</p>
<p>We have visited about a dozen so far and still have a couple of years to go, so I believe there will be several more visits to come. But I am glad that we did visit so many because we (DS, DW, and I) all found the visits fun and informative and DS has significantly altered his ideas about what he was looking for. At first medium-sized research universities were strongly preferred to LAC’s and very urban locations were considered desirable while small towns were out of the question. Those preferences flipped during the course of our visits, and that changed his list considerably.</p>
<p>The problem with crossing off schools that may not give money or seem like a bit too much of a reach is that you just don’t know. My older s got offers with money from much better schools than we’d imagined, and didn’t get in to two of his safe schools! There are just so many moving parts, from geography to area of interest to ethnicity and gender. I’d hate to say my kid can’t even apply somewhere because I’ve decided in advance it’s out of the question, even if her stats are on the low end of what they’ll accept (although if they’re off the charts, that is a different matter). </p>
<p>I’m also finding the trips fun–although it’s hard to arrange the time off and even harder to pay for them. Think we’ll do some day-trips during spring break (NYC, Philly area are both relatively nearby), then Boston on a long weekend two weeks later. She likes two Ohio schools, and my brother lives out there, so we can do a combined trip in the fall. Can’t see myself trekking out to Minnesota or down south unless she hears of a great program or really fixes on the school. though she may apply. In that case, we can always visit once she gets in.</p>
<p>My d’s school had a mandatory bus tour, but she was not interested in any of the schools on their list. She fell in love with the first school we visited, but I forced her to visit others to make sure. None of them lived up to her first choice.</p>
<p>By the way, OP, if your d likes Vassar, also visit Swarthmore. It’s close to you and very similar to Vassar.</p>
<p>I know I am not a parent, but with a parent who works in Admissions/Career Services at one of the top universities in America I felt it necessary to put my two cents in. First off, visiting 12 plus schools is absolutely unnecessary especially in your sophomore year of high school, You will not know what you want in two years let alone if you even have realistic statistics for those schools. GPAs and class ranking fluctuate so much over your junior year that it is not something you can simply predict. Start the beginning of your junior year looking at schools ONLINE. There are so many virtual tours and student perspective blogs on admissions websites these days that unless you live within a two hours drive of the school its not worth visiting just as a prospective you can get anything you need to know online. In my case (I’m a current senior) I applied to 6 Schools and I’ve gotten into 5 (still waiting to hear from one). Of those 6 schools I visited 2 and I’m planning on visiting the others now that I actually know I can go to the schools. Lastly, DO NOT RUSH YOUR KIDS TO GROW UP. Putting the pressure of college on them as a sophomore is RIDICULOUS. The college process should start the beginning of your junior year at the earliest and trust me you are not getting a head start by looking at schools earlier. The only boost you need is doing your college apps early your senior year and that is it. Focus on extra curriculars and volunteer service now, because good EC’s and Volunteer work put you at the top of the applicant pool almost automatically</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>However, be sure to set appropriate expectations. For example, with financial reaches like NYU, make it clear to the student that s/he is aiming for not just admission, but for admission with sufficient non-loan financial aid and scholarships to make it affordable, and that admission without such aid and scholarships is equivalent to a rejection.</p>
<p>Take a look at least two other recent threads involving a student whose dream school is NYU but whose family cannot afford it.</p>
<p>No magic number, my son visisted about 6-7 over the past year, did not visit every school he applied to, but did see representative sample of a type of school. </p>
<p>Spring of junior year, we tried to go to junior visit days at several lacs within about 3 hour drive, had to cancel most because of his schedule conflicts. Kenyon was his first official college visit and very useful to help him sort out his priorities. Loved the Admissions officer who led the info session, but had an immediate reponse to the school, too small, too remote. Very useful for helping him start to imagine that he would soon be the peer of college kids. </p>
<p>A spring trip to our flagship, which he loved (me, not so much). </p>
<p>Next up, a family trip to see University of Iowa and Grinnell. Good for him to see a flagship other than our own and to see another lac. Very useful for him to compare the info sessions, tours etc at the different flagships and lacs, he started seeing some differences in emphasis, priorities etc. </p>
<p>Fall overnights to Oberlin and back to Grinnell. Oberlin was my dream school for him, I believed perfect fit blah blah. He really did enjoy, could see himself friends with his host, loved the class visits. Thought it could be too small a community. Grinnell, much as we loved it on paper, and he enjoyed the vibe, even smaller than Oberlin, perhaps much too small. </p>
<p>December visit to Wisconsin – a pivotal trip for both of us. I had thought his interest in our state flagship was sign of insecurity and unwillingness to push himself. Then, I saw him practically quiver with excitement at Madison, the energy, the excitement, that I finally got it and stopped pushing my agenda. He realized he could have other options besides our flagship and got together more state school apps. </p>
<p>Final tally: applied to 6 flagships and 3 lacs. Admitted to 4 flagships, with Illinois and Minnesota the front-runners, and still waiting for final decisions from Wisconsin and Michigan. Planning visits to Illinois and Minnesota as he applied without visiting. If he gets into Oberlin, he will return for admitted students or other visit.</p>
<p>Lessons learned: one parent trips were much less stressful, less balancing to do. We developed an easy routine on the road trips – he would play his music (and I would keep my mouth shut) and he would open up about school, friends, interests etc. On the early trips, I had to learn to stop when he was done – several times, we had screaming fits on the way out of town because he refused to do the one last thing I thought we should do (whether it was drive by the gleaming new rec center or stop at the bookstore). I finally learned that when he said he was ready to go, I needed to start the car, be quiet, and let him lead the conversation about what he thought.</p>
<p>Has been an exhausting, frustrating time, but now he is ready to focus on what is the best school for him. A year ago, I never thought we would make it this far. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>laxkid137–I guess I don’t really agree with what you have said at all. I think most kids have a general idea of what they like, don’t like by sophomore year–campus size, location, general programs they want-not specifically majors but if they want to be a part of a school organization, etc. I think taking some on-campus tours as a sophomore is a great way to start the process. It is so overwhelming and to just visit a few campuses really helps you narrow down your search and gives you focus.</p>
<p>Our kids had been on various college campuses for sports camps, sporting events, concerts, etc. that by the time they were in 9th grade, they pretty much knew that they did not want a huge university so that eliminated a lot of schools right there. They never wavered from that at all, any of them.</p>
<p>I think going on visits does the exact opposite, it relieves stress for kids because they don’t have the fear of the unknown. Sophomore year is not too early to be thinking about college choices.</p>
<p>SteveMA- I do agree you have a general idea and visits are good to show you what is out there, but you unless your kid tells you they want to look at colleges their sophomore year, you should not pressure them into looking until their junior year because then you WILL be the cause of their college stress (living up to expectations)</p>
<p>On the topic of when to start college tours, I think different kids have different needs. I’ve noticed a lot of boys just aren’t in the head space to think about college in their sophmore years and many see their grades and testing ability take a solid leap by the end of junior year, which means lots of schools that were intially not in range, become possibilities. Schools we talked about in 10th grade, weren’t on the list by end end of 11th, S had changed that much. On the other hand, doing those visits in 11th grade makes it ‘real’ like nothing else, if you have a kid for whom college feels like an abstract concept too far away to matter much. For our younger kid, who watched older kid go through the process, it was a different story. She went on a few college tours we did for him that might also have fit her (but ultimately didn’t) and started reading about schools in 10th because she was more than ready to go. </p>
<p>So, bottom line, there’s no ‘right’ time - it depends on your kid and your family.</p>
<p>I would just add, laxkid and Steve, that really depends on the student. My son was not ready to consider college in 10th grade; if we had even added a stop at a school along the way to visit family, that would have created anxiety and conflict. Certainly, some students are quite focused and self-reflective in 10th grade, others not so much. </p>
<p>Looking ahead, my younger son will be much more focused and particular about his search as he has had the advantage of watching the oldest on this adventure. </p>
<p>Always struggling to find the balance in our house.</p>
<p>I did most of the trips with my son and have to agree it can be a fun time for bonding with your kid. I took him to some places I didn’t think he’d like, but there were good things about those schools that I wanted him to have in mind when looking at other schools. (For example GW’s location and access to DC insiders, or Bard’s approach to the senior thesis.) For my oldest we visited four schools April junior year (staying with family and friends required a CA plane trip to LA and SF.) and the the four schools that accepted him April senior year. For the younger son we looked at two in February junior year (a day trip), two April junior year (a long weekend visiting my Boston based brother), three September senior year (Labor Day weekend before his high school started but the schools we visited were in session, combined with a visit to my sister-in-law) and four in April after the acceptances came in which included revisiting two. The CA trip was the most expensive. Luckily we have a friends and families in a lot of college towns!</p>
<p>Msmom – that is my child, in a nutshell! As his focus and maturity improved, we were looking at a very different set of schools. Fall of 11th grade, I was looking at Evergreen State and despairing whether he would ever acknowledge that he was, perhaps, going to college at some point. By spring of 11th, he realized his peers were starting to engage with his process and he was willing to investigate, a little. </p>
<p>He has some friends who have dreamed of admission to Ivies since before they got their first A in high school. They are good friends, but very different people. I like to think my dreamer and late bloomer will contribute in ways that his goal-oriented peers cannot, but that is my mom bias.</p>
<p>midwestmomofboys- Thank you for your input, I guess it is just really unclear of what I’m trying to say, as a student currently going through the college through the college process, I strongly believe that unless your kid specifically says to you I want to visit a dozen schools its not worth it, This is your kids future and they should decide when they start looking, where they want to visit, and how many places they want to visit. It should not be forced upon them sophomore year like I have seen countless times with people in my school and on this website. Every kid gets ready for the college process at a different time and though this is a family decision and you want the best for your kid as much as you are going to hate this, the kid knows best.</p>