<p>I'm helping my son, a junior, to schedule a few campus visits during his spring break. Looking to go to Clemson, South Carolina, Auburn, and Alabama this time around.
In the past we have done the campus tour and them visit to Engineering Department for a chat and a tour with a professor or grad student, but I wondering if we should try to add a visit to the Admissions Department and Financial Aid Office. </p>
<p>The more we look into the colleges websites it is hard to understand their admission policies and even harder to know what scholarships/aids do they offer ( that he could qualify for) and how they administer them.</p>
<p>How this schedule looks:
Morning:
-Campus Tour
-Admissions Office
-Fin Aid Office
Afternoon:
-Department visit (including tour and some Q&A)</p>
<p>Is this too much at this time? Any other ideas on how to work it out? Thanks!</p>
<p>In addition to making an appt with the dept major, I would call ahead and make an appt with the honors college, too. </p>
<p>Morning…</p>
<p>Campus Tour</p>
<p>I wouldn’t visit Admin or FA office - most info is on website. Also, usually the packets that they hand out for tours include a lot of this info. </p>
<p>Lunch at an on campus venue (if time, visit a couple of campus dining venues.)</p>
<p>Honors College visit - call ahead</p>
<p>Dept Visit - call ahead</p>
<p>Housing visit (some tours do not include housing tours, so call housing to find out how to tour. If interested in honors housing, then ask.)</p>
<p>Visit or re-visit anything that the campus tour didn’t cover well or include. (For instance, at Bama, the tour doesn’t include touring the new Science Complex or Business School.)</p>
<p>Before it’s time to leave, find out where the off-campus hangouts are and either stop for a meal or snack or do a drive by.</p>
<p>*The more we look into the colleges websites it is hard to understand their admission policies and even harder to know what scholarships/aids do they offer ( that he could qualify for) and how they administer them.
*</p>
<p>If I really felt that I had to visit these offices, I’d make an appt before the morning tour, so that I would have time to do the other things.</p>
<p>As for scholarships for those schools. Yes, many schools are rather vague and won’t say what stats will definitely get which scholarships. Sometimes that’s because they can’t award to everyone with certain stats, so the scholarships are competitive.</p>
<p>I believe that only Auburn and Bama have assured scholarships for specified stats as long as apps are received by Dec 1st. Was that one of your questions?</p>
<p>What do you mean by …how they administer them.</p>
<p>Once a university scholarship is awarded and accepted, then it shows up in the student’s online account shortly before the semester starts. Is that what you mean?</p>
<p>Two tour things that are important IMO that you did not include:
Eat a meal on campus to assess the food. And chat with random current students (not tour guides) while doing it. They’ll likely give more honest impressions of the school and not canned sales pitches.
Check out the town as well as the school. The town, especially surrounding the campus, will be a big part of the student’s college experience.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick comments!
About scholarships, what I meant was that we would like to know if they allow for stacking scholarships, limit them to matching total costs, separate applications, minimum stats, etc.</p>
<p>I like the idea to schedule a visit at the honors college, and eating on campus as well as off campus. Will see if we can have enough time during the day… :-)</p>
<p>To summarize here is good schedule to follow:
Morning-
Campus Tour
FA Office - if needed (look out for department specific scholarships)
Lunch at a campus dining venue</p>
<p>Afternoon-
Honors College Visit
Dept. Visit
Finish with dinner around town.</p>
<p>Two pieces of advice here – don’t pack the schedule too much, and be prepared to split up. At each of geek_son’s two favorite choices, he ended up spontaneously having lunch with his tour guide. I made myself scarce during those times and we reconnected later by text messages. I think it was helpful for him to spend time with students at each place without mom in tow, and those two experiences were instrumental in his decisions on where to apply and enroll.</p>
<p>And conversely, you might schedule an appointment to talk with the FA folks solo – while your son is in an Admissions interview or just checking out the campus for himself.</p>
<p>if there are any clubs that would be of particular interest to your son, you can also see if there is contact info on-line and try to see if you can arrange for your son to meet with someone from that club – would give him a chance to talk to a current student who may be more likely to share some of his interests.</p>
<p>i do think you are wise to plan to go beyond just the info session and tour. i also encourage eating on campus and also stopping in the bookstore to try to get a feel for the place – i’d sometimes talk to the people who worked in bookstores - not students, but adult workers – they were often very honest about their perceptions of the student body. also be sure to pick up copies of the campus newspapers (often these are on-line as well and can be a great way to really get a sense of the campus).</p>
<p>just echoing geek mom and wanting to add that you should give your S the power/authority to decide if/how he wants to alter the schedule.</p>
<p>We have all seen the cheery eager parents being trailed by the reluctant, foot-dragging kids whose crossed arms and rolling eyes indicate they would rather be doing just about anything else.</p>
<p>I think one of the most informative school visits was when we knew a student at the college and we were able to talk to her and her friends. There’s nothing like getting the real scoop from someone you know. She ended up taking my son and I to her dorm room and we had lunch with her and some friends that were in the major my son was interested in. During the lunch I kind of just pulled away and let my son do all the talking. If you know someone that attends a college that you plan on visiting, reach out!</p>
<p>One other suggestion: Have your S or D write down, the same evening, if not while on tour, the things they liked the most, and the things they disliked about a particular school-as well as any quirky or special memories and the names of key people they talked to. By the end of these ‘college tour weeks’ where you’ve seen 5 schools, everything begins to blur in your mind. When it comes time to write that ‘why I want to attend X univerisity,’ it’s a big help to be able to pull out that list.</p>
<p>And if you get a chance, pick up a copy of the school newspaper. It’s always good to see what’s on the student body’s mind-and what kinds of activities are being highlighted.</p>
<p>^^ and to add to M’s mom post: if a particular school becomes a favorite after the visit, you can subscribe to the school newspapers online to keep updated about happenings on campus, changes to acadmeics, etc during the year…</p>
<p>Thanks everybody,great ideas. It almost seems like you need 2 days to really get the best out of the visit. Maybe you do the more general visit first, and then after you narrow your list you come back for a 2nd vist where you dig deeper.</p>
<p>That’s what we might end up doign during my son spring break, as we were looking to visit 4-5 colleges.</p>