We were figuring August for a flight and tours. We too have no solid list here, and I really want to be vaccinated first.
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I think informal visits even without students on campus is better than no visit.
I keep hoping there arenāt going to be huge crowds since everything has gotten pushed back.
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I should have picked up on that. I have a D21 too and agree itās a mess.
I talk a lot more to parents of ā21s than parents of 22ās, but a lot of places are currently impossible to visit. Without getting into politics the general theme seems to be the redder the state the better your chances to get physically on campus.
Iām hoping summer will be better. Visits without kids on campus are not as valuable, but something is better than nothing and that might be what we have to work with right now. Then hopefully enough people are vaccinated the fall is better.
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Yes, worst-case scenario for Spring is we visit like-sized schools and see what criteria are important and which are not. We did that we BSās and then created a list.
Always can visit after being accepted ( a nightmare, but also a possibility in this day and age). I donāt know if weāll get to out of state schools. I donāt want to fly.
Iām not that hopeful Fall will be āgood enoughā to open. Itās moving slowly here. But Iāll have to stay optimistic which is easier when the sun is shining.
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As the mom of a senior, who did visit some schools and then the rest online, Iād suggest narrowing at first by what they think they want and trying to visit a few schools near your home to confirm that sense. We visited our state flagship campus and a small college campus before making a bigger list and my son was definitely more into larger schools, preferably schools with a lot of school spirit. He also really liked schools with residential college systems. Think about proximity/quality of the college town, makeup of student body, proximity to recreation, weather, etc. that could really help narrow it down!
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Your son is describing the University of Michigan to a āT.ā Go Blue! 
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I started with Grotonās raw matriculation figures, then adjusted for college size to determine the percentage of the student body represented by GS graduates at their commonly chosen colleges. Though this shows more recent matriculation figures than the ones I used for the ranking posted up-topic, it should be obvious why tiny Scripps would again place first even without completing the math: Matriculations | Groton School. For a fuller discussion, search āGroton-like Collegesā in āPrep School Cafe.ā
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He was accepted there, Boulder, and UVA in EA, now waiting on the 13 private schools 
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Because I know the backstory - that was the cut off gpa to apply to a summer program. And it was a hard cut off + the admin of the program did not understand what it meant for DA kids. So the Choate kids would also have had to attain just a 3.85.
Just clarifying. And commiserating, my kid wouldnāt be able to apply for anything like that despite being constantly praised by teachers as outstanding and impressive.
I do think thereās a weird problem when the general policy is that kids cannot get over x in a class. I see similar grade compression and I donāt think itās merited. Iāve read some of the papers getting 89ās and they are CRAP. But then an āoutstandingā paper is a 95. I donāt think thereās enough differentiation there. But I suspect that the true problem is that many kids should be getting 75-80 and parents made such a stink that those grades hardly exist. Iām ok with the 95, as long as the bad essay gets a 70, not an 89. If that makes any sense.
Beyond that, it is one of the things I have to just place my trust in the system and hope my kid figures it out.
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Thanks - yes it is sometimes difficult when coaches donāt know your school, or when summer programs have a hard cut off. Kiddo did get into that program last summer and it was online.
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Yes, @Golfgr8 mentioned that upthread:
But then she mentioned it again relating to the college process, so I responded in that context:
But itās nice to know that it all worked out for her daughter:
This is when Iām glad Iām an obsessive planner. DS and I went last year before the chaos. We did hit a few within driving distance (for us Texans, thatās about 10 hours one-way) after COVID. I know the thought of flying is scary, but actually scientific studies show airline travel is safer than eating in a restaurant.
We only have two schools that DS applied to that he hasnāt seen. One of them is overseas. If the schools (BS) didnāt have quarantine requirements, Iād have flown him to the one school and met him there. Iād also have flown DD to her one school we hadnāt seen, but when her school required quarantine after traveling, we canceled that trip, too.
I agree Zoom fatigue is real. DS was connected with a student at one school and they FaceTimed him around campus to give him a feel for student/residential life. That was the one that stood out to him.
Only āeasierā ones are Trinity College (#44 LACs) and UVM. Only publics among the top 27 targets are UVM, which has a $61K OOS COA, and UVA.
Scripps is an intriguing draw. Is St Andrews an easier but more expensive entry? Golferās paradise! Beautiful area.
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Good question @buuzn03 regarding college visits. We have not heard from the school on this yet. We do know several students who went over the extended break to visit college campuses - even though the students were gone for the Holidays. We have been on a number of virtual visits āvisitsā and virtual āopen housesā with different colleges.
LāVille published a nice guide for their students. Helpful information for all. Here is link.
We were able to take our daughter ('22) to visit some colleges last August; there were a handful on her list that were doing in person visits at the time (High Point, Elon, Roanoke College); but as we go into spring break in a few weeks, we canāt find any others that are offering visits. Hoping that schools open up a bit this summer. My heart goes out to the '21 kids who have not had a chance to see any of their schools.
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UVM shows up on these matriculation lists so much because itās a good school that is typically an easyish admit for many boarding school students in EA. It means that your kid can know that they are going somewhere early in the process. As for the COA, they are very generous with merit for OOS students so 60K - 20k/year makes it much more affordable than the private colleges that hover around 70k/year. Two of my kids (Kent and Hotchkiss grads) found that to be true. My wife did a semester at UVM before heading off to Middlebury as a Feb Freshman and she liked it so much that her siblings had to convince her to leave.
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Our school had a college admissions webinar last night. An interesting take-away was the impact that COVID-related deferrals will have on the spots available in the coming year(s). The college AO avoided answering directly, but the message was that there will be fewer spots available for students applying. While that is not something that students can control or let impact their pursuit of any particular school, it will likely contribute to students applying to even more schools.
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Thanks@Altras for sharing. We have heard the same thing from AOās from a few colleges. This has impacted recruiting - on a couple of levels. There is no room, or only a couple of spots, on the bench or on the team at several schools. Eligibility has been extended. This has been told to us from a coach at a private school and a large state university.
Not just athletics. This is what we were told by coaches and a couple of AOās from colleges. Many students from 20ā decided to wait a year and they expect this also from the 21ā graduates. I may be worrying for nothing, but my gut is telling me that itās going to be extra tight at the most commonly mentioned schools for the class of 22. This is adding to the stress for 21ās currently and anticipated for next year. Meanwhile, less popular schools will see a dip in applicants and are going to hurt financially.
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Weāve actually heard the opposite from schools. They are still graduating the same amounts, and they still had the same amount of admissions from last year to this. So, although the deferrals would cause there to be a larger number of incoming freshman, it would also cause there to be less sophomores. Overall, the population of the school would not change. At least, this is how it was explained to us.
My understanding is that most schools are NOT admitting less students this year, so the number of spots available remains the same. In addition, there are many schools NOT allowing deferral just because of COVID.
Athletics is a different matter, because NCAA has allowed seniors to compete one more year due to the drastic effect COVID had on athletic competitions this year. So, @Golfgr8 is right in that there are fewer spots on the benches for incoming freshmen. I would think, though, that schools would still want to recruit and then red-shirt them.
What has changed is the fact that TO has attracted/encouraged many students who would not have otherwise tried for a selective school are trying this year. I do not think this will affect those coming from strong schools who are well-known to these selective colleges for producing well-prepared students so much. I think it will more likely affect those who are coming from schools not usually represented.
But this is my own opinion based on what we have been told by AOs/administrators from the several colleges we have pursued. We shall see in about 6 weeks. I will say that so far, we have had excellent luck with EA schools, some of which are pretty selective.
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