Definitely visit. But now is also the time to dig into the website to look at academic offerings. Don’t just look at course catalog since that only tells you what is offered at some point. You want to look, if possible, at the master schedule for this semester. Look at the available offerings? At somewhere as small as Hollins there may only be one or two classes a semester in your major, where CNU might have a good deal more. Look at the program of study. Which school allows you to follow the plan you want, are there lots of gen ed requirements (and do you care)? How flexible are they with regards to study abroad, internships? What is housing like? If you have AP/IB credit, how the schools treat it?
If nothing else, this gives you some really specific questions to ask when you visit.
My DS was just accepted to CNU early action - it’s his second choice behind William & Mary, which deferred him during Early decision. That speaks to the caliber of students CNU is attracting. It has a 59% acceptance rate compared to Mary Washington’s 81% - congrats on all your acceptances, especially CNU. I’ve attended several visits to CNU with my son. He is also planning to study political science and has applied to the honors program. He’s generally liberal, so you two can have lively discussions. The students there are known to be accepting and I saw a good representation of minorities, etc. The area right around campus is fine, residential on one side, a park and the Mariners Musuem on the other side. It’s a suburban location. There are some areas of Newport News that are not safe, but those areas are not close to campus and are not areas that students would ever need to frequent. CNU has wonderful housing and students are required to live their the first three years, which builds great community. My DS is planning to attend one of the upcoming overnight visits being offered and I know they have an upcoming open house that I would encourage you to check out. A school the size of CNU has a lot of options for classes and activities that a 500 student school probably won’t have.
My son is thrilled to have been accepted and is excited about potentially attending there.
Thank you everyone for all the replies. I’ve been mulling this over all week and I’ve spoken with lots of people and I’m leaning more towards Hollins. I’m waiting for the overnight to make an official decision.
Thank you everyone for all the replies. I’ve been mulling this over all week and I’ve spoken with lots of people and I’m leaning more towards Hollins. I’m waiting for the overnight to make an official decision.