Our trip has been finalized - we are seeing 9 schools in 12 days. The first tour day has two school tours, but we will have self-toured the afternoon school the day before.
I really appreciate all of the advice here. I took it to heart and the trip is much more manageable now, with plenty of time to soak in the atmosphere of each place, mainly one school per day. We will also enjoy ourselves in NYC in the middle of the trip.
@craspedia We live in NJ and all of the schools were about 2-3 hours away from home by car in Eastern PA, Eastern NY state (not NY City), or in CT/MA/RI. We did extensive research by attending local college fairs and going on the web prior to visiting any schools to learn about the academic majors and the admissions processes. The purpose of the first visit to each college was to get a general feel for each campus and its surrounding area. We saw 10 schools in 6 days (one day was for travel and we saw no schools) during Spring Break during their Sophomore year. The other schools we visited at other times but I would always attempt to visit two schools in the same area on the same day for efficiency’s sake. We found the info sessions to be pretty redundant for the most part. Your schedule is very ambitious and I would be concerned about how much you and your D would be able to absorb and retain. By touring the schools at a slower pace the first time, you would have a more relaxing and enjoyable experience. Also, since appointments/meals/traffic never run on time, you wouldn’t want to have the added stress of watching the clock your entire time by packing everything in on such a tight schedule. You did not mention what your D wants to study and I could not figure it out based on your list so I imagine she is undecided at this point. If that is the case, the info session would be even less important. However, many schools use “demonstrated interest” by the student as part of the consideration for admission so don’t forget to formally sign in at each admissions department and fill out an information card for your D. We also went to some Open Houses (OH) but these are typically full day events so it would be impossible to visit another school on the same day. None of the OH we went to gave us the option of attending a class. This option is normally available only in Late Winter/Early Spring at “Accepted Student Days” for Seniors who have already been accepted.
@thumper1 We were able to see either a real dorm or an unoccupied “model” dorm room at all the schools we visited. About 1/3 of them did not allow us to see the bathrooms due to privacy concerns. One thing I would like to point out is that most schools showed us their newest and best dorm rooms which were usually designated for upperclassmen and not for freshmen so you should always ask to be sure.
@craspedia I was still writing my last post when you made a new post. I finally read the entire thread and I think you have a terrific plan now. We also made sure to include something fun each day and treated the trip as a family vacation. My most valuable takeaway from each info session was to hear about the philosophy each had towards educating your child. As mentioned by some others, the info sessions did not give you extra insight into how to get in to each school. One comment about using the visit to help with the essay; most colleges use the Common App which has a list of essay prompts to choose from. I do not feel any of them allow you to incorporate your short experience on campus into the essay. However, colleges that require supplemental essays often ask why an applicant thinks he or she is a good fit for the school. You may google these essay prompts and they have not changed over the last few years.
@craspedia this has been a great thread to read! Please keep us posted after the big touring adventure.
We will be making a NH to NY loop in April with our D19- but will be taking my 4 younger children with us…so even though our schedule is not as long (5 days) or rigorous (1 school a day), tagging along the 4 siblings will present its own challenges!!!
This is a great and helpful thread, thanks.
But it makes me think that “Easter Week/Spring Break” is a special kind of madness when it comes to crowded info sessions, hotels, etc. Can prior participants shed any light on that?
@Postmodern There are several different types of campus visits. “Info Sessions” are typically offered throughout the year, on several days a week and run many times a day so you may be just by yourselves or with only a few other families. “Open Houses” are typically offered once or twice per semester and you can expect to be with several hundred other families at the same time, depending on the size of the school of course. If an “Open House” is scheduled during a popular week for Spring Break then you should register with the school and book your hotels ASAP.
We happened to take our college tour during my D’s spring break junior year. To say it was crowded at places is an understatement. We did book tours early though so had no problem with that. Larger colleges were worse and the LACs also had a higher number of visitors but they were able to handle it. Tufts was running info sessions in multiple rooms simultaneously but our tour was great. Penn on the other hand made the tours so large we couldn’t hear a thing. I guess it just depends on the college. It’s a busy time with juniors looking and also some accepted seniors visiting, but it all worked out.
We probably can’t because of the “confidential” part, but I wonder if we could plan a “roll call” and cocktail party at different prime campus hotels that week like they do on Cruise Critic.
And if anyone is visiting Dartmouth, the Inn At Dartmouth has a fantastic bar that makes a badaz old fashioned.
BTW this thread made me book our hotels for our Easter week 3-school trip. Most of the direct booking hotel websites had very liberal cancellation policies. Glad I grabbed them now, so thanks, guys in this thread!
Interesting thread and it seems like you now have a reasonable and fun trip ahead. It seems a lot more manageable than your original plan and you will see a good variety of schools at a good time of year. One of our trips last summer involved two days in Pennsylvania where we either did a tour/info session, a private tour, a walk-through or a drive through of 6 schools! It was helpful but too much. And because D was tired from the Villanova tour and cranky from an unfortunate Starbucks incident, I think her opinion of Bryn Mawr was negatively affected. She insisted we leave after the info. session and skip the tour. Oh well.
By they way, out of all our visits, we only had time for her to sit in on one class (at Davidson) but it was a great experience and she was glad she did it in the end.
Keep us posted on how it goes. I’d love to hear both of your impressions of the schools.