<p>Ask how easy it is to get an appointment with student health services (ask the students, not admissions). Knowing what I know now about student health services, i still would have come to my college, but I do wish I had been aware that it is nearly impossible to get an appointment with student health services and that I'd generally have to find a doc off campus if i was sick/injured. That said, you should find out if there are doctors in the area of the campus (including a variety of specialists - i needed a podiatrist of all things this year) that take your health insurance.</p>
<p>If the student is a musician and plans to keep up with that in college, visit the music department and check out the facilities: practice rooms, recital halls, etc. Find out if they are reserved for music majors only. Do a similar assessment of the athletic facilities.</p>
<p>Check whether dorms have a common room or other central gathering place.. Not all do, and you'll miss having one if you end up without one. Also, check whether laundry facilities are convenient to all dorms or will you be lugging your smelly hamper across the quad.</p>
<p>We researched academics, majors, strong departments and programs before we visited, then just concentrated on getting the feel of the colleges during the visit. Over a two year period, S visited close to 20 colleges with me or his father.</p>
<p>Since S is not a talker and rarely wanted to tour, we attended the information program and wandered around on our own or left the tour early (except Yale, two hours of architectural history - cool!). He was usually able to get the gist of the place in his own unique manner. We had a little game going - we'd get in the car and I would say that I wasn't going to leave unless he produced 4-5 sentences that summarized his impressions. These 'shotgun summaries' were quite remarkable - he expressed very distinct, articulate impressions of the collective student vibe (e.g., Oberlin - "too dark"), the student-professor interaction level, the academic atmosphere, where the school ranked on the "ownership society" quotient ('coddled' vs. 'you're on your own') etc., etc. - so there was intelligent thought and assessment taking place, it was just not volunteered except under threat of boredom (sitting in the parking lot for as long as it took - exercising the power of holding the keys ;). </p>
<p>The visits were most useful to him regarding 1) the place - e.g., he liked Boston and Chicago, didn't like small midwest towns 2) the students - e.g., he thought JHU students seemed high-powered and very involved 3) the size/range of courses/opportunities - e.g., although he initially thought small LACs sounded attractive, he ended up feeling that they were too insular and 4) ECs - the main questions he would ask tour guides were about the number and popularity of vocal groups and if the college had open auditions for main stage productions.</p>
<p>I was a planner and had a checklist, with a view of the task objectives - having spent the time and money, I wanted to extract every last drop of information, which was my measure of success. S is an intuitive sort and got the job done, his way. There were some good laughs - especially the moment when I looked at him and apologized for dragging him to a certain state - we cracked up and I had to stop the car. </p>
<p>Our experiences lead me to advise parents with 'reluctant visitors' in tow to hang loose on these trips. Be willing to go with the flow and accomplish the minimum without flying into a rage or getting your knickers in a twist. It is their life and they have to be free to either accept or reject information that would support their choices, just like my mother will not read articles on how veal calves are treated, because she likes veal and isn't interested in discovering any facts that might put her off her diet.</p>
<p>One other thing to consider: school spirit vs. school pride. School spirit can be seen usually at the athletic events. School pride is usually found on the kids and cars; if they're wearing a lot of school attire and have school decals in the back window (circle through the residential parking lot), then you'll get some idea. </p>
<p>Also, during visits to the library and student union, get an idea of the interaction among the students. Are they sitting alone or in groups? Same for walking between classes. Are they talking or have their heads down listening to their I-Pods?</p>
<p>One thing about looking at buildings to determine if there are financial problems. Most colleges have a revolving seven-year total maintenance/renovation plan of campus dwellings so a couple of buildings may be waiting for their "turn." However, don't be afraid to check out buildings not on the tour, of opening doors and looking in. Also, a quick thing to check out on the exterior of buildings: the windows. Any broken or cracked panes? Peeling or faded paint on the sills and mullions?</p>
<p>As trivial as it may seem, heard of a story about a girl who was intent on a certain urban Ivy but was completely turned off by the lack of maintenance of the buildings and the campus grounds. She figured that if the administration and the students didn't care, then why should she. She didn't even apply although would've been offered sizeable financial aid.</p>
<p>I was the facilitator/planner for our college visits, but left it up to my kids to make contacts with dept. heads, clubs they were interested in, etc. before our visits. Although my kids took notes during the info sessions, I usually took the notes during the campus tours so they wouldn't have to stop or slow down. After visiting so many schools, it's amazing how the details can become blurred without having the notes as a point of reference. We also took photos of all the tour guides to help us remember each campus since we usually identified the schools by them (Thong girl at JHU, Frat Boy at Bucknell, and so on).</p>
<p>Any time I visited a school that one of my kids was definitely going to apply to, I got a phone book from the town. The yellow pages were a big help. It was faster than looking up things on the internet (doctors, hairdressers, hotels, whatever).</p>
<p>When pressed for time (and we invariably were on these campus visits) take a few minutes and hang out around the student Union at prospective universities. You get a pretty good cross-section of the student populace, and the food---the cruddy vending machines of the 1970's have turned into killer food courts, with literally soup to nuts being offered. Also, a typical Union's walls are plastered with a cornucopia of goings-on around campus. I seem to remember, at my midwest State U., that the Union was home to the Revolutionary Student Brigade! </p>
<p>Unite!!</p>
<p>**</p>
<p>#1. Post a report on the Parents Forum on CollegeConfidential!</p>
<p>**</p>
<p>Seriously, these reports are VERY helpful to all of us, and since we have an ongoing conversation about what's important, it's amazing how useful these are. There have been several that maybe saved me a trip, but also augmented the trips that I did take with my wife and son.</p>
<p>I definitely second who ever mentioned going INTO the dorm bathrooms. Some are quite nice, some pretty awful. And, I'll never forget going into the co-ed bathroom at one school with my daughter and seeing a male coming out of the shower naked. Didn't scare my daughter (I'm not sure she caught the same view I did) but sure surprised me! :)</p>
<p>My daughter pays close attention to how people decorate their dorm room doors - are they all left pretty blank or are people more creative? Do people put funny cartoons on their doors? Are there pictures of friends on their doors? She also likes to read the message boards. Says she has gleaned some interesting things that way.</p>
<p>Another thing that we both look for in dorms is whether the common area furniture is all lined up pretty neatly, suggesting that it's not used much, or are the chairs arranged in circles, in front of the TV, or whatever? If you get a chance, also ask about what dorm residents do together - some schools have neat inter-dorm competitions or events sponsored which sound like fun to me.</p>
<p>And, we always, always ask if the dorm on the admissions tour is pretty typical of the standard freshman room and dorm. At some schools, when we have asked this we have been told no, the tours go to the nicer upper class dorms. </p>
<p>If the school touts that it provides a free bus service to different parts of the campus or to off-campus areas, ask if you can have a copy of the schedule to check out how often the transit really is available, where it goes, and what hours it runs. Similarly, if you're looking at a school that you'll need to fly to, ask about how students get to the closest airport: some schools run shuttles on holidays, some don't. If no school shuttles are available, ask about taxi's and other transport to the airport. At one school, two hours from the airport my daughter would need to use, we discovered there was only ONE taxi cab in town (not one Taxi company but one TAXI!) and it didn't go to the airport.</p>
<p>The healthcare center idea was also a good one - I just found out by reading live journal that the healthcare center at one school my daughter is considering is not open on weekends. </p>
<p>Finally, I have found it interesting to ask the tour guide and other students about how many hours on a typical day they themselves spend studying or preparing for class. Answers have ranged from "I usually don't need to do more than 1 or two hours a day" to "I'm always in the library."</p>
<p>We visited most schools my d was applying to.
Several interviewers suggested staying overnight. What's the point, unless you are admitted? Do the schools care if you stay overnight?</p>
<p>Dotty, I think an overnight stay prior to admission is only important for potential ED schools. I don't know of any school that gives you more "demonstrated interest" points for an overnight stay vs a visit. At the schools where demonstrated interest is important, many different types of contacts "count", some times an interview is helpful vs just a visit. My daughter was considering ED, I want her to see that school more closely, because she was making a commitment.</p>
<p>Carolyn, did you read the bathroom scene in "Charlotte Simmons" ? That had to be realistic!</p>
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<p>We also took photos of all the tour guides to help us remember each campus since we usually identified the schools by them (Thong girl at JHU, Frat Boy at Bucknell, and so on).</p>
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<p>hehe ... an idea to steal ... and mental images to erase!</p>
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<p>Several interviewers suggested staying overnight. What's the point, unless you are admitted? Do the schools care if you stay overnight?</p>
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<p>The point of the overnight stay is not for the student to show the school they are REALLY interested ... but for the student to get to hang out with some students and get a much better feel for life at the school ... it's a great way to better gage the tough to define "fit"! </p>
<p>Talking to students at meals and attending classes is great but sitting in a room and watching one night of studying and socializing was much more helpful for me as I got a feeling of the flow of a student's day and of the interactions among students. (Interestingly, 27 years later my strongest memory I have was from my overnights is of MIT ... MIT has a strong, wonderful, and unique flavor to it ... it's interesting because my strongest memory (and it is a good one) is of a place I chose not to attend)</p>
<p>Jamimom, Actually my "bathroom encounter" happened a few weeks after I read Charlotte so of course that was on my mind! As I said, my daughter seemed pretty blase about it all, but I'm not sure she caught the same view I did. (Gosh, I must be getting old - I am sounding more and more like my mother.)</p>
<p>As to over night visits: I think these are best saved for later in the visiting process if at all possible. The first few visits to colleges are often overwhelming to high school students - it took my daughter a few visits to kind of get acclimated to the whole concept of college. Now that she has quite a few visits under her belt, she is ready and anxious to do some overnight visits. But, if I had tried to get her to do overnights earlier on, I'm not sure she would have benefited much from them!</p>
<p>yulsie - just catching up on this thread and really appreciated your long post (#43) re "reluctant" visitors. This fit my S pretty well and you had some excellent advice - esp. your 4-5 sentence rule - for parents in similar situation.</p>
<p>Not every S/D wants to strike up conversations*/stay overnight etc. That might be ideal, but when the shoe doesn't fit....</p>
<p>*I'm even having to twist S's arm to attend the Accepted Students reception in our area!</p>
<p>I have a suggestion on overnite visits that my son thought of. At three of the colleges he was considering applying to he knew students there. They were RPI, Case, and WPI. During junior year he spent a weekend at RPI and WPI with his friends. At Case he stayed the nite with his friend during our campus visit while we stayed in a motel in Solon. He ended up applying to Case and RPI but not WPI. However that was not because of the weekend which he enjoyed.</p>
<p>BTW, he's on his second "road trip" to Montreal this weekend since they have Monday off.</p>
<p>Try to get your kid to the University on some sort of school sponsored "activity" trip, i.e. Model UN, Academic Competition, Debate, etc. (I suppose you could apply the same formula to sports clinics and camps?) This presents an excellent opportunity not only to get to know the campus, but also the character of the school and its students, because of the high level of interaction. </p>
<p>I attended a Model UN conference at a school that wasn't even on my list because of its reputation. After talking to the students who were running the conference, the vast majority of whom were more than happy to talk to me about their experiences, I changed my mind - and next fall I'll be there. Even if it hadn't worked out that way, I still would have gotten a fun, educational, and (groan) resume building trip!</p>
<p>I totally agree with checking out the health services. I was very surprised to find out that at my D's school (large state school) the only thing they do is birth control. No doctor on staff and they will not give allergy shots. She does have a car and has been able to go to a doctor in town, but I just assumed the medical needs would be taken care of at the health clinic, especially since there is a line item on the bill that covers it.
Also, this time around we are taking advantage of overnight visits (with D #2). Did not do this the first time and D#1 wishes she had. She did attend the accepted student reception in our area, but it was poorly attended by students and heavily attended by alumni reminiscing about their long-ago college days. All in all not too helpful.</p>