<p>I agree with you on the aid Clarimom, I was surprised by the lack of aid at some schools I thought my son would do better at and vice-versa.
I suppose you will always hear stories of students that were accepted at schools they couldn't afford, but it's the preparation and knowledge that one person's package wont be yours, etc. that is the key.</p>
<p>warriorboy- if you look in the common data set for the colleges, they say how much weight they put on "interest." Interesting LIMOM of the schools who didn't even want you to leave your name. I guess they really mean it when they say interest is not a factor at many of the top schools.</p>
<p>jackief -- Is there a reliable, up-to-date site that gives the common data set, or do I need to search each college to find it? Should they each have this available to the public?</p>
<p>We have visited a number of colleges to date, and so far all of them have asked son to fill out a form with his info. No ivies, but some are very competitive places like Northwestern, Duke and U of Chicago. Importance of interest varies by school. Grinnell said that they want applicants to stay overnight. A few other LACs suggested that overnights were available and a good idea but not a requirement.</p>
<p>Burb Parent, There is a thread on here a year or so old with some links, but for colleges my daughter is looking at I usually just check their website maybe a site specific search on common data set. I don't know if they are required to make this available, from reading that other thread I know some can be tough to find.</p>
<p>We have only visited one ivy and one top lac so far and there was definitely a difference in the personable attention from the admissions office at the lac and the overwhelming busy operation at the ivy.</p>
<p>I'm curious about what most families are doing about how far away from home their kids can go to school. We really haven't set any limits at thiis point, but all the schools my son has shown interest in are on the east coast. I'm starting to second guess that decision. We brought ds#2 up to the prep school he will be attending next year. It is only 1 1/2 away. My husband mentioned several times how convenient it is to have him within a reasonable distance. Now I'm thinking that it would be nice to have ds#1 near buy for college too. Then I feel guilty for limiting him.</p>
<p>What are other families doing?</p>
<p>We live in Pennsylvania and, while most of the schools that my D is interested in are located in the Northeast, a few are in the midwest, including Grinnell. The need to travel to and from school via plane(both the inconvenience and the cost) is definitely something that we're going to have to think carefully about when the time comes for her to make application and enrollment decisions, but we don't want to limit her just yet--especially if it's involving a school that could potentially be an great fit, both academically and socially. That having been said, there's one LAC on the west coast that she was initially interested in, but because of it's relatively remote location, with the extensive air travel that it would take to get there, her interest in it has been cooling off recently.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2: Glad to hear that you and your D's visits have gone well--Looking forward to your reports back.</p>
<p>I think Son is self-limiting on his distance. He's gotten mail from Grinnell, Rice, Tulane, and Vanderbilt. He shrugs them off with very little interest. (We're in the Balt/Wash corridor.)</p>
<p>That's fine with me. I'd love for him to avoid plane travel to come home. But, if he changes his mind, we'll be open to the possibilities.</p>
<p>Jackief - my D corrected me - she did have to fill out an info card at Dartmouth and Tufts but not at Harvard or MIT. </p>
<p>warriorboy - as far as location, we are not limiting D - but she has so far limited herself to schools in the northeast and Virginia.</p>
<p>We got home last night, so here is a short run-down of the schools we visited and some of our thoughts/impressions:</p>
<p>Dartmouth - D and I loved it, S (who's almost 12) hated it. The campus is beautiful, as is the town of Hanover. I thought that D would find it too isolated, but she felt very at home there. S thought it was too small, and he also didn't like that it was so far from home (he's afraid he would never see his sister if she went there). We stayed at the Hanover Inn which is at one end of campus/in town - a lovely hotel with wonderful service - really caters to visiting students and their families. It was very convenient because we attended the early morning info session and were able to just walk across the street to the admissions office. They had D fill out an info card (which I had forgotten about). The info session was given by an admissions rep named Colleen who is originally from Oregon and was a fairly recent grad - I think she said 2006. She was very enthusiastic about the school and everything it has to offer. Our tour guide was a rising junior psych major from Ohio who plans on studying abroad for one semester and studying at a UC for another semester this year. She also loved everything about the school (of course). One problem D and I both noticed is that the admissions rep and the tourguide kept quoting different statistics (for example, the admissions rep said 65% of the students study abroad and the tourguide said 88% - stuff like that). D still loved the school - everything except for the swim test that everyone must pass in order to graduate. </p>
<p>Our next stop was MIT, which was a bit of a rush since we were traveling to Cambridge from NH. We were too late for the info session (could have gone in late, but we were all hungry so decided to get snacks from the coffee place inside the building where the admissions office is located). I think it was ok that we missed it because our tour guide provided us with a ton of information. He also filled us in on all the "hacks" (pranks) that have taken place over the years. S loved hearing those stories, and it made him think MIT would be a really cool place to go to school. D liked it a lot too, and she said she would probably apply - but she didn't like it as much as she liked Dart. Also, didn't like that there was a swimming test to pass! </p>
<p>The next day, we visited Tufts first. Arrived at the info session late, but still heard a good portion of it - admissions rep was very entertaining - a fairly recent graduate of Tufts (can't remember what year he said - but recent). Our tourguide was a rising senior drama major - also very entertaining. I think we all liked the school a lot (it was S's favorite), and I'm pretty sure D will apply. BTW, I believe the tourguide said the meal plan is UNLIMITED! I think it's required for freshmen and it means you can eat literally as often and as much as you want. For everyone else, I think believe there are other options. He also said food at Tufts was voted 9th best in the country. Afterwards we went back to the admissions office to let them know we attended the regular info session rather than the engineering session which is the one we were scheduled to attend, and they had a card printed up with D's info already on it (from when we made the appointment) - she just had to add a few details.</p>
<p>From Tufts, we headed over to Harvard. Parking on the street was difficult, and so we found a public lot on Church St. which is not far from the admissions office. We had some time, so we ate lunch at a Mexican Restaurant on Church St, then walked over. They took no info and didn't have us sign in, and had us sit in a room to watch a film of snippets of info about different aspects of Havard. Then we had to go upstairs for the info session which was conducted by an admissions rep (another recent grad) and a current student (a rising senior). The presentation itself was sort of boring, but they did give a lot of useful info, so it wasn't a waste of time - but it would have been nice if they handled it differently. Our tourguide was an interesting guy - from El Salvador and majoring in Women's and Gender Studies and Sexuality (possibly minoring in psych, but I'm not positive). It was sort of strange because there were some long stretches of walking with no talking which didn't happen on any of the other tours, but he was rushing to get to the key parts of the tour. We didn't go into many buildings at all - just one which was beautiful - lots of stained glass (but not a church or chapel) that contains the dining hall (which we couldn't see that day because it was locked). The tour guide repeated a lot of the info given at the info session, but added some other stuff. I think D really liked it a lot and she was happy to hear there's no swim requirement.</p>
<p>Sorry this was so long. Probably unnecessary to post in college visits now - but I will anyway later today.</p>
<p>D and Mom travelled to Williamstown for a tour and info session. They also visited the museums, saw a couple of plays at the Theater Festival, and drove to Vermont to attend a large crafts fair. Wiliiams would be a big reach for her, but she wanted to visit because of her interest in art history. After hearing the report of their trip, I don’t think she will apply there. D is a warm weather kid, and I don’t think she would enjoy the long winters. She also commented on the remoteness on Williamstown. She had recently returned from five weeks at the Art Institute in Chicago, and this may have made Williams seem even more isolated. Better to learn this now than after working on applications.
She will likely visit a couple of colleges in/near New York City, maybe one or two in/near Chicago (I know, cold), and three here in Texas. She probably needs a few more on her list and will likely add them as she gets further along in her College Preparation course in school.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2, thanks for the reviews. Of course, my D is not interested in any of those schools. :) She completely nixed the entire state of Massachusetts. Nevertheless, people, please keep posting. It is really helpful to get the feel of a school. Maybe we can branch out in our college search.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2, my thanks, too, for the reviews, especially Tufts and Dartmouth, which we hadn't gotten to. We also enjoyed hearing about the 'hacking' pracks of MIT. Right after we got home, we read a newspaper article about how a MIT team had figured out how to 'hack' into the Boston subway system in order to get free rides and was going to make a presentation on it at a national 'hacking' convention. Crazy college kids. :-)</p>
<p>sorry, 'pranks', not 'pracks'</p>
<p>Queen's Mom - sorry I couldn't be of more help :). I'll be happy to read more about the schools you and your D visit as well.</p>
<p>As you know from what I've said on this thread, my D wasn't the least bit interested in going on this tour - but it worked out really well for us because she ended up liking all 4 schools. Of course it helped that we had gorgeous weather while we were away - I'm sure stuff like that makes a huge difference.</p>
<p>Clarimom - glad you liked my reviews. My S is still talking about those "hacks" a MIT - he thought the whole thing was just too cool.</p>
<p>I have a class of '07 student who is now about to begin her sophomore year at her second school ... hopefully, she now has some clue about where she really wants to be. And yes, we visited many schools ... and she applied to many schools ... and she was accepted to many schools. She never really knew where she wanted to go, picked one, and ended up at another this year. I think she will finally be happy (?).</p>
<p>S is a member of the class of '10. He isn't even entertaining the thought of looking into colleges. He refuses to look at the info that arrives in our mailbox & online. He has no interest in doing PSAT practice tests (although he did do the PSAT last year, so has practiced in that sense). He doesn't do ECs (except his music, all out of school, which he'll have to frame well on his apps). He absolutely wants to go away to school, and he absolutely wants to attend a good school. He knows what his sister did in terms of planning, but he just doesn't seem to care at this point. Fortunately, I know he will kick it into gear when he has to, and he will find a place where he is happy. He is just that kind of kid. And he will be happy where he lands.</p>
<p>I hope.</p>
<p>LIMOM -- please don't take this the wrong way -- it's just a bit of wisdom oft repeated on CC. It's easy to tour and like places like Dartmouth, Tufts, and MIT. Has she thought at all about schools that are a little less competitive?</p>
<p>DougBetsy, DD did not think Rice was for her either since it was so far, until we visited. It is a direct Southwest flight from BWI and I almost always get good cheap flights. It takes less time than the drive to S's schools here on the east coast. She loves it there.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I guess they really mean it when they say interest is not a factor at many of the top schools.
[/quote]
Mathson told his Harvard interviewer that he hadn't applied EA because it wasn't his first choice. They accepted him anyway. In fact the interviewer spent a good part of the interview telling my son why Harvard as good as MIT!</p>
<p>My Washington DC nephew is at Rice, from the transportation point of view, it's easier for him to get to than Cornell which he also considered.</p>
<p>dbwes - of course I know that those schools are all easy to love. The reason I brought D to them was to get her interested in looking at schools. We've also looked at W&M, Gtown and American (she loved WM and Gtown, but not AU) - but that was last year and the year before when we were in those areas (none offer engineering, so unless she changes her mind, she most likely won't be applying to any of them). So, to answer your question, she hasn't seriously thought of any less competitive schools to apply to, except for the SUNYs. At least now she's aware of the need to start searching. I have a list of less competitive schools for her to look at - and if she doesn't start picking out her own, I'll have her start looking at mine. As for the Boston schools - she could have looked at BU and NEU, but she knows kids who will be at both schools, and if she decides she wants to see them, I figured she could go visit them during the school year once they're settled in. </p>
<p>Mathmom - good point about the transportation factor.</p>
<p>LIM and Clarimom-Your kids might enjoy reading Nightwork by T F Peterson. It's a history of the MIT hacks and pranks. My kids really liked it.</p>