<p>heikedog - I wouldn’t try to open his mind. I’d just hope it’d happen as he started the visits and listened/saw more things. Of course, with my youngest if I tried to open his mind to a school he’d likely automatically put it in the negative column. He’s definitely ready to be independent and is eager to make his own choices. ;)</p>
<p>Let him talk with students & professors and read the college newspapers to get a feel for fit. Then mainly listen to his thoughts. Have a good/safe trip!</p>
<p>Heikedog good luck on your trip. Did a 2000 mile trip with daughter a couple of weeks ago and by the end I was wooped.</p>
<p>Heikedog, we went through the same sort of thing when our son had a very early favorite that surfaced the summer before senior year. If you don’t already have one, maybe make up a checklist of things your son is looking for in a school, and have him rate each school he sees with a number 1-10. A separate sheet for each college. Start with Hampden Sydney. Then have him complete the form after every college visit. You may even find you need to add line items after he visits other schools . Hampden Sydney may still end up #1, but at least he will have compared attributes along the way.</p>
<p>If you google “Campus Visit Checklist” you’ll find some pdf samples to get you started. These are great to look back on for all those supplemental “What do like about our college” essays.</p>
<p>Also, remind him May 1st 2014 is quite a long time away from now. His thoughts may change in the upcoming months. </p>
<p>PS My son will start at that early favorite this fall, but did apply and get accepted to many other schools. He says it was still worth going through the process, because he ended up with no regrets or “what if?” thoughts.</p>
<p>Hi Everyone!</p>
<p>Still working on get summer job for S- he went on a 10 min interview at a small French rest. that his friend works at to be a dishwasher. It is unclear how it went. The only thing I got from he was that the only position they have is 4-midnight Fri,Sat and Sun.and that S is suppose to talk to his friend about the job and get back to Chef if he is interested! Hmmm…S doesn’t drive and I was hoping he could work during the day…he also applied at a local Assisted Living facility …waiting to hear…</p>
<p>I also convinced S to email the professor who taught the Neuroscience course that S took last summer at a local U. .He did and has an appt with Prof.next Friday. He is hoping to volunteer in one of the Labs…so at least S might have something…</p>
<p>S is not motivated…finished an EC day camp last week with nothing else planned! A couple of things he was interested in fell through…</p>
<p>Next week we are off to visit some schools - UNH, Conn. Col, Wesleyan , and Drew and may stop at Trinity and Quinnipiac college in Ct. I wanted to keep going to Upstate NY but family said no…so we (I) will plan another trip later this summer …</p>
<p>Just back from attending a week-long tournament in FLA with D. Called to make tour appointments at the last two schools that hadn’t uploaded their tour schedule for late Aug. Found out one of them, Indiana U., isn’t offering tours the first week of school. ARRRRGH! Was really looking forward to D doing an official tour there, but will have to settle for a visit to the admissions office and a self-guided tour instead… Bummer…</p>
<p>Onlyonemom, you’ll be in my neck of the woods 
Get in touch if you need any local knowledge! DH is a Conn alum.</p>
<p>^^
Thank you LisaK ! we are looking forward to see Conn. Col. - it is high on the list. S is a sailor and wants to major in neuroscience.</p>
<p>onlyonemom, Conn is a great place for sailing. DH had a wonderful experience there and is a devoted alum. The campus is beautiful! You can see Long Island Sound from the green. Good luck with your visits!</p>
<p>^^
LisaK,</p>
<p>Thank you! We have a good feeling about the school! It is our first stop. S was thinking about interviewing on this trip but we decided to wait. If he really likes it, we will take another trip for the interview. Plus it is suppose to be in the high 80s next week- not a good time for long pants! lol</p>
<p>onlyonemom - </p>
<p>Obviously it’s up to you, but when my son went on college tours we arranged the interview time so that he would have time after the tour to change into his pants (he was already wearing a polo shirt). That way he wasn’t sweltering for the tour, and it saved us from having to go back to all of the schools he liked since we were there anyway.</p>
<p>We did this at many schools, including Connecticut College. He didn’t end up going there, but he did like the school very much. Hope you have a good trip!</p>
<p>^^benreb,</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I am just not sure if S is ready to interview…</p>
<p>Four schools down, two to go, and the road trip has actually been fun! S is overwhelmed by all he’s seen, and Hampden-Sydney is still the #1 choice for all of us. S just fits there best. Now, just need to see if sufficient merit aid materializes as well as a spot in the honors program and on the [skeet and trap] shooting team.</p>
<p>Heikedog glad to hear everything is going good. I hope that things work out for his number one school but just in case hopefully he can find a second place school that he would happy to attend.</p>
<p>I’ve used the Princeton Review website to assess “safety, match or reach” for S, and wouldn’t you know it? That particular bit of functionality isn’t working today when I’m assembling all our college info into a whopping spreadsheet. The website is pretty lame in general so I don’t have any expectation that it will be up and running again soon. Soooo … to help me fill in my spreadsheet, can any of you with knowledge of these schools do a quick and dirty assessment of my kiddo?</p>
<p>The boy: 3.13 UW GPA, expect 3.2 or better by end of first semester senior year. Attends rigorous private college prep school that does not rank. 30 ACT composite. 8 APs by end of senior year plus an assortment of honors classes. 7 years Latin. VP and then 2 years President of Latin club. A small collection of Latin awards at the national level. He’s lucky he’s a handsome nerd, lol. Varsity track and football. Lots of various community service like Habitat for Humanity and Special Olympics. Leaning toward pre-law, although it’s only a very slight lean.</p>
<p>The schools:
Austin College (Sherman, TX)
Baylor University (Waco, TX … I got my MBA there)
Rhodes (Memphis, TN)
Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX)
Trinity University (San Antonio, TX)</p>
<p>For comparison, I’d already assessed the following using the Princeton Review site:
Emory & Henry (Emory, VA) - safety
Hampden-Sydney (Farmville, VA) - match
Lynchburg College (Lynchburg, VA) - safety
Roanoke College (Salem, VA) - safety
Texas A&M (College Station, TX) - match (but zero interest in huge state schools)
Washington College (Chestertown, MD) - match</p>
<p>THANKS!!!</p>
<p>In my mostly uninformed opinion, given this rating scale:safety
low match
match
high match
low reach
reach
high reachI’d suggest that Austin College is a high match and Rhodes is a low reach
(i.e. - certainly a solid and desirable candidate, but could well not get admitted because a comparable candidate has a higher GPA, has shown more love, provides geographic diversity or has hooks).</p>
<p>caveat: I tend to err on the side of caution, and assume that my son won’t be admitted
to any school that I’d like him to attend.</p>
<p>Heikedog I would say Baylor is a match but might not get much or any merit aide.</p>
<p>Thanks, all. Your opinions are pretty much in line with mine.</p>
<p>newfaith … S really has no interest in Baylor because it’s too big. It’s just closer to home so I want him to apply to see what happens. I enjoyed my 18 months there as a grad student but I know the undergrad experience is very, very different.</p>
<p>expatCanuck … Rhodes is definitely a bit of a reach, but when he interviewed there last week, there seemed to be a good fit between him and the Greek and Roman Studies fellowship they offer. I think he could get accepted but the merit aid will likely be insufficient. Trinity is definitely a reach and I want my homebody child to go away to school, not a few miles down the road, but I think he’d be happy there. Again, lack of sufficient merit aid will likely put the kibosh on this one if he were to be accepted.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Just, fyi, all three schools listed above are affiliated with various christian denominations, if that’s a factor for you or not. </p>
<p>Washington College has a tiny and pretty campus. Some feel that Chestertown, though, offers little interest or excitement … unless one likes to go sailing. ;)</p>
<p>Hi All,</p>
<p>Back from our very hot road trip! Boy picked the wrong week! It is exhausting touring schools in hot and humid weather- glad t be back in Maine - much cooler! </p>
<p>We toured UNH on our way to CT. Large campus - focus seemed be on sports vs academics. The Grounds …many cigarette buts! Yuk! …However I will say over all it seemed like a nice school but it was not for my S…but I was glad we did the tour so he could compare a large U to the LACs he has been looking at…we spent the night in MA at a friend house …had a fun time!</p>
<p>On to Conn. College - we loved it! Beautiful grounds, very friendly, tour guide happen to be a neuroscience major that was a plus. The info session focused on the prospective students vs the college. The presentor did not spend time on statistics but focused on the school’s philosophy, honor code, and determining a match between the student and the school…the grounds were very well maintained(no butts). The students in the admin office were extremely friendly. Strong focus on academics - the tour did not include the athletics facility! However, on our own we drove over to the boat house- not that impressive but it was closed up for the season. We sat by the river and had a picnic lunch - Much cooler by the water. My S will go back for the Open house in October.</p>
<p>On to NJ - traffic …long drive…We visited Drew U. For the open house - very nice. The grounds were not as nicely manicured as CC but rather more natural with many trees. S really liked the school and he could qualify for a science scolarships. He also had an interview that I believe went very well. The interviewer came over to meet with us and spent time talking about the school and he seemed to be impressed by S. S seemed very happy and relaxed and thought the interview went well. S is interested in applying to the school. Overall, everyone was very friendly and accommodating. They did not require S to were long pants ( shorts and collared shirt) for the interview. Also, they allowed us to be flexible with the interview time…one thing that came up however, …we had lunch at the “snack bar” - food was good and made to order. While we waited we were chatting with a couple of students who worked there. They complained about the FA. The first year is very good but each year their aide has been cut! Yikes! They felt they are getting a great education but they are upset over how much debt they will be in by the time they graduate. Well, I think I will call the admissions office to find out more about the FA awards. </p>
<p>Drove back to CT - this time we took an alternate route…we stayed near Middleton CT to visit Wesleyan this morning. boy was it hot! We started our tour at 9 am - we found the tour guide to be flat and well …the place is not for S. First off -the tour guides announced at Wesleyan the tour guides do not walk backwards because they are forward thinkers at Wesleyan! But if we wanted -we could feel free to ask questions as we walked along…so as we walked she talked to one person…and would stop every so often and discuss and point things out. Total turn off for all if us! We left the tour and left…We did not get a warm and friendly feeling…off the list.</p>
<p>Two keepers CC and Drew.</p>
<p>So far S likes the two above and Brandeis, Wheaton ( in MA), Hobart and William Smith, and University of New England in Maine. </p>
<p>My husband and I both like CC the best for S. I decided not to ask S to rank the schools after talking to a good friend… She said not to have him rank the schools because if he doesn’t get into first or second choice and gets into his third choice- he will always think I got into my third choice …instead have him apply to a group of schools he knows he will be happy at…I thought it was good advice…hard not to ask though…</p>
<p>Glad to be home…</p>
<p>Sounds like a great trip in spite of the weather! Thanks for sharing…</p>
<p>It seems like a long time until our college visit trip with youngest - we wait until Oct, then hit the southern schools. Sometimes I get impatient when I read of visit reports… but we’re waiting until classes start as I want him to sit in on some to compare.</p>