<p>My son does NOT want to visit any more schools.</p>
<p>He went on his school college tour, saw a ton of schools, none of which are on his list, and completely burned out. I’m struggling with how far to push this. He has a point, but he can be awfully stubborn.</p>
<p>My son seems to think that he will “know it” when he sees it, therefore wants to see them ALL! 
I don’t think it’s the students/personalities as much as it is the facilities. He’s interested in mechanical engineering so the schools with the newest, shiniest labs are highest on his list right now. </p>
<p>I love to travel and don’t mind driving - but it’s the time that’s hard to come by and the little brother that would either be totally bored touring with us or having to find someone to watch him at home while dad’s at work.</p>
<p>Unfortunately we won’t be able to swing a side trip to RPI since DS has to be back for work on July 4 (lifeguard) and we’ll have to leave right after the showcase ends afternoon of July 3. DS will have the morning and part of the afternoon of July 2 open, which is when we plan to hit WPI. </p>
<p>RPI does have special summer visiting days, with afternoon and morning sessions. Here’s the info I got in an emal:</p>
<p>Morning Schedule Option</p>
<p>9:00 a.m. – Admissions Information Session
10:00 a.m. – Student-led Campus Tour
11:30 a.m. – “Q & A with Current Students” Session
12:30 p.m. – “Athletics at RPI” Session</p>
<p>Afternoon Schedule Option</p>
<p>1:00 p.m. – Admissions Information Session
2:00 p.m. – Student-led Campus Tour
3:30 p.m. – “Q & A with Current Students” Session
4:30 p.m. – “Athletics at RPI” Session</p>
<p>Monday, July 8, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Friday, August 9, 2013</p>
<p>Doubt that we’ll make any of these dates since August is taken up with preseason training for his fall sport and I think he has to work on the two July dates. These are big events though, and they still have regular admissions tour, etc. Monday-Saturday over the summer except for a few days around the 4th of July so we will figure something else out.</p>
<p>Or we will just not visit before applying, and just visit if he gets in. Too many schools to see!</p>
<p>I guess we’re really behind because we haven’t visited any schools yet for youngest (but he went with us visiting with his older brothers). Our “problem” is he wants schools far from home (Florida and Hawaii specifically) and only figured out some of those schools in late spring. There was no time to really go with work/school, so we opted to just “find” time in the fall. I’m slightly tempted to try the Florida schools after oldest’s wedding in two weeks, but I doubt that will happen to be honest. I’d much rather he see the schools in session.</p>
<p>If he wanted day trip schools we’d have seen a couple, but what’s the point in visiting them when he has no intentions of applying… He’s seen enough schools with his brothers to pare down what he likes and doesn’t.</p>
<p>Oops forgot to answer beadymom. So far we have seen 10 schools. We have been to UVA several times and visited VA Tech over Columbus Day weekend last year. These are the only two in-state schools that DS is considering at the moment.</p>
<p>Over spring break we took a Midwest college tour, hitting 6 schools in 5 days. That was a lot of driving! In April we went to Lafayette as part of an athletic recruiting event. June 1 we went to Case Western for the same thing. Last weekend DS flew out to Wash U on his own for his second visit, again for an athletic recruiting event. And today we drive back up to Lafayette for a second visit.</p>
<p>from beady mom:
</p>
<p>We saw Gettysburg as his first college tour last year (sophomore year) during a 3 day weekend where he had a Friday off. He couldn’t leave during Spring break (baseball) and Feb break was too cold (since he only wants schools in the South, PA would seem freezing to him then).</p>
<p>Nov Veterans Day break Fall 2012: saw Elon, High Point, Clemson, and drove by Furman.</p>
<p>Feb break 2013: saw Lafayette and Loyola.</p>
<p>I asked him if he wanted to see any this Spring (and just miss a day of school); he said no.</p>
<p>We still want to see: Sewanee, Rhodes, Furman (to tour, not just drive by), maybe CofC and George Mason. I’m really waiting til I know GPA and ACT scores. If they’re low, I’ll need to revise the list to include more safeties.</p>
<p>My fall back is touring end of August (before his school starts but after colleges have started). Senior year doesn’t start til after Labor Day so he has a one week window there.</p>
<p>We’ve seen the U. of Alabama (his first choice) Mississippi State, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina and Georgia Southern. Son '14 has done a camp at Penn State (says it’s a nice school but too big for him) and a camp at Richmond (loves the school and may apply, although it’s dropping its track/cross country programs). He will do a camp at Shippensburg in about a month. We plan to tour CNU as an in-state choice – he says that VT and UVA really do not interest him. </p>
<p>When his older brother was touring schools, Son '14 went along most of the time. So he’s seen Wake Forest (which is a lovely school), Duke, Princeton, TCNJ, Richmond, William & Mary and a few others. </p>
<p>His list could grow again, as he will attend Boys State soon, and there is a college fair planned. All the VA schools will be there, along with several regional schools.</p>
<p>My son has toured UW, Oregon State, George Washington, Georgetown, U Penn, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Bennington, Tufts, MIT and Harvard. The itinerary for the school tour was ridiculous!! We had promised he could go before we knew the list. 
Fortunately he loved Oregon State, which he saw with my husband.</p>
<p>We visited Vanderbilt during fall break - and we’re going back in a month for their PreVU program. It’s KaMaDaughter’s first choice. </p>
<p>Over spring break we did UPenn, Brown, Cornell, Williams College & University of Rochester … it was Collegepalooza '13.</p>
<p>We’ll most likely do a couple of just day trips this summer to Notre Dame, Northwestern & U of Michigan since they’re all relatively close.</p>
<p>Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen, in chronological order, UT-Austin (I work walking distance from it), Rice, Baylor, Texas A&M, Cornell, Williams, MIT, Wesleyan, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Pomona, and Harvey Mudd. From that list, DS will probably only apply to the Texas schools. As I mentioned upthread, there is a certain LAC in the northern US that he recently became interested in and may apply to that we never visited. He also might throw an application at Vanderbilt because it is so easy to apply there.</p>
<p>Well - I haven’t counted them but lets see. We saw Hofstra April vacation of Sophomore year (liked it then but then decided no). Tour of Mt. Holyoke and drove around Smith last summer and also walked aroung University of New Hampshire at another time. Providence College and Northeastern (too urban) in separate day trips last fall. UVM and St. Mikes over February vacation. Drove around Yale, saw Fairfield (with interview), Marist, Mt. Holyoke again (info session and interview) and Smith (no interview - will have to go back) over this past April vacation. We’re off to see Yale, Drew, Princeton, Bryn Mawr and Ursinus next week. Still on the list to do are Brown, UConn and maybe Holy Cross. Plus UMass Amherst - DS 11 is there so she’s seen it but hasn’t been on a tour there since the summer of 2010. She doesn’t really want to go there as it’s bigger than she wants but she knows she’ll be applying as a safety. Plus if she can get her scores up enough to get into the Honors College there it becomes more of an option for her. I think we’ll be talking about more of what she’s looking for in a school during this trip.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot we’ve seen Stanford while in California to visit family. And since we live in Northern VA, we’ve been to the George Mason campus tons and we’ve also been on the Georgetown, GW, and American campuses. But DS is not applying to any of those schools. Probably too close ha ha!</p>
<p>My s is at the point where he is done looking also. We are definitely done with parent led/initiated trips so if he asked and it was a day trip we would go. If it is a big trip, we said apply first and then we will visit.</p>
<p>We visited (soph. Spring break) Pitt and cmu.
Summer after soph. Year ohio state and u. Of cincinnati
Spring break junior year. Northwestern, Illinois institute of tech and drove thru valporaiso, Loyola, DePaul and u. Of Chicago.
Has also been at dad’s alma mater and his aunt teaches at a big 10 school. (Both out of state but on his list.) </p>
<p>We will do revisits for program specific departments this winter to the two in state publics. </p>
<p>For different events and his parents job, he has been on many many many other campuses.
And we live 2 minutes from a lac which is frequently mentioned here.</p>
<p>Thanks ECmom and Class of 2015. We are now thinking we would like to stay near the airport and take the train into the city the next day for a tour of an NYC school and the Broadway show. Flyinig into LaGuardia and looking for a room or suite that sleeps 5. Have seen some with shuttle service to the train station. Waiting to get the rental car until after our 2 days in New York saves us big bucks because we can get the weekly rate instead of the over- a- week rate. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it. We are unfamiliar with the logistics involved. Where we live, it only takes 15 minutes to get to about everywhere you need to be. ;)</p>
<p>D1 has visited (summer after soph): Northwestern, DePaul, Columbia College Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, UArts in Philadelphia, Drexel, (junior year): Northeastern, Emerson, Barnard, NYU and Hunter. She is a planner, and has taken the initiative to arrange all the visits.</p>
<p>I find the admissions sessions to be very interesting. Yes, there is a lot of fluff and repetition, but there are also clear differences. The attitudes ranged from “We’re wonderful, of course you want to go here, good luck.” to “Please, please, please apply, we’re good, really we are.” to “This is what we are. If you’re interested, let’s talk.”</p>
<p>She’s done summer programs at UNH, SUNY Oneonta, and U/Mass Lowell, all of which are not on her list at all. Still, just spending weeks on any college campus is a great experience and helps narrow down what she’s looking for. UNH - too hippy, too woodsy. Oneonta - way too rural. U/Mass Lowell - just not her. All 3 summer programs were spectacular. UNH wins hands down for food, and she knows that the cafeteria where she goes will likely pale in comparison.</p>
<p>I wonder what she will want to see this summer. Finals are next week, so this is not the time to ask.</p>
<p>Mrspepper–you may want to check Trip Advisor as I know that the subject of airport hotels has been discussed there a lot. I believe travelers are referred to Long Island City but I have not researched this.Since I live within an hour’s drive of LGA, I have never needed to stay in a hotel near there. </p>
<p>I do agree with your plan though. You may want to take a taxi from the airport to your hotel so that your hotel is on a subway line. This will make your two days in and out of the city cheaper and easier. The trick will be finding a taxi that seats six.</p>
<p>DS’s entire summer will be occupied by two summer programs. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to visit any colleges. At this point, we will have to wait until after September to selectively visit a few schools.</p>
<p>I’ll recommend a visit to Ole Miss. The director of enrollment services, Whitman Smith, does a terrific job of empathizing with parents and putting on a show at the same time. He is hilarious and spot on. Loved our visit during junior visit day and my D13 was so impressed by their selective honors college, international studies program and Flagship Chinese that she applied to all their selective programs, got accepted to all and won a full COA scholarship. Beautiful school, very attentive faculty and staff, great automatic OOS merit aid and 16,000 students. Definitely worth a visit!</p>
<p>Apollo6, that is so awesome that your D won a full COA scholarship. I need to start talking to (more like brain washing) DS about exploring colleges that offer full or high merit scholarships. Right now, he is mostly thinking about the top schools which means no merit. I think kids at schools having been talking too much about college rankings.
Incidentally, two schools e-mailed him this week to let him know that they will be sending him invitation to apply and will waive application fees.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the special programs some of the less highly ranked universities may offer and whether these programs are a good fit for your student. My D got in every school she applied, including schools that accepted students in the single digit percentages but the special programs offered by her safety school were a better fit for her aspirations. The thought of no debt and financed study abroad and internships/service projects was very appealing, too!</p>