Nice idea to post this. We are 5 minutes from UCSB in case anyone wants to send their kid solo, or has questions.
We are going to AZ with S for a mini vacation (Grand Canyon and Sedona) and school visits. Weâre going to Northern Arizona U, AZ State, and U of AZ. The AZ schools are very generous to NMFs. S wants a places that âisnât coldâ and âdoesnât have bugsâ. One out of two⊠(everywhere has bugs). At the end of May H and S will help D move out of the dorms and visit WPI, RPI, Rochester, and maybe MIT and UMCP. S is into programming and robotics currently.
@mtrosemom âŠlol at the âdoesnât have bugs!â Any particular bug like mosquitos?
We are visiting my mom near Baltimore during spring break, and are planning to visit UMBC and U. of Delaware. But I still need to schedule the tours.
Looks like lot of college visits during spring breaks. With my Sâs overloaded ECs we have to wait till summer to do any college visits!
@CT1417 We arenât touring UIUC bc it is totally out of our price range. We are only traveling there for a competition. (Last yr we went to U Chicago, another school that isnât an option.) UKy is on the list bc of their NMF scholarships.
So sorry @Ynotgo Losing a parent is so difficult. Itâs been 4 and 6 years for me, and not a day goes by that I donât want to talk with them about something.
@caroldanvers We live within walking distance of the UD campus (thatâs where mine takes her Arabic classes). Iâm happy to answer any questions you might have.
As for spring break visitsâ
Weâll be going down to American at the beginning of the week for a special SIS visit day (School of International Service). We had planned on visiting on Presidents Day but that was cancelled due to weather.
We might fly to visit another school that week if dd does get NSLI. It would be our only opportunity to visit while students are on campus as they finish before sheâll be done with APs. If she doesnât get NSLI she hopes to attend summer college on that campus.
@carachel2, I think he got grossed out by cockroaches when he stayed in the U of New Mexico dorms before going on a boy scout hiking adventure at Philmont, BSAâs hiking mecca. That took UNM or New Mexico Tech right off of the list.
I am taking my daughter to visit Duke and UNC. Quick flight in one day and out the next. We have visited a bunch of other colleges last year with my other D so I am glad to be only seeing these two. My D went to Chicago 2 weeks ago loved Northwestern but froze her butt off. I think being from Florida it really deterred her from wanting a school up north.
Geez, I need to make another spreadsheet to keep track of who is going where, in case I have questions down the road. ASU, UKy, and Pitt are some we are looking at too. I hate to visit during the summer when fewer kids are on campus, but I think thatâs going to be a necessity for us too.
Visiting the Honors College at UF, that is my Dâs #1 choice. Our spring break is the third week of March.
@kikidee9 I am a firm believer dept visits. Those are really best while classes are in session. My kids like sitting in on classes and meeting with heads of depts or UG advisors for their prospective major(s). We have found that fall of their sr yr is so busy that visiting in their Jr yr is just less stressful. (Though we only visit schools that are serious and most likely contenders.)
Fwiw, we find general campus tours offer very limited info. The dept is where they need to have support for their goals. The dept meeting I am most thankful for was one school we immediately eliminated off dsâs list. That dept was truly unbelievable. The UG advisor mocked our dsâs accomplishments and told our ds that he needed to slow down and actually learn something. The UG advisor went on ranting that he had students in his classes crying bc they didnât know how to think and solve problems. He said 4.0 valedictorian NMFs were a dime a dozen on campus and none of them knew anything.
That same dept could not tell him where any of their students had gone to grad school. Obviously that dept didnât have any respect for their students.
We ran the other way.
Colorado does not have bugs 
or has least amount of bugs.
We had snow this morning but it is already melting away. Too much sun, if anyone does not like sunny days.
Bugs and lack of sunny days will be the culture shock when DS goes off to college!
Our spring break is also late. Still planning stage. So far, I bought tickets to Boston and plan to drive about 700 miles in 5 days. Hopefully there wonât be any snow.
@payn4ward â have you booked the info sessions yet? Some of the schools in the northeast (maybe elsewhere, but I am familiar with NE) block off days in April for accepted student visits only, offering no admission info sessions. VERY frustrating.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek That sounds terrible.
@Ynotgo I am very sorry to hear your loss. May he rest in peace and love.
@CT1417 Yes, I was able to book tours and info sessions. Iâm uncertain about doing info sessions though. Sounds boring. DS has no idea on major (general area of natural (hard) science or math or engineering? but not bio nor med) so we cannot do dept visit.
Actually the dates are 3/21-25. Some schools are on spring break, oh well.
I had thought we would do summer visits but then realized LACs will be empty so we are trying to visit this spring.