I’m beginning to wonder if the visits will be as crucial anymore in terms of figuring out school “vibe.” I’m thinking the culture of any given school may shift a bit “post pandemic“ precisely because prospective students were not able to visit …and if they did visit, school culture would have been harder to figure out amid all the masking and distancing. So, maybe there will be a bit of scrambling in the types of kids that end up at different schools for different reasons (if distance, convenience, money, how schools dealt with the pandemic are factors trumping vibe). Who knows…maybe this will be a good thing if it happens…more of a random diversity of personalities on any given campus.
Having said this, if there isn’t a terrible explosion of new Covid cases in surrounding states in fall, I’m thinking about jumping in the car to explore campuses we haven’t visited even if there aren’t tours, just to see the campuses and community settings. I will have to get over my aversion to using public bathrooms during the pandemic to do so, though! I have not been in a bathroom outside my home since early March!
If it is that application behavior of top students will be similar to normal for 2021, I think there are a couple reasons.
I really do think that by next fall there is an excellent chance that there is a vaccine in place. I assume/hope that it will be a requirement for school enrollment, either college or K-12.
It isn’t that I don’t worry that they are rushing to get a vaccine and that there may be side effects that we don’t know about for years. But I also think that the risks from that are smaller than the risks (both health and economic) we run by allowing COVID to continue to go up and down in our communities for the years it would take to properly test a vaccine for longer term side effects.
Regardless of whether you or I think it will be a good idea, I am guessing that there is decent voluntary compliance and that it will be a requirement for education at most levels. If that happens, we are in much better shape.
Even if I'm wrong, I think people will settle into this being the new normal. Maybe it's my personal bias, but I can't see telling my kid that she needs to go to the local directional rather than taking the chance to go to an Ivy or top LAC if she is able to do so. I think most parents of high achieving kids will reach the same conclusion. Some, like my wife, will not be happy with it, and may try to steer the kids to schools with at least some family nearby. But ultimately I think they type of schools that those kids apply to and ultimately attend won't change. Maybe a few less EC kids at Pomona, and a few less WC at Williams. But I think they will essentially cancel each other out.
We are fortunate that we did some college visits on our summer vacation last year and 2020 president’s day weekend. Thankfully we saw one strong, appealing choice for each - a safety, reach and target. We are somewhat more likely post-covid to send my son to a UC campus or Cal Poly, so will probably self tour. Also had formerly ruled out Los Angeles but might check out a couple of private schools there.
Mid-tier UCs are a real wildcard this year for DS with TO totally holistic admissions and their former dependence on internationals. I see a potential opportunity 2021 for OOS seniors who want to go UC.
@nichols51 – Yikes, I’d forgotten about the 14 day quarantines in some states when thinking about visits. I think I’m still in denial that’s the world we live in right now.
It does seem like if it’s important to see schools, we have to be willing to jump in the car or on a plane when there seems to be a lull – even if students aren’t there and it’s not optimal, at least you get to physically see not only the campus but surrounding areas.
Here’s another thought: I think colleges will feel a lot of pressure to hold Accepted Students days for Class of 2021 b/c they know that so many have been shut out of campus visits for most of this year. If things are still dicey in the Spring, I wonder if they might delay Accepted Students’ days to the end of the semester when finals/graduation are over (I’m thinking mid to end of May a lot of places) so that the visitors to campus pose less of a risk.
The colleges could ask student admissions ambassadors to stay on campus to provide programming for the students. And then give students til Jun 1 or 15 to decide. Anywho, just a thought.
@homerdog We are struggling with visit timing as well. We keep going back and forth about making an East Coast jaunt to visit family and walk around campuses, but we’re just not sure if it’s worth the risk. Not to mention that it’s hard enough to determine a campus vibe over a normal summer. Even harder, of course, during all of this! I am trying to hold out hope that spring will be an option for visiting, but I don’t blame you for not having confidence in that plan.
I am thrilled that we fit visits in earlier i the year, but it’s tricky because D fell hard for a couple of places after only a couple of hours. Not to mention that she is comparing schools that she visited and loved with those she’s only seen virtually.
We plan to see several schools this Fall that have made D’s current list. It would be ideal if there were tours happening and students on campus, but if not, I think getting a feel for the campus and surrounding area is also worth the effort.
Hoping the 14 day quarantine in some states will not present another roadblock.
I haven’t been here in a while, so much to catch up with!
For visits, we were fortunate to start early and S21 has (for now) a short list of just 4 schools he wants to apply to and we’ve seen 3 of 4. I’d been trying to encourage him to consider a wider range of types of schools but he’s pretty set on the “big state U in a college town” type of experience and wants to be a reasonable drive from home. So, that pretty much narrowed it down to VT, JMU, UDel and UVa. Only one he didn’t see is UVa. We’re taking a long weekend trip to southern VA in August so I think we’ll detour to drive through Charlottesville on that trip so he can at least see the campus. I think it very unlikely that he’ll get in anyway so that tour is not a huge priority. I sure hope admitted student days will happen to help make a decision.
The whole ACT/SAT registration sounds like a nightmare. After hearing of people taking hours to register S21 decided he wouldn’t bother with a 2nd SAT since he got a 1490 in December. Definitely feel lucky that his HS offered a subsidized SAT prep class in the Fall for the Dec. test, otherwise we might have waited until the Spring.
I don’t see how our school will manage to do any testing at school since the building is closed/school all online for at least the first quarter. My D23 should be taking the PSAT in October (school always has all the sophs and jrs take it at school) but I don’t see that happening.
I feel like we’re all holding our breath now waiting for the common app to open. He did a Writopia college essay workshop a few weeks ago and from that has a pretty strong draft for his main essay, just needs to tighten up since it’s a little long. I was really pleased with that. I had anticipated a summer of nagging and dragging him through the essay writing but the workshop was really well structured to get him writing and he got good feedback from the teacher. I hoping some of what he learned through that will also help with the supplemental questions!
My daughter is receiving emails from various universities inviting her to apply using their “Select Candidate application”, “Golden Opportunity application” etc. Each of these offering no fee, no essay, priority decision and priority consideration for merit scholarships. I am not sure if these mean anything or if they are just bait and switch. Any thoughts?
@evergreen5 , only one of them (Rensselear) is from a university that she has on her list. The rest of them we did not consider, not because they are bad or or not a good fit or something. We just did not know about them. For example, Colorado School of Mines, they sent the email with invite to apply with their “Golden Opportunity” and a few others like that.
@TXStuMom The ones I have seen and heard about are legit, but I agree with @evergreen5 that they’re only worthwhile if the school is one the student was planning to apply to anyway. D got a “pre-app” invitation/fee waiver from a school that had been on her maybe list for a while. I was honestly initially tempted to suggest she send an app there (it’s a great school that we both liked, and it was free to apply!), but we realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t worth keeping track of another application to a place she’d already decided not to pursue.
D21 just got this from Pitt:
This week, our Summer Snapshot event will be a special FRIDAY event at 3 PM ET on July 31. Why is this day special? Because our Pitt Fall 2021 application will open the next day on August 1! You won’t want to miss this session. Make sure to register and stop by to learn about our admissions committee, holistic review, short answer questions, test requirements, and how to save $55 with our application fee waiver code!
Just thought I would pass it along.
One more thing re college visits. If the schools were having actual tours, we’d be more likely to make the trek this fall, rather than waiting for whatever the spring may hold! I know there are quite a few offering in-person tours again, including Denison, which I believe is on @homerdog’s D’s list, albeit not at the top.
It would be great to have a list of schools offering in-person tours again soon! I haven’t come across any yet.
We went on vacation a few weeks ago and stopped to tour a few campuses along the way. It broke up our 13+ hour drive, plus gave S21 the chance to see a few different types of campuses in person. Even without students present, he felt like he got more out our self-guided tour than the virtual tours could provide. I’m glad we did it, and he added two schools to his list to apply to.
This! I was expecting the same summer of nagging and dragging in regards to the personal statement, but S21 pretty much finished it today, 2 words under the limit, and I actually can’t believe how good it is. The writing is better than he usually does because he revised it probably 10 times (instead of 0 to 1 time like usual) and because he got some great feedback from the class he took - it was a 3 week personal statement “bootcamp” but he’s basically done after 2 weeks. And, yes, I too am hoping that what he practiced and learned about this kind of writing is something he’ll be able to apply to his supplements - he’s planning to get started on those Sunday or Monday.
Most importantly, I think he feels really fantastic about his essay and it shows something that is SO him. I think he also learned something about himself during the process as he had to do so much reflecting - I think he has a new perspective on himself and what’s important to him. The teacher who worked with him said his essay was one of the strongest she’d read all summer - what !? This kid who hates writing, hates writing about himself, and had no idea what his topic would be until 2 weeks ago ? It’s hardly as if his essay is so fantastic that it would get him into a school he wouldn’t otherwise get into. I’m not that delusional, haha. But it’s good, and I hope he puts at least some of the learning to use when tackling those supplements. His first draft was close to 1300 words, and tightening it up was a painful process but one that really worked in the end.
@JESmom I’m glad your son has mostly finished that process (and he’s fortunate to be happily done with the SAT as well…we’re not quite so fortunate there).
Adding - in case it’s helpful to anyone, I think one of the things that worked so well for S21 was writing long to begin with. He probably went a little too long, but having that word limit that he eventually had to meet meant he had to make a lot of choices that forced him to write stronger sentences. If he’d started by trying to hit the word limit, he would have left some important examples and parts of the story out while having a more meandering essay with weaker sentences. It was better to go long and then go through the process of shortening while trying not to lose any of the good stuff.
@homerdog - I have spent far too many hours concerned about the same issues and feeling like I want to get S21 to see campuses as soon as bring back some students - even if just 1/4 of them. We are in New England and I’m not sure how we’ll make it out to the midwest to see Northwestern/WashU as they are starting later. Currently S21 is considering an ED app to Northwestern, Duke or Penn and he hasn’t seen any in person. Virtual tours and info sessions have not been helpful and I wouldn’t let him apply without seeing the campuses. Love reading these posts and getting ideas!
@TXStuMom any freebie is a no brainer regardless if it’s on your list. You can use their merit awards to negotiate with “on list” schools for more aid. It can literally mean tens of thousands dollars more over 4 years.