@yearstogo We also did not visit super reaches for S19 when he was looking…except for one and that’s where he ended up going. We only visited because it was one of the few schools on his list that did track interest. Unfortunately, almost all of D21’s list so far are way into demonstrated interest. She is considering using ED, though, so that’s also why I need to get her out to these schools so she can spend a whole day and go to class and eat in the dining hall and maybe spend the night.
Greetings. I decided to get plugged into this group, as we have a daughter set to graduate in 2021 from HS in Northern Virginia. She’s taking a pretty stiff load this year (AP Calc AB, DE Physics, APUSH, AP Lang, Latin V) and has aspirations of going to Vet school.
While Virginia Tech is the obvious choice for Vet school, she’s not sure she wants to do undergrad there (too big, can’t get admissions right, doesn’t want to do what everyone else from NoVA is doing, etc.). Anyone from Virginia with good pre-health career experience at smaller schools? We’re considering Roanoke College, University of Lynchburg, CNU, plus several more out-of-state options (mostly in PA and Ohio). Thanks.
Welcome, @Muad_dib ! We live in NY, but I’m from VA. My D19 is a freshman at William & Mary and absolutely loves it. Here is a page about pre-Vet advising at W&M, course plans, animal experience etc. https://wmpeople.wm.edu/asset/index/btsher/2019prevet
As far as visits. D21 was not ready to look at schools when we took D19 (it stressed her out), so she has only seen two schools: Vassar because we have a family friend there, and Skidmore which we visited right after the students arrived this August. She loved both, but was more comfortable at Skidmore, which is good because Vassar would be a high reach.
Here is her tentative list of visits grouped geographically:
Bryn Mawr
Franklin and Marshall
Dickinson?
Connecticut College
Fairfield University
W&M
University of Richmond
Bates
Colby?
D21’s main EC is theater, and she is doing stage crew and a one-act play festival this fall instead of the main stage show. This will give her Saturdays off so we can do visits over the two three day weekends. D19 also did this her junior year. Otherwise no visits are possible until spring for theater kids due to the winter musical. I assume sports and other EC’s make it even tougher.
We wouldn’t be prioritizing visits as much if D21 weren’t saying that she would like to go ED if she finds the right place. I know ED is not the right thing for everyone, but my husband and I sense that if the finances work, it would be a good thing for D21.
D21 wants to visit Northern Arizona when we are out that way in March. She has no other ideas yet. There’s a big college fair in a couple of weeks I’m going to take her to so hopefully it will spark some interest. She still has no idea what she wants to major in.
Schools we’ve visited:
Juniata
Sewanee
Univ. of Richmond
We visited Texas over spring break last April, so we also visited:
Texas A&M (my wife and I are both graduates)
Baylor
Rice
By far the most impressive school we’ve seen in Rice. Good size, great location in Houston (near the Medical Center), smart, motivated students. But it’s a reach.
We also liked Richmond, mainly for its size, location, academics and their new science center. We would need to get aid to make U of R a reality.
Almost all of our D schools of interest are a plane ride away so we’ll only visit a few and save others for accepted students visits if they materialize. We visited TCNJ when nearby this summer for family. We’ll visit Lehigh this fall and combine with visit to S18 at nearby school. The one flyaway will be Vandy, where she might go ED. We’ll try to visit Emory and one other on the same trip if we can figure out logistics, this will be over April Vaca
@VikkiG5 I would love to hear any of your opinions about Vandy versus Emory if you go to both!
Our school has a week-long fall break and we will be visiting family in New England so we plan to tour a few colleges. These schools are mostly super reaches, and I’m not sure how I feel about taking the time to do that. On the one hand, it could light a fire under D to study for standardized tests, but on the other we risk having her fall in love with the near impossible.
Will you all take time to visit super reaches if you are in the neighborhood?
@Acersaccharum one of our super reaches is UT Austin…S21 is hovering around 15% for his class rank and so yea lol…but he’s still going to apply…we plan on doing visiting Southwestern University (low match), UT Austin (high reach), Texas State (safety), UTSA (safety) and Trinity University (high reach) in the same trip since they all basically are in a straight line geographically one after the other. Southwestern & Trinity being private LAC’s may not make the actual application cut but we’ll decide after the campus visits in the spring and running the NPCs.
Texas A&M we’ve already visited twice and his #1 choice but may end being a reach…UNT, UTD & SMU are local for us so not really concerned about proper visits for those…with UNT being a safety and UTD & SMU being matches.
He’s not really showing any interest in going out of state and would like to stay within 4-5 hours of home, but I secretly would love for him to consider American University…it’s his ship to sail though so I’m keeping mum for the time being.
My D21 is homeschooled and has lived in Indonesia since she was 3. Returning to the US in 2021 for university. She is interested in a Horticulture/Landscape Architecture degree. She loves dance, horses, guitar, art. She is an “A” student and has taken the ACT once, next attempt is in December. Have 7 schools in mind and will begin focusing more on college after Christmas.
@roe4christ please look at Kansas State’s Landscape Architecture program. It is outstanding! My son loves it there and was very surprised when he visited! He is a Junior now and will be going on to Vet school there.
Does anyone have experience with a homeschooler who has added a 12 week community college class to their schedule? This is the first semester for my junior in high school to homeschool. He has a pretty full load right now and we were planning to add US History through the CC next week. I’m having my doubts right now about increasing his workload (course includes a 7 page term paper and is only 12 weeks) and with it being his very first college class.
We actually don’t have any big reaches on the list at this point! Unless you count UC Santa Barbara, which is D21’s dream because, well, Santa Barbara! LOL She knows it ain’t happening due to price. Other than that, I think she has a decent shot at everything on our list so far.
Hard no. S won’t be applying to reaches, let alone super-reaches. We’re all big believers in fit, which by definition would exclude reaches. S has no desire to put himself in an environment that ins’t a match both academically and socially and I support that decision 100%.
@Acersaccharum With S19, we didn’t visit the biggest of reaches on his list (Dartmouth) and we also didn’t visit any early on in that search either. I started with taking him to safety and match schools after soph year and we actually re-visited the two he liked best during junior year because I thought it was really important for him to find lots of reasons to like them. If he had not been accepted to the reachier schools on his list, he would have been content with one of the safety/matches for sure.
I have friends who start their searches visiting pie in the sky colleges and the inevitable happens. Kids fall in love and then have a hard time finding matches. Most of the highly selective schools don’t track demonstrated interest so putting visits off until acceptance makes sense and then visit for fit in the spring. There are exceptions, though, and some schools do want to see interest. If you don’t want to visit, make sure to have your '21 sign up for emails and an interview if the school offers one. And make sure they really look at the school’s website before they write the essays so they can show fit.
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@eb23282 why would a reach school not be a fit? I don’t think that’s true for some kids. Both S19 and D21 would be comfortable and ‘fit’ academically at the safeties and the reaches on their list. Not all reaches are stressful places. S19 did not want that so his reaches did not include places like U Chicago but, instead, were colleges that are more collaborative and supportive in nature.
@Muad_dib Check out Ohio Wesleyan - offers a variety of zoology/pre vet options with good merit scholarships.
@TXRunningMom Check out @JanieWalker 's posts on this thread as her homeschooled daughter just started taking college classes this year, I believe.
College visits? D21 is not showing any urgency whatsoever. However, most schools of interest require getting on a plane and that is hard to schedule during the school year. Fall break is too short so we’re probably looking at Spring Break at the earliest. I suspect that this will change as her friends begin to show interest and after the PSAT/SAT results come back. College counseling also is ramping up at her school with presentations for both students and parents about standardized tests, essay writing, crafting a balanced list, etc.
We visited a few reach schools when we were in the area for other reasons. My kids experience was actually the opposite of falling in love - I think they ruled out more reaches based on visit than anything else.
@3SailAway Might want to add my alma mater Lafayette to those other PA liberal arts schools. Pricey but they will meet 100% of need. Great location 60 or so miles from both Philly and NYC and a beautiful campus
My D19’s parents’ weekend coincides with my S21’s fall break, so he and I will fly out early, rent a car, and visit some schools within driving distance of hers. It’s looking like Skidmore, Vassar, U. Penn and Johns Hopkins are on the agenda (also my D’s campus, of course, but he saw that when we moved her in). Not sure whether any of them will be a good fit - the first two may be too small/remote and the last two may be more high-pressure than what he wants… but I’ve told him he’s not under any obligation to like any of them. If he rules them out (and other schools like them) that helps us narrow down his list, so still a successful trip. (At least that’s what I’m telling myself now, we’ll see how well I respond if he complains and criticizes for four days straight!)