Also, the ones he’s most likely to get deferred from are in close proximity to ones he got into, so we can plan the trip and if he hasn’t heard that’s ok.
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My son has done all that, but there is only so much you can learn virtually. The campus itself can be so vastly different. We got from ones in the heart of a major urban city, so ones in rural nowhere. It’s nearly impossible for him to get a feel for it.
One of the best things he’s done is join a FB group for admitted students. Most of the colleges don’t have official ones, but there are unoffical ones I’m going to encourage him to join. I think it’s helped him at least understand what the kids are like who are going there and helped him cross one school off his list due to it.
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S21 visited the school he will attend. D21 has visited only 2 schools on her list of 16 (4 apps still left to submit). H will be fully vaccinated soon, so after we hear where she gets in, he’ll probably fly (it’s hard to get anywhere from here) and road trip with her. Most of her top choices are LACs and I’m not sure what kind of feel she’ll get given Covid, but I can’t imagine how she’d pick without a visit…
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Long break! We only have one week!
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That’s great your H will be vaccinated. At the rate my state is going I’ll be lucky to get one by 2023. We have considered renting an RV and driving.
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I agree that you just can’t “see” the campus unless you are there. I just watched a video on You Tube of a mom and daughter driving into Furman. You just drive off of the highway and into the entrance to the school. Before I saw the video, I was under the impression that the college was close to Greenville but it’s six miles away and you’d have to drive. There’s not even a neighborhood around the college - it just sits by itself off of a main road like a resort.
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Agree. We are on the need-to-see-in-person-train. So much so that we replaced half of his list of geographic outliers hoping we can make this April trip through Boston/NE on spring break. 
So far S has been really openminded, but it was helpful to tour and eliminate schools. He really liked ND but also can see himself attending other schools on the list.
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I would say D is open minded as well. How can she not be? Without visits, I feel like she’s not as invested in any particular school even if she does have favorites on paper.
D21 might walk around BC again when they go to Maine to drop S19 in early Feb. It was raining last time we were there and kind of hard to get into touring and my H hasn’t seen it.
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I fully agree that actually walking around a campus is much different than watching a youtube virtual tour. I am not a big believer of “fit” really but it is admittedly useful and interesting to walk around the campus, especially if you can do the visits within a short time frame of each other. Unfortunately the current situation we are in makes it quite difficult to do…
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My daughter’s school isn’t allowing people on campus, but unfortunately that hasn’t stopped people from trying to visit. They are not allowed to access campus buildings, the bookstore, etc. So all they can do is drive around and walk on the campus and now it’ll be bitter cold until April anyway so people if they visit will not get much out of it. Two of my kids picked schools to ED that they visited in summer, and the other picked a school that was half empty when we visited due to a huge school event that weekend. It made no difference to them if kids were there or not on any visit. The information sessions were the best and I don’t think those are as good virtually but still better than nothing.
The best info my kids have gotten about schools has been to talk to students who actually go there. Not the tour guides because they have a set script and rarely say anything negative and if you ask a question about something like “crime” they have some canned answer. A current student will answer the questions about registration, ability to get classes, what typical class size really is (it’s great when a university says the ratio is 18:1 but trust me it’s rare your kid will get many 18:1 courses), what’s sorority/frat life like, what’s the study load like, freshman course flexibility, why they picked this school, etc.
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I think that’s the case with most colleges. You can walk around campus and do a self tour but no one is getting into any buildings. I’m not sure I even expect that to happen in April. For some of the NESCACs, you aren’t even allowed to walk on the campus at ALL.
We’d love to be able to eat in a cafeteria, see a dorm, etc but I’m really only hoping to walk around outside at this point.
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BC is one my son was interested in that really surprised me. Campuswise it’s more cramped and in an urban location that he doesn’t prefer. However, he really liked it on the Youtube videos.
It’s weird how you get to see some nitty gritty details in this modern search like being in someone’s dorm room, but then you can’t quite tell what the other students are like in general. I feel like the vibe is hard to get without visiting while students are present. @homerdog I wrote to you a while back about Santa Clara. The students seemed so happy and our tour guide was amazing. The dorm was super, though it was the larger room building. It was a really, really good vibe to experience. Of course, my S thinks he wants to leave California. 
It was also the first time I realized how small a campus can be physically, which I had never really thought about before and deserves new consideration in the Covid-age. There is only one cafeteria.
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Right. I feel like the size of the actual campus is hard to discern unless you are there. BC’s campus did feel small and D liked that. She likes a compact campus especially if it’s going to be cold. She also would ideally be able to walk to an adjacent town to get groceries or grab dinner or coffee. But, yet, she doesn’t love urban campuses!
Bowdoin is perfect layout for her. Right size physically, right next to the cute town - but doesn’t really fit a lot of the other things she would like. Some of the schools that are in warmer parts of the country and are on her list are stand alone campuses and seem like you need a car to leave campus. That’s not ideal but those schools have other things she likes.
Once we get decisions, this is going to all be about compromise. What can she give up? What is a priority?
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When driving by Furman on the way to Clemson the school does have a nice golf course…lol…
But seriously my goddaughter went there and loved it. I have a college friend who’s daughter went and my friend said “you know how at most campuses there one particular spot on campus that is the postcard shot… Furman has about 5 such places”
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Did you say “13 schools” ? As in the number of schools your daughter applied to ? I just spit out my Starbucks Lol 
Ok, it must be a regional thing or something … would love to get us all in an actual room (ok virtual) & compare notes. My head is spinning. Our D had many schools on her list but narrowed it way down applying EA to 3 and R to 2. As a white, non 1st gen, 4.5+, APs galore, accomplished applicant in this social/political environment so to speak - I guess she is lucky to get in anywhere (which still blows my mind) ! She took advantage of the virtual tours etc. and crossed off some really solid schools from her list as she dug deep into curriculums, core requirements and spoke w/ current students to gain perspective. Applications were UBER labor and time intensive & she had most of it done before school began this fall - knowing w/ her rigorous academic and athletic schedule she had to have it out of the way … plus enjoy senior year ! Like her older brothers she has a good head on her shoulders and positive attitude - any of these institutions will work for her. They are all OOS and quite distinct but thankfully she was able to visit prior to Covid craziness. We encouraged her to look beyond perceived prestige and I feel meaningless rankings. Even tho vastly more qualified than my husband & I were at her age, she was not getting in to our alma maters and that is fine. Sort of a weight off her shoulders. She loves learning and wants to be around open people who enjoy life and appreciate opportunities. Not all schools have that feeling. It is 100% her decision, her work, her life. The tough part will be waiting so long for those RDs but it will be here before she knows it …Whew.
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My daughter has 10 on her list. I think it grew because many are reach, but she still wants to try. She had 2 safeties, a couple likelies and then the rest are reach. I do wonder if that is why kids apply to so many— that they aim high, and try for reaches.
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My son, our first, applied to 11 mainly because without visiting campus he just decided to do it and so we supported him. He got everything done in time for EA, he had his main essay done before school even started along with his common app so it was just the supplemental essays.
I mean I think it’s great your daughter could narrow down to 5, but since you’ve been through this before she probably also had a good idea of what this all was about too. To each their own.
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My kid applied anywhere that would give him an application waiver ,we are up to 11 or 12 but so far 2 or 3 are realistic financially.
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Absolutely. When I think back to how she actually spent her time it was extensive, exhaustive front end research which in turn gave her content for the school specific essays. There simply would not have been enough hours in the day for HER to do 10+ and stay healthy and balanced. I giggle thinking about it. There were multiple supplemental prompts for some schools/programs which she wanted to focus on - I guess running out of time to do any more than she did ! Maybe she is a slow poke … I don’t judge her decision/ability maybe to narrow her little net earlier than later in the process. Everyone has their own comfort level and it is all good 
Of course. Completely reasonable !