Congrats! We have a happy kiddo here too! Still waiting for the school to announce to make it “official” but glad the wait is finally over!
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Agreed. The affects are going to linger in the next 2-3 graduating High school classes depending on how things go. Never mind the lingering possible learning deficits all the way down to current second graders. It also varies so much by geography and dare I say ideology . .
One of the colleges my D23 is looking at is currently under a mask mandate in all spaces. This is fall 2022 for the record.
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Where?
I’m also curious to know to which college you’re referring. At D’s college (Penn), masks are recommended in indoor spaces for immunocompromised people. That seems like a reasonable guideline. However, professors are free to enforce their own requirements; D has two classes where masks are required.
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San Jose State University. It’s probably not one of her top choices but we are going to be in the area soon and are going to visit and see what she thinks.
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I look forward to hearing about this—we haven’t visited, but it’s on my D23’s shortlist of possibles.
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I plan to post extensive feedback on each visit we do this fall! I am so appreciative of everyone’s else’s reviews they have posted over the years!!
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We toured Vassar two weeks ago and masks are still required in all spaces. Where we live they uave been long gone.
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Question for the group: We are meeting with a college rep who is visiting our area next week. We haven’t done any official college visits yet and also have never met with a rep.
D23 is chasing merit. And this is one school she will only be able to afford if she gets offered enough money. Do we mention that at all? Or do we keep mum about it - let them assume for now we can afford the entire price tag?
Don’t know how closely to keep our cards to our chest at this point . . . She’s applying EA before Nov 1.
Mentioning that you’re applying for merit $$ will not be a negative.
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What do you mean when you say “we” are meeting with a college rep? Are you attending a college night where the AO for your region will be there? If anyone is speaking to the AO, make sure it is your student.
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Yes it is a luncheon and he is visiting our area. Absolutely about having my student talk to him - I wasn’t even certain whether I should even go but they did pointedly invite “families”. This is a school where usually the parents are footing much or most of the bill from what i can tell so I guess they feel a need to sell their institution to parents as well.
I don’t even know whether she’ll get to talk to him one on one she is just preparing for it in case.
I use the word “we” too much when I really mean She. Even though I am enjoying assisting her in this search process she is the only one who has had any contact with the schools.
AO visits to S23’s high school are in full swing. I am actually amazed by how many are visiting his school… until this year, I had no idea AOs even did this! 
Obviously I won’t be participating in any of these AO visits since they take place during the school day! Advice for S would be great, though…
- does he need to attend all the visits for the colleges he is applying to? It takes time away from his HS classes…
- is there anything special he should be doing during these visits, other than learning more about the schools and asking any questions he genuinely has?
There are literally 3-5 of these visits scheduled per school day! Most schools are not on S’s list, but some are, and there are other schools he was curious about.
Great questions - I’m eager to hear the answers! Our upcoming visit is not at a school but a nice local restaurant. Pretty sure D23’s rural high school only gets visits from instate AO’s.
I will say that I have been encouraging D23 to really demonstrate interest to schools she’s applying to. I would think that if there were ANY key way to show interest it would be to show up when the AO comes to visit you in your area. Just because it’s so easy to do.
S23 goes to a large HS in the bay area. These AOs are coming from everywhere, including Canada and the UK. Most of the schools he’s applying to will be represented by an AO at his school in the next 6 weeks… plus lots more. He’s a bit puzzled how to balance these visits with school work.
Wow that is so amazing!
You need to strategize and optimize your time. The way my daughter approached this is:
- if there’s no class conflict, attend
- if conflict: does the school care about demonstrated interest? If yes, attend and make sure you sign in.
- if not, does she have a genuine question? If yes, the school is high enough on her list/is particularly selective and she is ok missing class, attend - otherwise email the question.
Hope that helps.
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Thanks! Unfortunately all of the visits are during the day when he would have a class period. Some appear to be scheduled overlapping two class periods (sigh).
Right now he is targeting maybe 2-4 schools that are either his top choices or we know that they track demonstrated interest.
We are confused about some schools that say they do NOT track demonstrated interest, but they have so many events and things. For example USC… this is possibly his TOP choice so he doesn’t want to miss an opportunity to connect with them, if they do actually track interest in some way (or if he would learn something valuable). But it seems like practically speaking, he ought to put more love into schools like Case or Northeastern that track interest and have no “Why us” essay.
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If they state in their CDS that they don’t track DI, I would believe it.
Correct. They’re both needy schools (especially NEU), wanting applicants to show them lots of love. At NEU, it seems to help greatly if you send a “why NEU?” email to the AO. But if your son applies EA he will likely get deferred (unless he has hooks that are desirable to NEU).
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Doesn’t that describe most colleges? 
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