Funding for scholarship visits (or just visit in general) seems so rare, I have definitely noticed when schools offer it. D23 received an email from one LAC that highlighted a reimbursement fund that would pay up to $500 in expenses from traveling to visit. Made me think a lot better of that school.
That has been the only school I can remember that offers something like that, let alone advertises it widely/openly.
The small LAC we are going to this weekend offers a stipend for students travelling alone. They also offer an airport shuttle (about an hour) only for solo students and dorm housing for students travelling alone and other students who want to do that (S23 will ) This is yet another reason they are my top choice for him!
In this case though, we have family nearby, so it is the one school on the list where we need no housing or transportation! For those students that do, they provide it.
Alabama paid for my kidâs travel and lodging as a Blount Scholar finalist back in 2017.
And Muhlenberg (where she ended up going) paid all expenses other than airfare for a recruitment visit thinly disguised as a summer camp the summer before her senior year.
But not a lot of that going on, noâboth of those were very much the exceptions.
No apology necessary from my POV. We are traveling for music auditions, and several schools all require in person, even if youâre thousands of miles away. Weâre spending about $6,000. Itâs a good chunk of what we have saved for the first year of college. Luckily, most will offer a virtual option.
Wow, this is great! I asked about dorm housing at one school we visited, and the person on the phone actually laughed. 
A small LAC paid for my daughterâs flight, hotel room, and shuttle from the airport (which we didnât use). Went a long way with mom and dad!
D19 had one small LAC have a scholarship day where if you visited you got $1500-2000. Another school in the middle of MO had a shuttle if you got to St. Louis. One school gave us some money for miles driven. D19 did call up St. Johns in NY and ask for a plane ticket for a visit hoping just to stay in the dorm. It was a school we didnât visit. They said no.
D23 has had 2 virtual interviews for scholarships. She had one in person and like others have said the timing was not great and it required us to come in the night before or leave at 4:45AM.
I do think there are more virtual options since the pandemic. Although we all know why they want you on campus so you and the kid will fall in love and accept with or without the scholarship.
This application season has been a roller coaster of emotions for us! Here are some updates:
â˘Twin 2 did not get selected for the full ride scholarship he interviewed for at Southwestern. Itâs fine, what they have awarded him is still within our financial means, but I think heâs starting to realize the school may be too small for him.
â˘Texas A&M gave both the twins $1000 grant lolâŚthanks for throwing us a bone 
â˘TrinityâŚyikes. Oh Trinity, you CSS schoolâŚI thought you liked us. Apparently not lol. Financial package came back no buenoâŚonly $3300 in institutional grantsâŚ$20,000 merit scholarship, cost of attendance is coming to $35,000/year (after the student federal loan). With 3 in college at the same time, that is a no-can-do. Sadly, Trinity is coming off the table 
That brings us to UT Austin. Oh my goodness, where to begin! The last of the acceptances, the total reach, the dark horseâŚis now in pole position. We had a Zoom Information Session yesterday for those selected for PACE. They kept stressing that these applicants got picked because theyâre applications stood out and most likely would have received full admission if a) the majors had room or b)class rank was within auto admit (Twin 2 was just shy at like 6.5% or something). And the cost savings for that first year lol 
!!!
Itâs a very close and tight knit cohort and is offering him pretty much everything he wanted. Vibrant and social environment with rigor in academics. He can major in Econ or Govt or double major in both or choose another major in the College of Communications. He can do their BEOP program which is major in Econ and minor in Finance. He can do the 4+1, major in Econ and transition or a masters in McCombs business schoolâŚif he maintains a 3.5 in undergrad, GRE is waived. So many possibilities.
So there we have it. Heâs down to his top 3: Texas A&M, Southwestern & UT Austin. Iâm about 90% sure heâs going to choose UT Austin and I will be 100% thrilled if he does 
This! Vandy is a good school but not THE best. Oxford dude could easily insult Vandy dudeâŚ
Vanderbilt dude embarrassed himself and doesnât even know his insecurity is there for all to see.
It depends on the student. When my daughter was choosing a school all the admitted student days were on the same weekend, so she had to pick which school she wanted to attend that weekend. It was most helpful to see if you clicked with the other students who would be attending. She chose her cheapest option and did not end up going there. Just as helpful is a visit where you stay overnight with a student in a dorm, eat lunch with other students and take a class on campus. Good luck to you!!
I dont think that is Lafayette College. But none the less COA less than 9K at Lafayette university in Louisiana is a great admit.
Pitt admit is a great school and my guess is your Son with come out with a bunch less debt and probably as good of a job.
Where did you go?
Yes, got it! @2plustrio and I both have music kids and I am familiar with his list, but itâs true it can be confusing. We have the same confusion with our kid applying to C0lumbia College Chicago.
I donât have an older student, but my take on this was that I wanted us to see colleges on totally normal days of the week. This meant avoiding visit weekends, reading periods, exam weeks, or something like an arts festival or big athletic event.
I wanted my student to get a good read on what it actually felt like in the library on a random Tuesday, or what it was like in the student center on a Monday afternoon, what was the food like (and the atmosphere) in the dining halls on a normal day, what was the campus like when kids were walking through (are they interacting with one another, is it busy, are people chatting, are there places to hang out, to play, etc), what was it like to attend a class in the middle of the semester, all of it as part of day to day life.
My kiddo goes to a private school and I told him that checking out a college on one of their big visit weekends would be similar to if prospective families visited his school during the fall festival to make their decision about attending his school - when itâs at its most exciting, festive, wonderful, lovely bestâŚbut itâs not a normal day.
I want to see what a college looks like when they havenât spent countless hours and resources on this handful of days to make them perfectly perfect for visitors.
Moravian. So much more opportunity for me to take on leadership positions and really know my profs at a small school. Better socially for me too. The first Q my host asked me at other school was which sorority my mother was in. My mom didnât even go to college. Know what fits you to bloom, donât get caught up in rep.
Unfortunately for some, they werenât inflated everywhere.
No grade inflation in our school- they still had exams etc kids got Bs. Our high school doesnât give extra credit or another chance to bring up grades with extra exams as some kids here ok other thread have posted. Itâs not standardized so some kids have perfect gpas but their school is ten times easier than my Ddâs highly competitive school.
Agree this is a frustrating aspect of this cycle. It was also much easier to do extracurriculars in some parts of the country, a lot of volunteer organizations in our area refused to take minors for close to two years, even school sports did not exist for a year. On the other hand, it wonât be an issue for my 2026 child. There will be some other issue.
This is an overlooked aspect of the disparities in my opinion. We moved mid-pandemic and have friends across the country, and some students have resumes that look exactly the same as if nothing had happened and others have a two year gap in activities, etc. The schools said they âunderstand and take that into account.â In my experience this year, that isnât true for the competitive full ride scholarships nor for those really top schools. Those things tend to be decided among so many super-qualified candidates that, in the end, I think not having major gaps in ECs clearly helped.