Yes, excellent input @Happytimes2001! And it’s good advice also to look around and listen to the other parents. One tidbit that DS reported from his revisit that helped confirm his decision was from the student panel. An admitted student asked the panel why they had chosen this school. One of the boys on the panel said he was choosing between this school and PEA, where they were told at the revisit day, “Look around you — that’s your competition.” He chose the less prestigious and more collegial, supportive environment and thrived — he ended up a double-recruited athlete at a NESCAC school.
Even if the revisit days don’t nudge your student one way or the other (which, as others have said, they might), they serve a really useful ancillary purpose. Keep in mind that the process of joining a new school, and especially moving from home to live at a new place, can be really anxiety-producing for kids. One of the biggest causes of that anxiety is how foreign it all is – what are the other kids like? – what will the food be like? what do people wear? — etc., etc… Giving your son/daughter additional exposure to the school, especially in a low stress environment that is intended to make him/her feel included and welcomed is a great way to decrease the inevitable anxiety that will occur when it’s time for them to actually go. (And, as a side benefit, if you are a parent who will struggle with letting your son/daughter go earlier than you had planned, attending a revisit day is a great way to help reassure yourself that you’ve put your kid in good hands.)
1 Like
A few words of advice:
Revisits are carefully orchestrated events. Food is at its best. Lawns carefully manicured. New flowers. Bathrooms extra clean. Everyone you meet and see will be carefully planned. Talk to upperclass students to get a sense of the downsides.
Definitely agree with the spreadsheet and rankings. We did the same. But let the child weigh in on the attributes and scoring system.
Go to the college counseling office, and ask to see matriculation lists. Especially from unhooked applicants. There is a special scattergram that they can produce from Naviance that eliminates hooked applicants. It is much harder to get this information later.
@sgopal2 Wow, interesting tidbit regarding matriculation and unhooked candidates.
@buuzn03 Thanks. Yes, the marketing for the “top ranked schools” is superb and is helped by those who don’t look carefully under the covers to test the sage marketing techniques. The ranked lists are downright silly. Some, like Niche, actually count the opinion of parents and students who attend the very schools. No bias there.
@sgopal2 forgive me if this is an ignorant question, but what do you mean by asking for the matriculation list of unhooked applicants?
Are you talking about college for those that came in on their own (without being legacy or having siblings attend) or for those currently attending the BS?? I am new to this process and am not 100% sure I understand fully.
Thanks for helping me understand better!
@FirstTimesACharm the term unhooked usually refers to: no legacy status, not a recruited athlete, not first generation or URM. All of these categories can mean better college admissions results at the top schools…
I have to be honest…matriculation lists sometimes bother me…more so of late. DS and his close friends are thinking college now and starting to research. He has recently told us he does not think he’ll apply to any Ivies, and definitely no LACs. A few of his top schools are very obscure…but this is his choice and he has very sound reasons for each of his choices. They just won’t look so “impressive” for the BS, should he choose to go to one of them. Many kids last year chose similarly, even though they were accepted to some of the top schools in the country. So, I wouldn’t base decisions off of matriculation per se…their results may be skewed.
^^this. I have recently been having this argument, I mean discussion, with what seems like a lot of people. I’m more impressed with a school that send kids to their #1 choice than to a #1 school. Kids decide which school is their favorite for all sorts of reasons and that’s ignored in the normal college matriculation - does it have enough ivies - perusal.
Our local Day school does an acceptances list for that very reason @dogsmama1997. They even go so far as to note the specific schools applied to and acceptances to from the graduating class. I think that would be more helpful…for me, anyway.
That’s where DS is too, @buuzn03 (though he is definitely a liberal arts-bent kid). Though the college office says they really focus on fit, I’ll be curious since a lot of kids end up at a pretty typical list of schools. We’re starting off the bat looking at some more off the beaten path schools, and I’m wondering how it will line up with the school college process.
I’m glad we’re not the only ones @CTMom21 ! But we digress…back to Revisit day discussions!
I DO suggest that candidates ask the hard questions!! The skeletons in the closet, so to speak. You’ve been accepted, so get all of your concerns addressed! No point in holding back now and possibly regretting it later.
Having not visited any schools before applying (since he was targeting top 15) we went to our first choice (Vandy, due to full tuition scholarship) admitted students day and DS liked it very much, interviewed for research and got offered immediately. He chose not to visit his 2nd choice (U Penn) or 3rd choice (JHU) and he i a happy sophomore at Vandy.
@srk2017: This discussion is about boarding school revisits, not college.
@ChoatieMom - Thanks for letting me, I didn’t know boarding schools are also discussed here 
@FirstTimesACharm: Each of the boarding schools will publish a list of college matriculations. These lists are stacked. While at first glance, it may seem impressive, it would be worth your while to dig a bit deeper. I generally advise new BS parents to ignore the college matriculation lists. And here is why.
Many of the matriculants at the top boarding schools are hooked. Meaning that they are legacy at a top college, URM, athlete or a combination thereof. The matriculation lists are skewed when viewing the total # or % of admissions.
Take for example Lawrenceville class of 2018. During graduation, I counted about 18 kids from my son’s graduating class who are matriculating to Princeton. For a class of 200+ students, sounds impressive right? Well if you subtract out the legacy, donors, URMs, athletes and faculty-kids, the # who were admitted is much smaller. The college counseling office will give you a Naviance scattergram (GPA vs SAT/ACT) and the # of kids who were rejected/admitted/waitlisted over the last 5 years. The scattergrams indicate quite a bit of variability. But you can ask the counseling office to generate a scattergram that excludes the hooked kids. This will give a good sense of what type of grades/scores your kid will need. The best time to do this IMHO is during revisit days, as the counseling office doesn’t like to give this information out.
While I appreciate the information about matriculation data - a big thanks to @sgopal2 for making a good point - I would like to suggest to parents that you do not emphasize this to your kids during Revisit. They sense enough pressure as it is. As been stated by many experienced folks on CC, selection of a school should not be based on matriculation data - for a variety of reasons ( including those above). On a more practical note, please think about the message your sending your child as you decide upon the best fit for them. Also, please consider not embarrassing your kid by asking about matriculation to Ivy League colleges during BS Revisit Day. o:)
@sgopal2 and @Golfgr8 there’s wisdom in both of your posts, and we’ll take that to heart.
I do think college matriculations are part of the decision matrix. There’s mention in these posts about a Naviance scattergram excluding hooked kids. What is this and will schools actually give it out? I would have no hesitation asking for something like this as a parent, but I agree it might be a bit much for my DC to ask for it during the revisit.
I’ve heard folks here talking about Naviance, but have no idea what is and what kind of information you can glean from something like this. Thoughts most welcome.
Naviance is a system used by many US high schools for college admissions paperwork. One of the perks is the ability to generate a scatter plot.
The scattergrams show GPA on one axis and test scores on the other. Then it has different symbols for accepted students, rejects and waitlist.
So a google search and I’m sure you can find examples of what they look like.
To be clear, I was never suggesting that a student ask for these, but instead the parent.
College matriculation seems like a wrongheaded approach to judging the quality of a school.
Why do people cling to the idea that attending a prestigious college delivers a better education and increases one’s chances for success or happiness? There is research data (DATA!) that this is NOT the case. (See Stanford University, Challenge Success.)
You know what DOES predict a successful outcome? The degree to which a student is fully engaged with the opportunities at their college: relationships with professors, research and internships, activities, etc. Boarding school is a great place to practice that degree of engagement.
Is our self esteem tied up with being able to brag to friends that our child was admitted to a highly selective school? Is our child’s self worth so dependent on getting into a brand-name college that they are at higher risk for anxiety and depression?
Why do we cling to notions that are contradicted by data and affecting our kids’ mental health?
Would any of you mind to share some of the questions you asked or some the criteria you focused on during your revisits that really helped your child make his/her final decision? Or are there any specific questions you heard someone else ask that you hadn’t thought of? I’m trying to get all of my bases covered since my spouse is unable to make the trip with me. I’m looking forward to learning more about the schools to help my child make an informed decision, but I’m so new to this world that it’s overwhelming me a bit. Thanks in advance!