We had a system where we wouldn’t discuss the school or make notes until we left the campus. My daughter kept a notebook where she devoted a page or so to each school which she wrote right after each visit.
My son is a man of few words.
After each visit, I asked 2 questions:
- What didn’t you like?
- Could you see yourself going here?
When we found the right school, #1 was “Nothing” and #2 was “OH YEAH. THIS IS WHERE I’M GOING!”
We are forced to do most visits in the summer due to distance. We did travel up to Mich. State because I wanted DS to see it in session. On the website, I was able to see and sign up for a dept. tour. That was awesome and way more informative than the general tour.
Twice now, DS really seemed to like schools, enjoy the visits, then cross them off his list a few weeks later. I’m hoping he’ll see some that he likes enough to hang onto that happy feeling. Writing things down is a great idea! Maybe he’ll either remember why he liked a school or realize it’s just the excitement of college.
Good luck with your visits!
After doing 15+ visits we settled to this process:
- Get to campus day before or 3 hours before tour. Drive around entire campus. Go up and down and observe.
- Find parking and walk campus yourself. Observe.
- Go on general tour.
- If you like it, apply and wait for acceptance.
- If accepted, return for second tour and meet professors in major.
- Have child get on Facebook or Boards to talk to other accepted kids.
- If needed, attend student for the day
- Attend admitted students day
- Decide.
I am very excited to go on a few visits myself!
Some great comments and advice. Vividly remember hanging at the back of the tours and observing S’s body language. When he was disinterested, kept to the middle of the pack. When he was engaged and interested, was walking up front next to the our guide and chatting with her / him the whole time. Some of that had to do with the guide so be careful about that, but it was a pretty accurate barometer. At the least it led to wanting to get more information from those schools taking a close look.