My son feels strongly about visiting his top 1-2 schools, if admitted, so that he can decide where to matriculate. I don’t blame him. All schools on his list, aside from the one he was able to visit before everything shut down, are not within reasonable driving distance.
Right now I’m thinking that we can wait it out until vaccinated (hopefully April?) and then make the trip by plane. Not sure I feel comfortable making the trip otherwise bc would be multiple flights and car rentals and interaction etc.
What are the rest of you thinking/ planning for desirable schools that your student hasn’t been able to visit?
Of my DS21’s 7 schools where he applied, only 1 is open for visits, so we are going out at the end of January (during his school break between 1st and 2nd semester).
I am fearful that decision day will come without him being able to visit schools in person. I don’t know what we will do in that case. His top choice school campus is still closed.
We got lucky with my DD21. We started visiting schools in the spring of sophomore year, so she has visited 4 of her 6 schools. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will be able to visit her top 2 during spring break.
@TwinMom0419@Johnny523
Are you all planning to fly or drive? If a campus allows us to visit / walk around even without an official tour, I’m fine with that. But if we aren’t even allowed on campus, then no point in visiting. Still am anxious about flying.
We are flying (from East Coast to West Coast). We have to get COVID test 3 days before we fly and will quarentine when we get there before we go to the school. Flying we will wear our masks and gloves the whole time. I’m a little anxious, but I know some folks who have taken flights and have not had any issues. I don’t expect it will be crowded because it will be in between holidays.
There are many students, particularly international kids, who never step foot on campus until move in day. There are domestic kids who choose without visiting. Especially in this age of Google Earth, YouTube, etc… it’s easier than ever for kids to get a very good sense of a college before committing.
Of course it’s preferable to visit first, but there are still so many restrictions in place and chances for seeing a lot of students on campus will still be limited.
If I were in this position, I would encourage my student to do as much research as possible. Use the Fiske Guide, niche, Instagram, Twitter, and of course the college website. Scroll around and find articles, events, pics and so forth. Call admissions and ask to be put in touch with students, either current or recently graduated.
With my eldest, the initial plan was that she’d go back to visit her top three. By the time her final decisions were in, there was only time to visit one, which she had never visited before. The issue is that April is a busy month. Students are prepping for AP exams, trying to keep grades up, doing ECs and so forth. Add to that the stress of probably still stringent Covid restrictions, and I think the Spring will end up being a difficult time to visit.
Don’t sweat it if visiting is too complicated or impossible. Thankfully, we have more resources than ever before to help make hard decisions.
Ugh. We have to get D21 on campuses. I don’t care that some kids never visited campuses before they went to college. For her it will be important. S19 visited schools before applying and, in the end, only considered the schools he had already seen before acceptance. It seems like too much to bite off in the five short weeks we had in late March and early April to go see schools he hadn’t visited when he was accepted to a number of schools he had already seen and knew he liked, so he just went back to two of those.
For D, she won’t be ahead like that. She will get acceptances and then see the schools for the first time and won’t get half of the experience S did even then. He stayed overnight at admitted student days, ate multiple meals in cafeterias, met a dozen students and many prospective students. D will likely only get to walk around campuses and then “meet” students via Zoom.
One of the schools on her list that she thinks is a favorite has visits scheduled for winter break but you still can’t go in buildings. Another one has tours but only if you’ve had an interview (which she has). But I hesitate to fly to these schools when we don’t know if she’s accepted yet.
So, it’s going to be a whirlwind April again and she will have to narrow down choices without having seen any of the schools before applying. It could mean three weekends flying to different schools since she applied all over the place. I do think her list is a good one for her and I don’t think she can make a big mistake in her choice but it’s still a big decision and I really hope colleges will at least let prospective students walk around. S19 is at Bowdoin and D did not apply there but I think it’s one school of many that won’t allow anyone but students, staff, and faculty on campus.
@Lindagaf Thanks for adding that perspective. I do think it is possible for students to make this decision without a visit. In our case, and for a variety of reasons, S21 really wants to visit if possible. And we support that and have the means and time to do it. His school is very accommodating, and it won’t be a problem to miss a couple of days to make some long weekend trips. School may even be remote still then. Each family does have to weigh their decision with different metrics.
@homerdog I also feel strongly about son being able to visit. My oldest had a top choice that ended up being crossed off the list after a visit. It can make a difference. And he ended up in the perfect place ultimately, and his visit there in March made a huge (positive) impression. I think we will try to get to S21’s top 2-3 choices. Several of the schools are within driving distance of each other so maybe that area will be our destination! We are definitely not going until he gets all decisions in and can prioritize where he wants to visit. He will do the online research before making that list. I especially think the non school sponsored videos and instagrams are enlightening bc they are less polished and more spontaneous (at least the ones I’ve seen).
@homerdog - I agree with you about visiting if possible. My S18 had visited before puttting in applications and revisited his top two in April after acceptances came out. The revisit helped him decide that one was a better fit. And, he is a very happy junior at that college now.
S21 has not been able to do more than drive-bys of nearby schools and virtual tours so I hope we will get to do some form of campus visit in the Spring. It really helps to be able to get the vibe of the school.
@Momma2018@MIP750 The problem for us is that some of D’s schools have NO kids on campus or they have students on campus but are completely closed to any guests at all. Like I said, she’s not applying to Bowdoin but I know that, there, no one is allowed to even walk on campus. The town people were given a map and it’s posted and even they know where they can and cannot go on campus. The only place they can go is the park attached to the campus. A friend of ours was considering Bowdoin for her recruited athlete son. They flew out there are were told by the coach they literally could only walk “around” campus, meaning along the outskirts. And the coach could not meet him in person even though he was there. Some of the CA schools on D’s list are the same and, if she gets accepted to any schools in RD that will allow spring visits, they will move up the list over the CA ones if they continue to keep students off campus.
We’re going to fly, it’s too far to drive. I’ve flown a few times this year and have felt very comfortable with it.
It’s very important to my D to visit the schools. She has some, let’s say irrational reasons for liking or not liking schools which she wouldn’t have really known without visiting. And these trips have been a great way for the two of us to spend time together (DW doesn’t come).
Very challenging situation. When it was S’ time, the visits were crucial in both determining where to apply and where to commit. Actually got it down to two and made his decision at admitted student day of the last visit (that school - immediately once back on campus). And the other school in the running would have been a lesser fit for sure.
However, until things change, there isn’t much to see on most campuses. Most are buttoned down pretty tight without a lot of activity going on. Takeaway meal service, virtual club meetings, no attendance sports matches / games, virtual classes.
D will be moving in to her freshmen dorm in January. Still hasn’t seen the school. Her first semester was entirely online and freshmen in her program weren’t allowed to come to campus. She’s a performing artist and with the exception of schools that only auditioned on campus, she didn’t see nay of them. Didn’t want to fall in love when the chance of admit was tiny. Also was in the camp of “it’s about the training” and she didn’t really care much about the university the BFA program was housed in. But she’ll be in NY which is what she’s always wanted.
We are planning Spring visits. Kid is a Junior. We planned to get started last year (very early) so that we could just look around and kid could get a good idea of the type of school. Now that Covid has hit, Fiske will narrow the choices and we’ll visit schools that are more likely. Will still have time over the Summer and next year ( for long distance schools that are unlikely visits unless accepted and very interested)
Based on BS visits, I wouldn’t want my kids going to a college without a visit. You can learn a lot about the vibe and no web site can recreate that. Then again, I went to college without a visit and it worked out fine.
I would just make sure wherever you’re planning to go this spring will actually allow you on campus. Some schools do not let you on campus at all. On some campuses, you can walk around but they have no students on campus for spring. Just know what you’re getting before you head out.
We have found the same thing. And without the students there, it’s really hard, maybe impossible, to get a sense of the culture. We are going to wait as long as possible and see what we end up with. Will likely still visit if we can do so safely. Even acquiring first hand experience with things like difficulty of travel to campus, surrounding town, etc, can help.
Now that we have some yeses, we have a loop through 4 schools planned over 3 days in about 2 weeks. As I was trying to book the campus tours, they were getting snapped up! I don’t understand why campuses are restricting a tour to one family (while outdoors with masks). Going to Costco or to get vaccinated is way worse. And that’s all they are doing: an hour tour. We managed to get tours at 2 schools and will have to just meander on our own at the other two. I wish they’d have at least some sort of info session in a big hall spread out. Going to be a lot of flying and driving and money.
How are the rest of you doing? Any trips planned? I’m anxious that when all the rest of the decisions come in over the next 10 days, we will be planning ANOTHER trip in mid April. And then May 1 is decision day. So little time.
s21 has it narrowed to 3 schools. I was able to book tours at 2 of them. The third did not have any available at the time we are going but has a map for a self guided walking tour. We will be making 2 trips by car in April - 2 schools in one trip and one in the other. Very glad that travel restrictions are lifting enough that we are able to go.