<p>Just to give a glimspe of experiencing something different from the no parental contact thing. Both my now college freshman son and senior DD had adcom reps, football and swim/dive coaches, dean of admissions (for 2 different schools) call and write with the express purpose of speaking/interacting with me, the mom. Several of my son's prospective assistant and head football coaches called specifically asking to speak with me during daytime hours (you know when the kids are in school). They wanted to talk about their programs, the kids' possible majors, the probability of financial aid, making visiting arrangements and other misc. stuff. Adcoms called about questions about the app or any questions the kids might have posed on their apps. Those schools in much colder climates also had other parents of current students call to let me know about what type of outerwear, linens to purchase if my son decided to attend. I know that several deans of admins called just to wish ME a congratualtions on scholarships and wanted to know if I knew about them since the initial letters went to my son. </p>
<p>My personal opinion is the process of attending college isn't just an individual thing. It isn't done in a vacuum of family and friends. Yes, I expect my kiddos to initiate contact and decide on what is important for them and I listen but it is definetely a family thing at our house. I posted before about taking them all on a visit and how that created havoc on the initial evaluation of the school. But it also helped to point out things he or I would not have seen just on our own.</p>
<p>Our philosophy is we are in this together and if that doesn't mesh with a particular school then that school will not be a good fit for us. My son is at college where I have never been or visited and he handled much of the arrangements. But I have spoken many times with the lady at the bookstore about his books, dean of financial aid, admissions, coaches, his advisor and they have given me their home numbers if there ever is a problem. They provide him with transportation to and from the airport and when his flight was delayed make arrangements for him. They are trying to coordinate a weekend in the fall that I can come up for a game and get to meet everyone.</p>
<p>I guess what I am trying to say is I haven't had the impression that schools look unfavorable on parental interaction. I think it is crucial to a student's success to have a very supportive family and involved family at home. And this is what the coaches, adcom and financial have stated very clearly to me. This wasn't just from the school he currently attends either. This was from at least 6 of the 8 he applied to. We have had a similar repeat with my DD who is a senior this year. Granted they are both recruited athletes, but my son who is a junior has received at least 2 calls and I have received 1 call and 1 letter directed specifically to me and again he is a junior.</p>
<p>Maybe this will give a different perspective.</p>
<p>I will have to look this up but I don't beleive that colleges are allowed to contact students( re: athletic recruitment) especially until they are senior, so perhaps getting the information to parents is how they are getting around that?</p>
<p>You certainly do describe an alternative experience with students who were also talented athletes, and I am sure combining an athletic college career experience with academics makes for more complex decision-making and a greater need for parental perspectives. Interesting! We have not fielded phone calls from recruiting staff members. For non-recruits, my point is that the student can make micro-plans like contacting a department for access to viewing a class via email on their own steam.<br>
I am sure some students are ready for evaluative interviews in 11th grade, but in general I would delay evaluative interviews for the season when you have a shorter list and clear reasons "why" for each school that go beyond viewbook information, and you return for class viewing, or overnights...which are very time-consuming and serious business, and sometimes useful for the essays on so many applications that ask "Why Our College?". Evaluative Interviews imply that you have decided to apply, although I am sure some students decide otherwise before application deadlines, too.</p>
<p>Smiles, Here are some questions that came to mind when I read your initial post. Do you consider your spring break college tour to be more like a family vacation, or more like a business trip? Interview appointments add one more item on the day's agenda, in addition to the tour, info session, lunch, etc., and that can make the day less flexible. The more people you travel with (for instance, siblings), the more flexibility you need for bathroom breaks or ice cream cones. Is there time before the trip for your child to prepare for interviews, for instance, with a little Q and A practice, preparation of responses that convey your child's key interests/activities, and research on that particular school? It should be possible to schedule at least a couple of interviews during that time. My son once did 5 interviews in 5 days and found that he felt much more relaxed and confident by the end of the week. In contrast, when he had interviews that were spaced a month apart or more, he felt more nervous. If you don't think you will be able to return to PA, why not take care of the interviews during this trip? Maybe with deep research in advance, you could eliminate visits to (or spend much less time at) some of the schools in order to have more time at the others, thus making more time for the interviews.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity- In the scope of athletic recruitment contact with parents and high school coaches regarding "athletics" is indeed governed by the NCAA. There is a specific time period and how many contacts in which direct contact with student, family members, high school coaches is restricted. However, phone calls, e-mail, letters, club meets/matches based on PSAT scores in conjunction with SAT scores, club coaches who exist in some of the same circles is not prohibited. So if a student is being contacted for academics rather than athletics than that is not restricted. Does that make sense? So my son who is currently a junior, with high PSAT and SAT scores, who is also ranked #1 in his class, is a URM has been contacted for his academics. He also happens, as with his 3 older siblings, to be a 3-sport varsity athlete. My older son is in college on an academic scholarship, specifically for physics, he also plays college football. The schools that contatced him for football did so within the week that they were allowed to do so. I don't think any of the administrations were trying to get around the rules rather his athletic ability was just an additional part of who he was as a student.</p>
<p>
[quote]
....currently a junior, with high PSAT and SAT scores, who is also ranked #1 in his class, is a URM has been contacted for his academics.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Trust me, your and your son's experiences in the college selection process are nothing like what most of us have experienced.Your son is the most highly prized recruit at every college that is calling you. Most kids aren't recruited. Nobody from any college ever called my daughter or me. We did get an occasional postcard letting us know that we could drive 120 miles round trip to attend the travelling "college night" presentation in our area if we wanted to.</p>
<p>I do strongly agree with your statement that selecting a college should be a family experience. I feel sorry for kids who are at odds with their parents on the issue or, even worse, have parents who simply don't care.</p>
<p>On parents calling, I know that my daughter's college feels very strongly that students should be treated like and behave as adults. They welcome parent interest in the college but strongly discourage parental contact in areas that should be handled by the students. I am fairly certain that mothers calling to schedule appointments and interviews for applicants probably costs some kids acceptance letters each year and quite rightly so. If a kid can't send an e-mail to scedule a visit, how in the world is the kid going to be ready for college?</p>
<p>shutterbug - don't let it get to you (ie, all this stuff about what parents should and shouldn't do). Check out the thread on "Males favored in admissions process?", posts #13-55ish and more. There you will find those of us who have been there with our Ss. (You will also get a little comic relief from all this badgering, which you should need by now).</p>
<p>We don't write our Ss essays. But, we are their Application Managers and if, in your case, you made some phone calls, so be it and no need to apologize imho. You are not the only one, I'm sure. Of course there's a line not to be crossed, so that our Ss don't come across as incompetent babies not ready for college. If some posters automatically assume you cross that line in making a phone call to set up an appointment, they are reading too much into things imo.</p>
<p>I, personally, wouldn't have as a first choice calling a professor for my son, as I don't think it would look good. However, I don't think any professor would take offense, or quickly dial the adcom to report his horror, if a parent called during school hours to say that her S asked if she could schedule an appointment for him. My H told my grandS, who we also helped, that I was his "first secretary" in this whole admissions process, and these are some of the things that a good secretary does.</p>
<p>I'm not meaning to flame the posters who are querying your phone call. I respect their opinions on this topic and others, but I think you need some support! :D</p>
<p>Those dogs in the New Yorker cartoon must have been looking over my shoulder a time or two. ;)</p>
<p>S's PHS did some college interview prep with the Juniors and it was done just before spring break. I believe it was done in English class (not sure). A former adcom comes in (young guy in this case which helped) and preps them what to expect, what kinds of things will come up, what kinds of qx they should ask, how they should prepare, how they should dress, etc.</p>
<p>It made my S feel more confident and he was, in some ways, as ready as he'd ever be during spring break. I think I'd rather see interviews further on in the process if I had my druthers. But you might check whether this kind of prep exists at your school. If so, that, plus your geography issue, could make Junior spring timing more palatable.</p>
<p>D and I took a college tour trip during Easter Break week of 2004 (her junior year). We had made two previous trips, one weekend trip to Chicago and a longer weekend trip to the Northeast around a wedding. D had made a list or "possibles" ahead of time, based on reviewing a number of college guides and the individual school web sites. The Easter trip lasted 8 days. We visited 10 schools where we did the tours and information sessions. We also visited 3-4 other schools on what we termed "drive-bys" - those being schools that weren't very high on D's list, but she wanted to take a look anyway. She did no interviews. This was solely a trip to look at the schools and catalogue her initial reactions.
Subsequent to that trip, the list was whittled down to a more manageable size. Other schools were added to the list based on counselor recommendations.
Fortunately, it D still talks about the trip as "a great time." Every time we drive by a "Famous Dave's BBQ" we laugh, because we had dinner at a "Famous Daves" one night near Princeton, NJ, just on a whim, in a torrential downpour, where we almost had to swim back to our car.
Enjoy your trip - it can be a lot of fun. If you are tired, stop and rest. Don't try to do too much. BUT, HAVE FUN!</p>
<p>Smiles,
It's funny sometimes when one posts on this bulletin board that instead of answering your question, "We live in the south and a second trip to PA would be a problem. How then can we do interview?" you got responses about how that's not best way to visit colleges and what you should do instead. Who knows, maybe you wanted alternate ideas.</p>
<p>In an ideal world with lots of time to visit every college that is appealing you would leisurely visit one college a day, student would sit in on a class, your child would talk to a student in your their potential major, etc., etcs. After narrowing down your selection, you would go back for another visit and an interview and after acceptance you would go back to make the final decision visit. how nice! </p>
<p>In our real world, we research all the colleges, visit what works when we can and interview right then if that's going to be the only visit. And since I'm the master scheduler in the house, I'm the one that's calling the admissions office to schedule the tours and interviews. no apologies. My daughter was accepted at every college she applied to so it must not be that big a deal. The lines I don't cross are contacting professors, and anything to do with the application except nagging. </p>
<p>While I would say that 8 is a lot of colleges for that short a time period, do what you have to do. If you're not going to get back and they want an interview, then do them while you can.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input. My s is not the most mature teen - typical boy in a fog. I think the first trip will be more informational and less stressful. Interviews will wait and we willl find a way to return in late summer and only visit the selected colleges. Hopefully the 8 schools will be wittled down to a manageable 3 or 4 and we still have the northeast schools to visit.</p>
<p>I dunno; to the OP-- we weren't wound so tightly. S had his first ever college related meeting with a famous professor at the first school we visited who he had emailed on a whim; meeting went well, S decided it was his first choice school. S was also a disorganized "in a fog" jr. at the time. They talked about Bob Dylan.</p>
<p>Stuff happens. If you could micromanage the process to do screening visits, meaningful visits, interview visits, and decisions visits of every school that might be a good match, you would, I'm sure... and to heck w/your job, other children, budget, etc. In the real world, we do what we can and try to be pragmatic.</p>
<p>Somehow it works out. If I had it to do over again, I'd do less visiting, not more. The "drivebys" are particularly unhelpful, based on our experience, since the kids pick up on some trivial thing (a boy with bright blue hair sitting on the green as you're parking the car) and can't let that go. I know lots of kids who end up hating BU and Northeastern, solid options for many Boston-bound students, if they start the grand tour in Cambridge and the memories of Harvard's Georgian architecture keep popping up. </p>
<p>If time and money are tight.... I'd focus on visiting my kids top three picks in April once the acceptances and financial picture were clear, and let go of the grand tour. But-- if you can afford it-- the visits are a heck of a lot of fun!</p>
<p>Agree with Blossom, they are a heck of a lot of fun. Our spring break college tour in '03 was both a vacation and a business trip, we brought the whole family, including the dog. We planned the whole thing using college websites, taking careful note of days/times of information sessions and tours--paying careful attention to what changes may apply during spring break at the colleges. After seeing several information sessions we quickly concluded that the tours were far more useful and informative, so if time was tight, we focused on the latter. The info sessions are pretty much the same from school to school, and I can hardly remember any piece of information we got from one that wasn't easily available on the website or viewbook. The tours and student guides, however, are another story.</p>
<p>I'm a high school junior right now, and I'm going to be visiting some schools on the east coast this summer. Is it recommended to schedule an interview? I heard if you somehow "get your name down" on their visiting lists or interview list, you'll have a higher chance of being admitted</p>
<p>Sunshine, there is some evidence that some schools do take "demonstrated interest" into account when making admissions decisions. Will it get you in? No, but it is a "tipping point" a little extra push if you are teetering on the edge. So, if you are going to be visiting and taking a tour anyway, it is a good idea to schedule an interview with the admissions rep if a particular school makes interviews available (some do not). One tip, however: do not schedule interviews if you are just doing "look and see" visits to schools you know little or nothing about - you should be ready to explain in any interview why you think a school is a good fit. You don't have to know everything about the school -- that is after all why you're visiting -- but at least the basics are important! Good luck!</p>