The other thing that was very helpful to our son was talking to faculty and staff. You get an idea of how engaged and passionate they are about their institution.
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My kids didn’t have contact with faculty until they were admitted.
Checking out the campus, town and/or surrounding area is really helpful. For a couple of schools, my daughter said “keep driving” and we didn’t even get out!
oops not meant for @eyemgh
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Interesting! D tried to meet with faculty every school she visited. The only one that wouldn’t accommodate that request was U Michigan. Honestly that helped my D a lot, more so for taking schools off her list than keeping them on ; )
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Actually now I am remembering two instances when one of my kids met with dept. chairs at two separate schools before applying so I “misspoke.” But it was music.
Otherwise my 3 kids just dealt with admissions and interviewers.
We did a covid visit trip and hit a few schools over fall break this year. Sounds a bit like your plan. We had a couple must see schools and then we altered our plans to see other schools depending on mood and also vacationed. So if we toured a 4000 person school and that was deemed too small we cut out plans to visit other schools. The schools were pretty much empty. We still learned a ton of information and it did help us to cross certain schools off and fall in love with one school. So it might be worth doing a few local tours to try to cut that list down a bit based on size and price. More than 2 a day will be a problem. 2 a day 2 days in a row will be a bit much. Even though you have an AirBNB, you might still want to stay overnight in a hotel a couple of nights. For instance, staying a night in Springfield MA would make your CT and western Mass days a million times shorter and hotels are cheap there.
My question suggestion if you have a student tour guide is to ask a question about something you do not care about and see HOW the student answers. We happened to walk by a chapel at a school we were touring and I asked about religion on campus (which is not a consideration for us) and the answer I got made me realize that NOT caring about something is a problem if it is the most important thing about the school and I never would have guessed that religion was important at this school.
I can tell you from personal experience Conn Coll and Mt. Holyoke are not worth more than a drive through without students there. You can read everything about them you would get on a tour without students and the students are what make those two schools different. If they pass the drive through test, just apply and see what happens.
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One way to go about it is to determine what you don’t like a school. Instead of trying to like everywhere, try to find flaws.
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And most importantly whether or not those are fatal flaws. No school is without them. It’s a matter of whether or not a student can live with them. The schools they will ultimately find the most flaws with is the one they attend because that’s what it takes to see every wart and crease.
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That is a lot of driving under dense conditions! Also be prepared for occasional torrential rain.
As the Boston accommodations are non-negotiable, I recommend that if you arrive on a campus and it and the surrounding area just doesn’t work for your kid that you give yourself permission to miss the tour and move on. We did a similar trip many years ago and did 10 schools in a week. The days with two colleges were harder to absorb and tiring, even if they were relatively close together, like Amherst and Mt Holyoke or JHU and Goucher.
If it’s possible to hit Swarthmore on the way instead of doubling back, I recommend that as well.
Good luck and please share your impressions here on CC after you are done. I recommend lots of photographs and journaling in real time to keep the details straight. And ice cream. Lots of ice cream.
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Here are some notes that I wrote up for a friend whose first child was looking into colleges, after my children had gone through the college search process.
First, my kids benefitted from seeing actual students on campus so they could visualize whether they could see themselves as a part of it. While you won’t have the usual mix of students on campus during the summer, your kids may still be able to glean some useful insights. If you can narrow down your list, then perhaps you can make a return visit in the Fall when the target schools are in session; or just wait and go to an “admitted students day” in the Spring Semester (which I think sealed the deal for both of my kids with respect to the schools where they ultimately matriculated).
Second, on campus visits with my kids, generally I tried to keep quiet and not ask many (if any) questions of the tour guides or information session presenters. On the occasions that I asked questions, it was usually because I wanted my kids to hear the answer — for example, on tours with my STEM-focussed child, I usually asked about the average GPA or ACT/SAT score for admission to the college of engineering; just so he could hear that it was going to require some hard work to get his GPA to that level (or that it was so high he probably shouldn’t bother applying). Otherwise, my suggestion is to let your child ask the questions — and it can be interesting to hear what they ask about. Also, I never asked afterwards — whether at a meal that day or on the way to the next location — “So what did you think?” You’ll hear about it when your child wants you to hear about it; and by the end of the day they may simply be too tired to think/talk about it.
Third, if you know of a student at a school you plan to visit, try and contact that student (or have your child do it, if they know the student there already) to arrange for a “private” tour of the campus in addition to the official tour/info session, so you can get the benefit of a one-on-one visit; chances are the student will give a more personalized assessment of the school.
Fourth, be prepared for interest in the second school of the day to fall off; everyone will be mentally and/or physically tired to various degrees. So on the occasions where my kids and I visited two schools in one day, I tried to schedule the afternoon visit to a school that I thought would be the less desirable of the two being visited that day. And, by the end of the tour, don’t be surprised if you get requests to trim some schools from the visitation schedule; so think about which one(s) to jettison if it comes down to that.
Finally, I asked my oldest child keep a journal after each visit, and write down (1) I would attend this college/university because: __________________; and (2) I would not attend this college/university because: ______________. After a couple of visits to schools, my oldest child stopped doing this. As for my younger child, when I asked him to do this he just stared at me and then gave an elaborate eye-roll and refused to make any effort whatsoever at writing notes about the schools we visited. (When I told my wife about my plans to have our kids make notes about their college visits, I got the same eye-roll from her.) I think that trying to keep notes about the schools you visit is, in theory, a great idea; but you should realize that the execution may be problematic. On the other hand, if a school doesn’t jump out at your kids, or is utterly forgettable, then that may tell you something valuable also.
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Both Georgetown and Johns Hopkins are offering tours now. But the spaces are limited, so you have to act fast once new times open up.
Thank you! State of emergency in Maryland will end July 1, more good news.
Appreciating you are fixed on where you’re staying, 5 logistical thoughts.
Go to google maps and check routes for traffic at the assumed times you’ll be traveling. Boston or DC at rush hour could create a lot of unexpected “car time”.
I think someone mentioned it, but I’d do Conn College and Brown on the same day. You literally pass Brown to get there.
This one may cost you a bit, but you might consider taking Amtrak from Boston to DC on your “big move” day. You can stop in New Haven…and then get on a later train without having to deal with driving through NY and Baltimore on your way to DC. That has the potential to be a really long day…and the train will give you some nice (and not so nice) views of NJ, Philly, Wilmington, and Maryland.
The Swarthmore day…you are so close to other schools that it would seem an unlikely place not to get a feel for another campus. Penn, Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Villanova are all within 20 mins. If you’re going to see any of Philly, looking at Penn is pretty easy. Nova, BMC and Haverford are within 5 miles of each other.
Most importantly…Food. You should plan ahead and have a pretty good sense of where to eat. It’s the best thing about the trip…the variety of food. If you’re driving all the way up to Brunswick to see Bowdoin, make sure you get gelato (Gelato Fiasco), soup (Wild Oats), a lobster roll / lobster (Harrasekett lunch and lobster - South Freeport) and if you’re into beer…stop in Freeport (Maine beer - they also have pizza) or Portland (Bissell Brothers). All stops are within 5 mins of the highway.
Good luck. I’m exhausted typing this.
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Forgot to add, I used an app and website called roadtrippers. I paid for the premium to get more stops and it was worth it for me. It helped me organize the days better when I had little understanding of the geography and traffic in the areas of our college road trip. Of course, I was going to less well known schools, so you may be able to get all the help you need here!
“Mare of Easttown” can help you in the Swarth/Philly area with the local mumbling dialect and the two food and beverage choices. Mare asks, “Rolling Rock or Yuengling? and Cheesesteak or a Wawa Hoagie?”
Unfortunately, I spent my teen years in south central PA, so I can offer translation assistance at Dickinson and Gettysburg College.
For example, ‘Up-air’ means ‘North’ or ‘on top of that shelf’ or ‘on top of that hill’.
Used in a sentence from say, Gettysburg College, “I drove up-air towards Biglerville.”
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Tufts is also still closed though it is a lovely campus to see!
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We love Sea Dog Brewery in South Portland, too!
We met with the department chair of ds’s intense major at every college we visited. This helped more than the tours. Sometimes he opted out of the tours part way through and instead did a visit to the the Honors college or the study abroad office. All these game him the best insight. He could care less about the dorm visits (the part I really enjoyed). Now all the colleges he visited were open back then (and his is now this summer). We visited the school he knew was right for him the week before classes started so it was full of students!
The other thing he got the most out of was going to the area around campus. Where was he going to be living for 4 years (has turned into 7 since stayed for grad school). He liked eating at a local place that the tour guide recommended or a professor. Just the walking around helped but the people there really helped. Two colleges really stood out in the things he wanted.
See if there is anything specific either child really wants to see at each campus and try to see those things. The canned tours were not our favorite parts other than gathering a few tidbits about the school.
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Take pictures and take notes (both you and your student). If you are novice college tourers the first few will seem very cool. But then you will start to notice that 75% of the info sessions are all the same. But don’t just pay attention to the content and facts-- see how the admissions reps present themselves and talk about the students and culture. (Some are warm, some are elitist. Some talk about intellectual endeavors and some focus on career readiness. Etc.) Hopefully you will also have student tour guides. Are they smart? Are the excited to be there? Do they remind you of your student or their friends? Who else is touring? Does your students feel like they belong in that crowd or not? The vibe and culture are the real reasons for visiting. You can get all the facts online. Also remember you are touring in summer. Smaller campuses are especially dead during summer. Also, don’t forget the weather component. Winter seems far away in July. Most important-- DO NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH A SINGLE SCHOOL!!! Make a list of likes/dislikes/open questions each day. And prepare to change your mind as you learn more about other options. My D loved her first toured school. Loved it. 18 months later she didn’t even apply there. Good luck. P.S. Brown’s campus is not even open yet. Tufts opens July 6. You may be doing a lot of self guided tours.
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oh and as others have pointed out…that’s too many schools I understand the logistical issues of touring east coast from CA though. It might be better to pick a few of each type (LACs/University, big/small, urban/rural, reach/safety, etc.). We found that 6 in 5 days was exhausting, No schools beyond the first 5 had any chance of being appealing. Now that we are touring all over with twins we cannot possibly visit every place of interest. Picking and choosing. Older D is going off to college this fall to a school she won’t see until move in day. It’s all going to be fine. Take advantage of the new influx of nicely produced virtual visit materials and ways to connect to students and admissions to fill in the gaps in your F2F tours.
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I hear the concerns about trying to see too many schools, but it’s so hard to leave out schools when this will be our only chance to see them! (No way can we find the money and time to go East again.) And while the original list might seem like a healthy mix of “match” schools which offer merit money for excellent students (Clark, Goucher, Wheaton, Dickinson, etc.) and total reach/“it’s just a damn lottery” schools (Yale, Brown, Amherst, Swarthmore, etc), it’s not really a mix. One twin wants the first group of schools; the other twin longs for the second. So the Wheaton/Brown day makes them both happy. So does the Mt. Holyoke/Amherst day. And the Goucher/JHU day. I’m hoping that touring less well-known (at least in California) match schools might help my son broaden his horizons.
We might cancel the Bowdoin visit, even though it sounds like a terrific place based on our collective research, and is the one school that both kids have some interest in. Maine just seems so hella far from California! Also, neither kid expressed particular interest in Boston schools, but it seemed wrong somehow to stay in Boston and ignore all of its many campuses. And we can walk to Tufts from our AirBnB.
I find it fascinating that, of these schools, only Yale, Brown, and Georgetown remain closed to campus tours. (The more elite the school, the longer to reopen?) That makes it easier, actually, since I know my son will want to apply to these places no matter what. We don’t need a tour to convince him. We’ll just drive around the town, take a walk through part of campus and look for some good ice cream. (Thanks @ EyeVeee and @ mamaedefamiliafor focusing me on food in general and ice cream specifically!)
I have copied all of the fantastic advice and questions y’all offered into a google doc. So many great things to consider. I’ll report back in late July once we’re back home!
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