DD is a rising senior, and we’ve been visiting schools off and on since last summer. One school she visited last summer was a smallish LAC and the campus was so empty that it left the impression of an aging ghost town, which I practically know isn’t true during the school year but it turned off DD to that school in particular. The school had many older buildings which may have looked more “collegiate” had they been full of activity. The school is not in a major population center, so there really wasn’t any off-campus vibe going on either, and that might have been different with all of the students in town.
We’re planning another summer road trip for more visits in a couple of weeks, so I wanted to ask:
Are there any schools that you or your child visited during the summer that left you feeling cold, that ended up being “the one” or at least a top contender later on? Should smaller schools just not be visited in the summer?
She has lots of good options, so I’m not trying to get her to reconsider this school in particular, but trying to make sure summer visits aren’t wasted on schools where she can’t get a good read on the campus environment during the summer.
A side comment: if more schools offered campus tours on weekends during the school year, instead of the once-per-semester weekend open house, it would be easier to visit schools during the academic year.
I personally prefer the summer visits in the summertime. It allows you ample time with professors, touring the labs, your college admissions individual who you will become one of your best friends the last 2-3 years at the University, Honors college, and time to take in the setting not to mention better conversation with students that are there.
I did a mass visit with hundreds of people and left halfway through. Absolute worst!
Once I finalize my list, aka best college for the $, I will do overnight to the top 1 and if needed top 2. Assuming I get all the info by mid December.
@stencils , I think that with the smaller schools, it’s best to visit when they’re in session if you can swing it. So much of what differentiates them from each other is the “vibe”, and that’s impossible to pick up when nobody’s there.
In our case, given that few of the schools being considered were close to home and there were fall sports schedules to negotiate, our strategy was to visit and interview in the summer and unless we heard anything that was really a turn-off, keep an open mind and keep it on the list. The top 3 got fall visits because DS wanted to sit in on classes, meet students, and decide if any should be ED candidates. (And there was significant shuffling as a result, suggesting that adding a student body to the mix really changes things!) We figured that if he didn’t do ED or if he did and it didn’t work, he could go back to the accepted students’ days for the ones that interested him most from the RD round.
Overall, this worked out well – he was able to see the campuses, the towns, interview on campus, (show interest), over the summer. Only one summer visit school dropped off his list. We did not have the situation of a “yuck” ending up as a top choice. We did, however, have a top summer choice – one of the ED candidates – fall to the bottom of the list after a visit including sitting in on classes. We also had one that was simply a ho-hum during a regular campus visit that ended up as a top contender after an admitted students day. Even when you visit when school is in session, the experience will depend on everything from the weather to the classes you visit to the students you happen to meet.
The downside of our strategy, frankly, was that it made for a slightly crazy April (need to re-visit a slew of them) and it definitely cost more than just getting it all done at once. (It wasn’t quite as awful as it may sound as several of the schools that were further away paid for the flights back to re-visit.)
I totally agree that this would be much simpler if there were more weekend visit programs and/or if high schools gave seniors a “visit week” (holiday) in early October.
If you are stuck with the summer visits (as we were), it’s probably best for your DD to understand the limitations of visits in general and of summer ones in particular and to work out a strategy to make the most out of what’s possible. Good luck to you both!
Honestly you dont have to go to the formal student visit days to visit a college. Once you get the walkign backward spiel from one school its pretty much the same as the rest. I found that the tour guide had an influence on my son…some were just better at it, which really isnt an indication of what the school is like.
Some of the better visits came from schools where we just:
Picked a day
Make an appt with admissions office. Most will meet with you to answer questions if they are open.
Go to a class. I skiped this part but son sat in on one.
Dorm lobby, library, student union, bookstore, etc are usually open to visit. I asked if we could check out the dorm rooms, which only worked in one place, but still sparked conversations with RAs that were intersting.
Attend school events. We went to a film festival, a political speaker, etc.
Check out the surrounding neighborhood. Always stay in a place close to campus if possible
Get walking tour info most schools have it.
In one situation, we met a friend’s daughter who was going to school there and got her version of the “tour”. All of it walking forward.
For most schools, their websites are infitely better than the glossy brouchures they give you, plus you can look up admission stats from other sources online. We did this at the hotel.
I am not a fan of visits when school is out of session because I just don’t think you get a good feel for the school environment with no students around.
**And almost every college has information sessions and campus tours multiple times a week (if not daily) during the school year and almost always on one weekend day per week. This generally consists of a group session with an admissions officer and a campus tour led by a current student. Often that information is on the school website – it is possible that the times/dates for theses are not yet listed for the fall so if you don’t see information session/tour dates online, call admissions and ask what the fall schedule will be. You do not have to wait for the one open house to visit when school is in session.
That said, if you have enough choices that you are all happy with then unless you feel there is some particular reason that school could be a great fit, I’d let it go. My D gave a quick thumbs down to a few colleges I felt were good matches, but in the end we had a strong enough list of schools we were both happy with so I did not make her re-visit the schools I liked that she had nixed earlier.
My usual response is that it’s best to go when school is in session because seeing a school without its students means you’re missing an incredibly crucial part of the story. But I think the approach taken by @gardenstategal is really interesting and I will definitely keep it in mind, in case it makes sense for us.
We visited in the summer and it worked out well. For my rising junior, it has been a chance to look at size, location, and help determine safety schools. He crossed a few off his list this way and will leave a few on for possible future visits. For my D, she didn’t know if she wanted instate or OOS and summer was a great chance to help her decide. She did find a few schools felt “abandoned”, but ultimately she chose one from a summer visit and will start in a few weeks.