Summer visits-where are you headed, any tips?

@nehiker - Be sure to check that Cornell is doing tours when you are planning to visit. They were the only school we visited that didn’t have daily scheduled tours over the summer months.

@nehiker just warning you (and everyone else) as will be my life’s mission for a bit, Roch’s expected COA (from their own FA award letter) will be $82K next year and $85K the year after. It was $72K last year, just to give you an idea of the jumps. And upperclassmen get lower FA awards than freshman. My d is transferring out - we can’t justify paying that kind of price for college.

Anyone have any insight about “visit days” vs regular tour/info sessions? Are visit days any better or are they just more crowded so you get less personal attention? Thinking we might get a little more of the campus vibe from a visit day as I know it’s really hard to get a vibe during the summer. We are looking at mostly small Lac’s.

Sometimes the visit day programs are set up by major or college within the university so you can get more in depth information that you would at a general information session. Larger tour and info session tour groups aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Other students and parents would often ask interesting questions I wouldn’t have thought to ask.

In our experience, the LACs were particularly dead over the summer. A large university with graduate and research programs often has at least some activity on campus year round while the LACs can seem almost uninhabited.

@bearcatfan , I just stumbled across your post from April. I don’t know if you have visited U of Akron yet, or heard about this already, but this spring they had some concerning announcements about budget cuts and offering buyouts to nearly 50% of professors. You’d better check it out! https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/03/university-of-akron-offers-buy-out-to-47-percent-of-faculty.html
(I’m from Akron, and rooting for Akron. Back in the day UA it was better known for STEM, I believe, and they certainly have expanded over the years. But I don’t know that it’s much of a destination for out of town students or nationally which is why you never see it here or on many lists.)

Just joined up and was glad to come across this post. My S20 and I have our trip this summer set. Flying into Pittsburgh and looking at Carnegie Mellon, U of Michigan, U of Illinois (Urbana), and Perdue in a couple of weeks. Should be a fun little road trip. Adding a couple of new parks for baseball games (we have been to over 15 together) in there too. He is going to be a mechanical engineering major. Any advice for any of those schools? We have general tours and engineering specific tours set up at each one. Thanks.

When you visit CMU you should try to see a baseball game at PNC Park. Also, you might want to try to squeeze in a visit to the University of Pittsburgh which is next door to CMU. Depending on your stats they do give OOS merit scholarships.

Purdue is bustling in the summers not just with students but also with camps so don’t be put off if you see lots of younger kids.

Eat at a dining hall.

Stop in the mech e building. The admins in the office are usually super helpful and have additional materials. (Call first to see if they are there).

Hi friends, We’re thinking of making one last trip this summer to Maine to visit Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby. Anyone have any hotel suggestions, or any other travel recommendations for this area?

@momofsenior1 We’re using camps like the one you mentioned to allow our daughter to experience a few colleges close up for an extended time. So far she has attended camps two quite different campuses. One of her comparisons is: “Georgetown is vertical and Stanford is horizontal”

@AlwaysLearn – Hampton Inn in Lewiston and Waterville is convenient and comfortable and not too pricey. Not too charming either, but depends on what you are looking for.

We’re heading to UPitt - looking for suggestions and must-sees. We’ll be there a Sunday to Monday so will have time to see some sights.

@AlwaysLearn If you are not from New England, I would try to take some time and see some of the Mine coast while you are there. It is spectacular. And be sure to leave some time for Maine seafood. Weekends in Maine will be super busy, but weekdays are better. Sebastian Harbor Resort is beautiful (but not cheap) and would be about an hour from each of the schools.

@AlwaysLearn We stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn Portland Downtown Waterfront when we visited Bates and Bowdoin. It was a very nice hotel, close to the airport in Portland and about 45 minutes from both schools, so it worked well for a two day visit. Although to be honest, a major attraction for us was proximity to many good Portland seafood restaurants.

@AlwaysLearn, my daughter and I traveled in Maine last summer (not on a college trip, but we did walk around Bowdoin’s pretty campus). We really enjoyed our overnight and boat ride in Boothbay Harbor, which is not too far from Bowdoin. For an afternoon (or less if you want) the Maine Maritime Museum is just a hop and a skip away from Bowdoin/Brunswick in Bath and really interesting. If you have more time to drive up the coast via Route 1, the town/harbor of Camden (up the coast) is drop dead gorgeous. Belfast is pretty too. If you have wiggle-room in your schedule, maybe you could then take back roads from the Camden/Belfast area NW to Waterville and then back 95 to Lewiston. Depends on how much time you have for sightseeing, of course, but coastal Maine is worth exploring!

Will visit Valpo on August 5 while vacationing at Indiana Dunes, since its only 10 miles away

^ Shorts are generally considered fine. You’ll see all types. We toured about 15 schools a few yrs ago and S typically wore “golf attire” - shorts with a belt and a nice golf shirt. We saw tons of kids just wearing basketball shorts and tshirts . Really, whatever is comfortable. If he has an interview, he can always change in the car as he’s want to look more presentable for that.

@psblstnr enjoy your Valpo visit! For great local pizza, try out the Tomato Bar.

I hope each and every one of you are able to slow time down to savor those campus visits. Over the entire duration of the teens’ high school years, I do cherish the memories of campus visits and towns the most. Well, acceptance days are fantastic too.

I made several posts awhile back about our 50 or so campus visits over those 7 years. All three of mine will be on a campus within the next 3 weeks and I will enjoy dropping them off as well.

@Janine1 nice try.