For my older kids (no acceptances yet for S23!) it was the accepted student days that helped them make up their minds.
One thing my D did which may or may not be helpful, is set up a separate bare-bones Instagram account that she used to follow the colleges she was considering. But not just the āofficialā college account, also the accounts for student orgs she was interested in, campus event boards, the career center, the cafeteria, anything she was interested in seeing more closely. Itās obviously an imperfect window, but it does offer a window into the vibe and activities that happen on campus throughout the year. You can also sometimes catch some interesting insights in the comments. 
Overall it sounds like he has a good plan with attending admitted student days, my D also went that route and I think it helped solidify her decision. I agree that the āwooingā done by admissions can be a bit of a smoke screen he should try to look beyond. Some schools do it, some schools donāt, and truthfully I donāt think itās personal unless theyāre giving extra money. 
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@1822mom - thatās a great suggestion, the other one my D used is the accepted students Insta page.
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In the same vein, read the campus newspaper. Every issue going back a year and every new issue.
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I agree that this is a good idea. We found the admitted student days helpful. We also toured schools after our daughters were accepted, which made it feel very real (they knew that they could go here if they wanted to). Some schools will let the student sit in on a class, which can be somewhat helpful (although I do not think that either daughter ever sat in on a bad class ā I think that the universities know which classes and which professors are the good ones for perspective students to sit in on). On one tour I admired their t-shirt, so they gave me one.
Figuring out how bad the travel would be to each location might also be a good idea. However, if you have visited all three schools then you and more importantly your son has some sense of what this will be like. There is something to be said for having it possible for a parent to drop by quickly if the need comes up.
I am under the impression that Colorado State has somewhat milder winters compared to your other two options (even if Colorado has already had a snow storm this year).
If all are good schools and all are affordable, then I would leave the decision to your son. Are all equally affordable?
One daughter did have some difficulty deciding between three schools. All were affordable and all were good schools so we just tried to be helpful and leave it up to her. It did take her a while to decide. I think that she made the right decision.
This is what I was thinking also.
I agree with this also. Both overall requirements and major specific requirements should be considered.
Perhaps in the end your son should list the pros and cons of each school, think about it, then put the entire thing aside for a few days. Then go with whatever feels right.
And your son does have quite a bit of time to figure this out.
Also, congratulations! It sounds like your son is doing well.
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Iām in agreement with so much of the advice here, but Iād also offer a different perspective about visiting: an admitted students day (or big prospective students weekend) is not going to give him an accurate view of what these colleges are actually like on a day to day basis.
If his boarding school has a big festival weekend, or big annual sports weekend or some such - ask him to picture the impression that a person that is visiting his boarding school on that atypical exciting weekend would haveāheād probably recognize that dropping in on that Saturday certainly wouldnāt give an accurate perspective of what his regular day in, day out weekdays are like as a student at his school.
Yes, big weekends and being wooed are fun and exciting! But theyāre not everyday life at those colleges.
Visit the colleges when itās a normal day, when nothing special is happening, because thatās what a day in the life would look like for him. Have a meal at the dining hall, sit in on classes, spend time in the library, the student center, areas of his interest, check out a student group meetingā¦get a feel for what itās really like to be a student there, rather than a guest that the admissions department is wooing.
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How much the school wants him (unless it is demonstrated by a big increase in their merit offer) is meaningless, has absolutely nothing to do with what his experience will be once heās there. Accepted student days donāt mean much, either. They have nothing to do with his future experience there, other than that heāll meet some future classmates.
The best thing that he could do at this point is visit the schools for a few days, staying in the dorms with someone, eating in the dining halls if he can be smuggled in, and sitting in on some classes he intends to take. Do you or he know anyone currently attending these schools whom he could arrange to visit for, say, a Thursday through Sunday visit? That way he could go to two days of classes, and see some of the weekend social life, too. If you belong to any religious organization, that can be a way to find someone to stay with. If he is involved in any wildlife conservation group that has a branch on campus, that could also be a way to find someone to connect with whose currently a student there.
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Just wanted to circle back and revive this thread now that kids are getting closer to making a decision. And because we just sent in our deposit.
Son ultimately chose CSU. Here was the thought process:
CSU was definitely the school that kept him the most engaged after his acceptance. I know that is to protect its yield, but it did provide him with a lot of information that he was able to use to evaluate his top two choices. Although he understands āyield protectionā, he did weigh the engagement because the other school seemed to show no love for accepted students. They wanted you to post that you were UMN bound all over social media but didnāt send out any information on their accepted students day until a couple of weeks ago and even that was āmore info comingā. By contrast, CSU provided multiple dates upfront and included an itinerary so we could decide if it was worth the visit. They also had weekly webinars on a variety of topics.
We got to spend 2 evenings in Fort Collins which is a great college town. While DS thought he really wanted to be in a big city, safety concerns around UMN have been weighing on momās mind recently. He pictured himself exploring all over the city using the light rail system and that just isnāt safe at this time (Iāve lived in Boston and Chicago so I feel like I have a sense of measure when it comes to āuse common senseā vs. ājust donāt do itā). He thought Old Towne was accessible and fun and was excited about all of the outdoor opportunities offered through the rec center.
We showed up a day early to Choose CSU and decided to drop by campus to show S23ās girlfriend (also accepted to CSU in the same major) around and stop into Warner. Despite showing up at 4:30 on a Friday we happened to run into some student ambassadors that were also Wildlife Bio majors that were very gracious with their time and talked to us for over an hour about classes, research opportunities, the honors program, their experiences, etc. DS loved how hands-on everything was and how most of the experiences aligned exactly with what he wants to do. For a kid that wants to study apex predators, the fact that Colorado is currently reintroducing wolves (the topic he plans on researching for his Honors thesis) and that CSU houses the Center for Human-Carnivore Co-existence couldnāt have been a more perfect fit.
We also remet with the director of the Honors program. CSUās program is definitely value added while UMNās was more of a nuisance.
What ultimately drove the decision was a deep dive into his major. He liked the fact that The School of Natural Resources was its own college at CSU (Warner College of Natural Resources), whereas it was part of the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Sciences (CFANS) at UMN. CFANS at UMN was on the St. Paul campus and although in one way being on the quieter side of campus seemed like a nice retreat, it didnāt seem as integrated into the school as a whole the way Warner was at CSU. Being on the SP campus also drove home (excuse the pun) how much time he would be spending on buses at UMN.
We were waiting to make our flight arrangements to UMN to go to their Accepted Students Day until we got more info (which happened to come out the day we came home) but DS told us to hold off as he was definitely leaning toward CSU and was trying to decide if he even needed to do another visit to UMN to make the decision. A couple of days later he asked us to make the deposit at CSU.
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