<p>This issue came up on another thread. I wondered if my s. had seen the schools we visited in the reverse order (or any different order), if his opinions of the schools would have differed. For example, he was less impressed by lab facilities at some of the bigger institutions after we had seen several at other schools before, and by the time we hit our last school (on the first of 3 rounds of college visits) he was oversaturated and his interest waned. Others have, however, had the reverse experience. I wonder, if we had seen Harvard first and and Williams last, would his opiniond have differed? Do you think the order in which you visit schools matters?</p>
<p>The first college my daughter visited was a LAC close to our home which I took her to see on a day off from school during the fall of her junior year. She thought it was ok, but nothing to rave about. After visiting six other schools in the spring, she thought back on the first school we had visited and said she now liked it much better than originally and would be happy to make it one of her choices. She said she really couldn't judge how nice the first school was until she had seen a number of others to compare it with.</p>
<p>Don't visit Northeastern after you visit Harvard.</p>
<p>We learned the hard way....</p>
<p>S visited 9 schools (over a 13 month period) and his favorite is the one he visited 5th, in the very middle of the visits. He re-visited it a few months ago and it's still the firm favorite. So you never know!</p>
<p>I can't say that the order makes a difference but I think time of year made a difference for my daughter. She definately liked the ones she saw during warmish Spring and fall days and did not like the ones in the summer (with no students) or on a cold winter weather day. If at all possible, I really like to look at colleges when they are in session. Wish juniors and seniors would get a free pass for so many college visits. Our Spring break is all of three days and is often changed to one day due to snow days taken back. I think the best thing to do is visit as many as is reasonable, apply to 1/2 a dozen and then re-visit (if possible) the final three after acceptance.</p>
<p>I agree that the weather, time of year etc. makes a big difference. We tried to do a quick visit to Penn Dec. 23 when we flew to Phila to visit relatives for Christmas. After we left the airport in our rental car, it was windy and raining so hard it was coming sideways. We did a "drive by" of Penn, but the weather was too awful for us to even get out of the car. My son was less than impressed, but is willing to go back and visit under better circumstances. It was Philadelphia at it's worst (I'm a native).</p>
<p>I don't think order is that important. It's just that if you are going to look at Harvard first and get the appetite and mindset on Harvard, it's going to be tough looking at other colleges PARTICULARLY if this has been the trend in the family for a while. I don't know how many essays I have read for Harvard, how kids have wanted to go there forever because it is the college their parents always bring up, Dad wears a Harvard sweatshirt as a souvenier from the Boston visit, etc, etc. It really depends on how the environment at home and the subject of college has been broached. I am glad to say that some of the parents on this forum are particularly sensitive as to how their student's acceptance to one of the top school may affect other siblings who may not be be in the running for such a college. There is no strict rule as to how you plan your visits. Frankly, I don't think you need to visit HPY at all, a waste of time and money, as those schools don't care if you visit them so it does not affect whether or not your student is accepted, and really, is the visit going to make that much of a difference to the student? You take your chances and if you catch the brass ring, you have plenty of time to decide whether you want to go there. Heck if you are strapped for money, they'll pay your student's way there for any accepted students' days they have. Better to devote your time and energy to some of the more reasonable reach schools.. Sometimes I think the "Tufts' Syndrome" comes from the kids who visit Harvard immediately before heading to Medford and they just can't muster up any enthusiam for Tufts where the interview and interaction with the adcoms can count a lot as demonstrated interest. Few 17 year olds can fake interest convincingly. An experienced adcom can tell that the kid is not interested, and if they just came from Cambridge, they may still be thinking about Harvard as they reduce their chances of getting into Tufts. I am being extreme here--it isn't that simple, but you can see what I mean.</p>
<p>I can tell you that a nasty torrent of rain and cold, cold weather and a step in a deep mud puddle literally dampened my son's opinion of a school. Throw in a few more kinks and he hated the place. He ended up there again for a practice auditon, all the planets were lined up just right, the weather was beautiful; and he loved the place. Unfortunately, we can't control all of these factors. i just wouldn't visit the colleges in some deliberate order like the most select to the least select. A lot of your subconsciencious feelings will come to the surface as these kids can read a lot of things into the visits. You can also do some of your planning based on your preferences. If you don't like the idea of Party U for your kid, sending him up there for their carnival is a bad idea. Better he take a middle of the week tour of the place with you and you can hook him up with a party animal he knows at a school that he has a predjudice about, so it can get another perspective about it and not throw it out of contention because of some unreasonable idea.</p>
<p>I found the opposite true, sort of at least...
My first school I visited was Bucknell and I fell in love with it... I absolutely loved everything about it: its size, the academic reputation, the campus- absolutely everything...
The second school I visited was TCNJ and I sort of liked it, but it had less appeal to me for whatever reason.
The third school I visited was Lehigh and that fell behind TCNJ because I was less impressed with how they presented it and although I know not to judge a book by its cover, I couldn't take any chances.
The fourth school was Rensselaer, now this is where it changes... I absolutely loved it. Although there are many many geeks there, I liked it a lot better than Bucknell (because of research opportunites)
The fifth school was Lafayette... Like Lehigh I was less impressed with them.
The sixth school I visited was RIT and I put that in the middle of the pack
Now this is where it definately defers from you...
The seventh school was Rochester and I fell in absolute love with it. I knew right after I was done with the tour that I was marking ED on my app
The eigth school was Case and that was in a close knit tie with Rochester... After the tour I was really unsure whether or not to do Rochester ED... I debated for a couple of months and on November 14th I sent in....
Rochester Early Decision</p>
<p>Now I will be attending there next year as a Biomedical engineering major...</p>
<p>I really could not say that I was getting tired of the schools as I loved my two last schools. The college process was ungodly hard for me and probably for anyone, but remember, where your son winds up is because that is where he was meant to be...
Good luck!</p>
<p>We visited Harvard first on our five-school, five-day October trip. S loved it. Yale was next, and it paled just a tad by comparison, partly due to the bad weather, partly probably from the afterglow of Harvard. Next, we visited GW, which he liked quite a bit. Then Georgetown, which wasn't for him. Then we flew to Chicago, which he loved as much as Harvard and knew would be a great school for him, even though the weather was the worst yet of our trip. I don't think it matters that much what order you see the schools in; if it's right, the kid will feel it. (Parents, too).</p>
<p>Trip #1: Northwestern eh...established baseline.</p>
<p>Trip #2: George Washington, Georgetown, American, Gettysburg, Georgetown 2
Liked GW, hated American, dismissed Gettysburg upon driving up, liked G'town very much after second visit...campus was dead & empty on first.</p>
<p>Trip #3: Harvard, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Yale, Columbia, Barnard, NYU</p>
<p>Liked Harvard "better than I thought I would," loved Smith, loved Yale, didn't want to get out of the car at Mount Holyoke, was crestfallen that she disliked Columbia (previously the #1 on paper), liked Barnard, disliked NYU info session so much that she declined to go on the tour.</p>
<p>Trip #4: Wellesley, Smith</p>
<p>Liked Wellesley, loved Smith.</p>
<p>I don't see a pattern.</p>
<p>Trip #1: Stanford- ick, didn't really like it
Trip #2: Amherst, Smith, Wellesley, Harvard- loved Amherst, disliked Smith and Wellesley, Harvard was ok
Trip #3: Barnard, Columbia, Princeton- liked Barnard, bad tour at Columbia (previously #1), LOVED Princeton (knew it would be ED)
Trip #4: Barnard, Columbia, Princeton- really liked Barnard and Columbia, still LOVED Princeton</p>
<p>I'll be attending Princeton next fall!</p>
<p>Note: some of these schools were visited before the final choice of a major, and some - not because they were a possibility - but for the type of school (size, location, etc). We were also going to save the west coast schools until later.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>CMU - because of legacy connections and his Mom and I were pushing this at first. For S, it was "OK."</p></li>
<li><p>Harvard - no real connection there; campus was fine, but not really a place he wanted to attend.</p></li>
<li><p>MIT - no connection until we visited the Media Lab and he was spontaneously invited into the Lifelong Kindergarden Lab (where the Lego Mindstorms were developed), but he ultimately decided againt MIT.</p></li>
<li><p>Brown - Dad liked this one, including the urban location, but again, no spark for S, who thought the people on campus were "weird."</p></li>
<li><p>Notre Dame - immediate dislike for S, who thought the place was "too groomed" (whatever that meant).</p></li>
<li><p>CMU again - Mom and Dad trying ONE more time - tour was worthless, so we took over and took him to the CS building where I used to work and showed him some neat robots. Still no click.</p></li>
<li><p>Colorado - the state U. The campus is nice, and Boulder - where we used to live - is the greatest town in the world. Another "OK" and actually got an app later, but this was not going to be a first choice.</p></li>
<li><p>Purdue, with interview/discussion with department he liked. Absolute surprise here (in a negative way). He would have spent the first year or more in classes and subjects he already knew. He was unimpressed with the dept, and also not too keen on the whole campus feel.</p></li>
<li><p>Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, with dept interview/discussion with both the Dept Head and one of the Professors. BING! This was it. He felt recruited, loved the campus and department, Mom and Dad were enchanted with the place, the size of the school was right, the price was right, plus S had an automatic academic scholarship for someone with his credentials, and he knew where he was going.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The only other two possibilities were USC and UCLA, but the more reading about these he did, the more he put off the applications and finally the deadlines passed. He seems happy with his choice. Except for the distance from home (a loooong way), it seems to be perfect for him (right now), although he's already talking about grad school in California.</p>
<br>
<p>For example, he was less impressed by lab facilities at some of the bigger institutions after we had seen several at other schools before, and by the time we hit our last school (on the first of 3 rounds of college visits) he was oversaturated and his interest waned.<</p>
<br>
<p>Order didn't seem to matter as much to DD as being "oversaturated" Our first 2 visits (not counting Yale, that visit was more of an adventure than a college visit) were over long weekends, 2 contrasting colleges in 2 days. By college #4, she had ruled out everything but LACs. We had to lump our other visits into one long trip in the summer, by the 3rd school on that trip she was oversaturated, and ended the trip by saying "When I have kids, they are just going to apply and visit after they get in, so there". This was the same kid who could generate little enthusiasm for any school she hadn't seen, and stated flatly she couldn't choose any school in the end that she hadn't visited first. </p>
<p>After a real visit to Yale, an interview and visits to a few NE LACs, she didn't even apply to Yale.</p>
<p>My d always seems to like the school we're just leaving best, unless we've hit the wall. I have no idea how she'll make up her mind come April. On long trips, I think the schools last on the itinerary are at something of a disadvantage, even if they're amazing schools. </p>
<p>Trip 1: W & M (liked it); UVA (liked it more)</p>
<p>Trip 2: Pittsburgh (liked it); Vanderbilt (loved it); Duke (loved it more); UNC-CH (went brain dead on the drive over and barely made it through the tour - off the list)</p>
<p>Trip 3: BU (liked it); Tufts (missed the tour due to rather odd circumstances - off the list); BC (loved it); Brandeis (went brain dead during the info session and couldn't even do the tour - off the list)</p>
<p>My hat is off to those who can manage long college tours - you're made of stronger stuff!</p>
<p>Yes, the order matters - but the affect is not predictable. More important is the weather which you can't control. Most important are the chance encounters with students, (friendly/happy? surly/sullen) professors (hope you get the interesting one), and admissions personnel (hope you get the nice one).</p>
<p>We started visiting schools the summer before D's junior year.</p>
<p>Trip 1: Amherst (D was enamored with no course requirements)</p>
<p>Trip 2: Penn, Swarthmore (engaged in great conversation with students), Princeton (liked the Wilson School)</p>
<p>Trip 3: Occidental (surprised by impressive campus and enjoyed talking with students), Pitzer, Claremont McKenna (enjoyed the tour, info session, and evening seminar), Pomona (loved info session, tour, dance class), Stanford (enjoyed taking dance class and talking with friend who's there), Berkeley (had tour guide who informed group that he didn't care what they thought about the school--that and size were big turnoffs).</p>
<p>Trip 4: Discovery Weekend at Swarthmore (our earlier visit was on a Saturday afternoon--no tour, etc.; D had a great time and made lots of wonderful friends)</p>
<p>End result: D was able to narrow down her options to seven schools that she knew she would enjoy attending no matter what and was accepted ED1 to Pomona. (Visiting Pomona last of the Claremonts might have had an effect.)</p>
<p>Visit schools that you aren't so impressed with first so you get an idea of what questions to ask at ones where you are more interested.
We didn't go to so many schools, she went to George Fox,Linfield, Pac Northwest College of Art, Evergreen,U of Oregon and PLU with her junior class ( they were divided up into groups, she picked this group cause her first choice was Evergreen)
We live by the UW and she had attended classes there, but she was not interested at all in applying.( familiarity breeds contempt?)
I made her go to Seattle University, the only school that I really twisted her arm- I had heard good things about it, even though I recognized that it was way too close, but I also really wanted to check out the design of the chapel.( it was worth it)<a href="http://www.historylink.org/output.cfm?file_id=2931%5B/url%5D">http://www.historylink.org/output.cfm?file_id=2931</a>
While she applied to a few more regional schools the only ones we visited were Reed and Evergreen both several times,although we also did a visit to Western University after she knew she was going to Reed. I think if she hadn't applied and been accepted to Reed, it would have taken more thought to decide between Evergreen and Western, but Reed looks the way a LAC should look, plus it had the perks of being in a city.</p>
<p>emeraldkity: The "familiarity breeds contempt" problem is definitely applicable here. After we were all over the NE looking at LACs, and they started to all seem the same, I was wishing my son would just apply at (or even tour!) some much closer to home. But he burned out looking pretty fast, refused to go look at any more schools, and now has 7 applications to schools that I think are kind of far away (5 to 7 hours). But he his happy with his choices, and I don't really blame him for not wanting to stay too close to home.</p>
<p><<unc-ch (went="" brain="" dead="" on="" the="" drive="" over="" and="" barely="" made="" it="" through="" tour="" -="" off="" list)="">></unc-ch></p>
<p>Frazzled, As a Duke (post-grad) alum married to a UNC alum, I made that trip more times than I can count during my courting days. I'm just curious as to why she went brain dead on the trip from Duke to UNC. I admit that 15/501 is not the greatest stretch of road in the world, but it's only a 20 minute drive. Maybe Duke slipped her a mickey in her soft drink . . . (wouldn't put it past us).</p>
<p>I don't think order matters for every kid. </p>
<p>Colgate was the third school my son saw - in a March blizzard. He loved it. He then visited around 8 other schools, mostly on warm sunny days, but Colgate was still at the top. Saw Colgate again in June - now it's pouring rain - still loved it. Saw around 5 other schools after that (I know, we visited a LOT of schools!). Goes back to Colgate for an overnight in September (finally it's sunny!) - no doubts, applies ED. I think it was meant to be.</p>