<p>We are finally planning our NC trip; 4 days, focusing on Greensboro and Charlotte. The tentative plan is to fly to Greensboro and spend 2 days visiting Guilford, Elon, High Point, Greensboro College and UNC-Greensboro; then we'll drive to to Charlotte for Queens Univ and UNC-Charlotte and then fly home.</p>
<p>For those of you who know the area, is this a reasnoable plan? Too rushed? (I don't think any of the schools conducts evaluative interviews, so we'll probably be just touring campus and maybe hit an info session at the LACs.) We're flexible, in terms of time; adding a day would not be a problem. Are there other Greensboro or Charlotte area schools we should consider? I'm inclined to just "buzz" the unis - - good or bad idea?</p>
<p>Would it be foolish NOT to see UNC-Asheville, currently the only other NC school on D's list, even though it's a schlep? If we add Asheville, it will be our last stop - - but I haven't checked for a nearby airport. </p>
<p>You could drive out to Asheville - it's probably 2-3 hours from Greensboro on I-40. An easy and pretty drive. Then swing down to Charlotte which is 2 hrs from Asheville.
There is a very small airport in Asheville.</p>
<p>I would say that is a very ambitious schedule.</p>
<p>Well, I admire your ambition. One day two years ago DD and I saw four colleges along Route 81 ("visited" would be too strong an assertion). She didn't speak to me for two weeks afterward.</p>
<p>IMHO, "buzzing" should be left to unis low on the student's list. Here's a thought. Try visiting the schools in order of interest. If the student rebels at "buzzing" his/her favorite school in order "make time" to visit a less interesting school then at least you have a better idea of what remaining visits should be.</p>
<p>Agree with NewHope. 5 schools in 2 days is pretty ambitious, even in they are all in the Triad area. From Burlington (Elon) to Greensboro to High Point isn't all that close. The Charlotte part of it sounds more reasonable, though still a little hectic -- UNCC and Queens in the same day? Would this be the same day you drive, or would you drive to Charlotte and get a good night's sleep first? </p>
<p>Continuing on to Asheville from Charlotte is do-able, but IMHO it could make this go from a potentially stressful trip into a full-blown meltdown :)</p>
<p>Less ambitious, if possible: Two trips, one to the Greensboro area and one for Charlotte/Asheville. The Greensboro trip could be done in 4 days, the Charlotte trip in 3. That's still pretty rushed, and you definitely want some time to look around the area. If nothing else, you'll want to critically evaluate the barbecue in each area. Big difference between the Triad and Western Carolina, and this can be a critical decision!</p>
<p>Elon did not interview when we visited. The info session and tour took about 2 hours, more if you need to see the sports facilities. High Point does interview parents and student together. No info session but the tour and interview was also about 2 hours. Nice thing about High Point- no walking, they have golf carts.</p>
<p>We did 4 NC schools in 2 days, touring and interviewing at all. We did High Point and Elon on the same day with no problem just did first appt in the morning at HP and after lunch at Elon.</p>
<p>If a 6000 or so student school isn't too big for you, you might want to take a drive across the border to Rock Hill to "buzz" Winthrop...closer to the Charlotte airport than the other two...</p>
<p>I'm fine with ambious, but I want to avoid psycho - - so we won't be going to Asheville!</p>
<p>The plan was to hit High Point in the afternoon and then drive to Charlotte in the evening, leaving a full day for Queens and UNC-Char. We'd spend a second night in Charlotten and fly out around noon the next day. </p>
<p>I figured on a couple of hours at each school, withthe possible exception of and interview only at Queens. A High Point admissions officers said the inteviews are informational, not evaluative; also D can interview with an admissions officer in NYC.</p>
<p>Barbecue notwithstanding, 5 days for 4 schools would be "pretty rushed" !?! That seems a bit slow, even for the south.</p>
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<p>Guilford, Elon, High Point, Greensboro College and UNC-Greensboro>></p>
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<p>I think the idea of doing this in two days IS rushed. In our experience, you need at least 1/2 day at each school. Even though three of the schools are in the same town, you won't have that 1/2 day at each. It seems to take that long for an infosession and a tour. If you wanted any time to walk around yourselves, you wouldn't have it.</p>
<p>The Charlotte leg of your trip is fine...only two colleges in two days.</p>
<p>It really depends on what you want to get out of it. If you are serious about trying to see if each college is a good fit - you need 1/2 day or more minimum at each college. You can do a drive through, sure, faster than that. But I recommend talking to admissions, financial aid, the proposed major department, a tour, and if possible, eating in the cafeteria and talking to someone in your child's primary EC interest. All those things will influence your decision, so it's hard to leave them out. You have to allow time to walk from appt to appt and also, the folks you want to talk to may not be available at contiguous times. The traffic around Greensboro and Charlotte is often slow as well.</p>
<p>We've pushed a lot of schools into a few days. In our experience--if your child really likes a particular school & there is a decent chance of getting accepted--I'd give it more time (maybe most of the day for that school & a quick drive thru for a lesser school in the afternooon). My son was turned off on certain schools (I think) in part because he arrived there tired, worn-out and sick of touring. </p>
<p>His number one school is one we arrived at the night before (stayed w/family). We arrived on campus rested and refreshed. I dont' know if that is coincidence, but it didn't hurt his positive impression.</p>
<p>One other thing we observed with both of our kids...If we did one tour in the morning and one in the afternoon with NO travel on that day...they went fine and the kids were ok with both schools for the most part. When we tried to do two tours AND travel on the same day (e.g. we drove from San Diego to LA and went to Chapman in the morning and Claremont McKenna in the afternoon) our kids HATED the second school. Perhaps they would have hated it anyway...but I suspect they were just tired and weary of another tour, info session, etc on top of the drive. I think it's too much to do two schools in the same day if that day also includes driving from a different place. But to try to do three...well, in my opinion you'll be doing a disservice to a school that your kid might otherwise like.</p>
<p>My bet is that he'll like UNC Charlotte and Elon the most.
UNCGreensboro is beautiful, fairly small, very safe, really good school, but doesn't have the excitement of a big city like Charlotte. Elon is becaoming one of the most prestigious Li. Art schools in the country, and he will like the small town atmosfere, great education there. As for Greensboro College, cute 2000 student or so college, in the middle of the city, but has no charm, is very bland. Guilfod College, also cute and small, smart kids but without being offensive to anyone, too many nose rings and orange purple hair, eccentric.
High Point, great school, I hate High Point as a town, is dead.
Asheville, beautiful school, grat programs, nothing negative.
Since you are nearby, you may want to consider Appalachian.
As for near Charlotte, Davidson College
Good Luck!</p>
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That seems a bit slow, even for the south
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LEISURELY, we prefer the term LEISURELY to "slow" :) </p>
<p>Seriously, yes, 2 schools per day for schools that are relatively close together is not uncommon. But like Thumper1, we also experience the "second school of the day syndrome". It really depends on how close the schools are, the weather, how much time is spent at the first school (especially if there is a lot of walking), etc. And for some schools it's not a problem at all. VMI/Washington & Lee could one middle-sized campus and I'm not sure anyone could tell the difference. Same with Loyola/Tulane. UNC-G/Greensboro College in a day shouldn't be a problem, but Guilford, HPU and Elon puts more driving in the mix. Still, I've heard of people doing a WFU/Elon day without any problem.</p>
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One day two years ago DD and I saw four colleges along Route 81 ("visited" would be too strong an assertion). She didn't speak to me for two weeks afterward.
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This made me laugh! I know how many colleges there are on I-81 and I don't blame her!</p>
<p>It all depends on what you want to get out of your visit - sometimes driving by and walking around is enough, other times you may want info sessions that are time consuming.
One of mine refused to get out of the car at a few schools we looked at.</p>
<p>If you don't want to add an additional day, maybe drop one of the schools. If you're planning to sprint through the two state schools, maybe skip UNC at Greensboro, since the Greensboro leg of the trip is particularly hectic and UNC at Charlotte is the more appealing of the state schools (though I'd find it difficult to pass up a "beautiful, safe, very good school" even if it's in a smaller town). </p>
<p>Are Charlotte and Greensboro peer schools? Is one more of a match and the other more of a reach? That might also be a factor if you decide to drop one school.</p>
<p>LOL! This topic reminds me of our Florida college tour of 8 in a week! We ended up putting 1200 miles on the rental car - we went from Boca Raton to Fort Myers, up to Tampa then on to Tallahassee, then back down Fort Lauderdale. We had a scheduled campus tour of all 8 colleges! :P </p>
<p>My 11 year old is still steaming from THAT trip. Poor kid, NO dear, we are NOT stopping at DisneyWorld, we have an appointment at U of Central Florida at 10:00am - hurry up and get in the car!!</p>
<p>JAMO4 - We spent a half-day at James Madison (good decision, nice place!). The next day we "visited" Bridgewater, Virginia Tech, Hollins, and Roanoke college. (We skipped Mary Baldwin, Washington & Lee, and Radford.) Lovely ride, less so when done in silence.</p>
<p>We did a similar swing through North Carolina. The morning schools were always the favorites. We planned it that way. By the afternoon tours my daughter was not as into it. We never made it onto the campus of High Point and we left UNC Charlotte early, both afternoon schools. Leave plenty of time for Queens. There will be a tour and an interview. After the interview, we had lunch with some students and visited some dorm rooms. My daughter goes to Queens and loves it! UNC was too big and Elon was too remote. Queens is right in the city of Charlotte but in a beautiful upscale residential area. Queens is very small, 300 freshman, but that is exactly what my daughter was looking for in a school. UNC CHarlotte is huge in comparison.</p>
<p>UNC Asheville is in a very gorgeous mountain retreat area full of retirees and artists with a very Zen vibe. I live in VA but the mountains near Asheville are much more dramatic/Pisgah Forest is really special as are the little towns scattered nearby..this is all rather close to my alma mater Furman, which is in the upper Piedmont of SC/not far from Asheville..and Greenville is a very happening city/great economy and arts scene now</p>
<p>..ie did you ever see Last of the Mohicans...you can see the vistas in that film...they filmed in Asheville to fill in for the upstate NYstate mountains (laughably, as they are nothing alike)..I would stay a day there and consider it a vacation time but only if the college is sincerely on your list. I know a student at UNC-Asheville and her mother says her class sizes resemble class sizes in private LACs, so again..it is all about fit.</p>