Is it really necessary to visit all colleges that your DS/DD are interested in? I see that many parents do the whole college tour thing. I just had a conversation with a few parents, and many of them intend to do the east coast ivy college tour. Their kids are your average smart kids, but nothing exceptional. Given the fact that the admission rates are so low, why even bother? Our DS has only two east coast colleges (NYU & Syracuse) he is interested in. Given the expense, should we bother flying out to New York at all? We are in California.
I would suggest that you visit more local schools…a state flagship, smaller private, urban, and some others. See what they like. Then go ahead an apply to the east coast schools. If he gets in, and if they are still high on his list, then go to admitted student’s day.
Have him think twice about NYU unless you are very rich
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/the-expensive-romance-of-nyu/278904/
I agree with you that doing an Ivy tour is pointless…yes, apply to one or more, but spend more time figuring out your match schools and visiting there.
The Ivies don’t care if you visit anyway. Some schools DO care, Conn College, for instance. Syracuse might, but your kid can express interest in other ways - get on the mailing list, contact admissions with a question, visit at a college fair or regional event.
bopper’s comments are echoed. NYU does not have a campus. It is the streets of NYC. Some years ago I dragged my 11th grader through various bars. He asked why. I replied, If I can’t find a $2, 16 oz draft, then you can’t go this college. Definitely need a martini budget at NYU.
Could never figure out Syracuse. Impresses me as if it were NY’s state U.
We’ve already visited several of the UC campuses as well as some privates in S. Cal. We’re not rich, but we are willing to fork over the tuition if we felt that there was a significant advantage to attending.
Personal opinion: I don’t think either Syracuse or NYU is worth traveling across the country for unless your student is interested in one of the specialty programs in which these universities excel (such as communications at Syracuse or film at NYU).
I’m sure others will disagree, though.
As others have pointed out some college admissions offices care that you visited, others do not. There are other ways to show interest, including making direct contact with the admissions office for information or advice. Once you get to a pretty final “short list,” then you might make targeted visits over time. But a “tour of the Ivies” is pretty much just a dance and perhaps a tease without consequence.
My daughter did visit all the (art) schools that she applied to. This was informative to her and to us because we really didn’t know how those programs worked. One 10-day grand tour of 11 colleges (with a friend who was interested in different types of colleges), located between here in Michigan and Maine. For art schools my daughter had other ways to demonstrate interest, namely by attending National Portfolio Day events in Grand Rapids and Chicago and meeting with representatives from the schools there.
My son did not visit any college admissions offices prior to applying (he had visited a few colleges in connection with his participation in debate). One that he was accepted to (Williams) he did visit after he was admitted. But he instead chose to attend another college (UChicago), which he also first visited only after he was accepted there.
We told our kids that since applying was much less expensive and time consuming than visiting, they could apply to all the schools that interested them, and then visit after being admitted. When the acceptance letters arrived, they both found it easy to cull the visit list down to just a few schools.
I would apply, see if she gets in, and then you can visit if either of those schools seem like good choices for her at that point. It is not expected that applicants fly in from CA to visit.
I would do the following things though…
– Sign up on the two school’s email list and if they do a presentation near where you are in CA you will be notified – and if that happens I would try to attend as it is a good way to learn more about the school.
–Look up the common data set for each school and see if demonstrated interest matters. If it doesn’t matter you can stop with the step above. If it matters your D can do things like email the admission rep for your area with a question (not answered on the website), ask if there is a possibility of doing an interview locally etc.
As of now, he is not 100% sure what he wants to major in. But, will likely minor in music. He is interested in NYU for the Music Business program. He’s also interested in USC for the same reason. USC has a Music Industry program. whether that translates to an actual job when he finishes is a big question mark.
I am having this same internal debate. There are a few schools we could combine into one trip, 2 that are of higher interest than the others. If we go I will add the other 2 lower ones in as that helps justify the trip to be honest. We are looking at a wide variety of program types and each of the schools offers something different in the mix. We are also chasing merit. Part of my concern with waiting until acceptances is simply fitting tours in during the school year. The cost may be the cost either way but I really have no way of knowing. Having toured several so far (local or part of a spring break family trip that made it easy to add), the tour and program meetings makes a HUGE difference for my child. We’ve seen 6, only 3 are still on the list.
As it stands the remaining 7 schools on his list are all out of state. One I can drive to. The rest, a trip. Hence the contemplation of hitting 4 east coast schools (we are in WA) in one trip. Syracuse, Ithaca, Muhlenberg and Ursinus. Syracuse requires an audition for the school of music (as may NYU, most if not all music schools do) I think so you might want to factor that into your planning. My S hopes to play wherever he lands but he will not major and likely not minor in music.
Initially it sounded great and S17 would very much like to go, especially to Philly. But adding it up $$ wise…not so sure.
There are some others on the list that are of much lower interest and we will definitely not visit unless he applies, is accepted and expresses enough interest to warrant it.
Unrelated but…
@sleeplessmom1 I would be asking that very question of both programs. We have a recent graduate with a Music Technology Degree/Business Minor. Has not translated to an actual job. He is pursuing an entrepreneurial idea/dream in the field by saving money working in a non field related job and living at his mothers (my stepson). Much as we support the entrepreneurial aspect…we would prefer an actual job and living on his own first.
I told my kid that any school which required her to get on an airplane could be visited after she was accepted and if it was still a serious contender. In the end, no airplane trips were taken. Incidentally, after acceptance she was offered a subsidized fly-in by one of those schools and I would have felt pretty stupid if I’d paid for her to fly out already. Also keep in mind that visiting as a prospective applicant is different than visiting as an accepted student. The accepted student events were quite helpful in the decision making process, despite the fact that my daughter had previously visited the schools.
We are also in California and it definitely makes visiting hard when it’s such a long way away. We visited a bunch of CA schools, big, small, public, private, urban, suburban so my D could get an idea of what she wanted. We did end up taking one trip to the east coast, but didn’t have time to visit all the schools she was interested in. I think if it’s just those two I would let him apply and then visit if he is accepted and still likes those colleges. My D’s list was full of colleges we did not have time to visit. I don’t think they will hold it against you if you don’t visit a school that is 3,000 miles away.
@sleeplessmom1 I think we are more or less in a similar situation, but in Texas, as far as DD having interest in some Texas schools and possibly others out of state but not sure if its worth going to visit out of state at this time. The other posters have more insight than we do and have pretty much covered it already, but it seems to me that its not very useful to visit unless classes are in session so they can sit in on a class, which pretty much cuts out the summer for us. So I don’t plan to visit out of state unless A. she develops a burning desire for one particular college for some reason (unlikely), or B. (more likely) she gets accepted to a reach school and after acceptance she visits to see if she wants to attend.
If you’re thinking of ED, don’t do it without visiting.
@eandesmom - If you don’t mind sharing, what did your DS intend to do with his Music/Business minor? Did he graduate from a well known program? Our DS has just a very vague idea. He says he wants to be in the entertainment industry.
Is there a significant difference applying ED to NYU?
@sleeplessmom1 originally he was thinking sound engineering but in reality all he really wants to do is write and play his own music of course. The sound engineering jobs are in LA and he is fairly reluctant to move though it’s been discussed quite a bit. He does do a lot of local recording and mixing work for groups but it pays nothing until the songs are picked up. He also plays with some local well known bands. His big idea is a mobile recording studio that he can take on location to the bands, and record at specific venues versus in the studio. All his money is going into that at the moment with the plans to take it to LA when ready. It is moving along, I will definitely give him that. I do need to make sure H discusses tax and reporting implications of doing this. One would hope the business minor would know but…LOL
We shall see! He does have some very good connections but it’s a brutal business and pays next to nothing. I would not say it was a well known program though I think the education itself was solid. That said, I think he could have gotten something similar at one of our directionals for a lot less money than the LAC he chose. I would look at grad rates and job placements from the schools you are considering.
The difference with applying ED to NYU is it is binding. So if you don’t visit, and apply ED there (or Syracuse or anywhere else for that matter, if they offer ED ) and then you get in…you are stuck. You have to go there. I agree, I wouldn’t apply ED anywhere my child hadn’t visited and I was comfortable with the price tag. We crunched some numbers today and have decided not to visit any after all. It may mean some schools fall of that otherwise wouldn’t but it just wasn’t worth the cost at this stage in the game.
We, too, are in CA. We were planning to visit schools back east over spring break, but our plans changed. So far, we have visited a couple of UCs, a couple of Claremonts, and USC. Most of D17’s visiting will either be fly-ins, short trips if we can fit them in, or once she has some acceptances in hand. Not ideal, c’est la vie.
I didn’t visit most of the schools I applied to until after being accepted. I toured schools near me to get an idea if I wanted a large/small school, urban/rural school, etc. and made decisions on where to apply based off that (I wanted to go far away for school, so they were all on the opposite coast). Then during spring break of my senior year we toured the schools I was actually serious about and had been accepted to. I applied to 14 schools and ended up touring 5 of them over spring break. Many of them had accepted students day while we were there which was very useful (more useful than normal tours/info sessions in my opinion).
It took a lot more research on my part, but overall I think it worked out better than touring 20+ schools around the country between sophomore and junior year like so many families seem to do. It was definitely a huge time and money saver overall.
We have taken different approaches with different kids.
For my kids majoring In something pretty standard and available at lots of universities (engineering/science/math/Allied health), we visited a few, they applied to more, and worked through decisions after acceptances and FA packages came in.
For our current rising sr, we have visited more schools than her older siblings with more on the list to still visit. She wants to major in foreign languages and global studies. Foreign language depts vary significantly from school to school. Graduation fluency goals are non-standard. She is already at an advanced level, so knowing how she will fit into their depts is vital. Not as many schools offer her major, either. We need to know that she has at least a couple of affordable, good fit options.
Fwiw, we always approach schools cost first. If we can’t afford it, no matter how great the program, it is irrelevant.