<p>HA – about 30 tours. Some of them were in conjunction with athletic prospect camps.
9 applications, 8 of them to schools we toured with S. And one application to a far-away school he did not tour.
8 acceptances, including to the school he did not tour. But he got into one of his two top choices with good merit aid, so chose that one.</p>
<p>Though people teased us about touring so many schools, my husband, son and I had fun doing it together, and the process definitely helped our son put together a solid list of schools he’d actually like to attend.</p>
<p>On opposite side, we didn’t see colleges that accepted son until after admitted. For newer posters, the worm applied as a junior. He had spent time at duke and 2 other large schools for summer programs. On a teen tour, he had seen a few CA U’s. when visiting friends in Boston, he was driven by H and MIT. </p>
<p>He applied to reaches and state flagship. Tech schools were his objectives. The problem with this approach was that he only attended one accepted students weekend, because of time constraints. The more I read about the influence of the tour guide, I am torn between picking schools from web sites and visits.</p>
<p>D#1 - One formal tour, and a bunch of informals. I can’t really give an exact number. (Drove onto one very isolated campus after driving through “town.” D looked around and said “No Borders no Starbucks no Me.” Then we left. Does that count as a visit? Slept during a drive-through. Does that count?) 7 applications … 6 serious and one to placate Mom.</p>
<p>D#2 - No formal tours. (I’m guessing after discussion with her older sister.) 6 applications … 4 serious and two “well if you insist.”</p>
<p>DS - 18 Applications so far 13 acceptances waiting on other 5. ( I know seems like a lot but he wants the most merit aid he can get:) Toured 4 of them before acceptance 2 more since…So far Alabama is in the lead with the best deal but he is waiting to see if someone has a better one.</p>
<p>We visited 10 schools. My child is applying to 8 of the 10 (surprisingly, because I thought he only really loved 4 of them). Then, he is also applying to 7 others that he hasn’t toured/visited.</p>
<p>D1 ('08) applied to 8 of which she had visited 4. She added a school she had never seen at the last minute, without a visit, and that ended up the school she attended.</p>
<p>S2 ('10) applied to 10, of which he had visited 8. He didn’t get in to the 2 we didn’t visit (one was a super reach, the other we thought was a match). There were 2 tours which resulted in no application.</p>
<p>S3 ('13) applied to 12, he visited 9 of the 12. Two of the ones he didn’t tour are super-reaches, the third is a safety. He applied to all schools that he toured (he liked every tour he went on).</p>
<p>D toured 7 schools in the Pacific North West, and has applied Early Action to 1 school. She then visited 4 schools in CA and will not apply to any of them. She also toured 9 schools on the east coast and has applied Early Decision to 1 school. If she does not get into her first choice, she’ll apply to 4 of the schools she toured and then one more that she did not visit.</p>