<p>I have a few questions...
1. What are the most important questions to ask and things to know prior to the tours?
2. Also, what are the logistics for a Cal tour at 10am and then a Stanford tour at 1:30pm the same day?
3. Finally, are there any cool things to check out in or near the cities of Portland, San Francisco/Oakland, and the Los Angeles area?</p>
<p>Thank you very much, I'm new to the College Visit process.</p>
<p>Ah this is a really loaded post. #2 I think you’ll have to figure out on your own… try coming up with a schedule that has the info sessions/tours for your schools as well as the travel time between them (being realistic) – for instance you might ahve to leave a tour early to get to the info session of another school… it all depends on what you’re most interested in seeing… things get very repetitive after a while. </p>
<p>as far as #1, you’re going there to LEARN things about the school, but if you know what you’re interested it wouldn’t hurt to dig around the site and see if there are any questions that come to mind. they’re not going to test you or quiz you or anything – the only thing that really matters as far as tours go (besides getting to know a school) is filling out a postcard that the school will have in the admissions’ office that lets the school know that you were there. DO NOT LEAVE A SCHOOL WITHOUT FILLING OUT THAT CARD. even if you do a walking tour still go into the office and see if there’s a way that you can record/let them know that you were there (this plays into demonstrated interest for when you want to apply next year). aside from that, you don’t HAVE to have questions prepared – personally, i usually sat back and listened to the oftentimes silly questions that overbearing parents asked (that were usually answered earlier in the talk). i’m not sure where you live, but what might be a good idea is to do a practice tour/info session at a local college or university – it doesn’t have to be a school that you like or want to apply to – but it doesn’t hurt to get a feel for how the tours and info sessions go. i can’t really help with #3 cause i’m on the east coast :)</p>
<p>EDIT:
something to keep in mind when visiting the schools during the summer is that the campus are probably going to be really empty compared to when they’re in session. don’t let this discourage you… because it’s the summer! so just don’t get freaked out about that. :)</p>
<p>The Cal and Stanford tours are scheduled awfully close together. Drive time alone between the two campuses will be at least an hour, assuming no traffic. You would need to leave Cal by noon to make the 1:30 tour. That’s rather rushed. It also seems like a wasted opportunity to be in Berkeley around lunch time and not have the time to eat at one of the city’s wonderful restaurants. </p>
<p>Of course there are things to do in Portland, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. It depends on how much time you have in each location. You can start the research by looking at the campus websites and some online travel guides to get some initial ideas of what might appeal to you. Then people can give additional suggestions based on your interests.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions…hopefully I can make it to Stanford on time…I will have the prior afternoon to explore San Francisco and Berkeley some before the tour. I will definitely take your advice gc414 on the postcard. In regards to you Slithey, I have done quite a bit of research on the cities and sites I want to see, e.g. in San Francisco (Lombard St., Golden Gate Bridge/Park, Alcatraz, Coit Tower, Exploratorium). The main question is figuring out the best way and order to fit seeing as many of these as possible, without feeling too rushed, in one afternoon.</p>
<p>Alcatraz tour tickets should be purchased now and then you will be able to work the rest in. The tours fill up fast. Luckily the sights that you want are relatively close together. If you can get to the Exploratorium early, you will have a better time, as it fiils up quickly. I worked there for 5 years in my 20s and it remains my favorite science museum in the world.</p>
<p>You should rethink the timing of theCal/Stanford tours. Can you do one of them on a different day? You may be one of the few lucky ones who can make it from Berkeley to Stanford in an hour, but you still need to park at Stanford (which can be difficult).</p>
<p>When dd and I did her college tours a couple of years ago, we found that after hiking around the campuses we were generally too tired to do much else, lol. </p>
<p>I agree with the input you’ve been given about Cal/Stanford. Not sure how much time you’re planning on spending in the area all together, but you’re not going to see much of either school, or the surrounding area with the schedule you have set. And if you’re planning on taking out time to see Alcatraz, which isn’t close to either school, that’s a big chunk out as well.</p>
<p>One more vote for splitting Cal and Stanford visits into two days.
I am puzzled by your list…there aren’t many students with both Reed and Pepperdine on their lists.</p>
<p>Neither Cal nor Stanford care about demonstrated interest. Parking at Stanford is simple but not convenient. Park at Galvez field and walk to the tour which I think goes out of Memorial Auditorium. Allow ten minutes for the walk.</p>
<p>I just did
the CAL tour today and found it good. We walked around the main campus and the tour guide was able to answer most questions. For Berkeley you may want to have time to walk around
on your own, go up the tower and walk around Telegraph ave! Have fun !</p>
<p>Thanks for the input…I would have preferred to have Cal and Stanford on separate days; however, I have a tour at Pepperdine the following day…Our plan is to go to Cal at 9:30am (walk around some on own) and then join the tour at 10am. then following the tour, rush to Stanford go on that tour at 1:30pm. do you think we’ll have time to eat somewhere in between? also, how long does it normally take to get from berkeley to stanford midday on a Wednesday? following, the stanford tour, we’ll drive down the coast, check out Salinas, Big Sur, and arrive in Malibu around Midnight.</p>
<p>It takes an hour to drive from Berkely to Stanford if there’s no traffic. However, there’s always traffic in the Bay area. You should really allow an hour and a half.</p>
<p>You may want to reconsider your plans for driving down the coast to Pepperdine. While it’s beautiful, it’s longer than taking 101 and you are really not going to have time to look at anything on the way. You are going to hit rush hour traffic leaving Palo Alto, so you need to allow for that as well.</p>
<p>I think your schedule sounds pretty grueling. You also have a ten hour drive from Portland to Berkeley. I suspect that all of the campuses are going to blur together and the overall impression you will have is going to be jaded.</p>
<p>Portland to Berkeley shouldn’t be too bad…we’re spending the night halfway in between the two. How do you recommend getting down the coast from Stanford to Malibu? We want to see the John Steinbeck stuff in Salinas and want to go on Hwy 1 as much as possible. I checked it on Google Maps and it said it would be a 7 hour and 45 minute drive. Is this realistic?</p>
<p>OP, I see from other posts that you’re concerned about cost, and that you are from Illinois. In that case, you should cut Berkeley entirely from your list. OOS students pay upwards of $50k a year, and UC offers very little aid for non-California students. </p>
<p>On the positive side, it will make it much easier to plan your trip in the bay area region.</p>
<p>If you still want to fit both schools in, your timing is very tight. Getting to Berkeley at 9:30 for a 10:00 tour will give you very little to no time to walk around on your own. Parking can be tough. There is little on-campus parking, and you will need to allow time for the possibility of walking (uphill) from the parking structures in Berkeley’s business district to campus. </p>
<p>The drive to Stanford takes an hour, assuming no traffic tie-ups. As others have said, that’s not a good assumption to make. Also, you’ll need to allow time to get from the Cal tour to your car, and then time for parking at Stanford. You will want to leave Berkeley immediately after the end of the 90 minute tour in order to make sure you make a 1:30 tour. For lunch, grab some fast food on the way to Palo Alto.</p>
<p>Stopping in Salinas on your way down to Los Angeles from Palo Alto is possible, but may be rushed. If your plan is to see any of the Steinbeck sites (I really like that museum), you’ll want to check closing times to make sure you have enough time to do some touring. I wouldn’t recommend visiting Big Sur on this trip. It’s beautiful, but requires a significant detour on smaller highways (and some pretty windy roads). You especially don’t want to be driving those roads at nighttime if you’re not already pretty familiar with them! Highway 1 is a highway, but not one that you’re going to be driving at 65 mph. </p>
<p>I could (and have ) spent an entire day at the Exploratorium. I suppose it’s possible to see it and go to Alcatraz in one afternoon, but that seems awfully rushed. </p>
<p>I’ll second the comment about having both Reed and Pepperdine on your list as being very unusual. Is there anything in particular that attracts you to both schools?</p>
<p>Washington Park/International Rose Test Garden
Willamette Jet Boats
Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge
Aerial tram
Farmers Market in the park blocks by Portland State on Saturday is one of my favorites stops, but chances are you won’t be there on Saturday. There are lots of other farmers markets around town at other times during the week.</p>
<p>OP - My D’s both toured colleges far from home. One thing that helped them enormously was to contact the local Alumni Association and speak to graduates of the distant schools. And yes, they did that BEFORE visiting the campus’.</p>
<p>We did UC Berk one day and Stanford the next. We were staying near Stanford. It’s tough drive between the two. Parking at Stanford can be difficult - it was hard for us because something moderately large (I have no idea what) was going on and a lot of parking was set aside. The walking tour of UC Berk is good but you won’t have any time to just get a feel for the area which I think is very important. It’s a very particular sort of area around Berk and you should know if you like it before you apply.
Because of our schedule, we did only an info session at Stanford, then walked around on our own, and did only a tour at UC Berk. That worked fairly well - but we also spent the afternoon/evening at Berk and a couple of days around Stanford (we visited friends).</p>
<p>Looking at post #11, you won’t get to Salinas (Steinbeck museum) very early if you’re doing it the same day as Stanford/Cal (assuming you leave Stanford at 3:00). Most people who drive Hiway 1 (Big Sur) count on a fairly long day. Take it from a California native–please don’t do it at night! If you absolutely need to get to Pepperdine for the next day (difficult in my opinion), you can go 101 and cut off at Oxnard, or cut off at Topanga. That will probably take 7 hours from Palo Alto with no stopping.</p>
<p>Can you tell us what about Pepperdine is calling to you ? If you feel that you would fit into the student body at Reed and Lewis and Clark, do you also see yourself at a school with required attendance at religious services? Do you see yourself as one of the more conservative Protestant Mid-west kids at a very liberal college, or the token left-wing agnostic at a Christian school? Somewhere in between? I don’t mean to be putting you down, but it is a puzzling list, and if you could say what you like about each school it could help us suggest other nearby schools you might not want to miss.</p>
) spent an entire day at the Exploratorium. I suppose it’s possible to see it and go to Alcatraz in one afternoon, but that seems awfully rushed. </p>