Those are good points. Definitely wouldn’t go out of the way.
For the visit to “count” you have to sign in/register with the visitors’ office.
For schools that are far away, we pretty much decided not to visit unless my D was accepted. The exception was D’s first choice; we did visit and do the tour, interview, etc.
I don’t necessarily recommend doing what I did. For starters, she got into a lot more schools than we thought she would, so we’ve had to prioritize where she actually could visit in a fixed amount of time. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind. Also, she applied to Elon, and we thought she was a strong match there, but she got in as a spring admit. The only reason we can think of is that we didn’t fly in to visit, as I know they consider interest. It wasn’t high up on her list, but still.
My daughter had such a bad overnight at one place that it completely crossed the school off of her list. The host wouldn’t take my D anywhere or allow her to go to any of the planned activities, and told her to sit there and be quiet the entire time. It was really disappointing, as the school was very high up on D’s list before that, and we’d spent a lot of effort & money flying in to visit. I emailed admissions to tell them what happened, and they called me to discuss it, but they couldn’t fix it. (Really, the only way they could have fixed it was if they offered to fly my D out for another admitted students program, and they didn’t offer. They suggested she come, but I wasn’t buying another plane ticket when my D no longer had any interest.) It’s actually too bad, because she got a terrific FA package there, and would have been in the honors program. But she was really turned off.
There’s also a website called collegedata which has consolidated much of the CDS info. The challenge is that no one really understands the accuracy of the CDS data. For example, wash u says they consider interest but most people believe they rank it very important.
We like to opportunistically visit colleges (vacations, local colleges) with them in 10th grade to get a sense of their broad brush interest: big school vs small, rural vs city, central campus vs distributed, etc). I will say our two older kids hated every visit, our daughter seemed to enjoy them.
What the heck @Pheebers ? What did she do, tell her if she went to an activity she’d lock her out, or what?
^^ Seriously. That’s super creepy!
It was supposed to be hosts bringing their overnight guests to a talent show, ice cream, and karaoke (I think). Also to the dining halls for breakfast. The host said she had to study and that they wouldn’t let my D go anywhere without her, and my D didn’t know enough to argue the point. Looking back I wish she had said she was going to go anyway, but she was told she couldn’t, and she’s a rule-follower. She basically hung out on the floor and played with her phone, as there was no one but the host and her roommate around, and they wouldn’t talk to her.
Even worse, to me, is that instead of bringing my D to the dining in the morning (as it said on the agenda), the host had her roommate point my D in the direction of the campus center and said that my D could find food there. This was extra bad because my D has celiac (has to be totally gluten free) and really wanted to check out the dining hall to make sure she’d be able to eat comfortably there. She mentioned this to her host who told her that she’d probably starve. Just awful.
My D is friendly but not incredibly outgoing when she doesn’t know people, and perhaps could have advocated for herself a bit better, but isn’t the point of hosting to make your guest feel comfortable? My D’s pretty easy and low maintenance, and just wanted to do the scheduled activities. She questioned the host and was told no, and didn’t press. As mama bear, and the one who paid for the plane and hotel, I wish she’d made a bit of a stink – this was a special program designed to woo honors students and they BLEW it, big time.
The rest of the honors weekend was top-notch. I don’t blame the college, but they needed to screen their hosts much better.
I understand.
My D was flown in to an accepted student weekend - two nights - and her host said hi and basically took off to an orchestra rehearsal for the weekend. She wasn’t obligated to take her to anything but she really wasn’t around at all.
D called me to tell me this soon after she arrived, she was feeling a little lost and unsure.
I told her to walk into town and check that out (since we hadn’t when we visited and it’s RIGHT there), and go to all the official things, see who else seemed to be solo.
She did, and had a good weekend, and eventually chose the school. But as a freshman she has hosted overnights twice just because she wanted prospie students to have a better experience than she did. And on family weekend, she pointed out the student who “hosted” her and we had a good laugh about it - she never spoke to her once on campus 
Did your S2 allow you to be involved with the application and essays? Or did you do this some other way? D1 is basically done and wouldn’t let me look at anything. Note sure why, except that maybe she, rightly, feared I would suggest she ‘brand’ herself better. lol . School college counselor and a close family friend (editor) did read all the essays. I’m thinking ahead for S2 who is much more inclined to use his parents’ help.
If anyone has been following this thread, my D wants your help. Kenyon was very nice, but no better or worse than the others. Please help her decide: Kenyon, Dickinson, U Roch. She wants to study Psych, Eng, Art. Not too nerdy, not too partyish. Engaged, interesting profs important. Money is of course important, but other considerations more so. Help please!!!
Three great choices. Here’s some questions for her to ask herself:
Which campus/city/town would give her a very different environment than her home? She will get to come home for long and short breaks and have summers off, so maybe going to a school that’s completely different than her home town would be more interesting.
Which school had the most people where she could say, “Those seem like the kind of people I can see myself being friends with”?
Which school’s campus and buildings would still seem pleasant even when it’s snowy or cloudy or raining for days?
Which school had the more pleasant dorms? Which school had the best food? Which school seems like it would be the most conducive to making new friends?
Which school has the best variety of classes in the majors that interest her? For example, which school has the most amount of psych classes that make her think,“wow! i would love to take that”"?
Have her go to each school’s list of clubs. Which school has at least 5 things that she would love to join?
What’s more important in terms of environment: Cozy? Vibrant? Can she live without lots of excitement or can she live without coziness?
See if this helps. Academically, she can’t go wrong with any of these. It’s other stuff that will help her decide
Feel. Where does she feel most at home when she walks on to campus? Somewhere easy to get to is nice too, direct flights, one day drive.
@citymama9 , like your response a lot!
Did she see the Dickinson Art building? The converted factory, with student apartments next door? My kid thought it was pure heaven.
Hi @lindagaf - three great choices. As you know, I have yet to have direct experience with any of them. So here are some broader, somewhat generic questions: Is there a significant cost differential? Meaningful difference in proximity to home and does she/you care about that? How does she weigh tiny town, small to middling town, city? How does she tolerate the cold?
She could always do the “flip a coin and am I disappointed in the result?” trick
Good luck!
Where did faculty in her intended program/major go to school? How many of them are there at each school?
I just thought of one more thing that might help her:
Ask her to pick one thing about each school that she disliked and to rate it on a scale of 1-10 in terms of how important it is to her. Then she should pick one thing she loves the most about each school and rate it 1-10 in terms of importance. She should compare the numbers and see if anything jumps out at her.
If it’s still hard to choose the right school then in my opinion a very important thing to consider in terms of future happiness is to ask “which school had the friendliest people”? A warm, friendly enviornment is what can get you through the rough times.
Absolutely agree with the importance of the friendliness factor. Our dear daughter is finishing up,her freshman year at Flagler College in St. Augustine and has found the nicest fellow students. Not just her new friends but it seems that everyone there is nice, friendly, and chose Flagler for similar reasons. This has made her overall experience fabulous for our not overly type A, not overly outgoing, far from home daughter. She recently went to the Science lab for a review of an important project. The tutor clearly told her " this professor likes the project just so, so let’s work together to make it the best you can". This tutor could have helped or just reviewed it but instead took time and heart to help DD. DD said " everyone is like that, helping out and supporting each other".
Rochester is off the list. It was a noble contender though:-) The battle commences between Kenyon and Dickinson. Any thoughts about the Psych or English departments at those schools are appreciated.
I assume you guys have watched the movie.