goplay

My D is a rising senior and has accepted 5 OVs. All 5 schools are quite a distance from where we live. While they are all very good schools, however both me and my husband have never been to any of them. Both me and my husband can manage some time off from work next month, and we are thinking about taking a trip to visit some of these schools so we, as parents, can also get a feel of what the schools are like, and hopefully can help D make final decision on college. However, my D feels since she's going to these schools in September/October for official visits anyway, why bother to take additional trip in such close time. I know I would like to see the schools where my D might go, and I know we won't be able to go with her on her OV, cost-wise or time-wise. So I would like to hear from you who took un-official visits: Is it worth it? Pro and Con? You opinion? Thanks so much!

sherpa

During their junior years, I went with my kids on unofficial visits to all the schools they were considering. It was good for my peace of mind, but I think they would have done fine in the process without me visiting.

Rather than scurrying to visit a bunch of schools now, I'd recommend waiting for your D to take her OVs, then decide if you want to visit the one or two she's leaning toward.

imafan

I agree with sherpa, but it will be important to know if she has time to revisit. Will the coaches give her that much time (5 visits means it's at least 5 weeks start to finish plus additional weekends for parent revisits). Will there be money left?

My D is not pursuing Ivies, and maybe they are different. D will likely only go on 3 (maybe even just 2) OVs because she wants to be sure she can commit early enough to secure her offers. Like Sherpa, we visited jr year which helped narrow down the visits to 3.

fogfog

Sherpa makes a good point here.

Has your student seen all of these schools?

If you haven't seen the schools yet (and neither has your student), it is difficult to squeeze it in--unless you hop to it in the next 4 weeks or so....
That said, if we had the $ and time, I actually might squeeze in whirlwind 1 a day visits to see the schools, area etc before the OVs....

5 OVs is a lot of time and travel. OVs are about chemistry between the athlete and team....
Unless your student loves all five schools and cannot make a decision about anything untill seeing all 5, then perhaps sometime asking "why" for each is a good idea. Why x...Each U has a different culture, local etc. What if you student falls in love on the first OV...will she be at peace to commit (if offered) and to cancel the other OVs?

Some kids insist on seeing all of the ivies for example--yet they are so so different that there is no way a student could love each of them the same...
So knowing why the school is on the list and if it is even worth the time/visit is helpful.

After a few unofficial visits..several schools got taken off our student's list and never made it to the OVs schedule dilema.

goplay

Thanks everybody for sharing your opinion. I thought I posted a reply last night, but I don't see it here. Guess something went wrong, I'll just post again.

Since neither my D nor us parents have visited these campus (all of the schools she's considering are not in driving distance), we decided to take a family campus visiting vacation - in 2 weeks, we will try to visit 4 of the 5 schools on her OV list, plus 2 other schools her brother is interested. We already did a lot of reading on CC and other online sources about the schools, we just want to go there physically and see the facilities and meet with the coaches. We are also hoping this trip can help her narrow down her list to maybe 2-3 schools - I know 5 OVs during school year is going to be very stressful for her. All 5 schools are very good athletically and academically, it's very hard for her (and us) to say which one is better suited for her without visiting. Wish we could have done the un-officials earlier, but the schedule never worked out for us.

fogfog

Sounds like a great plan!
I can say that one school that looked great "on paper" and website was not a fit for our student..
Seeing a campus - touching it-- being "present" makes such a difference.

We actually squeezed in a last minute trip to see two schools about 2 hrs apart--Flew in, toured one...then rented a car, toured the second on the next day..flew out the following morning. With $250k and 4 years at stake... the few $k to make that trip was worth it. One would have been choice 2 or 3 on "the list"...

have a great great trip!

pacheight

going on a family "vacation" to tour college is fun! We did it with a non athlete child. Campuses and surrounding neighborhoods are fun to explore.

I disagree about parents meeting coaches...I think an athlete should interact with coaches on their own...I also think parents should not interact with junior level coaches either. A 17 year old athlete should be thinking for themselves and deciding for themselves which coach, team, and school is best for them.

OldbatesieDoc

I don't see anything wrong with meeting the coach, and in our case, it was CRUCIAL to have made that connection for getting the truth out of a coach who was a bit "optimistic" about my S's chances.

However, meeting the coach should be just that.

If your underage and frequently overly optimistic 17 year old is making life changing decisions involving real money, it seems that an adult with some skepticism and better life experience should be involved.

Unfortunately, some coaches lie. In D3, nothing is in writing. You can risk your child being cruelly disappointed as well as not accepted at his target schools if you are not involved.

I think D1 with likely letters etc. may be a different story, but in NESCAC, 80% of recruited athletes who apply ED are accepted. That means 20% are not. My S would have been in that group if I had not "met the coach" and left it all up to my son.