How do you pick schools, if haven't had a chance to visit them? - Page 3

Kellid · 01-28-2008, 11:44 PM

Thank you, Meugenio-
She is a sophomore now. We are going back East on spring break, but she is kind of thinking of looking at some colleges in the South, Michigan, different places. We live in So. Cal. now, and while it is beautiful, she wants to get out of the "OC" and experience real life. She wants a football team, her interests right now are psychology, communications, marketing ,advertising, she's a good writer, she has good grades, has yet to take the SAT, interested in sororities, plays water polo for her high school. Many interests. Does that help?

csleslie51 · 01-29-2008, 05:00 PM

The online virtual college fair College Search - CollegeWeekLive, the Virtual College Fair has a new fair coming up the end of March. Check out their website in early March to see which colleges are registering. There are opportunities to talk to students and administrators online as well as check out campuses.

4th house · 01-29-2008, 05:09 PM

"4th house- thank you for your reply-by signing in do you mean on the school's website, registering your info to receive info?"

Yes, you can always sign up on-line to be put on a school's mailing list, but most schools have a sign-in sheet when you go for their tour or info session. When you sign in for that, the school has a record that you did visit and that you did take a tour and info session. It isn't going to guarantee you admission by any means, but it shows a little more interest and motivation than someone who doesn't visit.

obsessed mom · 01-29-2008, 07:32 PM

Visiting is the most important thing you can do. Having gone through this process 3 times with each of my kids, I was able to see how their minds changed and evolved throughout the process.

Start off by making a list of those things that you do know that are important to you--possible majors, religous life, affordability, city vs. suburban/rural and so forth. Do the research from websites and books before you choose where to visit.

I saw my middle daughter initially say she would only consider city schools. By the time she was accepted to NYU, she knew she wanted a campus school from our visits, and ended up at Emory instead. Good Luck.

jonri · 01-30-2008, 12:59 AM

If the college has an independent newspaper--meaning there is no faculty advisor who "censors" the news--reading the college newspaper and searching old issues for topics of interest can help.

Is there a college radio or TV station? Sometimes, you can pick it up.

Search the website. For example, I used to search for things like "drinking" or "binge drinking." It's amazing what can be buried on a site! Look at the office for career services. How much and what sort of help is offered? Is there an internal system for rating professors? Can you access it? Many colleges post calendars of events on line. How much is going on on campus? How much does it cost to attend. Go through the list of student clubs. How many are there? Visit the web pages of the departments of interest--who is in the department, what are the courses they teach.

I also found it valuable to look through alumni magazines. They contain a lot of information about what's going on in many different arenas. Many of these are available on-line.

Also search google news for stories about the college in the local press.

Go to sites like flickr.com. and youtube.com. Put in the name of the school. See what you come up with. For example, if you are interested in things like chorus or a cappella groups, there's a good chance you can see performance clips on youtube.com. If your kid uses facebook, search for groups affiliated with the university. Google the college--you'll probably get hits. if you get too many, narrow by different topics.

I agree with the advice to visit colleges near you to see different types of schools. Go on some tours. Sometimes doing this will raise questions you may not have thought of.

radronOmega · 01-30-2008, 01:08 AM

Google Earth

theu.com

This forum

That amalgamation should be more than enough.

compmom · 01-30-2008, 07:06 AM

I am an older parent, and see a lot of changes in all this. The old-fashioned etiquette, if you will, was to carefully choose maybe 4-6 schools that a student might be interested in, visit, interview, and apply. There was a thoroughness and courtesy to the whole thing. Students only applied to schools they were absolutely sure they wanted to go to, and colleges, with fewer applicants, could also pay a lot of attention to applicants.

I suppose the Internet is one agent of change, as are all the guide books and other books in the college guide section.

There seems to be almost a gambling mentality: find schools online that may meet your criteria, apply to the largest number of schools that you can manage, see what your results are, visit then, and decide.

While this seems practical in terms of the student's and family's time and energy, it does sort of skew the whole process, and contributes to the admissions frenzy.

People talk about lack of "transparency" and "predictability" on the school's end, but the same is increasingly true of students. The schools can't possibly be assured an applicant will accept the acceptance, when everyone is still in a research mode, AFTER admission.

I understand why people are visiting after results are in. I have gone through this with two kids, and it is stressful and tiring. But we do try to visit every school before the application goes in, try to keep schools down to 4 (6 in the case of a student applying to both colleges and conservatories), and generally not participate in the craziness of this whole thing.

I guess I think that it is not courteous to apply without a visit, unless money for travel is absolutely an issue. Each applicant is sort of out for themselves, and the whole system suffers. If everyone applies only to a few schools that they truly want to attend, the admissions process will become more sane and less stressful for everyone.

Hey, as I said, I'm in my late 50's. Things really used to a lot easier emotionally for everyone involved in college applications, despite the need for travel.

One other thing: starting off by visiting an area with a few different types of schools is a great suggestions. We visited Amherst MA first with both our kids: there are 5 schools in that area, all very different: big public, small liberal arts, funky experimental, single sex etc. That saved us a lot of travel later, because it helped clarify things from the start.

FellowCCViewer · 01-30-2008, 07:28 AM

i picked schools based on, but not limited to, location, major, prestige, and what i've heard about the schools. some general research helps too.

mattdrake90 · 02-01-2008, 10:13 AM

check reviews!! i think the best thing to do is go to sites where colleges are reviewed by the students because that way you really get the best idea of what the school is like from the student's point of view. i found a great one ******************. there is also a lot of other great info on there.