17yr Old Doing College Visits Alone?

calmom
Sat, 26 May 2012 19:47:44 +0000

I find it somewhat intriguing that a parent would think that the answer they are given during a college visit/tour is better or more reliable than the answer they could get from asking the same question over the phone, via email, or through reference to the college web site or outside reference sources. I would think just the opposite: the student tour guide or the admissions rep are both trying to “sell” the school so I would consider answers to questions asked in that context to be particularly unreliable. That is, they are likely to minimize any problems and be overly optimistic about potential benefits & options. They are likely to offer potentially misleading anecdotal information rather than clear statistical info in response to questions – for example, if asked about student internship opportunities, to give examples of particular internships that a few students have done, without an indication of the relative difficulty of getting those internships.

I also wonder how much a parent’s presence stands in the way of a student engaging on their own to ask questions or consider issues that are important to them.