<p>Here are a variety of campus visit forms. I have also received a couple from friends and my sister who used one for a high school boarding situation. From these I created one unique to the schools we are visiting with our specific questions. I will ask my S on his own to fill it out back at the hotel in the eve or out by the pool, when there is no pressure. We are spending two days on each campus, so I am sure I will hear his impressions along the way, but I think the form will give him perspective. MY S, you should know, is very open to discussion, professor meetings, hooking up with students, going to classes and meeting with our admissions rep, so he helped on our form to come up with things that are important to him. If this is not where your child is at, then use the simplest, most basic form.</p>
<p>You can tailor any of these of just keep these in mind. One is very simple, another is more extensive. Pick which one will work for your child and you. I have learned one very important thing in this process: It is all about the fit!! This goes for the form and the college. What is the right fit for your kid?</p>
<p>Tell S2 there’s no hurry at all and certainly no pressure…just that @upwards of 100 moms and dads inquiring minds want to know! And want to know NOW! (just kidding)
:D:D:D</p>
<p>levirm - we do talk - sports, topics in the news, family stuff, etc. There are some topics he just does not want to get into - mostly girls and college. I would be happy to have him visit a college with a friend if that was a feasible plan - not so sure about going solo. I think that as we move into next year - if opportunities present themselves for him to visit a college and stay with a friend who is already there - that would be a great option. I would say he probably thinks I am making too big a deal of the whole college process. He is a very mellow, laidback kid who has already told me he thinks he could be happy pretty much anywhere we have looked. So, maybe he is right and I am just over thinking it.</p>
<p>choc chip - actually - we joke about that all the time.</p>
<p>RVM: I haven’t read through everything but I’m gathering you are having difficulty getting feedback from your S on your visits. If I have that wrong just ignor this.</p>
<p>When S1 and I did visits we had a really simple system. UT Austin-non honors was his safety. Every school we visited we measured against it. If it was better than UT Austin we kept it, if equal or worse we scratched it. I saw where you said, “It’s just that we are spending the time and money on these visits and I want to have some level of feedback from him so that when August rolls around - we have all agreed on where he is applying…” </p>
<p>Have you shared that sentiment with your S. If not, do you think that a nice but very frank conversation would help him to see the importance of sharing with you? I know that is very basic advice but my S1 is not a big communicator either but he was very much aware of the effort and expense going into our visits. Before the visits we spoke about what was important to him at each school. (There was a comment yesterday about meeting with profs.) I asked S if it would help to speak to someone in this dept or that? If he said yes we scheduled it. I probably led the direction but he agreed to everything we were going to do on a visit. We also only visited schools if he agreed to that particular school. Many of our visits involved driving for days or flying so he got that this was his shot at looking at the school. </p>
<p>I’m doing the same with S2 but so far he’s been to 2 schools and he says he’s done. I’m trying to hold to that plan but still working on him to consider other options. BTW one of the things that made him feel really good about TAMU was getting to speak with a rep from the business school and having her answer very basic questions, like what each Business major was about and what employment was like for the school’s graduates. That and tour guide’s description of school spirit and football games made a big impression. </p>
<p>I don’t know how typical this is, I know I’ve mentioned it before, with all of our seach, and visits and considerations, school S1 is going to and loves is one we never visited or went to and info session about or did anything to demonstrate interest. Things somehow work out inspite of all of our effort.</p>
<p>Good Luck, I’m a little envious, I kind of wish S2 wanted to see another school. Enjoy the ride!</p>
<p>Sam: Thanks for the visit eval links. I will check them out if we ever go on another college visit.</p>
<p>Hi. I know several of you expressed that your children were getting involved in Robotics next year. My boys will be participating in the Vex Robotics World Championships starting tomorrow in Orlando, and if any of your kids wanted to watch part of it, here’s a link to the webcasts. It’s really exciting to be there…don’t know how exciting it will be to watch online.</p>
<p>MY D2 and I are heading out tomorrow on our Long college trip. We start Friday morning at Delaware, spend a night with her camp friends in Philly, fly into Indiana in time for the Little 500(the breaking away movie race and party), drive to Miami of Ohio, Take a peak at Cincinnati, Fly to Kansas, Fly to Boulder, and then home next Saturday.
My D is very excited. I am happy for her. I think this will be a great week for us together. I think I will need a vacation when I am done.
I don’t expect to have the communication issues that RVM is experiencing. If I do, I will kill her.
I will try to send updates and observations along the way. I hope I get to read about a lot of other visits here as well. For those who are looking, have fun. For those who are making final decisions, good luck.</p>
<p>Common App info - new schools added and preview of the 2011-2012 Common App. Good news for us - Towson is now common app. Added UNC Wilmington also - wasn’t someone on here looking at that school?</p>
<p>Spectrum2, you wrote: When S1 and I did visits we had a really simple system. UT Austin-non honors was his safety. Every school we visited we measured against it. If it was better than UT Austin we kept it, if equal or worse we scratched it.</p>
<p>I wish my D would follow this strategy! She has it narrowed down to three wonderful schools from which to choose but all 3 are quite different with different pros and cons, different parts of the country, etc. We’ve recently visited two and I thought for sure that, after the second, she’d be able to say she could eliminate one. We see the third one this Saturday and, after that visit, she better not still have three contenders. I know she’s fortunate to have such great choices but this process is getting to me!!</p>
<p>College1 and Spectrum2-Your scientific system of measuring one school against another doesn’t take into account an emotional aspect, which probably determines the outcome. My d had it narrowed down to 3 great schools. Then 2. Then she was stuck.Numerous pro/con discussions weren’t moving the decision forward. Then, while visiting School #2 for the second time, she took a cab from a party back to our hotel. The cab driver listened to her dilemma and in one sentence the problem was solved. -He told her, “Don’t go to School #2, go to School #1. I grew up in City #1 and it’s just a better place to spend four years.” She came back to the hotel with her decision made, all due to the coincidence of the cab driver having an opinion, and has never regretted the decision. Now go out there and bribe a cab driver!</p>
<p>We did the college road trip with S1 a few years ago. He was very motivated and kept a journal of his thoughts, impressions etc. Well, now several years later, he is a very happy student at the one school we never got a chance to visit. Go figure. </p>
<p>We will be taking S2 on a few trips this summer to visit several different colleges all over the place. He is really quite uninterested in smaller schools that “nobody ever heard of”. I keep telling him that just because he never heard of them, doesn’t mean the rest of the country doesn’t know about them. I’ve had to bribe him with golf camp at one of the schools- which is fine because then I’ll have time to check out the area without him kvetching. </p>
<p>I think a lot of these trips are almost more for us parents to see these places we’ve been hearing so much about. At least I have a good break before I start with S3. Have a great trip everyone.</p>
<p>Socaldad: That sounds like a fun and ambitious trip. You will definetely need a vacation when this is done.</p>
<p>Collage1: I’m sorry that your daughter isn’t closer to making a choice. I’ve seen a lot of kids wait until the end of April. They always make a decision, and it’s usually to the school that just clicked the most, regardless of all the pratical factors. I think that the social fit is one of the most important factors. A lot of the kids who transfer were unhappy because they couldn’t find a solid group of friends. </p>
<p>My D1 was like Spectrum’s son. She really liked our state flagship, UMDCP, so we were able to eliminate a lot of schools when we compared them to Maryland. I was really lucky because both of my daughters had a clear top choice and applied ED. It has worked out very well for D1 and I am hoping that it will be the same for D2.</p>
<p>College1 and Vitrac: The UT system was only to select schools to apply to not to make the final cut. Vitrac, I hope the cab driver got a good tip, he clearly gave youir daughter one :). </p>
<p>ch1836: Our S1’s experience was the same as your S1’s.</p>
<p>Samtayla: I’ll check out the link tonight. Thanks</p>
<p>All of you going on trips this week I hope you have a great week!</p>
<p>When I read everyone’s stories about choosing a college, it reminds me of 2 things;</p>
<p>1) My S also had a very clear and immediate favorite after looking at @8-10 schools.
(Hope we get so lucky the second time, but *probably *not.)</p>
<p>2) When we moved to the town we’re in 11 years ago, our real estate agent showed us not many houses that were for sale in this town in our price range. We looked at maybe 6 or 7…a very popular town for schools and we moved in october after the school year had already begun and all the houses had pretty much been sold. She looked at me and said: “Pick one”. She said find the house that has the most “pros” and things you can live with. We thought that to be a bit strange since you want to love everything about the house you buy! We needed to make a decision and get these kids enrolled in school. So we picked one using the best gut feeling we had. Well here it is 11 years later and we are delighted with our choice. If we had to do it over again we would pick the same house with no regrets.</p>
<p>Maybe your children have gut feelings that need to be brought out into the open. Have the make lists of pros and things they can live without. They may be narrowing down their list quicker than you all have expected!</p>
<p>If all else fails, you can track down Vitrac’s cabdriver! :D</p>
There was an excellent post somewhere on CC a couple of years ago about the different ways people make choices - some people need to see all the options before making a decision; others know the right choice when they see it and are happy to stop looking. I am the former type; D1 the latter. It made for an interesting process 2 years ago - after months of research (mostly on my part) D visited her 4th school, fell in love, applied ED and before I could catch my breath, her search was over.</p>