<p>kjcp – good luck to you, and enjoy the rounds with your youngest! I have a rising hs sophomore, so plenty of time before we hit the trail again. Although there was plenty of conflict along the way (almost always when I tried to get him to do/look at one more thing before we left campus, when he had had enough), both my older son and I have great memories about those college visit road trips.</p>
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<p>I agree with this- but - to another point in your post, I feel like one can get a lot of information “between the lines” by looking around the room and listening to the other prospective students. For this reason, not only won’t I allow drive-bys, I usually also insist we attend the information session.</p>
<p>Oh yes, the information session we attended for one of the schools my older D looked at was very useful. Parent questions: “You’ll call us if our D doesn’t go to class, right?” “What if D doesn’t call us for a day, you’ll go check on her to make sure she is ok, right?” “How long does our D have to be missing before you’ll let us know?” She has to sign out if she leaves campus, right?" “It says here no freshmen can have cars on campus. But our D NEEDS one. Public transportation is too scary. So she can bring her car, right?”</p>
<p>Somehow the parents of BOYS didn’t seem to think this way…</p>
<p>I always read this thread and enjoy it greatly. I think about the experiences of my two girls in their quest, now that one has earned her master’s and the other will earn her bachelor’s next year. From the distance of time, I feel nostalgic and amused.</p>
<p>But then it struck me. I still have another kid. One of the flakiest human beings ever to inhabit Planet Earth. He is a rising sophomore and I am sure I will have much to contribute to this thread after his search.</p>
<p>Two more cents on Penn. The nicest part of campus - Locust Walk for about six city blocks (though intersected by 34th and 38th Streets) and and one block north or south from Locust Walk plus the Quad - really the bulk of the campus, is closed off to regular traffic. It is hard to get an impression driving by. It’s kind of a hybrid of a closed campus and a typical urban campus that blends into the city.</p>
<p>Pomona.</p>
<p>We went out to the Claremont colleges last year to check out Pomona and Harvey Mudd. DS had read that Pomona provided a “country club atmosphere” with the twist that drug use was quite common, and he was hoping to find evidence that this information was wrong. Instead, we had two tour guides who kept on gushing, in a quite superficial manner, about how great Pomona was without giving many specifics except for a little about their own classes and majors. All the emphasis was on how much fun Pomona was and not on how it prepared its students. That was the wrong message for DS.</p>
<p>Then we took the Harvey Mudd tour and it was the opposite. There was a substantive discussion of coursework and classes and how the Mudd student would become prepared to face a myriad of challenges. DS loved everything he heard, and it really made Pomona suffer in comparison.</p>
<p>It is too bad that DS has since decided he wants to do pre-med and that Mudd has far too much grade deflation to make it a good choice for that career path.</p>
<p>Slurpee64 – I’m from the South and can remember my mother telling me not to walk around with a toothpick in my mouth because if I accidentally swallowed it I could perforate my esophagus! It’s like being told not to run with a stick in your hand. Maybe toothpicks are the Southern version of smacking on gum, which I’ve noticed more in other parts of the country. Your comment about the toothpick made me smile.</p>
<p>Maybe colleges need to offer admissions presentations 101 and 201 (smirk). 101 would be for the people just starting the college search who know nothing about the college. 201 would be for people who have done their own research and want to ask more detailed questions.</p>
<p>sseamom - We were on a tour once where a parent was peppering the tour guide with such questions. The guide handled himself very well. I felt far worse for the boy who was with the parent however. He absolutely looked mortified. I try to shuffle kids to the front and hang in the back. I don’t need to hear as much as they do and it’s more important that they speak up and ask questions. They can’t do this if a)they can’t hear and b)parents are asking all the questions. If I have any questions at the end guides have always been happy to answer them them.</p>
<p>charlie - 101 should be required reading before they can sign up for the presentation & tour online. Perhaps a short MC quiz? It’s all on the website. ;)</p>
<p>Appreciate the drive-by comments. It was like 97 degrees in the shade that day and we weren’t in Philly to visit UPenn or Drexel at all, we were just killing time. If, for some reason, either comes up as a possibility for whatever reason, she will visit for real.</p>
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<p>I heard those at parent ORIENTATION session at the college S’12 chose to attend!</p>
<p>Interesting comments on UW-Madison. Son and I both went there, Honors grads. Never felt the school had to make prospective students feel special/wanted- the school can do just fine without you. YOU have to want UW and be among many peers. Too bad that one guide had an attitude problem- “most of you won’t get in”. UW is NOT for everyone, no hand holding. Can be a fantastic experience. I was a bit shocked that son was willing to go to my alma mater given how well we were getting along during his teen years. He never did an official tour as we had visited the campus often when in town. Babcock ice cream and the Union terrace…</p>
<p>ldavis–as additional reporting indicated the accts were not “hidden” and are right in the annual report.People just never paid any mind as that amount for a $5 billion budgets is well within normal reserves held by many state schools. And the reason they break down into 100s of accts is UW has 100s of depts and most have some reserves. It was just a politically driven witch-hunt by a few ultra-conservatives that neither value the UW nor public education. It is just that simple. So now UW will have no reserves for the next foolhardy bunch to attack. I guess that’s good right? I am sure the Rep CPA caucus was expert in higher ed finance. They would never stoop to political theater in WI.</p>
<p>[UW</a> System reserve fund furor sparked by state Republican “CPA caucus” : Wsj](<a href=“http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/university/article_1550e45a-66a7-52d5-b855-66201ec85eb4.html]UW”>http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/university/article_1550e45a-66a7-52d5-b855-66201ec85eb4.html)</p>
<p>Whenever I am touring and end up with one of those parents, I always want to say something to them (like maybe they can ask those in-depth questions once the tour is over). Well actually I wanna say "Would you please stifle yourself. Good grief - this tour is not just about you. Pull the guide to the side once he/she is finished!</p>
<p>I know that the guide probably won’t say anything, so I kind of want to come to their rescue!</p>
<p>Just smile, take a deep breath, and remember that those horror stories of freshmen going crazy when they finally get their first taste of independence will probably apply to their kid.</p>
<p>I get frustrated during the presentations when they start explaining what early decision is, and go on for 15 minutes about the basics of applying to any college (". . . what is the common app. Does anyone know? . . .") Must they torture everyone in case there is somebody in the crowd who is ignorant? If they want to educate everyone on this stuff, which is fine, can’t they just hand out a sheet of paper in the beginning? If the person doesn’t understand it written out, does he or she belong in college anyway?</p>
<p>Both my kids decided to skip info sessions as they found them a poor use of time due to the being dominated by questions like those in the last few posts. Two info sessions were great … all the others mediocre at best.</p>
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<p>Why are you interjecting partisan politics in a thread about which college parents/students didn’t care for?</p>
<p>^^^Agree. Found the comments a bit odd myself.</p>
<p>I liked the way Suwanee did the tours - parents and students went in separate groups. It was fun to watch some of the parents freak out when they split us up.</p>