Draft college visit itineraries: is this nuts?

College Search & Lists
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Bowdoin is definitely hard to get into these days… I can’t compare it to Bates from personal experience. I can say my son has always espoused the motto, “work medium, play medium.” He does not like to grind too hard. And he did great at Bowdoin and was a good fit. It never seemed too intense or stressful. Professors were ridiculously accessible and he know most of the tenured faculty personally in both majors. Two profs proactively offered him paid summer research – he didn’t even have to ask or apply. I can also say that it was an order of magnitude less grind than my younger son’s current college.

What stands out for me though is that my son seems to have a ridiculously strong friend group from his Bowdoin time. He’s working 600 miles away now but his roommates are still people who met at Bowdoin. Any time he travels to other cities he connects with Bowdoin friends. Large groups of them still plan vacations or retreats together. And that’s despite him being an introvert.

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42

I am also on team @Bruno99. With my sons we visited one or max two schools at a time which I think helped keep each one clear in his mind, because each trip was unique.

I realize that approach won’t work for everyone, but in my mind four or five small trips would be our family’s preference. I think DS19 and I did seven separate trips. Just my two cents.

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43

I think a lot of these schools are going to be kinda preppy/fratty/sporty but ones where the culture leans heavily in that direction are going to be tougher for him (having watched him navigate around those kids in high school). So…not Bucknell or F&M or Colby, maybe? Probably not Davidson or Wake or Richmond or W&L. I mean, all of these schools are going to be places where he could theoretically find his people but at some point we have to cull the list.

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44

I’m guessing if the kid could get into Bowdoin he’d do fine. But it would be a significant reach (as are Bates, Wesleyan, and Vassar, which are tentatively on his list.) I had a tough time letting go of some of these places (+ Haverford, Hamilton, Middlebury) because it didn’t seem so long ago that they would have been reasonably accessible (and my son is really, really bright so until the ADHD/social anxiety stuff started kicking in, we would have imagined he could have gone anywhere.) But here we are…and there are so many other great options.

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I think if we could have started sooner, this would have been my preferred approach. Alas, he’s a junior and we live in California. So we’re just gonna go for it and see how we do. I do think having our exchange student along will help…a lot. He’s functional in different ways (I could see him, for example, keeping a VLOG of the trip.)

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46

I am exhausted just reading your email, and I only got through the first part :rofl:
Is it ambitious - yes, is it possible - yes, assuming no weather/travel issues, will the be “effective
visits” - questionable. This is my fourth rodeo, and I have found that back-to-back visits are exhausting for everyone, and at some point, you stop paying attention. They all start to blend.
I have found that what worked best for us was no more than 1 visit in a day with “down time” - not “travel time”. My rule of thumb when traveling out of state for visits is two visits in 3 days (assuming there is some distance between the two schools). Your son will need to take detailed notes immediately after each visit (pros and cons) without any input from those traveling with him. Maybe take photos to help jog his memory later.

If this is his first time visiting colleges, the goal is to figure out what type of school environment he wants - city, suburban, urban, small, mid-size, large, private, or public. You may find he is drawn to a particular type of school, which eliminates many unnecessary visits. We also started with schools close to home to find the “type of school”. For example, we realized quickly that small, rural, and big city schools were not for him, so we instantly narrowed down the list, saved a lot of time and $

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47

I can see coming all the way from the west coast that you have to group them up! With my son, we only visited schools he had been accepted to. There are so many virtual tours and info sessions he was able to use those to preliminarily learn about the schools, and then once acceptances were in hand we hit the road. We are doing the same thing with D24.

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48

I put this on another thread about the Maine schools (well represented in our family!)

"Decades ago, each had a slightly more distinct character. Bates was the most “granola”, Colby was the most “outdoorsy”, and Bowdoin was the preppiest (in a mainstream, elite, Boston way). All were recognized as excellent schools and attracted the vast majority of ther students from New England. Especially the private school world. In spite of the fierce rivalries, the alums of all 3 seemed to find strong bonds among each other post-grad. Maybe it was surviving Maine winters, maybe it was being on a small campus, but this is to say that post-grad, lots of alums saw more that was alike among them than different.

Over time, and particularly as all have evolved from regional schools to national ones, the differences have become less great and for many students, being transplanted from colby to Bates or from Bowdoin to colby would have no impact on their happiness. They have all evolved pretty rapidly in terms of attracting a wider range of students and all seem committed to having students who are rounding out the community.

At the very fringes and for specific reasons, however, there are probably kids who would be happier at one, and all schools carry some bit of their prior reputation. They are all fabulous schools, have tight communities,and happy engaged student bodies. Alums are loyal and stay connected. "

It sounds, OP, like you might have a kid who might prefer only one, and honestly, with so many schools out there, it’s never a problem to take some off the list. (My kid liked Bates and Colby but not Bowdoin - and honestly, I don’t know why, but it helped whittle the list!)

As for hard to get into or not, I know kids who got into Bowdoin but not Colby, Colby but not Bates, Bates not Colby, etc. They are all selective enough that most candidates are excellent and any one may fit the needs of one school over another. I wouldn’t let selectivity drive your decision within these schools. Fot, sure!

As one other thought, as you’re talking about culture, did Bard hit your radar?

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49

These itineraries would make me cry. And my kids would flat out refuse. But I understand that people differ.

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50

Also, unless you know for a fact that you can afford these schools (perhaps with a small amount of merit), I wouldn’t visit them. It’s too easy to fall in love with a school and then be heartbroken if you cannot afford it. Don’t assume big merit or scholarships. It’s the wild west out there, and what was a sure thing two years ago is in no way a sure thing today. Manage expectations.

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51

In reading your previous posts, I would trust your instincts re frattyish schools. I wouldn’t bother with Colby. Bowdoin is much closer to Bates than Colby, but it is also a tougher admit. Your son definitely has an advantage as a male applicant to most SLACs, particularly at Vassar, as you probably know. Being from Iowa is probably helpful at many East Coast schools, but I don’t know how much. Curious why you eliminated Haverford since it’s not any more selective than Wesleyan. Good luck with your visits and itinerary!

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I think we’re solid on this front but I think in general that is a worthwhile point.

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Ah, but we’re not from Iowa. We’re from the Bay Area. My husband’s family is in Northern Iowa and we’re starting our trip there with a quick grandparent visit. (I can’t imagine flying so close to Iowa and NOT seeing them but it does add some gratuitous additional driving.)

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I don’t think it would work with my kid, either. My older two didn’t enjoy campus tours. My D20 did four and my S22 did one. My S25 thinks they are fine but I am very cognizant of overload… We are planning to fly in to two schools over spring break and the rest will be either summer (if we happen to be in the area) or after acceptances.

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We are from the west coast too and so had to do more tours in each trip. Especially since my D really wants to go to school on the east coast.

I don’t really agree on waiting until being accepted and then touring. Some of my D’s very top picks on paper and the website ended up coming off the list after tours. So for us it was better to see beforehand. Of course you risk the falling in love with a school you can’t get into but we really only toured what seemed like safeties and matches.

I think it is great if he does the VLOGs. As others have said it is very easy to forget the details. My D wrote about each one afterward but I think a VLOG could help even more.

We had such a great time on our trips. They are memories that will stay with us forever. I think you will have fun and if you have to cut some out then it will still be worthwhile.

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56

Is there any reason in Particular for visiting Holy Cross, because if you are in Boston to see Harvard, you may as well visit Boston College. The area is beautiful, the campus is beautiful, and Spring there should be just right. I’m eager to impress the German.

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Haverford appeared more selective than Wesleyan when I looked at their most recent common data set (13% acceptance rate vs 18% for boys; higher 50th% standardized test scores and higher % of kids in top 10% of their class). I don’t know whether athletic recruitment patterns might explain some of that difference. Bates has lower acceptance rate for men but their test score patterns are almost identical to Wesleyan and they have a smaller % of kids graduating in top 10% of their class.) I realize that given variability in ED patterns, invisible hooks, etc, that this is like reading tea leaves.

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I bet that does have something to do with athletic recruiting and Haverford’s smaller size. FWIW, my Bay Area friend went to Haverford and she has kids at more remote East Coast SLACs and she said that Haverford was so much easier to get to because of proximity to the Philadelphia airport. Didn’t mean to add to your son’s list.

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I think the advice to concentrate on “types” is solid if there are this many schools on the “check it out” list. If your kid thinks BU is “too busy and crowded” (just to take a very obvious urban example) don’t bother with NYU, Temple, Drexel, Penn, GW.

Yes, visits are going to help you figure out the subtle differences between Colby, Bowdoin, Bates. But if your kid discovers that he wants urban- really wants urban- the subtle differences between those schools won’t matter. Maybe we can help you with “kids who love X really love Y” to help cut down on the number of visits?

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Holy Cross feels like a solid match for our son. I can’t remember why we took BC off the list. Maybe too big? Also definitely a reach. But you’re right – BC makes more sense than Harvard. I think the Harvard visit was just curiosity. (I remember visiting it in high school and being bewildered by the fuss. Princeton made a way more magical impression…)

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