I have an 11th grader working on coming up with a college list, and another kid a year behind. We live in the middle of nowhere and are fairly low income, and kid 1 likely wants to go a very long way from home.
We could probably manage, cost wise, one pre-application visit, to one school, or more if they were reachable from the same airport. Time-wise, we’d have to leave home for a minimum of 4 days to get anywhere. That makes it hard to keep up with other work (kids are homeschooled but have some online classes), so junior year spring break seems like the only good time.
11th grader got to go to a free college fly in for rural kids last month, and found it very helpful, and it did change what she thought she wanted. But I’m not sure a regular visit would be as useful. Fly in = 2 days on campus, staying with a student in a dorm, all time filled with planned activities with students, admissions people, etc… When I was a teenager, I remember being able to do regular visits that were kind of similar – staying with a student in a dorm overnight, going to a class, etc… But reading here, it seems like the modern version is more like a guided tour, and I’m not sure it would be worth it?
Possible options that I see:
Do as much research as possible ahead of time, then go on Spring Break to whichever school she thinks would be the top choice of the non-reach schools.
Go on Spring Break to whichever place has the largest number of schools she might possibly want to apply to, even if not her favorites, just to see more different ones in one trip.
Don’t go anywhere for Spring Break at all, and apply for more free fly-in programs for next fall. Only reach schools have them, but they seem valuable, and she might get to see more options this way. These of course are also competitive, and travel time wise she probably couldn’t do more than a couple even if accepted.
Wait until after acceptances, knowing that it might make next spring (and the one after for the next kid) both expensive and busy, since we might have to do more trips than just spring break, and plan not to sign up for too many difficult outside classes spring of senior year?
If feasible I would do a combination of 2 and 4 - 2 to get a better idea of what schools work, and for 4 I would shortlist from the acceptances. 3 is great if you can swing it time wise, but it’s at least as important to find targets and safeties that she would be happy at.
You will generally get to see more of the colleges/get more specific info on 4 than 2.
For my d19, we did a spring break trip like your #2, and it helped D see which schools they did not like at all and saved effort on applications. For c26 we only got to visit one school before applying so will be leaning towards a version of your 4, but likely only after shortlisting maybe 3 schools (depending on where they get in).
Assuming the AK stands for Alaska, and I’m betting the schools will be a lot more understanding if you do not visit.
I’m on kid #2 now, and she just turned an early favorite into a non-apply following a visit. Visiting a few schools does help a lot of people understand what they want from a school.
So I would pick option 2, because that would benefit both of your children at the same time. You could fly to Seattle and see Univ Washington and Univ Puget Sound, then drive out and back to Spokane and see Washington State and Gonzaga. Four schools of different sizes.
Visiting is helpful but not essential. If you can swing a few visits on one trip (driveable from the same airport, like you said), or if your kid is eligible for a fly-in, then go for it. Seeing a variety of schools can help your kid figure out what they want in a campus, what they’re looking for in a vibe, and they might learn about some resources that would be harder to find out about otherwise.
But don’t go crazy or go into debt if you can’t visit all or even most schools. A few thoughts:
My S26 learned a lot by tagging along on D23’s visits, even if he was just a rising high school freshman at the time. So if you can take them both, then do (I realize that makes the trip more expensive but could pay dividends in the long run).
There are lots of ways to interact with schools that don’t involve on-campus visits: virtual tours and info sessions, interviews, and any other Q&A type events the admissions offices might offer. Take advantage of these.
For D23, her top three choices after all the decisions were in turned out to be schools we had not visited. All three were within driving distance of the same airport, so we could do a quick swing through, scheduling around the admitted students’ day at one of those schools (which was the one she chose, in the end). So it’s really not essential to visit before applying, although it’s a good idea before committing.
If a college visit is not comfortably affordable, then I wouldn’t plan any visits at all. Back in the day, I committed to a college and, later, a grad school without visiting beforehand. That was before the internet and virtual tours existed. It was fine. You can learn a lot about a school without going there. Generally, students can adapt to their environments. If the student is truly unhappy with their choice, they could possibly transfer to another school. The student can demonstrate interest in the school without visiting if demonstrated interest is a factor for admissions.
First, I also think in-person visits can be helpful in the right circumstances, but are not in fact critical. Schools are often pretty good these days about their static online presence, live sessions you can register for, and so on.
Second, I do think it is probably more helpful to do convenient sample visits, even of colleges you are not thinking will actually be on your list. So of your first three options, I would vote for 2, and would even relax a bit on thinking she might actually apply, looking more for just a good sampling of different types of colleges/campuses/vibes.
Then for Option 4, I think you can see how it goes. Some kids end up very clear on what offer they want to accept, and that’s great. Some are still deciding but only between a short list, and even then you might not need a lot of visits. Like they can start with a tenative favorite and if they love it, then that might be that.
Some families wait until all the acceptances are in, then pick the top 2 or 3 for a visit before committing. Yes, it means a lot of running around in April…but especially if a kid is going VERY far from home, my personal preference would be for them to visit before committing, not just show up on move in day.
In 2006, we took our kid to three colleges for visits after acceptances. One of those overnight visits completely eliminated one of those colleges. Our kid’s second choice became such after the visit…and it firmed up her top choice (where she committed…on April 30…because numbers 1 and 2 really both had their strengths).
Maybe you can combine a family trip next summer to see some colleges also. If affordable.
I would not spend money you’ll need for the actual “college” part of college (flying a kid home at the end of a semester, for example) on visiting. I would make exploring the in’s and out’s of every college under consideration a family project. Someone to read the campus newspapers (both the official one and the “alternative”). Someone to get smart on the food options. Someone to research the local area- how many kids work in town, get internships, volunteer or start cool projects– etc.
of course a free fly-in is fantastic. But I think you can learn a lot about a college with some dogged research.
In your situation I would have your daughter take advantage of all the online tours and videos and not worry about the onsite visits unless she gets more fly ins.
In addition to the online tours, I highly recommend following the schools’ social media accounts, reading the student newspapers, and also googling unofficial videos of dorm rooms and dining halls. Also have your child look into student organizations/clubs. Many schools will happily set up one on ones with current student ambassadors for video calls too. You can ask to connect with someone in your child’s intended major.
How useful or important a college visit is depends on whether the student has preferences that can only be checked on a visit, as opposed to other ways without a visit.
As a member of the HS class of 2021, my son choose his far away LAC sight unseen but it turned out to be a great choice for him. Some CCers might recall the lengthy “journey” post of a 21 parent who took her child all over the country going to colleges that weren’t even accepting visitors during the pandemic because of the presumed importance of the actual visit. Then the student didn’t even end up liking the college she chose. Before the pandemic, I did take my other student to the Boston area for a short fun vacation junior year to look at four colleges but she didn’t end up going to any of them.
I second the suggestion of doing the online tours. You can find out most of what you need online and get a good sense through virtual tours. Some schools value demonstrated interest and visiting helps with this score but I would not prioritize this and doing the tours online counts! Not essential but it is nice to visit the top choices after acceptance. For example, after research my daughter thought UC Davis would be her top choice. Great school but during the visit we found out she is very allergic to eucalyptus trees. She goes to UW Seattle and loves it- and has no allergies there. But her body would have gotten use to the trees and she would have loved UC Davis as well.
My kid is a senior, so she’s been doing lots of interviews and online info sessions for schools. Her feedback is that she’s actually preferred the interviews and discussion panels with students vs. admissions officers, it helps give her a better idea of what the school really feels like. Some schools have shot way up on her list after a student-led interview. I’d suggest looking for the online student Q&A sessions and student panels as a reasonable alternative to visits. Also, reddit thread have some AMAs with current students that might be helpful.
It can be helpful to see different types of schools to have a sense of what a state flagship feels like, a LAC, possibly a women’s college, rural vs urban, etc. That can often help refine the search.
There is little reason to visit schools in advance of applying unless you are applying ED. Covid made all the schools quite adept at showing themselves from a distance. Some schools help accepted students with visits, and often, these are far more extensive than anything you can do earlier.
There are plenty of ways to engage with schools during the search and application process. Definitely take advantage of those!
And don’t stress if you can’t devote as much time and money to this as some do. Imho, college search/visits are a great excuse for spending time with a kid who is pushing you put of their daily orbit. Expounding on the value and necessity of the visits is great cover for all involved!
Just to put it out there, have your kids been looking at any of the walking tour videos online? Many colleges now put them up, also you can find walking tours posted by students and by people touring campuses. I won’t say it’s just the same as being there in person but it’s likely better than nothing.
There are a three main reasons to visit a college: 1) Learn about the college; 2) Get a general sense of what types of colleges one would like; and 3) Show the flag to schools that need love (back in the old days, a number of NESCAC schools like Bowdoin wanted candidates to show love so that they could get their yield up). I don’t know if the third reason still applies post-Pandemic.
With one kid, we did Strategy 4 after visiting two schools. He said, “I don’t want to fall in love with a school that has a 10% probability that admitted me.” With the other, we visited two US schools and seven Canadian schools and was told that she would get into each of the seven, she applied to two Canadian schools, got into both and chose one.