How do you afford all those college visits?

sybbie719
Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:45:36 +0000

Whether or not to visit depends on a lot of things; timing, affordabilty, access to free/ fly-in programs (my D did a number of them and many of them had more students who were non-URMs than URMs, as they also look at low income, and students from places off the beaten path, although we live in NYC and there were many programs that took students from the tri-state area for a nominal fee- usually the cost of transportation which was sometimes reimbursed).

We did a number of visits during the 10th, 11, and 12th grade as D wanted specific things (any school with out easy access to study abroad did not make the cut). The visits we great because it helped her put some schools in persective. It was important for D to see a wide variety of schools (large, medium, small, urban, suburan, rural). Had we/she not done visits, she would have been perfectly content being in NYC. It took the visits to help her see that she did not want her entire educational experience to take place on the island of Manhattan. In the end my D, did not even apply to a school that she had not stayed overnight and attended classes.

Before visiting my D thought that she would be more than happy attending the 'big 3" if admitted however, after visiting and sitting in on classes, D found out that they were not the right place for her and scratched them off her list .

It took a term of taking classes at Columbia and NYU to knock them off her list she would constantly say “I wouldn’t go there on a bet.” However, at the same time, visiting and sitting in on classes at Barnard and attending a number of their events made it one of her favorite schools. I would ask her, what was the difference and she would say “You can totally feel the difference between the 2 schools.”

In addition there were schools that flew under her radar and she would have never considered (the women colleges, Williams, Dartmouth), but it was the visit, tour, talking with other students and sitting in on classes that really helped changed her perception on these schools.

The school she now attends happens to be the very last school she visted before applying. She left for the visit with the mind set of “hey it’s a couple of days out of the city.” I called my sister to tell her that Chicky went for a visit and she laughed saying that the fresh air would kill her and she will come running back home, Chicky came home and said “this is the place.” One night during senior year, my D told me “mom, I really like my high school but I want to love my college and be with people who love their college too.” As I have said for the past 3+ years, I was the last person who would have thought that my “there is NYC and there is everywhere else” kid would have found her bliss in rural NH. She has never waivered from her decision.