How do you afford all those college visits?

cptofthehouse
Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:17:33 +0000

I think visits have become the norm, and I cannot say they are not beneficial. But I have known kids for whom the reality of being at a college did not match the visit. Even multiple visits. Sometimes the visits are staged events. I know that our last visit was, as it was a very well put together open house. There are kids who end up hating the school after all.

Also, most of my generation did not do these visits. I applied sight unseen to all of my colleges. I first saw my college choice when I arriived to move in. That was just the way it went. Some of us hated our choice. Many of us ended up making it home. It’s hard not to do this now since it has become the norm. BUt I wonder sometimes when I see kids agonizing over Holyoke vs Smith or, Wisconsin vs Indiana, Connecticut College vs Skidmore, how much of a difference it is going to make in a given situation. Most of these kids are going to be happy anywhere, some will not be happy anywhere, and most are not going to be unhappy over slight differences between similar colleges. Unless you are looking at a college in a whole new part of the country where you child has no familiarity, I would not feel that upset if you can’t do the visits. THe problem has become that with some schools you pretty much must visit to get in. And now I hear parents worried that it was not enough of a visit! Yeah, and yet I understand, as I am feeling a bit uncomfortable about the staged welcome my son got at this last visit that I know is not the way college life will be at any school. But at least he got a good dose of the environment, and I did take the time to look around outside of the school as ell. But folks these days make multiple visits to colleges. They visit when they are looking for where to apply. They visit when they decide to apply there. They may revisit for an interview or an extra show of interest. They visit again when they are accepted to help decide if that’s where they want to go. Then they go to welcoming day. Then orientation, sometimes held over the summer. Then again to go to school. No wonder some parents are pitching the family day invitations! They are tired of going there, and they have just been rid of the kid, already! LOL