Hopefully, you have visited the schools once already. when you were in the early stages of applying. As the acceptances come in, your student should be able to easily rank them. Also, keep in mind, many selective colleges do schedule an “Accepted Student Day” where the schools offer break out sessions to both parents and students. I highly recommend visiting during this time if possible.
My parents lived overseas when I was applying to colleges so I did all my college visits on my own. I never did visit some of the colleges I applied to and was accepted at. My kids both managed to squeeze in three or four college visits in April. My kids didn’t care about the weather. It poured rain the entire weekend we were in Pittsburgh! For most of the tours and events for the Accepted Students weekend really emphasized what each department had to offer, allowed students to sit in on classes and get a better sense of the vibe of the school than the websites do.
You should be able to visit a couple of the top choices if you have not already done so. If looking at highly competitive colleges, waiting to visit until accepted is not a bad plan.
I disagree that parents don’t need to visit. Maybe they don’t NEED to, but when I visited I could point things out to my daughters, help them understand the pros and cons, the financial picture. When my D was looking at schools, one school excluded the parents from everything. Guess which school didn’t get a lot of support from me?
But both parents don’t need to be there.
Agree about virtual tours and anything online where current students speak about their experiences. Also be sure to check activities and the school calendar of events.
Since we know nothing else, we have no idea if these are reaches or safeties, what the real chances are, for any applicant.
Does this OP have twins? I read another thread where one kid wanted to major in premed, and the other wants to be in the FBI but they wanted to go to the same college.
Maybe one twin applied and got accepted ED.
So to the OP…one kiddo or two heading off to college?
absolutely both parents do not need to go. My husband and I split a lot of the visits. I did the “accepted students” ones in April as my schedule was more flexible. And we only visited the top 4 (as I recall) schools that she was accepted to. My son just visited 2 top choices he was accepted to (he had visited all of his application schools, but long before spring of senior year)
I wonder if the OP has not seen any of the 14 schools applied to. Either way the OP’s daughter is not likely to receive 14 acceptances with financial aid/merit all favorable. She will likely have several acceptances before April 1 and will have to make some choices/priorities. Like most posters here, DH and I split up some college visits post acceptance and during the application process for open houses and tours.
My great-grandfather came from a rural area. He had never traveled before, much less navigated a large city. He had only an elementary education. Smart phones were science fiction . . . and at that point, science fiction was practically science fiction. He traveled from what is now Belarus, through Germany to Hamburg, and from there got himself to the U.S. by sea. He then made his way from New York City to a midwestern city where his family knew someone, or thought they did. Then he got a job and supported himself. He was 15.
Teenaged humans are much more capable than we usually give them credit for. The armies and insurgents of the world know that very well.
Seriously, absent some kind of significant developmental or intellectual disability, a high school senior with a smart phone can visit colleges on her own. If she’s never done anything like that, it’s high time to start.
I am not saying, by the way, that a parent or parents have nothing valuable to offer on a college visit. Of course they do. Also, it’s really fun to go on college visits with your kid, no question about that. But if you think a college visit is a necessity, and the parents have scheduling problems and child-care problems, the solution is easy: leave one or both of them at home. Let them ask pointed questions by phone. The worst thing that can happen is basically that their daughter chooses a college that should have been her second or third choice. Thing is, (a) the parents are perfectly capable of making/provoking that mistake, too, and (b) no one will ever know if the mistake has been made, because whatever college she picks will be fine once she figures it out.
It may be ideal to have a parent (or both) attend a visit, but the OP stated that it was not going to be possible due to work and childcare. It seems better for the student to go alone than not go at all. If necessary, the parents can certainly arrange the travel. The student is 18 or almost 18 and if she will be attended a distant school will have to figure out the logistics. If the student does not drive, there are buses to most places. A student that is a couple of months away from graduating high school should be able to handle solo travel to and from a college.
That being said, of course the student and family need to cut down the list and limit the number of visits to a manageable number.
My niece applied to something like 14 colleges and universities because she needed significant aid. She had a rock-solid, affordable, in-state public option in the bag early, but was hoping for an LAC environment. She didn’t visit at least half of the places on her list before applying. When the results were in, she took her mom and visited the one that had offered her the best aid. That’s it. ONE post admission visit. She liked the place, said “Yes!” and proceeded to have a very happy and successful four years there.
Had she really disliked that college, I expect they would have figured out a way to get her a visit at whichever was number 2 on her list.
My son hadn’t seen any of the college’s he was accepted at. We made it to one accepted students weekend, then flew to CA and saw 2 other schools. He was able to meet with admissions and/or profs, and sit in on classes.
While he would have been fine visiting CMU, there is no way he could have rented a car at 17 and seen 2 CA schools. I got lost and had to pull over and study the maps. For what I’d be paying for tuition, it was worth missing work. I don’t recall seeing any future student with 2 parents.
Our D has applied to 11 colleges and has acceptances already from 5 with one deferral. Waiting on Regular decisions from the last 5. We have visited 7 of the 11 colleges together as a family and been to her top choice 3 times already. This is a really important decision - where she spends the next 4 years of her life and also a huge investment - could be up to $250K depending on the final choice and cost involved. Net I think its very important to visit the colleges with parents as well, ideally more than once to see different times of year. Ds top choice of Fordham she has stayed overnight with a current student and spent a day with them also.
To the opening post - why leave this so late in the process. Should have visited colleges before applying and definitely before May 1st deadline. Don’t wait on acceptance letters.
We are planning 3 further visits in Feb to colleges she has not visited as yet - and also attending accepted students days for her top 3-4 colleges before making the final call - which financials will also play a key role in as well.
- There is no college in the U.S., including California, that can't be visited by a student without a car. There are buses, shuttles, cabs. There's Uber and Lyft. I'm sure Deep Springs sends someone in a van to pick you up from the nearest town with bus service.
- If you had been a high school student and not an incompetent old person (like me), you would have had Google Maps up and working long before you got lost.
Back in the days before every teenager had a smartphone, my son got lost trying to get from the bus depot to the Amtrak station in downtown Providence on a trip to visit colleges where he was traveling alone for part of it. He called me to help him find the train station. I was able to figure out where he was, and what he had to do to get to the train station, but before I could tell him he had already figured it out for himself and gotten halfway there. I met him in Boston a few days later, but apart from having a fun time with him, the only thing I added to the trip was making him look at two colleges in which he had no interest.
Step- visiting a top choice three times is a wonderful thing (and a choice your family could clearly afford to make) but is not typical. My H got on a greyhound bus, changed twice, and ended up spending four years at a college he had never visited. His parents came once- for his graduation. They could not afford travel, time off of work, etc.
And guess what- it was fine. It was four years of his life, not a life sentence in the Federal Penitentiary (not that you get to visit that ahead of time).
I don’t think people should make the OP feel guilty that they can’t afford to visit every college twice or three times. Most people can’t. But most people don’t visit every college their kid applies to- they pick the top two after the acceptances are in, and they go, kick the tires, and make a decision. If the parent can afford the time- sure, go with your kid. And if not, your kid goes alone.
Going to more than 2 accepted student days can be tricky- these events are often crammed into a narrow two week band in April. So Step- you may not end up at every single accepted student event even if you can afford to go to all of them. Nobody has figured out how to be in two places at the same time if they are 1500 miles apart. And that’s fine. I think it would be unusual for ALL the acceptances to be equally exciting to a kid. Surely there are some “known knowns” right now, or at a least a “if this becomes affordable, this college is my top choice” kind of thinking.
14 is a lot, but as we don’t know why, let’s not judge. But I would say that even presuming all 14 are a big YES and affordable, your student will have a Top 3 in their. So don’t worry. It won’t be as bad as you are imagining. If any of them are nearby, go now on a Saturday.
My S and I did some visits early, but this time with my younger son, we won’t go until April 1 earliest, so he will need to hold it to 3 or 4. I’m sure it will be fine.
I agree. If only one trip can be made, then make the time in March or April to visit the one that best meets the educational needs and the financial needs. Hard to believe a kid could love 14 colleges but that is not for us to judge. Presumable all 14 were applied to because all 14 met the “must have” list and of course there are many colleges that can hit that list for students. I would think senior spring is probably the least intrusive semester or trimester of the entire high school education…so let the student figure out when they can get away for a couple days.
Going alone really depends on the complexity of getting there. As bright as D1 was, no way she could have navigated, at 17, that Midwest trip that involved a flight, transfer to another flight, finding that bus that took 45 minutes, then a taxi or bus to the campus. Not the first trip.
D2, maybe. She was already heading down to NYC on her own, figuring out how to meet friends uptown or in Brooklyn, understood how to get back to Port Authority, get on the right bus home.
Jmho, but travel should be an important consideration, in the first place. I was opposed to that Midwest college, for the four years of travel challenges, including getting one of us there, in any crisis.
YMMV. If it’s simple, like flying direct to Boston and a cab ride from Logan to a city college, a lot easier.
What happenend to the OP?
As I mentioned earlier, in this thread, this parent is talking about ONE kid’s acceptances. But in a previous one, the parent mentions TWINS.
Are the logistics of visits complicated by having two sets of schools to visit? The schools for each twin.
Still…I would say…it’s January. If visiting many of the potential options is important to the OP…I would suggest visiting the more likely acceptances in February, or early March. Then visit 3 or so of the top other acceptances once they are received.
The student (and parent) do NOT have to wait until acceptances to visit all the LIKELY possibilities.
BUT regardless…the colleges will expect a decision…ONE matriculation decision…by May 1.
I like the idea of sending the S/D to the top choice or two solo. They need to understand the logistics. Some kids on CC thought they would love a rural LAC until they had to make a 3 hour schlep from an airport to the town. Some kids realize two connections cross-country means they will seldom make it home for breaks. Other kids get off the train in NYC and are so overwhelmed they decide it’s a no-go (My DH, who grew up in NYC, went back for job interviews while in grad school and decided by the time he got to the hotel that there was No.Way.In.H— he was living in NY again.)
A lot of people like the Accepted Student Weekends where the school rolls out the red carpet to woo you. Mine liked going up on a different weekend, sleeping on someone’s floor and getting a more realistic vibe.
They each went to their final two choices in April.
If OP’s kid can visit any of the local schools to which he/she applied between now and March, that may help narrow down things. One could also go visit a large, medium and small school in the area (if it’s not on the list) to get a feel for size, resources, etc. But 14 schools in April? Nope. Do your research online NOW.