Interviews/visiting - my parents think it's impractical?

SevenDad
Wed, 17 Nov 2010 21:47:57 +0000

A) It sounds like your parents are still married, so without knowing why your dad “is never home” (you don’t have to explain that, btw), I am curious why you don’t ask him to shoulder some of the responsibility for visits if your mom is stressed about taking any time off; B) Do you have a relative (like a grandparent or aunt/uncle) nearby who would be interested in chaperoning you? I know that if my wife or I couldn’t swing the visits that my retired parents and in-laws (who live within an hour of us) would most definitely pitch in to help.

Unless visits are truly impossible due to scheduling/distance/finances, I’m pretty sure most CCers would stress the importance of a campus visit to get the best sense for fit. For example, the school that was at the top of our list fell off the list after an in-person visit and a school that gets very little play on this site has risen to share the top slot, again, after a visit.

The fact that you can kill 4 birds with 2 stones makes it slightly less daunting (we have done a few “doubles” in a day and that can get stressy in and of itself, but I’m glad we made the effort). Best of luck. BTW, as a parent, I never advocate creating drama or tension between a student and parent…

Regarding you being out of school…you’d miss school for a doctor’s appointment, right? I would put school visits up there with that in terms of being a valid reason to miss a day at your current school. Additionally, I know plenty of families that think nothing of adding a day out of school at the beginning or end of a week of vacation.