@mom2cats Basically, most visits have four parts, all of which are optional, so you can mix or match: Info Session (basic details about the college and their admissions); Campus Tour (self-explanatory); Class Visits (student sits in on a class, has to be pre-arranged usually, varies by college); and Interviews (usually for seniors or near-seniors only). Almost all of this stuff can be scheduled online now. You might have to reach out to individual professors for class visits though.
Info and Tours are often a package deal: you do one right after another.
My personal advice: give your kid an hour alone, without you, to explore. Oh, and definitely eat in the cafeteria and eavesdrop. I would not do a tour early in the morning either (students are still asleep). And more than two colleges a day is crazy.
My '17 started officially going on tours during spring break of 11th grade. But he had already spent time on several college campuses for competitions and summer programs. We went to info sessions and tours, sometimes he went to classes. Some schools have formal programs where they match your child with a current student and they spend time together (often a class and a meal). He met up with friends from his high school at a few schools - got to see dorm rooms.
Class visits have been very valuable for my D. She’s visited classes at a small school with 5-15 students in each class, and at a large school with 100+ students in each class. She definitely felt more comfortable in one setting over the other.
Before D and I visited a college a couple of months ago, we came up with a list of questions that were not answerable on their website (specific questions about AP credit, general ed requirements, study abroad, and her prospective major). I emailed the admissions office to see who could answer our questions. They suggested meeting with a departmental advisor during drop in hours while we were on campus. Apparently this is done often (at this school, anyway). I am SO glad we did this! The advisor was kind and helpful. Also, D got to go through the process of meeting with an advisor. One less scary new experience she will have to deal with when she starts her new life.
DD’18 is going to visit a couple of colleges during spring break. She will visit her brother who is a junior at BC. He is making a few arrangements for her to see a class, meet some students and see some museums in Boston. Nice to have a built-in tour guide.
S’18 is flying to visit S’13 on campus this weekend. He’s arranged to attend the info session and take the official tour on Friday. Basketball game on Saturday. Home on Sunday. A busy weekend for him.
One tip I would suggest: I always found that I learned more about the school by sticking close to the tour guides and chatting with them as we walked from point A to point B. I’d ask them about their professors, the dorm life, etc. and they’d usually enjoy sharing what they knew. If you’re at the back of the pack (especially if it’s a large group) you won’t get as personal an experience.
My D’s school just switched from Naviance to Scoir and it suuuucks in comparison. So frustrating. All the great data of Naviance is flattened. It’s Beta software at best. :((
UGH! Talked to the boys on there way to fencing and congratulated DS18 on pulling up his Chem grade (love on-line grade books!), DS20 pipes up as say, “Hey you going to tell mom your new rank?” DS18 says. “no, I’ll wait 'til we get home” and I said “why?” and DS20 says, “'cause it’s more fun that way” and I could hear an evil glee in his voice.
I’m crossing my fingers it stayed the same, DS18 as already warned me that it will likely go down because he has friends with similar ranks that are taking all AP classes this semester and he has two pre-AP classes which are weighted less. The school figures rank at the end of each semester and if stays the same now it will likely stay same for next semester. He’s currently solidly in the top 5% and needs to stay there for a scholarship he wants to apply for next year.
I have mixed feelings about that class rank stuff. It seems to pit the students against each other. D’s school does it. I’m not sure where she ranks. Surely not near the top, as varsity swim takes up an unweighted credit each year. She has a friend in the IB program; for his one elective he’s taking AP Bio, to keep that class rank high. If a college puts a lot of stock in class rank, my D would not be a contender, even though varsity swim takes up way more time and energy than any academic class she’s taken.
D had an hour long meeting with her guidance counselor today. (She really seems to know what she is doing, and D likes her. WHEW.) D is trying to find the right balance in her senior schedule. She wants to keep the “most rigorous” title, but minimize big projects and essay writing, knowing that college apps will take a lot of time and mental energy. So, here’s what she has decided:
AP Calc AB
AP Stats
AP Physics 1
AP English Lit
French 3
Italian 1 or Chinese 1
Varsity swim
She is currently taking AP German. Looooves languages. I think she has the bases for all of her prospective colleges covered. D is happy. :)>-
Rank is a necessary evil in Texas. Our school is officially non ranking but state law mandates they rank the the top 10% which is kind of crazy since every school district figure rank differently! DS18 has a disadvantage because he took more non weighted classes than his peers both because he wanted to take some like intro to engineering and because couldn’t get credit for as many “intro classes” in middle school because he was home schooled. Our school requires that all students take at least four non-weighted classes so band, orchestras, sports kids are penalized too much. He won’t be taking any non weighted classes next year so that will help as most seniors save at least one non weighted class for senior year.
@ShrimpBurrito he had his interview a couple of weeks ago. He thinks it went well but who knows? We should hear something in late March. He’s really pushing the AP’s to give himself some extra room in college, maybe start on a masters early of double major. The only class that I’m worried about is AP Chem, that class brought his older sister to tears more than once.
Woot! The boys just walked in the door and DS18 was BEAMING!
He moved up to top 2%! He’s 13 out of 648
I’m so proud, he’s really worked hard keeping his grades up.
Our school district stopped class rank last year. They cited students being hyper competitive and then kids being separated by .001 points for valedictorian, etc.
They switched to an honors system. 3.9-4.0 is summa cum laude, 3.75-3.89 is magna cum laude, and 3.5-3.74 is cum laude.
The students pick a graduation speaker from among themselves.
Course selection is coming up here.
He is thinking:
Theory of Knowledge (required for IB diploma)
IB Math SL
IB English HL
IB Physics HL
IB Chem HL (if offered - they didn’t have enough sign up to have it this year)
IB History HL or IB World Religions SL
Our HS does rank based upon weighted GPA (4.0 scale, with additional point for AP or dual enrollment classes only), but doesn’t recognize a valedictorian anymore. At graduation they recognize the top ten without distinguishing between them. DS is currently 1st in a class of about 350. Being a math and science kid is a big boost because of the AP classes in those areas, and he will have taken all of them save APES.
Hasn’t chosen yet and may adjust a bit, but I think he will finish out with:
AP Calc BC
AP Chemistry
AP US Gov
AP Eng Lit (or dual enrollment English 102)
Genetics
He is talking about doing a study hall and also being an aide for a teacher. There isn’t really much else offered of interest to him, and he will have plenty of credits to graduate.
Seemed smart to save AP Chemistry for senior year, and get apps out before any grades hit the transcript.
I would love it if D’s school dropped ranking for the honors system! Kids are gaming the ranking at D’s school big time. Dual credit classes just began to be offered this year. Those classes are weighted the same as an AP class, so kids are taking really easy classes at the local CC to boost their rank. It makes me mad. D is not doing that.
Our school will be changing the weighting system starting with the class of 2021 and limiting the numbers of classes you can get weighted credit for, as I understand it you with still be able to take as many pre-ap and ap classes as you want but you can only get weighted credit for a set number of them. Sound like a much better system to me but won’t affect my kids. They are also talking about moving to a 4.00 system instead of a 100 point system.
Currently only classes taught during the regular school year at the school count for GPA at all. (Dual enrolment class are taught off campus so don’t factoring into GPA at all) all grade show up on the transcript but aren’t all factored into GPA. I don’t think they plan to change that.
@suzy100 Kind of the same situation in our school district also. Kids can choose an alternative program where they accelerate HS requirements into the first two years, and then junior and senior year all their classes are at the local branch of a community college. They never actually take a class at my son’s HS (even the first two years they are segregated and off campus), but they are still technically considered part of my son’s class and will graduate with them. What ends up happening for class rank is they will rack up a ton of dual enrollment credits during those last two years and end up leapfrogging the kids doing traditional HS, no matter how many APs the traditional students take.
The odd result I think may happen - the real point they pass the traditional kids up is during the senior year, after apps have already went out. The first couple of years the traditional kids are doing AP classes while the alternative kids aren’t. DS for example will have 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment class completed by the end of his junior year. So the only impact is graduation I suppose.
We don’t really worry about it. We looked at the program and it just wasn’t what DS wanted to do, socially or academically. He is more challenged academically at his own HS doing AP classes than he would have been in the alternative program. The CC offerings aren’t that great comparatively. No regrets about it whatsoever.
