My Daughter looked at three schools via a bus tour provided by her school (UW, Seattle U and Portland U) none of which interested her. We saw my Mom in the Bay Area/ Nor CA and she visited Santa Clara, and USF (Santa Clara interested her but she did not apply as she felt her chances were not too good). I went with her to the LA area in April and we looked at: Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and Occidental (she loved Occidental and not applying to other 2. Occidental is likely unrealistic though).
In August we took a family vacation to New Orleans and she saw Loyola New Orleans and Tulane (she almost applied to Tulane but decided not due to financial and admissions considerations).
We also visited some other local schools like Western Washington where she has been admitted.
Result? She has only seen 2 of 11 she is applying/applied to so far. Not doing anymore visits until we know about admissions/merit/financial aid (one can hope).
@DCNatFan Something similar happened to one of my kids - multiple envelopes addressed to other kids inside my kidās larger envelope. We called admissions and they said they would resend the letters to the other students.
My D17 got a spate of postcards from one college addressed to [UnusualButSimilarToHerUnusualFirstName] [HerLastName]. We just figured somebody had mistyped D17ās name or somesuch, but after finding it weird that they were all telling my very non-athlete daughter how great the athletic teams and facilities at that college are, Google told us that those were actually probably intended for a field hockey player down in the Lower 48.
(By the time we figured it out it was too late to do anything about it. Iām guessing the coach had been contacting her directly if they were really after her, though, since my D17 got nothing quite that personalized.)
I love hearing the circuitous tour path. Not sure we needed to tour over 20 schools, but hindsightā¦
Anyway, I canāt imagine a bus tour of colleges @JBSeattle Do the kids like it or dread it?
@4kids4us we must live in the same neighborhood!! Most of us re-deliver packages to one another.
@JBSeattle my S17 applied to 7, 5 of which were out of state. We did not visit any of those 5 until he had been accepted and we knew the financials. We visited 4 of the 5 (and revisited the other 2 local ones) and he is now enrolled at one of those 4 OOS options. One was never visited due to the financial offer not meeting our threshold.
With him I found that the visits after acceptance were far more beneficial. He sat in on classes, met with faculty and was much more engaged than in the early āshopping aroundā visits. S19 is a totally different animal so it was a different approach but I think it makes a lot of sense yo wait on visits.
Andā¦if they want to go across the country, visiting in Feb versus April if you have EA answers, so they can see what itās really like, not a bad idea either!
@TwinMom2023 our school did a bus tour last year - several schools in VA and NC. I canāt remember all the schools or how many days, but it was a good sampling of LACs, medium universities and larger state schools. I think it is designed to give kids an idea of the different types of schools that are out there. My kids never went - one wasnāt interested in any of the schools and the other conflicted with his sports schedule. I did think it was a neat idea and know that of the kids I know who went, they enjoyed it for the most part.
@TwinMom2023
It was optional and so it was like 20-25 kids. My daughter liked it, partly because some friends went with her. It was just done in one long day so it wasnāt an overnight or anything.
@eandesmom
Yes, I am sure a few of these schools will be eliminated for financials reasons or because she is not admitted.
Our New Orleans trip was probably not necessary but it was a fun trip that was made very inexpensive due to a free hotel night, companion ticket and some airline miles.
Our college search was coast to coast, on paper. We live in the southeast and actually visited some PNW colleges on a family vacation and one stayed on the list. D ended up with 4 apps in 4 states (not a one in our home state!). Our high school offers a bus trip to many of our state colleges, but my kids were not interested. H and I are not from here, and the kids know we will likely move north as soon as possible after they graduate, and our extended family is all in the northeast (with a small contingent in the northwest) hence the desire to go that direction for college.
I was really worried about demonstrated interest so visiting seemed important for private LACs. Weāll see if it was
worth it with ED decisions. A bus tour would have been very useful. So many kids choose to go instate in North Carolina b/c we have a lot of schools that are wonderful and affordable.
I think after we know if they got in, the year will fly by. Cap and gown order form came home this week and finals for dual enrollment are next week. Twin Bās notification is snail mail only. Oy. Hope it isnāt stuck to someone elseās envelope!!
I suppose we had bus tours, although they were billed as field trips. In the case of one, had my kids gone, it would have been a free app which would have been nice although it isnāt needed and they didnāt apply.
@JBSeattle if a tour = a family vacation that was worthwhile, I donāt think that really counts. We did a CO/WY trip with my S17 that was also a visit the in laws spring break trip and that worked out well. He didnāt end up applying to any (CU Boulder, CSU and U of WY) but it helped him know what he liked and didnāt like and helped S19 who has applied and been accepted at CSU. SD14 had a trip to Nashville with her mom and toured Vandy. Didnāt apply but it was a fun trip for them and a helpful tour.
@Acersaccharum said
Haha, same here, opposite direction. Weāre in MA and will likely move south after ours graduate.
@momzilla2D
I am with you!! Once my little one is out of the house we need to move somewhere sunnier!
@momzilla2D @JBSeattle I am with both of you! We will move to a warmer climate away from our outrageous taxes as soon as my youngest is out of the house. Unfortunately, we still have 7 years to go.
We have six years to go before we can move. He wants Savannah and I want any place but the south.
@momzilla2D Iām counting down the years until we leave the suburbs. S19 is our youngestā¦our plan was to move back into Bostonā¦but the condos got insanely expensive. Weāll see. But if I never have to rake leaves again Iāll be a happy man!
Not to derail things, but it is interesting to see how many will move after the kids get settled in the next phase of their lives. We are the same way, but we have one starting HS next year so we have sometime to go.
We will downsize in a cheaper taxed state. That means we need less for retirement.
Charleston, South Carolina is sorta like Savannah, and may be Southern but isnāt part of the linguistic South (really, itās a completely separate dialect area on all the maps), so maybe that would split the difference?
Weāve got at least a decade before we move, probably a few years beyond that, but I make no secret about my feeling that Alaskaās a great place to live, but I emphatically donāt want to retire to here. No idea where weāll eventually move, but thereās the story of a linguistics professor up at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who, when he retired back around 1990, wanted to retire to someplace warmerāso he moved to Iowa. :))
Funny @dfbdfb
Savannah is actually a cool place. I think it is a lot more open to outsiders than Charleston. There is certainly more to do and see in Charleston but it is only a half hour drive or so away.