@homerdog I wish! No warm locales on son’s wishlist on the East Coast. He is only interested in general New England zone, primarily schools that are within 30-45 minute drives, or California. He is intrigued with Silicon Valley for whatever reason. He’s never been there.
So, that’s what I’m working with. 98% chance he lands at a school within a 20 minute drive. I’m not complying it makes for an easy and efficient college search 
Welcome @coffeemomCO and @shuttlebus! I see you’re both homeschoolers launching your third. I’m on my first of three and thank goodness for CC or I would feel even more clueless.
We leave tomorrow for our spring-break non-college trip. DH lobbied hard for a real vacation (this is the only school break he has off) and the kids sided with him. I did do a mini college-trip with the kids over Feb break, and the younger two were not psyched.
We’re headed to a place none of us has been with lots of opportunities for outdoor activities we all love. But instead of just feeling lucky and excited, I’m stressed that we aren’t taking advantage of this time to visit campuses while they are alive with students. Must put aside this stress, or channel it into supporting D19 so she has the time and space to do her SAT prep on vacation!
Touring Clemson as we speak
@3SailAway thanks! I am on my third child’s colllege admissions process, but no homeschooling. Mine have gone to an independent college prep school. Enjoy your vacation. There is plenty of time!!
@carolinamom2boys have a blast today!!
@RightCoaster I grew up in silicon valley and lived there until I was 30. Got my undergrad degree at Stanford and my graduate degree at Santa Clara - if you have any questions, please reach out!
@liska21
White water rafting in Maine was started by a bear hunting guide and his wife as the interest in bear hunting faded and log drives were ending on the rivers. The best time to be there is early spring for the Dead River run. See https://www.northernoutdoors.com/rafting/
This would be a great father/son event you would not forget!
The bear guide aged and retreated to Florida. His ex-wife runs the resort.
The better crew team is at WPI! This video will show you why old men think students should get involved in college athletics. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWiWIHY4gts&list=PLQedLdI0yl35bI8yDaFLupWhsPczVAJKt&index=1. The follow-up video shows why old men think students should get involved in college athletics wherever they go.
@coffeemomCO oops! I somehow thought all the new parents were homeschooling. Btw, we lived in Fort Collins for 10 years. On the east coast now, and the ocean is great, but we loved beautiful CO.
@ninakatarina I know you have a friend to see and of course the college, but I’ve heard the new Museum and Visitors Center for the battle of Gettysburg is amazing. I’ve been wanting to go there just for that–whole family = American history buffs.
Thanks @3SailAway ! The Fort Collins area is nice! I live in Colorado Springs, but grew up in northern CA and will be moving to the Raleigh Durham area of NC when D19 graduates. It’s fun to live in different places! : )
So we took a tour of Brown today and poked around campus and town for a bit. Son is fully onboard with the fact that he has about a 0.00011 chance of admission. But it was good to check out another school and see new things.
The tour itself was a mixed bag. The best part of the tour was they let you pick the tour guide that you resonated with, so so picked a girl who was coding and doing some other engineering stuff there. The 6 guides were from all walks of life, so it was easy to find one you liked. On the tour we did not go into many buildings, we basically just wandered around campus and looked at stuff while the guide explained important features of the school. That was fine, but we didn’t get to see the cafeteria, library, dorm room, gym, etc. I personally like to see those types of things when I tour.
I liked that Brown is urban, but a safe kind of urban. You can walk out of campus and head. down Thayer street for some food/shopping or go down the hill and explore more of the city with ease. It’s been a while since I’ve walked around campus, and it looked nice and they were working on some of the buildings. The new engineering building is great, we stopped by after to check it out. I also liked how the surrounding neighborhood seems to have been freshened up and renovated. It’s cute around there for a city school. My son liked the vibe of it and he loved going out for food after just down the road.
Son19 liked a lot about that school, he could see why it was so popular. It’s not as crazy or hectic as living in downtown Boston and I think he liked that aspect. He also liked he could cross register at RISD to take some design classes, and could craft his own degree taking classes that interested him. He also liked the diversity and the passion the kids have for studies there. It would be a good fit for him except for the admissions statistics part, lol. I told him he needs to run faster and beg the track coach to have any chance of acceptance, ha.
It was a good eye opener for my son though, so he could compare that type of school with the other tech type od schools he has looked at.
That being said, unless he gets recruited for sports he won’t apply, not worth the time/$$/energy.
So, I’m hanging out in a coffee shop at William and Mary while S19 is going for a run in the woods. We had an awesome tour today. The info session was spirited and the admissions director talked mostly about how many kids approach their degree in an interdisciplinary way. We really liked that. He talked about how there’s a lot of writing even in the science and math classes and how the advisors really get to know their students and help them find their way. Like bio and history? Maybe anthropology is for you! Lots of good advice. The student tour leaders all seem bright but relaxed. Our tour guide was a wealth of good information but personable and just seemed happy in her own skin. The campus is gorgeous. Wooded with beautiful old Virginia buildings. There’s a wooded area with trails, an amphitheater, and an art studio overlooking the lake. It’s the biggest school that S19 is considering at 6000 undergrads. It really seems like the school does a good job at bringing a small school experience to these kids. I’m a little weary of the percentage of kids from Virginia (65 percent) but I have a friend whose son is here from Chicago so I’ll have to talk to him and see what his take is on that.
We visited Davidson two days ago and S19 fell in love. And what is not to love? Gorgeous campus, super bright kids, cute and funny tour guide, ample opportunity for close relationships with professors, tons of study abroad options, a perfectly sized little town just one block away and warm weather to boot! S19 was asking about ED options by the time we left. Today, though, after William and Mary, he backed off a bit. I think he realized he could be happy at multiple places and isn’t sure anymore if ED is the way to go. It’s so unfair that ED is such a boost. Three kids from our high school got into Davidson with S19’s stats and similar ECs but they all went ED so we don’t have a good grasp on what wouldn’t happen RD. We have time to think about that. In the meantime, I’m glad that our trip has resulted in two positive experiences and two schools still on the list!
@bearpanther we have done a summer visit for DD’17. Of course it’s not as good as having the students and professors on campus, but I thought it was fine. It was a tour and a talk with admissions. I would sign up for it in advance though.
Well, West Chester University is officially off the list. It was pouring rain today and if the admissions lot is full, you have to park several blocks away. I do not hold the fact that it was raining against the school. But we arrived at the admissions building soaked. Fine. We were not greeted and it took a while for the person at the desk to find S19’s visit registration.
S21 was with us and he went to the rest room to towel off. In the mean time, S19 and I were instructed to go into a small room. The room was almost full and we would not be able to sit three of us together. So, S19 and I grabbed two spots and figured S21 could sit in one of the remaining. S21 texted from the lobby because he couldn’t find us. I texted back where we were. In the time it took him to get there, the remaining seats were filled.
When S21 arrived, the admissions person asked who he was with. I raised my hand. We were then informed that no one is allowed to stand during the presentation and that S21 would have to leave the room. If S19 and I would not have had to step over about six people to leave, we would have. Instead, we sat through the presentation while S21 left and waited in the lobby.
After the presentation, S19 turned to me and said he was not impressed at all. I agreed. And S21 said that there had been no point in his coming with us if he couldn’t learn about the school. So we left before the tour started. It’s a shame because we’ve always had a positive impression of WCU. My niece is graduating from there this year. And I had indicated three total when registering. Not sure why the fact that they couldn’t fit everyone in the room was my or S21’s problem.
Oh well. Moving on. S21 is already joking about having been “kicked out” of West Chester before ever applying. So we got a good story out of the day’s events. 
@InfiniteWaves sorry the visit didn’t go as well as you had hoped. Sometimes eliminating a school is just as good as adding one though!
@homerdog sounds like 2 good visits for your son. That is great. Especially if he was excited about them, that’s awesome.
@coffeemomCO thanks for the offer to share info on Silicon Valley.
@homerdog Your description of a lot of writing in math classes sounds like my S19’s worst nightmare and confirms that W&M should not be on his list! (That and his lack of a 4.3 GPA).
65% in-state students does not seem excessively high for a public school? Ask a Virginia resident with a high stats kid who gets rejected and they will tell you it should be more like 75% in-state enrollment! Glad your son enjoyed his visits.
@InfiniteWaves That sounds really frustrating!
@eh1234. I totally understand why Virginia students would want the percentage of in-state kids to be larger at W&M. My understanding is that there’s some state statute that maximizes the in-state percentage to 66%. I’m not sure how they came to that number. Maybe it has something to do with the budget since OOS kids pay more. Who knows. Out of state total is something like $55k. Steep but not as high as all of those privates at more like $70k.
@InfiniteWaves, you might should let WCU’s admissions office know how badly they bungled things. (The no standing policy seems particularly off.) They’d appreciate knowing they’re alienating potential applicants, I hope.
This thread sums up what is wrong with the college admiration process these days.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2069105-not-sure-what-to-do.html#latest
A kid applies to a bunch of super selective schools without any interest in them. He/she gets accepted to multiple schools that many kids would love to attend and might have been their dream school. Instead, the school accepts this kid because he/she fits the profile they want, without any expressed interest. Then the kid complains about getting in and all that, and says they have no interest in going to any of these colleges. Why even apply then!!!
Getting more cynical about the process every day!!
@RightCoaster wow how that pisses me off. (Sorry for the language.) I don’t know who to focus my anger on though. This kid just did what a lot of kids do and it’s allowed. AOs are overworked and must think there’s some chance he’s coming to their school or they wouldn’t give him an offer. This whole thing makes my head hurt.
@RightCoaster and @homerdog Do you guys think the poster in that thread is legit? Williams and Amherst don’t have the brand-name recognition and I am finding it hard to believe that the poster applied to these schools, yet knew nothing about them. I have not seen the application for Amherst, but it would be difficult to write good essays for the Williams supplement knowing nothing about the school.
@3SailAway said,“Welcome @coffeemomCO and @shuttlebus! I see you’re both homeschoolers launching your third. I’m on my first of three and thank goodness for CC or I would feel even more clueless.”
Yep, CC is a great resource. Launching my first two was relatively easy. My oldest was accepted early action to his second choice and only submitted one more application to his top choice. My middle only submitted one application. I have a feeling this time around is going to be more stressful and expensive as my D’s current top choices don’t offer early action, and at this point, I don’t anticipate her applying ED anywhere. Ugh.
@RightCoaster @homerdog @shuttlebus I just clicked on the link and looked at that thread. Not sure if that thread is legit or not, but he says he’s a Questbridge finalist which means he’s low income and he says his parents are immigrants. Part of the whole idea behind Questbridge is to introduce such students to colleges that wouldn’t otherwise know anything about. So I can see that process coaxing such kids to apply to schools they are completely unfamiliar with and maybe even skeptical about.