What are your experiences with visiting campuses now, even though they are closed? We are driving to the beach in a few weeks for a vacation and are wondering if its worth it to go a tiny bit out of our way to see a few schools, even though buildings are closed and there likely are no kids on campus. I think S21 just needs to SEE a few different schools and walk around a campus to get him a little excited about the process and to feel more like its a reality. But not sure how welcome we’d be to walk around an empty campus a little bit with our masks?
This is NOT a criticism of parents/kids who might be way down the road with their spreadsheets, college lists, and essay writing, but just a reassurance to others that if your student is still coming up with a list, is telling you that they have it handled, or is not ready to work on their apps yet…it’s really ok.
My oldest child D19 is highly academic and I wanted to make sure I was on the ball on her behalf. So I made sure she had all of her visits done and pushed her to come up with a clear list of schools to which she would apply by mid-June junior year. She is extremely organized and had her common app statement under way and many essays in draft form by then as well. Turns out, D19 (who has unbelievably good exec functioning skills and is an excellent writer) made so many changes/revisions not only to her colleges to apply to list, but also to her essays, that she basically wasn’t done with her common app statement until the end of October. I never asked her about the status of essays/apps until mid-July, at which point I just started asking her every few weeks if she needed anything, to which the answer was always ‘no’. I never asked to see the spreadsheets/list of essays needed, and didn’t see her common app essay (or even her common app) until the week before she submitted her early admission apps due Nov 1 at which point she asked me to double check her list of activities/work, etc. After she submitted apps, she thanked me for not being the parent who asked for a weekly update all summer on what she was doing or who maintained a spreadsheet for her, hovering over her about ‘where are you at on this essay’. She said she should have taken her self off the rat wheel until mid-July for mental clarity and health, and that she was less efficient in processing apps/essays than she would have been if she had just not put pressure on herself to be ‘done’ before senior year of HS started in mid-August (she had an extremely rigorous senior yr. classload and was planning on getting done apps mostly before then. That obviously did not happen. Note this is a kid who does not typically procrastinate and is ridiculously organized). D 19 was admitted to two top 40 schools and her ED choice (other apps to top schools were then withdrawn). I am a worrier and planner by nature. But one thing I learned from D19 is that her friends whose parents drove the college application process were the most miserable and most stressed of all.
So…D21 just finished school last week, and started her summer job and an online DE class today. She took ACT in Feb and who knows if she’ll get a slot in Sept or later. She didn’t visit half the schools on her potential list due to cancelled spring break trip so her ‘to apply’ list is sketchy at best despite participating in at least a dozen online college info sessions. So she’s just now putting together her spreadsheet of collegest to apply to and is thinking about essay topics that she will not likely start for another month. I think D21’s got enough on her plate right now. We won’t be able to do some of our visits until mid-August after her class and summer job are over (may be not even official tours, just seeing the campuses with students actually on them helps). But there are so many unknowns in the college app process this year, I’m not sure it’s a bad thing that she doesn’t have a firm list yet. In fact, the one thing we’ve done is rule out visiting 4 schools that were on her list to check out because they are in cold climates and she’s now looking for similar ones in warmer climates in the post-Covid college world. D21 is not on the same trajectory academically as D19 so in this year of uncertainty, I am even less concerned about her still being in process of coming up with a college list. Just sharing the ‘it will be ok’ mantra, particularly for parents who may be going through the college app process for the first time.
OMG, my S21 said the same thing “Mom, no one is working on essays yet.” Ha. I’ll just remind him that there are some kids working on essays already. He decided he wants to rewrite his current CA essay, and I am okay with that. I am having him read Rachel Toor’s book and Harry Bauld’s book. It’s hard for 17 year olds to develop that confident voice that doesn’t use extraneous words, and shows the engaging teenager self. Not easy stuff, b/c he didn’t learn it in our HS.
Yes, I was surprised how many in here said their junior English classes covered essay work. Not our school.
Our school doesn’t either, and frankly many English teachers don’t know much about how to write college essays anyway.
Some senior classes do spend time on college essays, but it’s the student’s choice.
S21 is slowly reading the college essay book that HD recommended, but not at the pace that my anxiety would prefer, hah. S21 is very calm about everything, for better or worse! He has been going to gym daily, collaborating with NHS advisor about next year’s officers and plans, and some NJROTC planning for next year. (I just hope both of those activities happen in the fall of course.)
We’ve been watching some online tours and info sessions. It’s tedious watching IMHO, but I do manage to learn at least one new thing in the process so that is appreciated.
S21 has 15 schools on list. He plans to finish WF app by next week and he interviews with them next week as well.
Then only 14 more to go. I’m betting at least a couple will get dropped by him when he gets tired of essay writing. We shall see!!!
Am thankful for the posters on here as we all trudge through this process.
@2ndthreekids Thanks for the reality check. My kid is working full time and just wants to relax on weekends, not research colleges or write essays. We have done one school tour total, and it was a miss. We are pretty geographically distant from all of his list schools. Realistically we may not visit any until he gets in.
I think I’ll take a more zen approach to all of this, give him his space and let him drive the process, however maddenly slow his chosen pace.
Our AP Lang classes teach the kind of memoir writing that one needs to practice for the common app personal statement. Kids learn about pathos and ethos, etc. They read examples of this type of writing like Night and Walden and Eat, Pray, Love.
I think they write one essay a quarter that’s in this vein but they are a bit longer like 1000 words. Kids usually do a common app first draft in the class in the spring but this year they did not. D21 has some experience and that essay contest she won is a personal reflection essay.
These essays are usually unlike what kids write in school! The College Essay guy really gives good advice.
@flyawayx2 we’ve had no issues visiting during the shut down. Every campus we toured had no staff that we saw, and usually a handful of Asian students that we assumed were international and couldn’t get home. Lehigh and Princeton are in towns and we just parked and walked. Villanova had security guards; they directed us to parking, gave us a map and just told us no buildings were open to go in. If any make the final list, we’d have to go back to see them with students, but it was good to just see the size, layout, etc…
@AlmostThere2018 - I received an email from the tutor service Applerouth today and they included an article with clients regarding the June ACT test. If you go to their website you can find the write-up under the Free Resources tab then scroll to the Expert Resources section and the article is in the In the News section. At one point, I will learn if we can link articles on this site 
With those maybe confusing directions - here is my summary: they said some kids never received cancellation and showed up to the test site to find it closed, some found out the day before and how it was handled seemed to vary by test site - the one consistent seemed to be the amount of space between each test taker was at least 6 feet with a very small number (6-8) students per room. Masks on for entire test or only when entering and leaving, some took temps others didn’t, same with glove requirement - so it varied a lot from their sample and even within the State. They also said that kids felt good about the test and didn’t find the environment stressful or odd.
@coffeeat3 – Tks for that info – very helpful!
At D’s school they usually work on college essays after AP tests, but this year, everything was optional. I suggested D submit her ideas and get some feedback, but she really didn’t vibe with her teacher so didn’t bother. Sigh. Probably my fault for asking if she’d like essay help from a (paid) coach that her friends have used. She makes fun of my spreadsheets, but good naturedly, and more importantly, she’s pretty open to gentle nudging – as long as it’s not too frequent – about things that need to be done. Then again, she didn’t ask for teacher recommendations until she heard that a friend had already done so…
For those interested in Kenyon (several pages ago!), I went back in the day, and it’s on D’s short list. In defense of the remote location, I never once felt like there wasn’t enough to do, as there are always plenty of things to do on campus. The freshman retention rate is 90+%, and I think most small LAC’s, including both Kenyon and Denison, have a high percentage of students who study abroad. Students tend to want to escape the bubble of small campus life, no matter how idyllic. 
That being said, if that environment doesn’t appeal, there is no reason to force it. Our D23 wouldn’t consider spending 4 days in Gambier, much less 4 years. For anyone considering Kenyon and/or Denison – which is also beautiful, with that adorable town – I’d also throw Wooster into the mix. We didn’t have time to visit, but the more I learn about it, the more impressed I am, especially for those looking for a small, private school with significant merit opportunities.
I am laughing so hard right now. After being all “Pitt’s number two on the list after your college” back in the fall then “Pitt’s too far away I’m not applying” like last week, S21 just rolled into the home office and shared “I just remembered how awesome Pitt was, now it’s number one.”
At this stage in college planning with S19, he decided that he wanted to 1) consider Penn State after wanting nothing to do with it and 2) do AROTC. Up until this point, he had only been to Penn State’s main campus once on a field trip during spring of junior year and none of the schools we had visited for his “finalized list” had AROTC.
He is currently in AROTC at Penn State.
Just thought I’d share. Makes me wonder where things will end up with S21 as his mind is racing around with it all now too. 
I had scheduled a virtual info session and current student “tour” webinars with Rice over a week ago for this afternoon. The AO today said they had just released the test optional policy, but stressed it was for this year only, and to still submit scores if you had them and were happy with them.
Since so many tours never happened for our Class of 2021, why don’t we post colleges from our kids’ tentative lists that we’d like to learn more about and crowdsource information we have in terms of overall vibe, strengths, and/or things they may be struggling with (housing, hard to get classes, etc.)
I fell like we kinda did this with Pitt earlier in the thread.
I don’t know about you, but for some of the colleges on my S’s list, we have a pretty good handle, while others – not so much! Of course, if you want to post the whole list, have at it!
Then, please anyone who has insights, chime in with what you got from a tour you did, from living nearby, your kid or niece attending, etc. I’d gently suggest that we focus on recent knowledge – not info from your sister going there 30 years ago! 
I’ll start – here are the colleges on my S’s tentative list that it’d be helpful to learn more about. As reference, he’s interested in engineering (mechanical or computer) or possibly straight computer science.
WPI
Iowa State
UIUC
Rice
And, if you’re so inclined, list the colleges would you like to hear more about from the ‘hive’ mind!
@kbm770 - I agree with your assessment of The College of Wooster. I’ve sent both of my kids there for tennis camps. (This was my way of getting them on colleges campuses for a week, and getting them to work on their tennis game). Not sure if anyone is eligible for tuition exchange here, but Wooster is currently on the Tuition Exchange list as having available seats.
Not working on essays here. Nor does English class work on them in Jr year. D has been working till 11:30 4 nights a week at Chick-fil-A and doing live Microsoft team classes for 2 hour to 2.5 hours 4 days a week with homework, projects, with MathLab, Solid-works and projects with things like oscillators (mailed to her among other items by school).
She is trying to read the essay book when she has time and most importantly the ability to focus on it. What she is learning about engineering and also what she is learning about working in the Texas heat dealing with customers and co workers has been very helpful in with her future major and life skills.
We just told D21’s she needed to give us a list of 10 schools she want to apply to in 10 days.
Part of AP English in her school includes writing a CA essay.
Also she tells me that her two teacher recommendations are already loaded into Naviance. One from her AP calculus teacher and one from her Honor Anatomy teacher. Since she is looking at nursing and/pre med those should be good ones. She Had a 97 average in both classes before the Covid 4th quarter where they gave everyone who get better than a 61% a 100% which in my view was idiotic.
@AlmostThere2018 I am only familiar with Rice on the list. I think the campus is lovely and everyone I know that attends loves it. I like Rice Village and being in Houston there is lots to do. Rice seems so different from the others on the list, what does your S like about it?
I would look into the companies that recruit for CS at these schools and what type of internships the kids are getting.
@123Mom123 is your S applying RD to Wake? If so, is he just doing his app early to get it out of the way? They have rolling ED but not rolling RD. If he does RD in June, he won’t get an answer until March, no?