<p>Here’s a new topic that I’d love any opinions on: when to start visiting colleges for rising junior.</p>
<p>With S1, we waited until winter of his junior year. That seemed early to some people but then we went on some tours in Fall of his senior year and met some juniors on the tour and I went “hmmm…must think about this for S2.”</p>
<p>The thing is my S2 wants to look at schools that are much farther away than his bro’s. So, it will have to be carefully planned both financially and time-wise because of course SATs, school concerts/sports/exams and, oh…life will inevitably have to be worked around.</p>
<p>Did any of you wise(r) parents start doing visits in Fall of junior year and was it worth it or had your kids already forgotten about those schools by the time apps were due?</p>
<p>We started in summer between soph and junior years and it was fine. But actually, D saw her school when she was 12. We weren’t looking at colleges, just walking around NYC.</p>
<p>S saw Vassar when looking with D. He decided he wanted to go there. He didn’t end up there, but it got the ball rolling.</p>
<p>because our HS doesn’t allow days off for visiting colleges and D’s don’t like to miss school unless absolutely necessary, we started taking advantage of open houses and other visits scheduled on HS holidays during fall of junior year. we get columbus day, which is a popular open house for schools such as Vassar, as well as veteran’s day and election day. We took a few pictures and made notes, and the memories of the schools seemed to stay pretty well organized in her mind. </p>
<p>Plus, we go back to a Big Ten football game each year at H’s alma mater, so they have been exposed to that type of atmosphere. (that was enough to let D1 know that she much preferred the atmosphere of a small LAC; D2 likes the excitement and will probably include some schools with big football traditions on her list.)</p>
<p>early on, we tried to make sure D1 got to see big-city campuses and smaller, more isolated campuses so that she could get a feel for which she preferred, so that helped narrow down the list of schools we needed to visit</p>
<p>We only had time to visit during summers and did most of our visiting during the summer between sophomore and junior years. Part of why we visited then was that they were interested in schools 800+ miles away from home, so it was a big undertaking to visit. I took each child separately that summer and enjoyed the time we spent together. We also found that spring break wouldn’t work for visits, because my kids’ spring breaks for some reason coincided with most of the spring breaks of the schools they were interested in. Fall visits were out of the question because both kids were involved in fall sports and other ECs that they couldn’t miss.</p>
<p>I really don’t think that summer after sophomore year was too early, and it had the added benefit of the kids hearing directly from an adcom or two how important course selection and grades were – at a time when they actually had time to do something about it and from someone other than mom (i.e. someone who knows what he’s talking about). I think if a rising senior hears how he should have been getting A’s in the most rigorous courses, it’s probably too late to change any of what he was doing, or at least too late to really make much of a difference. Of course, if you have decent guidance counselors at your school (which we do not), listening to that spiel may not be so critical.</p>
<p>We started in the summer between soph and jr years because we have twin S and D with different academic profiles. We wanted to give them a look at large/mid/small in and out of state U’s and LAC’s. We worked OOS visits in with vacations. I will say as rising seniors they are now pretty savvy and have a good idea of the type of schools they now want to apply to. Best wishes.</p>
<p>Heh. I’ve already started. Not so much for looking at colleges critically with an eye toward attending them, but just to be on campus for different activities (class, competition, camp). S is a HS freshman now, and this summer, he’s going to camp on two different college campuses, and then I plan to swing by a few colleges as we poke around in upstate NY and the finger lakes region.</p>
<p>Will probably do “real” college visits starting next summer, though, when S will be a rising junior.</p>
<p>Like owlice’s S, my kids also attended summer programs on college campuses over the years, and that’s a good way, especially for younger kids, to get an idea of what a college campus might feel like, even if they’re not specifically thinking at the time about attending college for four years there.</p>
<p>I xconcur that it’s good to start no later than summer after sophomore year.
Of course that depends on how wide a net you want to cast. But if you think your student will be going some distance, I’d get started. It can actually be alot of fun to make the college trips part of vacations. We visited many many schools between our D and our S. (And not the same ones!)</p>
<p>You guys are the best! All good thoughts on this topic-- and now I don’t feel like I’m out of my mind for thinking we should start planning visits to schools that are 2000 miles away.</p>
<p>We started with S1 the summer after soph year, also working schools into vacation plans. S2 (who was a rising freshman at the time) came along, and while he’s not interested in engineering schools, he did get to see some campuses and get a feel for what he liked. (S2 and I also did a separate walk-around of the Claremont Consortium while S1 was talking to profs at Mudd. He’s more a Pomona/CMC type.)</p>
<p>I agree that hearing “grades matter” from adcoms after soph year is a wake-up call and reality check. My guys are pretty good at listening to my opinion, but it doesn’t hurt to have Mom’s cred reinforced by external sources. ;)</p>
<p>The other important thing we learned: visiting after soph year gives students a chance to start talking to profs and students – a good skill to have for when there are interviews later. While visiting Mudd, a math prof stopped S and asked if he had any questions, etc. He was a deer in the headlights. She took him to her office, told him about the program and was very kind to him. That experience reinforced the need for him to become more comfortable in interview situations. By the following summer, he did an interview at Reed, came out triumphantly happy with himself, and never had a worry about interviewing again.</p>
<p>DH and S1 did the five-school, 2200 mile Spring Break trip, but that was the only big trip they made.</p>
<p>Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. It was a wonderful time to see how our son had grown and where his interests were leading him.</p>
<p>hi all–I’m still here–amazed at how disorienting this whole process is–today was my son’s last day of school so we’ll be celebrating this evening at home–right now just feeling some sadness which I know will be replaced with many other emotions but this is a tough process…I think being a single parent makes it a little lonely too…that’s why I’ve really enjoyed the comraderie of the vigil…congrats to all whose kids have finalized decisions–amazing kids and wonderful schools—be proud, be very proud…</p>
<p>:: puts a “last day of school” cake into lindz’s hands ::</p>
<p>Hey, you’ve got to have one of those tonight! And hmmm… maybe some ice cream, too!</p>
<p>I always invited my ex over for such things. He didn’t (and doesn’t; I still invite him) always accept the invitation, but he did (and does) sometimes. Take your celebrations (however bittersweet they might be) where you find them, I say!</p>
<p>We got the guidebooks Dec of junior year and we started visits Feb vac. Northeast), then more visits during April vac (Midwest), then 2 more trips during summer (Mid-Atlantic and West Coast). I miss the trips too, but it takes a lot of our time and energy just getting us all back and forth to and from his one chosen campus. Enjoy the journey!</p>
<p>thanks Owlice–your cake was amazing–so was the Carvel ice cream cake shaped like a car–okay very hokey but a symbol of moving on nonetheless…he liked it which these days is tricky – we are so cheesey as parents…(we used to do joint celebrations but my kids are estranged from their dad last couple years–sad but they are forging ahead and I’m very proud of how they’ve handled that challenge…it is really special to see my son and daughter(she’s a junior) bond around his graduating–she told him how much she’ll miss him. my 12 yr old told him he wanted his room–on his way to the girl he likes party tonight funny thing about raising kids – they are always growing and we are always doing our best to keep up :-D</p>
<p>Hi all - congrats to our new yalies - and keeping fingers crossed for our waitlist folks!</p>
<p>What a day - hot water tank died yesterday, my black lab ate a bottle of maple syrup and got it all over the carpet, and tomorrow we are acquiring a 9 year old chocolate lab whose owner passed away. So TWO labbies and two testosterone infused people…not going to be relaxing at all!</p>
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