And, number of visits and college choice can be influenced by parental income. There are parents that are willing and able to pay full price for any college choice. Or focus on the perfect fit, level of prestige, particular program, etc. And can afford the visits to numerous schools. And legacy is important to some families. They may be willing to pay more to have their kid go to their alma mater, even if they have good instate options. Lots of potential variables that effect number of visits. When I see posts , though, of visiting over 50 colleges, I am exhausted just thinking about that!
@sevmom speaking as a NJ resident, in state pickings are slim. NJ is the largest net exporter of HS students in the nation. Rutgers is a great in state option but it’s huge and very spread out. The main New Brunswick campus is really 4 separate campuses connected through a complex bus system. Lots of kids do not want to have to take a bus to classes. Academically it is competitive but for the very high stats kids it is still a safety (talking about Arts and Sciences; the specialty schools like engineering and pharmacy are a different story). TCNJ is a great school and very competitive academically but is much smaller so it doesn’t have as extensive offerings as a large state university. There are other state colleges and universities but they are not as competitive academically and more than that, tend to either be heavy commuter schools or empty out on weekends (it’s a small state so few kids are more than an hour away from home). They have added dorms over the years which has helped but it’s just not the same. NJ simply doesn’t have a state option on par with UMich, UVA, Binghamton, UNC, etc. Finally, the schools are not cheap even for in state. Yes they are cheaper for residents but if you compare what a NJ kid pays to go to Rutgers to what others pay to attend their in state flagship it’s not a bargain. It actually costs about the same for a NJ kid to attend a SUNY as it does to go to Rutgers. As a result a lot of kids look out of state.
Yes, NJ does export many kids. Our Virginia schools also seem to get quite a few of them! And there are plenty of Virginia kids who also look OOS. Our tuition also continues to rise. Instate engineering price at UVA is up to about 33,000 these days. There are many reasons kids, even in states that are considered to have great schools, may look at lots of options.
while TCNJ may not be able to compete entirely with research universities like UVA and UMich–it is WHOLLY on par with Binghampton. In fact , the business school is higher ranked. TCNJ has a fantastic academic reputation and in terms of the business school , they have a proven track record of some of the best internships and job placements available .
@stones3 I happen to be a Binghamton alum, and my daughter went there, so I am very familiar with Binghamton. Yes, academically TCNJ is on par with Bing’s business school, but overall TCNJ is much smaller and as you point out does not offer the research opportunities that Binghamton has. For engineering for example, I would think a large research university would be better. It really depends what you’re looking for. Binghamton is as close to a flagship as it gets in NY and in my mind should be compared to Rutgers, not TCNJ. Better to compare TCNJ to one of the colleges like Geneseo.
Well-
I am not big on going to see colleges that are not affordable or feasible. It makes no sense to get excited about a college that you end up not being able to attend. So for most of the kids we made our list first and then saw colleges.
1 saw 2 colleges - both local, she ended up in TX never having SEEN the college. She failed out the first year but not because she didn't like it there.
2 only applied to one college lol - he liked it fine
3 was a foot dragger, so she ended up only seeing the one college she went to
4 saw the most - because she is a lacrosse player, so she visited colleges and played for coaches in their clinics - she saw about 5 colleges, loves the one she chose after her official visit
5 saw 1 with sister, saw 1 last week and is seeing 1 next week - she is accepted to both that she is seeing this year and then will decide
Kid One: 17 schools (had to tell her No More)
Kid Two: 2 schools (dragged there)
About 20 over four separate trips over three summers. Three of those trips were combined with family vacations and only the last trip during the summer before senior year was specifically to visit colleges of interest.
Looking back that sounds utterly insane. However, we didn’t do the full tour/info session/interview at every campus. Some were along the lines of “this college has a great art museum, let’s check it out” or “let’s go walk around and see mom’s freshman dorm.” Along the way we explored a lot of good coffee shops and independent bookstores.
I suspect that D21 will visit far fewer, especially because she had to endure so many of the tours with her elder sister!
So far, I’ve visited College of the Holy Cross, Bentley University, Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, Boston University (One of my top choices), Bryant University, and Providence College. I’m hoping to visit Boston College, Dartmouth University (Just for fun), Clemson University (Family member already goes there), University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Vermont, Fordham University, and Marist College. Only a junior so I have a lot of time to decide.
Should mention that most of the schools I have visited are for getting into their Honors program.
Looking back, number of visits is directly proportionate to the broader academic base. Visited more than 20 schools with D1 who is a straight, top academic. About half that with both D2 and S1, the former targeting dedicated art schools; the latter an athletic recruit. In some cases, the search was purely about finding the right fit. In others, it was about finding $$$$. Also, very much a believer that “reputation” is a slippery concept. If student wants to remain in localized area, then local reputation can be valuable, although still well beneath top nationals. If looking for more opportunities over broader geographic spectrum, national reputation is best. Give me UVA, Michigan or just about any top UC school over TCNJ any day.
D1-4
D2-11 (includes the 4 with D1)
My S has visited 31 schools since the summer of 2016.
S visited three potential universities as part of other activities during middle and high school. He ended up applying to one of those three schools.
I had to drag him to visits as a high school junior. Practically had to tie him up and bundle him into the car for a Thanksgiving week road trip. The idea for that trip was to get him to think about fit, so we visited a variety of different types of colleges. The trip was a success because that was when he first encountered LACs and realized that that was where he belonged. From that point on, he enthusiastically embraced the search and application process. The remainder of his search was done remotely. LAC choices on the west coast are limited compared to the northeast and midwest, and money was too tight to be traipsing all over the country.
So he did 6 college-search visits plus three incidental visits. He applied to 5 of those 9 schools, accepted to most, but ultimately chose an LAC that he didn’t visit until after he was accepted.
Five. Didn’t apply to two of them, fell in love with another two 
Closest to home was 20 minutes away, longest drive nearly four hours (four in-state, one OOS). Casually, we’ve been to a ton of other schools, these were organized tours. One overnight and attended a class or two at three of them.
We’ve done four, officially, plus one that S has visited for HS-related events. We had two or three more on our list, but S loved one of the four so much that he canceled the rest of the visits.
My son saw WPI and had a campus visit. Then he went to University of San Diego and had a campus tour. We also saw Rice and had a tour then drove to Tulane and had a campus tour. Then drove to the University of Alabama. Also checked out Union College and RPI and had campus tours. Never visited the university of evansville. Applied but never visited the Washington University in St. Lois.
son17 : UMass, UNH,UVM, Boston U, Northeastern U, Bentley U, Babson, Bates, RPI, Clarkson
son19: RPI, WPI, Tufts, Brown, MIT, UMass with son17, UVM with son17
I’m not sure how many more school visits we’ll end up taking with son19. Probably not many more.
We visited 8 of the 11 colleges to which DS applied. We also toured 4 colleges that he dropped from his list afterwards. And then his top 3 ended up being the 3 he hadn’t seen. April became very busy trying to plan for the admitted student visits so he could make an informed choice.
D1 - visited 12 and returned to #1 choice before ED deadline.
S1 - visited 7, crossed off 2 academic/major fits due to D1’s description of student body, may visit one more depending on accept/reject notifications.
Since both are engineering students, I snoozed through portions of the duplicates.
Asked both children to investigate their intended major’s department @ favorite institutions in depth; including meeting with professors, touring labs, reviewing curriculum requirements, attending class (lecture, flipped classroom, project based), industry & senior project partnership, undergraduate research opportunities, outcome with %industry vs. graduate school.
I’m always amazed when parents discuss tours and only focus on the buildings, school colors, location, climate. Yikes…we are paying a fortune, and you only get to be an undergraduate once. Each school presents their data to sound the best; it takes work to put everything on a level playing field.
11 but 8 of them were in state so it wasn’t a big deal. Of those 11, she applied to 9. The 2 she didn’t apply to were larger universities and she decided (from visits!) that she preferred a smaller LAC.