PEA campus has several public streets going through it - I haven’t been wandering around on campus itself but went through by chance in the car and I didn’t see any apparent obstacles to exploring on foot. Plus there’s good ice cream in town . . .
We just drove through SGS yesterday…no gates and no one stopped us. I also saw that Tabor is now scheduling tours with admissions officers.
My daughter has corrected me about SGS. Apparently there is a small sign at the entrance saying campus is closed. My husband and I drove by without seeing it and drove through campus without any issue.
When we were @ SGS 2 weeks ago, there was a security guard at the front gate. The secondary gates were closed. During past summers, we were able to get on campus.
Taft will not have on campus tours this fall. They’ll only be hosting virtual visits.
I almost think it would be easier to list out schools that ARE allowing in-person visits this fall! I feel like most of the schools I’ve seen are saying virtual only.
Also, I might be nuts to think ahead, but – do we think it’s pretty solidly out of the question that there will be revisits next spring? Obviously, there is no way to know. But as we create our lists and do virtual touring now, I am wondering what the chances are of us being able to visit at all before committing A10? I know from my own experience this past year that it became VERY hard to choose an unknown over a known quantity. (And for better or for worse, some of my DD3’s list will be known to me from last year’s interview tour, and some will be unknown.)
A (small) upside to this virtual space: far away candidates like us won’t be at any disadvantage at all doing virtual interviews. So we can save our travel money and vacation time for visiting schools where DK has an actual offer. (I predict: more applications per student in general this year since the incremental cost of applying now becomes an hour on zoom plus the application fee.)
@Calliemomofgirls i know of only one school that has been allowing visitors/tours and it is not one ever mentioned here, nor in a location near the popular schools.
We have flights booked (ever the optimist am I) but I can cancel/change at any given moment without penalty. It looks like SSAT is going to remote testing, which (refer to past posts), I am extremely grateful for, but my DD is somewhat upset. She says she needs a “formal testing atmosphere “. Anticipating FaceTime/Zoom interviews is even more daunting for her, I think. But, like everything else, we will make the best of it. I will continue to hope that by Spring, at least, we can do revisits. Only time will tell.
She’s lucky to have her brother give her his insight on feels of schools from his interviews and even more so, from his interactions with competing within NEPSAC. We are also fortunate that we’ve been on every campus of every school to which she’s applying That said, we’ve only seen a few of those schools with student bodies, which makes an incredibly huge difference.
The kids of this era will be nothing if not resilient. But, our mantra at home, to quote Tim Gunn, is that we will just “make it work”.
@hellomaisy I would love to chat with you! We live in NoVa and are researching nearby schools (St. Andrew’s, Mercersburg, and Episcopal). My son also will be applying to a few in New England (Hotchkiss, St. Paul’s, Exeter, and Andover) and maybe in NJ (Peddie, Lawrenceville, and Blair). I am still a “new member” here and cannot PM you. If you see this post, would you mind messaging me? Thank you!
@novaboymom I am a current parent at Episcopal, and would be happy to answer any questions you have about EHS. At the moment, EHS is still planning for an in-person return for students, though they will not be open to in-person admission visits. I’ll send you a PM.
Happy to share photos, videos and insights from our school tours a few years ago and more recent photos from spending time at a few schools earlier this year for another family member.
2 questions:
- Curious if anyone is finding any schools that you CAN visit in person? So far, all schools we are considering are closed to applicant visitors.
- Any schools you feel like are really successful with their virtual visit format? I like the student tour guide format that isn’t overly “polished” but feels like a real tour. (Good example would be the Episcopal tour.)
@Calliemomofgirls we have only found Asheville to be accepting in-person visitors. And we liked St Andrews’ approach to the virtual tour. We haven’t seen any in about a month, though, so some other schools may have improved theirs.
We are starting to get emails regarding virtual only tours and interviews. I know half of DDs schools will not be conducting in person interviews/tours this year. Two of her schools have already sent a schedule and “book your interview” email.
I’m glad we were able to see all but one of the schools on her final list.
@buuzn03 half? I can’t name even one school on our list that is doing in person tours or interviews. (Sadly!)
@Calliemomofgirls for the other half of the schools on her list, the jury is still out. Only one is absolutely doing in person interviews/tours. She has half of her interviews scheduled…I’m trying to figure out flights for the in person visit and am waiting for the others to decide how they will proceed.
This go round is definitely different from the first!
Update…we have all but one interview scheduled. Only one is in_person. The rest are virtual. The last school is still finalizing their schedule and asked us to call back next week.
Funny, but few schools offered Saturday slots. Most only offered a few slots right smack dab in the middle of the day. They seemed shocked that DD was attending school…on campus…and couldn’t just Zoom whenever she felt like it.
I was able to get times that mainly only affected her athletic period, but I still have to pull her from class for a “non-medical” reason.
@buuzn03 , we ran into that as well when trying to schedule visits a few years ago. But, attending a private school, they were totally supportive of kids missing school for visits. Public school…not so much.