unofficial school visits, tours, demonstrated interest

gointhruaphase
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 20:22:07 +0000

I agree with @BKSquared. I think it is a good idea to keep a lot of schools in the mix until your daughter starts getting invites for official visits. Although her academics are great, you have been told that choice no. 1 is a crapshoot. Strange things can happen (both positive and negative) in athletic recruiting. Having other options available as back-ups is a good idea.

Official visits can be fun and informative. On the other hand, traveling to schools particularly at a distance can be draining and can interfere with senior year obligations (not to mention exhausting to the parent if he or she accompanies). That’s why I would start the funneling process once invitation visits start to come in, and of course it is helpful to have submitted the pre-read (and hopefully received the response) well before those officials.

Personally, I would not wait too long to ask for the pre-read. The ideal situation is to get the pre-read after all of the grades are in for junior year. Summer is a perfect time. If you wait until the fall, well the admissions folks get pretty busy reviewing actual applications and things could get delayed. You would be better off knowing where you stand before the start of senior year.