As a rising senior, I am planning to visit a multitude of colleges this summer (fwi: I have an interest in creative writing/English and entrepreneurship as a minor). I am going to New England and so far my list includes:
Harvard
Brown
Northeastern
Amherst
Williams
Middlebury
Cornell (pretty far though)
Hamilton (also pretty far)
*I would start my visits in Boston
On the way home I am stopping in the Midwest to either tour WUSTL or Northwestern. IK that WUSTL likes demonstrated interest so which one should I visit? Which one seems more fitted for my interests?
If I were to add or remove colleges from my trip, which ones should they be?
I don’t know enough about WUSTL or Northwestern to advise you which one to pick to visit, but in general, a good rule to follow when visiting is to look at which school takes into account demonstrated interest; and then you want to visit schools you’re very interested in, so you can know whether you like the campus or not.
Both like interest, both are great for writing, but WUSTL really wants to see a visit, so I’d visit it.
I’d remove Hamilton, since it’s far and you have some similar schools; probably Cornell as well, since you have both rural schools and medium sized RUs.
Are there any northeast matches? It looks like you’ve only got one on the list, but it’s easy to find reaches to love. Matches and safeties are tougher to pick out.
Check the common data set for each college to see which schools include demonstrated interest in their admissions decisions and make those schools a priority. Also try to visit the schools you feel are your top choices (after research, reading guide book etc.).
Personally, I’m not a fan of summer visits as you won’t see the school in session so you can’t get a complete sense of the school. But if it is the only time you can go…
For English/writing, ideally keep Harvard, Brown, Amherst, Williams, Cornell and Hamilton. For creative writing in particular, definitely keep Hamilton.
For entrepreneurship, you may want to consider how much this will influence your college aspirations. Schools with liberal arts curricula --from Amherst to Harvard – would not appear to commonly offer this as a direct course of study.
I’d personally avoid the “streetlight effect” when planning your college itinerary.
If you are also ending in Boston, a loop route could include Harvard, Amherst, Williams, Hamilton, Cornell and Brown. You could also easily see Northeastern.