Advice on college visits?

[KSUViolet06]

*Get all the info you can about the weather, especially the winter months. Most visit days are in the spring or summer so the weather is generally nice anywhere you go. Winter (particularly in the north) is usually a different story. Ask about how cold it gets, how much snow the area gets, etc.

[AOIIalum]

Talk about bumping an old thread!

Eldest has now been accepted to five of the six schools he's sent applications into. Drexel, Washington and Jefferson, Ohio Northern, U of Toledo and his #1 choice, Michigan. Still waiting to hear from Vanderbilt, he applied regular decision so should hear by April 1st.

We're starting the visit process for DS#2 this spring. He's interested in Penn State, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan and Yale.

We really, really need to win the lottery!

[ForeverRoses]

Well if #1 goes to Michigan, I hope #2 goes to Ohio State. that could get really interesting around Thanksgiving!

[Army Wife'79]

I wish I had checked out Medical Care on campus. My son's school included office visits (minor ones) with tuition which was awesome but my Daughters didn't even accept our Military insurance which was a huge and costly pain.
We were stationed in SC when D was a senior and her idiotic high school only let you have ONE college visit day and if you were absent more, they made you go to Saturday school and FINED you $25 to go to SS. Obviously, they wanted everyone to go to USC or Clemson. She flew out West to visit a school and it took MY intervention (plus showing them all the campus tour pamphlets) to get her out of in school suspension. The prinicpal said it was so students didn't "abuse" the school visit policy. Morons!

[KSig RC]

I wish I'd gotten more drunk

[alum]

Originally Posted by AOIIalum

Talk about bumping an old thread!

Eldest has now been accepted to five of the six schools he's sent applications into. Drexel, Washington and Jefferson, Ohio Northern, U of Toledo and his #1 choice, Michigan. Still waiting to hear from Vanderbilt, he applied regular decision so should hear by April 1st.

We're starting the visit process for DS#2 this spring. He's interested in Penn State, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan and Yale.

We really, really need to win the lottery!

5 for 5, congrats to your S1 (and his parents )! We only have a freshie but will definitely do college visits over Spring Break. In retrospect, junior year was too late to start the visits.

[moe.ron]

Originally Posted by AOIIalum

Talk about bumping an old thread!

Eldest has now been accepted to five of the six schools he's sent applications into. Drexel, Washington and Jefferson, Ohio Northern, U of Toledo and his #1 choice, Michigan. Still waiting to hear from Vanderbilt, he applied regular decision so should hear by April 1st.

We're starting the visit process for DS#2 this spring. He's interested in Penn State, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan and Yale.

We really, really need to win the lottery!

Go for Yale, join the Skulls, he'll be set for life.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by AOIIalum

Talk about bumping an old thread!

Eldest has now been accepted to five of the six schools he's sent applications into. Drexel, Washington and Jefferson, Ohio Northern, U of Toledo and his #1 choice, Michigan. Still waiting to hear from Vanderbilt, he applied regular decision so should hear by April 1st.

We're starting the visit process for DS#2 this spring. He's interested in Penn State, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan and Yale.

We really, really need to win the lottery!

Our governor just called for a tuition freeze for all of the public colleges in Michigan so Michigan might not be a bad deal!

I just had an even better idea! Housing is so cheap in Michigan right now, you could get both boys to go to Michigan, buy a house that's been separated into several flats, they would get resident tuition PLUS you can get income from renting out the other apartments in the house!

[AOIIalum]

Update: just paid the tuition and housing deposits for eldest son. He's going to Drexel. They made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Anyone here from Philly?

DS#2 visited Pitt, Duquesne, Robert Morris and Penn State over spring break. He loved Pitt and PSU. He also visited Carnegie-Mellon, but walked out on them. I love this kid! DH said C-M was the most unorganized and unprofessional college visit he's been on in his life. #2 is also looking at a bunch of in-state schools, including OSU and Cincinnati.

Thank heavens we'll get a break for a few years before DS#3 goes through the process!

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DG4evah

Everyone has given great advice above. The main mistake I have made is we should have applied Early Decision for all the schools. We did get decisions early from several schools but we are still waiting. We've pretty much made our decision, though.

Start applying in the summer before Senior year. I don't work, and it took a lot of time even with the Common Application (tedious)..

Umm, Early Decision is binding, and it requires you to withdraw your applications at any other schools to which you've applied. You may mean Early Action, which is not binding.

I'm not even going to get into the "we" business.

That said, mad props to those parents who have kids close to each other in age. My sister and I are 7 years apart, which probably made paying for college so much easier for my parents.

[EagleChick19]

I'm from the Philly area. Drexel is a great school to go to, and they are currently looking for a president. Their last president, Constance Papakdakis, "Taki" just passed away. I currently have a friend who goes there for Physics and he always talked about the opportunities that he has.

He'll have a great time in the city, since there are several colleges within the city (PCOM, Drexel, Jefferson, and Temple.)

Originally Posted by AOIIalum

Update: just paid the tuition and housing deposits for eldest son. He's going to Drexel. They made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Anyone here from Philly?

DS#2 visited Pitt, Duquesne, Robert Morris and Penn State over spring break. He loved Pitt and PSU. He also visited Carnegie-Mellon, but walked out on them. I love this kid! DH said C-M was the most unorganized and unprofessional college visit he's been on in his life. #2 is also looking at a bunch of in-state schools, including OSU and Cincinnati.

Thank heavens we'll get a break for a few years before DS#3 goes through the process!

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I'm not even going to get into the "we" business.

...or the "It took us alot of time, even with the Common App" business.

Your kids should be filling out their own college apps, folks.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by AOIIalum

Update: just paid the tuition and housing deposits for eldest son. He's going to Drexel. They made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Anyone here from Philly?

DS#2 visited Pitt, Duquesne, Robert Morris and Penn State over spring break. He loved Pitt and PSU. He also visited Carnegie-Mellon, but walked out on them. I love this kid! DH said C-M was the most unorganized and unprofessional college visit he's been on in his life. #2 is also looking at a bunch of in-state schools, including OSU and Cincinnati.

Wow - that must have been some offer from Drexel, since he willingly took a drop of like 65 positions for the privilege of not going to Michigan.

[AOIIalum]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

...or the "It took us alot of time, even with the Common App" business.

Your kids should be filling out their own college apps, folks.

Agreed. I did the financial aid stuff, but the kids need to fill out their own college apps. Besides, if they can't write a college essay or personal statement by this point they probably shouldn't be graduating from HS in the first place. Remember, it's the child's college search and not yours. If it was mine they'd all go to Kentucky.

Originally Posted by EagleChick19

I'm from the Philly area. Drexel is a great school to go to, and they are currently looking for a president. Their last president, Constance Papakdakis, "Taki" just passed away. I currently have a friend who goes there for Physics and he always talked about the opportunities that he has.

Good to know. He visited the day after the last president passed away, so he learned a lot about him. Does/did your friend live on campus, if so please PM!

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Wow - that must have been some offer from Drexel, since he willingly took a drop of like 65 positions for the privilege of not going to Michigan.

It was. As a parent, it's great to watch your child see his years of hard work pay off. Michigan made him an offer, but could not come close to matching the offers from the other schools. He should be able to graduate from his intended five-year program without debt and with incredible opportunities due to being in Philadelphia.

[srmom]

check out the cafeteria or main dining hall and eat there. if your son feels comfortable to do so, encourage him to introduce himself to some random students and get the real scoop on campus life. try to give him some space so that he can get a feel for the campus and student population, but don't get irritated if he holds back and becomes a little reserved.

Let him off his leash. (Can you tell I had overprotective parents?) Let him meet and chat with other prefrosh and current students without mom and dad hovering around. He'll get a better idea of campus life that way - nobody will say "This is a huuuuuuge party school!" in front of mom and dad. Meanwhile, you might chat with other parents, take a walk around campus, or check out the city/town where the school is located - look at off-campus housing, restaurants, cultural opportunities like museums, etc.

Amen to both of those!! Taking the official tour gives only the gloss of the place, they need to see if it is truly someplace they (not you) can see themselves fitting in.

After we toured, I dropped my sons off and told them to take a walk around campus, get something to eat, pick a spot to sit and just absorb the atmosphere.

I went and found a quiet outdoor restaurant where I could get a cup of coffee and read my book