visiting colleges

[Kitzka]

DD is currently a junior. Up until a month ago she didn't know what she wanted to study in school and she also has no idea what type of school she wanted to go to (small, urban, suburban, campus, no campus etc). Summer of freshman year we visited about 4 schools in western MA and in the greater Albany/saratoga area.

Sophomore year we visited another 6 schools. She didn't love any of them. Liked yes but not love. Now that she has hit junior year she has a much better idea of what she wants to study, and the type of school/campus she wants. this year we have visited 6 schools so far. At all of our sessions it has mostly been juniors and sophomores.

dD will have a final list by summer and will have her applications in by sept 15.

 

[georgina]

I have a DD who's a Jr. and we've gone to 5 college visits (one was an Open House) and have 7 to go. We told her to pick 12 colleges that she's interested in looking at..basically it's 3 colleges in Boston, DC, NY & here in NJ. It was my DD's choice to start now but some of her friends haven't even started and aren't planning to start until the summer.

My older DD was similar, but we only looked at 3 in Boston and 3 in DC. She was accepted into 2 in each city.

My DS only wanted to look at 1 school and that is where he attended. I did have him apply to one backup school in case it didn't work out.

Other DD looked all over the country and is in college in California. She is really happy there!

For the OP, I would at least visit a few types of schools to have her get a feel for what she might like regarding size of school, location (rural, small town, city), etc even if she doesn't know what she wants to do.

 

[deedeetoo]

My dd is a junior. So far we have visited only UMass and we didn't do an official tour as there weren't any that day. DH went to school there so he played tour guide. We also walked through Amherst College just to get a feel for that type of school. DD is not really interested in going to either of these schools. She wants to go south.

We are planning to do a big driving tour during April vacation. Not sure exactly what schools yet, but we will probably start at Villanova, then to DC for American and Georgetown, then probably down to NC. She knows she want a medium size school in or near a big city. Amherst (the town) did not appeal to her at all. She hasn't decided on a major yet so we are just looking for a school that is generally academically respected and has a wide variety of majors available.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I want dd to look into more schools than she wants. She has in her mind her degree & there are only 5 schools nearby that offer it. So she is limiting herself to those schools for now.

I need to figure out how to broaden her thinking. Cause I'm not sure her degree is one that she will stick with - but I don't want to tell her that.

We have discussed all kinds of degrees out there -but she sticks with her original thought.

MY DD is very certain that she knows what she wants to do--she used that as a starting point to narrow the field to only some of the best schools for her intended major, then looked at things like location (she hates big cities, so schools in them were out, for example) and cost.

In the end, she only visited three schools and applied to two. Both have lots of other options if she does end up changing her mind about what to major in (but I kind of doubt she will) and are (relatively) affordable and both have at least some guaranteed merit aid for her.

If she had wanted to look at more schools, I would have been fine with that, but if she was happy with those (and it was a given she could get into them, so need to find a "safety school") I didn't see a need to push her to consider more options either.

Are the schools your DD is focusing on very small without much else to offer if she wants to change majors

 

[njmom47]

I have posted this elsewhere but ds's 3 main choices waived the application fee if you attend their Open House (or whatever that particular school calls it). I'm not sure how many schools do this though. Can't hurt to ask and if they do, you can apply to lots of schools without incurring all those application fees.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

My DS is a junior. Last year we visited his dream school. Last month we visited a state school,which he liked also. We are planning to visit more in the spring, i need him to decide which ones.

 

[spima3]

Someone told me to wait until they are accepted, then visit if you want to.


DS is a senior and we attended 1 of the 5 he applied to. When every $ counts, it is a waste of limited resources. We are looking at available majors, ratings, and final costs.

AS finances are such a huge consideration, the size, location, "fit", etc. are nice, but irrelevant for the most part. There are plenty of videos on the web where he can get a feel for the schools.

DS has received full tuition scholarships from 2 schools. We are waiting on the FA packages from the others. He will most likely be attending the school w/ the most aid. If he gets offers that are close in final costs, he will have more of a choice.

The main contender at this point is too far away for a visit, so he won't actually see the place until he goes there. Luckily he is very laid back and easy to please. He has told his friends he is looking forward to going there. It is a spectacular opportunity.

 

[PatsGirl]

DD made her list over Christmas break of junior year and the visits started during Feb vacation (RI/CTx 3 schools), April vacation (Amherst area x 4 schools) and then three more trips in the summer (Upstate NY, PA, ME ~ 3 schools in each state) and a day trip to Boston (1) for a total of 17 schools. Her list has evolved with each trip, some added and some deleted. There are still a few schools she'd like to look at but I think we're done.

She applied to 6 schools EA which means the apps were due before November 1st. Part of the app is the one essay that goes with your commonapp but some schools look for their own supplements and if honors programs are an interest, they sometimes require another supplement. Two of these EA schools required essays for scholarships at the same time as application. Lots to do between the end of the summer and November 1st thats for sure.

We cast a wide net hoping for good merit aid at a school DD would like. With schools in the Northeast at or above the $60K mark (even the flagship is $30K) its important to be open-minded and willing to compromise.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

DD and DS are juniors. We've visited a lot of campuses for the past several years so they could get a feel for which schools they like, and which they dislike. They attended some Open Houses this past spring and summer, and we walked more campuses. They're pretty sure about their majors and where they want to go, but are keeping all options open. As juniors, they get no excused absence days for college visits, but get three as seniors. There was one Open House DD wanted to attend this fall but it was on a Friday so she couldn't go. They've also had several College Fairs at school so far this year for juniors and seniors.

I might put a link for tihs on the Class of 2016 thread.

 

[disykat]

For both our sons we did visits Spring Break of junior year. Far away "reach" schools waited for if they got accepted and were still interested. Neither was still interested by that time, so they only did those intitial visits.

We did do some "drive bys" or simply walk around the campus on vacations when the kids were younger. The school that I ended up attending was one I remembered from when I was in 2nd grade and my dad had a business trip there.

 

[luvmyfam444]

I'm really most nervous about being able to afford college for her. Just checked out on of the schools on her list & it's $36k a year.

I still owe on my school loans, so I don't foresee being able to get a parent loan of any sort.

 

[luvmyfam444]

Dd won't get any scholarship $. She's just an average student.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I'm really most nervous about being able to afford college for her. Just checked out on of the schools on her list & it's $36k a year.

I still owe on my school loans, so I don't foresee being able to get a parent loan of any sort.

Dd won't get any scholarship $. She's just an average student.

The cost of what college you can afford needs to be talked about seriously with her.

There are calculations you make based on her GPA and her ACT/SAT score that could get her some money.

She could try and retake the ACT/SAT test to get a higher score and do better in school to boost her GPA.

If she does not qualify for any money, you have to put your college search in perspective.

For example, with my dd we told her we could afford X and she needed to come up with the rest through scholarships if she wanted something more expensive. (She was looking out of state and we cannot afford out of state tuition.)

Right now we are looking at about 10G a yr. She will take out loans, we will take out the rest.

We will see....she is going to start mailing her apps tomorrow.

 

[PatsGirl]

Dd won't get any scholarship $. She's just an average student.

I am also very nervous about how everything is going to wash but I've done alot of research on how to get the best bang for your buck so to say.

They key to merit money is looking for a school that your daughter will be a top student at, a school that will want HER not the other way around. There are some great schools out there if you stay away from the northeast LACs. You can look at the commondata set for any particular school and if she's in the 75% range the school might give merit aid.

Use collegeboard.org to set the parameters, make a list, go to each website and see what merit they give.

Alot, yes, many, many schools are not test score free so if her grades and GPA are good but SAT/ACT are not, that's another option.

And then, apply to 3 safeties, 3 matches and a reach or two ~ I'd actually apply to at least 6 matches but that's me. The wider you cast the net (within your affordability) the more choices in the end. For schools that fell into the 75% category for DD she was given waivers for the fees (by the individual schools), preferential scholarship applications, early housing consideration, etc. Of the 17 schools she is applying to, 10 were free. Of course, you still have to pay to send SAT scores, etc.

Depending on family income and if she can get her scores within range there are a lot of schools that meet 100% need. Figure out your EFC and that's a good idea of what you would pay at those schools.

Its the middle/upper middle class that are taking a hit with tuition costs. Especially those of us in divorced/remarried situations and with small businesses.

 

[czycropper]

In addition to merit money there is also work/study, I have a friend who's a single Mom and her son is going to an out-of-state school and he's working at the school which has helped more than I would have thought.

We have told our DD that there is a certain amount in her college fund which should be enough if she goes to an in-state college. Of course, all the colleges she's looking at are out-of-state so she knows she needs to try to get either scholarships, work/study, aid or a combination.

It does help to attend the college open houses since all the ones that we've gone to have had a special tuition costs session and then you can speak to representatives afterwards. We went to one of her Reach schools and it really helped.

 

[ibcnu]

I have a current HS senior and a daughter who just graduated college in Florida. When we were looking t colleges in Florida with my oldest DD, we took younger DD along and that gave her a feel of what college is about, likes and dislikes. It helped us eliminate schools this time around that we visited with oldest DD.

Oldest DD ended up at her #1 choice in Florida and she is very happy. Younger DD also wants to go to another school in Florida but I don't know if I want to spend out-of-state tuition again. Younger DD said she would be more than happy to stay in NJ, so we are concentrating on colleges here. She basically said it's either somewhere in Florida or New Jersey, so luckily I don't have to tour 10-15 schools like I did with older DD. Older DD ended up applying to 10 schools, and younger DD is applying to 3, maybe 4. I didn't even bother with the reaches, these are schools she most likely will get accepted to, it's just a matter of which school will she be truly happy in.

After going through the process with my older DD, I told my younger DD to just pick a college she feels she will fit in comfortably, with her major. Younger DD said she does not want any student loans when she graduates so we are focusing on in-state, but I did find a big name school in Florida that has an off-campus structure that is equivalent to in-state expenses.

Now, she has a boyfriend and I'm thinking she will definitely choose in-state. I told her worse came to worse, if she weren't selected for Fall admission, to reapply for Spring and take classes at the local county college for her first Fall semester.

I'm not stressing over college.

 

[NewCrew42]

We started looking with our son during his junior year. We started with DD during her Sophomore year. We have a week off for Thanksgiving and will try to get in a few the beginning of the week.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I have to agree that the first step (or at least a very early one) needs to be a very open and honest conversation about finances. Make sure she knows what you can afford and what things she can do get some aid (you got some great advice above on how to do that).

 

[WVMomof3]

She applied to 6 schools EA which means the apps were due before November 1st. Part of the app is the one essay that goes with your commonapp but some schools look for their own supplements and if honors programs are an interest, they sometimes require another supplement. Two of these EA schools required essays for scholarships at the same time as application. Lots to do between the end of the summer and November 1st thats for sure.

We are on our first kid looking at colleges, so I maybe I am confused but, I thought you could only apply to 1 school for early admission.

 

[lam0037]

We are on our first kid looking at colleges, so I maybe I am confused but, I thought you could only apply to 1 school for early admission.

I know that the schools I was looking at, you could apply to only one private school (Vanderbilt, Emory) EA but you were able to also apply to public in state schools EA as well.

At Auburn where I go, you can apply early but it's not a contract where you have to go. At least I'm pretty sure that's how auburn was, as I didn't apply early but I had friends who did and decided to go somewhere else.