FA was on Winter Break last week, so for the parents of juniors, many of us took this opportunity to visit prospective colleges. That is right, the college tour begins.
Several weeks ago, we met with her college counselor and received a list of match schools, so I visited the web sites, got the dates for the tours, bought a new map and we were ready to go!
The first school we visited was the largest at about 18,000 students. I thought the campus would feel really big, but was surprised to find that it did not. We started out at the newer part of campus in the admissions office, killing a little time by looking through some old yearbooks. The wide range of clubs and service organizations were definitely appealing, scoring a point for the big school. The admissions director gave a wonderful presentation, the media piece included student interviews, which were delightful. The campus included old original buildings, new exciting construction and a beautiful football stadium. The tour guides were friendly and informative and even some of the students we encountered along the way stopped to ask us how the tour was going. I was pleased that she liked it and look forward to another visit.
The second tour was a little closer to home and has about 6,000 students. Beautiful campus, great programs, lots of history. The admissions representative was okay, but probably could have been a little more polished and professional, as she was the first person most of the prospective students had met face to face. Our tour guide was nice, but kind of quiet and shy and had about six points that she kept bringing up over and over. We met a friend who teaches there afterwards for lunch and discussed having another personal tour, so that will be great.
The third tour was at the school where my husband attended college. I had been there many times and it was indeed one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever visited. We found a yearbook in the admissions office with his senior picture and had fun looking at that! The admissions director was delightful and covered every aspect of the school. There were about 50 prospective students in the group, with my daughter being the only one from Virginia. This is a highly competitive school and it attracts the best students from all over the world.
The fourth tour was at a school with about 5,000 students. The presentation was given by the President of the school and he obviously loves the school. The classes are all taught by professors, the dorms were lovely and the campus was less than 300 acres, so it was easy to navigate. This Open House was well developed with representatives from many areas of campus, from housing to sports to dining options. There were probably 500 students and the tours were overly large, making it hard to hear the tour guides.
All in all, it was a good week. We have some more schools to check out and I am sure when she gets back to school this week, she will have lots of notes to compare with her friends. We came back with lots of great information, lots of t-shirts and sweatshirts and good memories.
So, now it is on to taking the SAT and ACT, writing essays and filling out applications.
And I will get out the map and go wherever she wants to go, as long as she always remembers the way home.
3 comments:
For some reason I am a little weepy at the thought of Chelsea going to college. Can you make her stay in her room? If she can grow up and go to college, does that mean Halina could grow up and go to college? Surely not.
Well...that staying in your room didn't work for either of us...so I don't think it will work now!!
It was great to see her so excited about the schools...ah, so bittersweet!!
What a fun week that seemed to be. I know both of you had lots of fun and made many "memories"! Glad winter break was not this week, with all your snow!!
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