College Visits

When I was looking at colleges, my parents refused to take me out to tour the colleges until after I had accepted the offer of admission to a school.  To this day, I still think that if I had been allowed to visit the campuses of both schools I was interested in, I would have chosen to go to the OTHER school, and not the one I went to.  The other school was smaller, closer to home, and also had a beautiful campus, but it was a very different atmosphere than the school that I went to.

So, with our kids, we have toured every college campus of every school they were interested in during the course of the Junior year of high school, and the summer between Junior and Senior years.
Over three children, we've now visited 10 campuses.

It's funny, because with some of the schools the kids were looking at, I was totally opposed to the school going in, but was charmed enough by the admissions program and seeing the campus and talking to the professors that I was willing to consider the schools as excellent matches for my kids.  Other campuses, I went in thinking they'd be okay, and walked away vehemently opposed to the school for some reason or another.

Many of the schools now include lunch as part of their tour.  So, after you walk around campus, you get to eat in one of the dining halls.  It's a great opportunity to sample to food, and check to make certain that the food is edible, and that dietary choices are offered.  (A very important thing for vegetarians and those of certain religious beliefs.)  Believe it or not, that dining room visit can make our break a college in the minds of the kids.  Considering that they are going to be eating there every day for at least a year, I do think that knowing what the food is like in the dining hall is crucial.

We had the day off of school yesterday, so we went to visit another school on daughter's list.  I went into the school with an open mind.  After visiting it, I can honestly say I don't hate the school, but I don't think it's a good match for my daughter.  I didn't say anything during the tour, but I was relieved when we got into the car and she told me she didn't like the school. 

We've had some interesting highlights over the years on our school visits:

1) A tour guide at one college was called "Girl on Fire" by the admissions staff.  One of the parents asked "Why do they call you that?  Are you on the track team?"

"No", she admitted.  "When you become a student tour guide,  you get these really nice fleece jackets.  I like mine a lot and wear it a lot.  I'm also on the swim team.  So, I got done with practice, took a shower, and put my fleece on to go back to my dorm room.  When I got back to my room, my friends wanted to go to the dining hall to get dinner.  So, I tossed my fleece into the microwave to dry it off.  Who knew that the fleece would catch fire in the microwave??"

2) A mother and son were walking behind us on a campus tour when the tour guide mentioned that the school had a planetarium, and that on Friday nights after the planetarium show, the staff would open up the telescope on the roof and let people look through it.

"Justin would love this place."  Said the mother.

"Well then, keep it in mind when Justin looks for schools" said the son.

"No, I really mean Justin would love it here!  The planetarium, the telescope..."

At this point, the son starts screaming.. "Then bring JUSTIN here when he's looking for schools!  Right now, I'M looking for schools!" 

(Okay, that one was a very awkward moment, and a lesson for all of us parents on what to do and not to do when looking at colleges!)

3)  A group of students joined in with our tour group and was walking along with us while the guide was telling us about the wonders of the campus.  The kids start talking in low voices amongst themselves:

"Hey, this campus is pretty nice."

"Yeah, I hear they've got a really nice student body."

"Good school, great sports teams..."

"But there is that cocaine problem..."

I did turn around at that one, started laughing at the kids in our group, and thanked them.  They all sheepishly grinned and left our tour group.  I know there are drugs everywhere, and I don't think the drug problem on that campus is any different than the drug problem on any other campus.  What I really appreciated was the effort it took to add some levity into a tour that was growing pretty old by that point in time!

4) Oh hey... Penn State has ice cream from their creamery.  You don't get it on the tour, but the tour does end fairly close to the ice cream place.

University of Maryland ends their tours in the same building as their creamery, and they aren't shy about pointing out that they have the best ice cream anywhere.

5) Jim Henson (creator of the Muppets) went to the University of Maryland.  The character of Miss Piggy was based upon a girl he went out with in college.  Not only is he immortalized on campus with a bronze statue of him and Kermit, but somewhere, in one of the dorms, the person who inspired Miss Piggy is also immortalized...  

We've got 4 more schools on daughter's list to visit.  We're hitting up three of them over her spring break.

And then?  Oldest son is looking at Grad. Schools, and he is compiling a list for us to visit over his break this spring...  I've more than made up for the schools that I didn't get to visit when I was in high school!