college visits

I didn't go to any of them and took the days off school instead to play pool or go and be a scamp. (this feels like a horribly "me" answer. But in the end I picked a course based on hating the stuff I read about all the other courses and mildly liking some of the stuff in this course. When I actually started Journalism it became clear that either (a)I had a rational hatred for Journalism too or (b) I amn't suited to formal education.

Either way I'm stuck in it for 4 years so the probable moral is, do actually go and look at the courses and talk to the disgruntled people in the course and don't not listen to them pig headedly.

By the way good to see you starting a post Maria, was beginning to think you'd retired!

I only visited UCLA, which was a couple of hours drive away from me and where I definitely wanted to go anyway. It was enjoyable and it all worked out, so hey. Not very informative, I realize -- do you have a particular place you want to go to, Maria?

In the Uk you normally apply to up to 4 places based on the brochures/guidebooks/random advice, and then go for visits afterwards, some including interviews, some not. Interviews were stupid and didn't seem to cover anything relevant to your ability to do the course (NB This is bitterness at only getting the standard offer).

I had no idea what I was looking for, so I expected I'd see a bit of gritty urban dereliction in Manchester and didn't really worry about what it would be like to actually live there. Similarly Oxford Brookes spouted on about proximity to London and how nice Oxford is, which I thought was just marketing nonsense but is probably true. Also they don't show you the important things, like the very Real areas you have to walk through everyday to get to lessons.

About the only thing you can possibly learn from a personal visit to a college or university campus is what the place and the inhabitants look like when viewed with your own eyes. Almost anything else you might want to know could be learned in less cumbersome and expensive ways.

I don't think even a visit tells you this stuff, and even asking current students isn't that helpful. Really you don't find out what it's like until you start, and then you find out very quickly.

My parents and I visited a bunch of schools along the East Coast that I don't think I'd've been able to get into (Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale). I'm not sure why we did that, but the trip was fun. I also ended up visiting some in-state schools including the one I'm attending now (Virginia Tech). I guess visit colleges beforehand and visit a lot of them is my advice, even if you think you know where you want to go.

Ned, if I knew just where I wanted to go this would be SO much easier. There's about 10-15 places I'm thinking of, I've visited 3 and may or may not bother visiting the other ones. Tomorrow we're going to Hamilton (it's about 3 hours away, it'll be a day trip), it looks quite nice but to go there I'd need a big scholarship.

you need to live in a country like Ireland where choosing colleges is like choosing ice cream cones in a shop with no freezer.

I like how on the Sopranos Tony took advantage of such a trip for his daughter to wack an old enemy who lived in the area.

I only applied to one school, and didn't even visit it (even though it was just an hour away). My brother went there, I heard it had a good computer science dep't, and it was close, which was I guess all I needed to know. One of the things I don't like about myself is that I just go along with the easy path, like a leaf in a stream, rather than exploring as many options as I can.

''Interviews were stupid and didn't seem to cover anything relevant to your ability to do the course (NB This is bitterness at only getting the standard offer).''

I second that! But when i visited UCL and QMW i got to talk to the ppl who went there as well, which was OK. there's a lot of fluff being said but some good stuff too and it can give you a feel of the place.

''Similarly Oxford Brookes spouted on about proximity to London and how nice Oxford is, which I thought was just marketing nonsense but is probably true.''

At QMW a big deal was made that the centre of London was only a MILE away! At UCL it's in the heart of it of course.

The thing about interviews is that most other people (or at least all the people that ended up on it) didn't have a clue about even the basics of the stuff we're doing, which just seemed really really odd - who got the generous offers, or did some people not get an offer at all?

("marketing nonsense" and "true" should probably be "irrelevant desperation" and "very VERY important")

I had an interview at Haverford and it was funny because the guy interrogated me to make sure I wasn't just a body filling in on my school's quiz team. Then he spent all this time trying to tell me why his school was like this other school I was interested in so I should go there. Interviews are part of the application and they don't offer you money or anything though, or try to find out whether you can do the courses. In fact I see no point to them.

I visited the Haverford campus myself, and was interviewed by an admissions officer. They were very nice, as were the students my father and myself met when we toured the campus. But that was 15 years ago. And perhaps the Haverford people seemed nice only in comparison to the folks at Swarthmore, who were either tired, snotty, pretentious, or some combination of all three. I didn't get into either college, by the way.

Other places I visited -- Bates and Bowdoin (both in Maine, didn't apply to either), Amherst (my dream school, which of course rejected me along w/ 90% of the applicants the year I applied). Visited both while parents were on vacation in Vermont. Also went to Princeton (didn't get in) and Rutgers (where ended up going) -- both just a short drive from where I grew up, as well as Drew University (a small liberal-arts school in NJ and where I did get in).

Some advice, Maria, if you haven't already done so. Make sure that your parents know, upfront, how much each college costs and your chances of getting a scholarship. I should have done that myself -- after I got into some expensive schools, with either pitifully low financial aid award or none at all -- my Dad had a fit and said that it was Rutgers, Drew (where I did get a great scholarship), or nothing. Spare yerself the heartache of that, unless money's no object for your folks.

How do you find out if you've got a good chance of getting a scholarship? Because that would be VERY good to know, especially at Haverford, Bates, and Hamilton. Williams and Colgate have very simple and open financial aid policies but most other schools don't. I'm looking at a lot of the same schools you did.

I imagine that you can guess how much financial aid/scholarships you can expect to get by comparing your grades and SAT scores to the average grades and SAT scores of other applicants at a given college. If your figures are comparable or better, there's a good chance that might get you some scholarship money. Plus, some schools have institutional scholarships -- you'd probably have to check with a particular school's admissions people, or your application. There might be some private scholarships around that you might be eligible for -- maybe you should talk with your guidance counselor?

In the Uk you normally apply to up to 4 places based on the brochures/guidebooks/random advice, and then go for visits afterwards
Visits afterwards, Graham? Interesting that, I went for visits Before and based my decision on the impressions I gained. I visited five places; Keele Uni, Bristol Uni, Exeter Uni, Brighton Poly (now Uni) and CCAT (now Anglia Polytechnic University). Exeter were so disorganised that they even sent us on a tour of the wrong department! That, combined with the fact that I found the town really dull, meant that I didn't bother to apply there, but I applied for the other four. In those days, when there were still polys and unis, there were two separate admissions organisations, PCAS for the polys and UCCA for the unis, later combined into UCAS. This made the applications procedure that bit more complex. CCAT's offer was EE (I could've flunked Chemistry completely), so I felt assured of a place somewhere.....

I reckon that if you visit somewhere and still like it even when a) it's pissing it down with rain and b) you have witnessed the laundry facilities, then Fate is telling you something. This might only apply to my own experience though...

Ditto what Mark sez above - I certainly would not have applied to Oxford if I hadn't gone on a visit and college tours and spoken to the admission tutors (where I found out it wouldn't be insufferably posh). A trip to Kent however where they put on a special tour for parents (the nice halls) while we saw the grotty ones and were told by the students not to come put me right off. UEA did a good tour,students seemed proud of their Uni and were therefore my second choice - which as Mark said meant if I didn't make the mental offer for Oxofrd (AAAB) I would still have a future.

I chose my school because I got rejected from other ones+it was pretty close to where I lived+my brother went to the same one [diff. course but]+other reasons at the time, now forgotten. I only visited one of the ones I applied to. I think maybe I thought it seemed too much effort.

fortunately: they say it's rated the best school in the country for my course now. but you wouldn't think it!

As it turned out, I needn't have worried as I got into Bristol (my first choice, offer BBC inc. B in Geography). They weren't completely honest there....we were given a lunch in the Common Room. It wasn't until we arrived that we discovered that this was in fact the staff common room and that the student one was far grottier! I was so glad that I didn't go to Keele, or any other campus in the middle of nowhere for that matter. Being in a vibrant city, surrounded by ppl of all ages/backgrounds is important to me.

Do people not normally do the visiting bit in January-ish between putting down the shortlist on the UCAS form and making final choices? That's when I got invites to open days and interviews, plus it's a lot of hassle of going once for an open day and again for the interview.

I did all that applying to several (five In My Day) and visiting them and all that first time, and dropped out in the first term. Second time I went for The One Closest To My House, the risible De Montfort University, and finished the degree. Perhaps everyone should follow my path.

Maria, will you qualify for financial aid? You seem like you get straight A's so the combination might effectively get you in the door at a lot of good schools. You should be VERY CAREFUL with scholarships and grandparents' gifts because I know horror stories about people who won huge amounts of first-year-only cash and then had to transfer when there wasn't enough money in subsequent years. I didn't apply for any scholarship funds despite my grades because most available through school were with Rotarians or religious orgs. But then I went to Sarah Lawrence, America's Most Expensive College©, on the biggest financial-aid scholarship they have (cos my mum was ill all the way through my high-school years and not in work) and I think between my mum and I, we paid $2000 a year to send me. I didn't have to go for interviews I couldn't afford to travel to so the 'personal essay' bits of the application were good.

I also applied to Northwestern, BU (both for journalism) and (I think) Wheaton and got into them all (and Wheaton offered to give me a computer, which I pooh-poohed because it wasn't a Mac). Looking back I think I would also have liked Carleton (in Minnesota, very competitive and good for grad school), Macalester (ditto), Cooper Union, Bard, and other top-class schools with good arts departments and NO FRATS.

My choices were also informed by IS IT CLOSE TO A REAL CITY? AND FAR AWAY FROM THE FAMILY?

Just read Tad's post a little more carefully and he made a lucky escape re. Swarthmore, it's suicide central apparently so I don't see any call for them to be snotty. Amherst, Williams and Hampshire all took people from my class who needed heavy subsidising.

Places I would not touch mit bargepole: Bennington (eeeek, the boonies with too many fucked-up rich kids) or any Lutheran college in the Midwest.

If you want to come to Engerland to study, the tuition rates look like $13k/year for overseas non-EU people.

Yeah. Just had a quick grep around on a few websites and the overseas fees for old British unis seem to be between £7000 ($10500) and £9500 ($14250) for arts courses. More for science and much more clinical med.

Hey,

I visited a bunch of schools that I never ended up applying to (Harvard, Dartmouth (gosh, I hated it there, I stayed for an admissions weekend), UMichigan, I don't even remember the rest).

I did apply to Columbia (not surprisingly rejected), Wellesley (my dream school that I couldn't afford but accepted), NYU (accepted, they give big merit scholarships! just not full - at least not for me), Barnard (accepted), and Rutgers (where I ended up going cos they give out full merit scholarships - which is the BEST part of going in state.)

If you live in California, Virginia, New Jersey, or Michigan or someplace where the in state school is really good, it's the best bet financially. Also, though English schools are cheaper (than most private schools) the cost of living is WAAAAAAY high. Everything's so expensive here and I'm only living in Bristol, which is a small city.

Sorry this was so long! Hope that helps, Maria!

Ah, the college trip. This thread won't be very helpful for Maria anymore (congrats!) but I like to talk about visiting colleges. I probably visited every college in VA (my dad's idea! go "in-state!" UVA, William&Mary, Mary Washington, Washington&Lee), Georgetown (my dad said everyone looked, well, never mind), Swarthmore (my dad complained all the way to PA). I did a couple high school journalism things at Columbia so that wasn't exactly a college trip but sort of, and that's how I realized I wanted to go to Columbia, but I went instead across the street to Barnard. Since then, I've gone to Princeton, Univ. of Michigan, Berkeley...and maybe Yale and Sarah Lawrence are in my future.