My sophomore son and I just finished up a quick road trip to visit a few colleges. Neither of us had left the immediate Baltimore area for what has felt like eons, and I felt (rightly or wrongly) that empty college campuses were likely as safe as the local grocery store. Son would have definitely preferred to head north, but those States are mainly shut down to visitors, so drove south instead. Campuses were great, but the best part was actually getting hours in a car or walking around to hear his thoughts on high school, college, career aspirations, and politics. I can't tell you how many times I brought up facts, observations, and stories from this thread - such an invaluable resource and those of us starting the process now owe a huge debt of gratitude. I'll definitely try to pay it forward by posting about my kid's experiences over the next couple of years.
Just a few quick blurbs:
Georgetown: Based on his interests and goals alone, Georgetown would be a top choice. His opinion of the campus went down somewhat after seeing some other schools on the trip though - obviously smaller, buildings felt crowded together, and dorms are just far enough away from the main drags of M Street or Wisconsin Ave to be annoying. Will definitely go back when school is in session to see how he feels about the preppy and hyper-driven vibe. Also, it's one of the hardest admits of the places we visited, although at least one or two kids from his HS end up there every year so there does seem to be a little bit of a pipeline.
UVA: Son seemed to like the feel of a bigger campus but wasn't crazy about the location - Charlottesville felt super isolated to him. Even without kids on campus, you could still feel the Greek presence, and once we looked up the meaning of certain graffiti sprayed everywhere, he got more turned off. The whole "secret society" thing was pretty baffling. I didn't mention to him that I always had a thing against UVA and stereotyped it as ridiculously snobby and way too LAX bro-ish, even though my GB
@Ramsay Hunt Experience is an alum and he's certainly no LAX bro. At least there were a few restaurants, bars, and shops directly across from campus, and downtown Charlottesville seemed pretty nice.
Duke: holy cow, West Campus is absolutely gorgeous. And the area around the student center and dining halls made me want to go back to college. On the other hand, the campus itself felt kind of isolated from the town. A girl from his HS golf team goes there and was raving about it to him, but luckily he realizes that even among all of these highly competitive schools, Duke is the longest of long-shots for him.
UNC: Definitely my kid's overall favorite from the trip. The campus itself was pretty and open and felt just the right size to him, and he absolutely loved having everything on Franklin Street directly across from the school. UNC also is one of eight schools that offer the State Department Russian Language Flagship program so that was a huge plus in its favor. On the other hand, admission from in-state is tough enough, but out-of-state seems like a total crapshoot.
We are definitely planning a few more of these trips as things hopefully open up toward late spring and summer. Even with no students on campus, I think at least he can get a feel of city vs college town, big campus vs small, etc, so even if all of these schools end up being reaches, we can focus in on less selective schools with similar characteristics. Next up is likely the midwest, with Michigan (where his Mom and both maternal grandparents attended) plus Wisconsin and Indiana (which also have State Dept Russian programs). Then, once we are allowed to head northeast, he wants to see Tufts, BC, Cornell, and Middlebury. If he thinks Charlottesville was isolated, can't wait to see what he thinks of the latter two.
Have a HS junior that is about to begin this process. I've heard scuttle that schools are desperate for students, even prior to COVID, as more students balk at the potential debt required due to high tuition costs and go right to the workforce, so schools have been willing to "negotiate" tuition cost and/or "find" discounts and other school-backed grants to entice enrollment. Anyone found that to be true?
