Take a spring break trip!

I know Spring Break—like spring itself—happens at different times across the country. But my kid’s school has spring break in one week, so it’s on my mind. I strongly believe that Spring Break should be a, you know, break from school and stress. But I also know that lots of students and parents ask me what they can do over Spring Break to help with college applications. There’s only one thing I recommend:

Go on a practice college tour.

For many high school students, especially juniors, Spring Break is a popular time for college campus visits. I wouldn't necessarily call this "normal." Sure, lots of students do it. But lots of students don't do many--or any--visits until they're seniors and visit only schools they've already been admitted to. And plenty of students don't visit a college at all. What's "normal" is up to you and what you think is really best for you. While I don't recommend skipping college visits altogether, neither do I recommend going on big multi-campus trips just because you feel like you have to. 

However, if you're a younger high school student--in the 9th or 10th grade--I urge you to consider going on some "practice visits." Unless you live in a very rural area, there should be at least a few colleges near you that you can tour. Sign up for a few, and do your best to get the full range of college types. Here in Houston I recommend touring Rice, the University of Houston main campus, and Houston Baptist University. If you live in the St. Louis area, for example, consider Blackburn College in Carlinville, Washington University, and U.M. St. Louis. This way you can get a sense of what a big state school looks like and how it differs from a medium-sized private school and how they both differ from a small private school. At this point, in your practice runs, I wouldn't even worry about the differences in cost. You're just trying to get first-hand knowledge of how different types and sizes of schools feel. 

Why bother visiting colleges you're not interested in attending? Isn't that a waste of time? Not necessarily. For one, it gets you a variety of experiences early. Imagine you do a big East Coast trip to visit Georgetown and G.W. in Washington D.C., Columbia and N.Y.U. in New York, and then Harvard and Boston University. You've hit six big-name schools with great reputations...but they're all medium to large private, selective universities in dense urban areas. If you're sure that’s what you want, fine. But if you're not sure how different sized schools feel and operate, or if not sure an urban school is for you, then it may save time and money to get a feel for those differences near home. 

It's good to try out schools you have no emotional attachment to. In this sense, think of college visits like any other shopping trip. It helps to survey what's available and do some research before walking into a store eager to buy something. You'll be a lot less susceptible to emotional sales tactics and a lot more confident in your control of the situation. Maybe you won't be so eager to attend a school because you were really impressed by the dining hall or the friendliness of the students—most schools have decent food and friendly students—if you already have a sense of what's available elsewhere.

It's also smart to get a few visits out of the way at places you're not necessarily interested in attending just to have some practice and be less jittery. You don't want to waste a visit to a top-choice school because you're nervous that you may say the wrong thing or that things won't look the way you expect them to look. If your first visit to a “contender” is your fourth or fifth school tour, you'll already be an experienced pro and can really focus on what you need to for that visit.

And, of course, you might end up really wanting to go that school, even if you hadn't planned on it. As in any relationship, you just may find your match in a place you weren't expecting. 

You don’t even need to leave home to get a better sense of a college. While there’s a lot to be said for physically stepping foot in a place and feeling its “vibe” first hand, most colleges noe have high quality online options available for getting to see the school. Spending an hour online to do a virtual tour takes…one hour. That’s a lot less of a time commitment than going on a visit.

If you do go for a physical visit during your Spring Break, check to see if it’s also the college’s Spring Break. Touring an empty school can be worse than not touring at all.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Read these related posts:

   When should you tour colleges?

   Making the most of a campus tour

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Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

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When should you tour colleges?

A few weeks ago a parent asked me when I recommend touring colleges. Her daughter is a senior, so it pretty much came down to choosing between times this fall and this spring. But I know many families like to visit colleges throughout high school (or earlier), so I’d like to talk about all the different times you may want to visit a campus. There are no right or wrong times, but there are reasons to be deliberate about which colleges you tour and when.

Before the end of 11th grade. Start as early as you like, and visit as many colleges as you like. There’s no rule that says you have to wait until later in high school. The advantage to visiting colleges before the end of 11th grade: you have lots of time. It gives you a chance to visit more schools and an opportunity to get to know different types of schools. Don’t just pay attention to what makes each school unique, but also to all the things they may have in common. A feature or tradition that seems really cool at one school becomes less fascinating when you realize that many colleges have essentially the same feature or tradition. The drawback to visiting colleges before the end of 11th grade: your early tours may not correspond whatsoever to colleges you will actually apply to when you’re a senior. Most students’ college plans evolve a lot between 9th and 12th grade. By the time you actually apply to schools, you may be wondering why you ever bothered to visit that college. Tip: especially in 9th and 10th grade, go on “practice” tours at universities close to home, whether or not you eventually want to apply there. Get a feel for different types and sizes of universities without as much travel or expense.

The summer before 12th grade. This is a really popular time to visit colleges, which makes sense. The advantage to visiting colleges the summer before 12th grade: you’ve got time away from school. I don’t like to assume that high school students and their families have nothing going on in the summer and have unlimited time and resources to tour colleges. Still, it’s a few months without high school, and that makes a high difference for a lot of people. Also, by the summer before your senior year you’re probably a lot closer to your final college list. There’s more urgency to these visits, because these are schools you’re more likely to actually apply to. The drawback to visiting colleges the summer before 12th grade: if “vibe” is something you’re looking for, summer is a difficult time to feel it. There are a lot fewer students on campus. Plus, lots of schools earn revenue by renting out their facilities to summer camps and other non-college events. I’ve been on a college campus in the summer when it was full of middle school cheerleaders. I’ve been on a college campus in the summer when it was full of 6th grade science nerds. I’ve been on a college campus in the summer when it was full of Army soldiers in fatigues. It’s hard to get “the feel” of a campus during a time when it doesn’t have its normal feel. Tip: don’t let this visit be your first contact. If this is a school you’re interested in applying to, you should already be on their mailing list and have spent some time doing online research about them. Already have some sort of relationship with the college before showing up to visit.

The fall of 12th grade. This is also a popular time to visit colleges. By this point, things are getting quite real. You’ve got to send off applications by the end of this semester. The advantage to visiting colleges the summer in the fall of 12th grade: lots of high schools give excused absences for college visits. It’s expected and allowed for you to miss (a little bit of) school for these days away. And by this time, you can focus on schools that are definitely on your list. The drawback to visiting colleges in the fall of 12th grade: senior year is busy, and there’s not always much time. And you're realistically only talking about the first half of the fall of 12th grade, since you need to save time to actually complete applications. Tip: if you’re sure you’re going to apply to a particular college, you don’t need to visit in the fall. Use this limited time to focus on your undecided schools to help you decide if you really want to apply. You may completely fall in love with a school and decide it’s your new top choice. You may also really hate a campus and wonder what you ever saw in that college.

As I write that, I can already hear people objecting. If you’re sure you want to apply to a school and have time to visit, you should tour there so you get the Demonstrated Interest “points.” They’re not wrong; if a university takes Demonstrated Interest into account, then a campus visit is a big deal. Still, I would say two things to that objection. One, you should spend your time and resources, if you’re even able to go on fall visits, getting what you need to make a wise choice, not gaming the system to try to convince them you’re worthy. You’re a person, not just a resume. Prioritize getting information and experiences that will help you, as a person, make better decisions. Second, there are plenty of other ways to demonstrate interest, and you should certainly do those things. Make sure you’re on the school’s mailing list, and check their website often. Email the admission officer for your area and tell them exactly what’s up: you’re not going to tour in the fall, because you already know you’ll definitely apply. Instead, ask about dates and formats for accepted student visits in the spring. Apply Early Action if it’s available, or even Early Decision. You can let them know you’re interested without feeling like you absolutely have to go on campus. Going to visit a college just so you can write your name on the attendance list and “get credit” is not a wise use of your time.

The spring of 12th grade. Don’t forget about this! Most colleges host accepted student weekends and other events for students trying to make a decision. The advantage to visiting colleges the summer in the spring of 12th grade: you’re super-focused on finding the right fit, and you’re only visiting places you’ve been accepted. Also, by this point students who need financial help have usually already made their case, and there are often opportunities for some travel costs to get reimbursed. You can’t count on financial aid for spring visits, but you can ask about it. The drawback to visiting colleges in the spring of 12th grade: if you’re accepted to too many schools, this can be really overwhelming. Getting lots of acceptances and having lots of options is good…until you have to choose just one or two to visit in the spring. The most stressed-out seniors I ever taught were the ones trying to cram a lot of college visits in their last semester of high school. Tip: before going on any spring visits, review and update your college mission statement. They’re doing everything they can to dazzle you and get you to send in that deposit, so make sure you have what you want top of mind, not what they can wow you with.

Bonus tip: Every parent wants their children to be safe, but I have a friend who is extremely security focused. (He was a Marine sniper.) When his family went on college visits, his wife would go along on the official tour with their children. Then he would go out on his own. He would walk into buildings to see if anyone noticed there was a stranger there. He would strike up conversations with the security guards, maintenance workers, and landscapers. He would try to get a sense of how safe people outside the admission department felt the school was. While I don’t recommend this approach to most people (I can just picture myself getting arrested for walking into the wrong building and ruining my children’s chances of admission), it is a reminder that everyone should be watching not only what the tour guides show them, but also looking for hints beyond the official program. Just don’t get in trouble.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Read these related posts:

   Making the most of a campus tour

   Go on practice college visits

   The Glossary: Demonstrated interest

3. Ask a question—or share other resources—in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Three pandemic changes I hope will become permanent

It would be really foolish of me to say that the pandemic is over, or almost over, or close to almost over. There are still a lot of people left to get vaccinated, and there are still some scary new variants that may be resistant to the vaccines. There’s just too much that can still go wrong to start feeling confident.

And yet….

The past month I’ve seen a lot more people get their shots, a lot more kids go to school in person, a lot more people comfortable going out of the house. The pandemic may not be over, but we’re definitely in a new phase. So as the one-year anniversary of our lockdown came up last week, I started to think not just about what I was glad to be done with, but also the new habits and routines I picked up over the past year that I hope stick around.

I also, naturally, thought about changes in college admissions I hope will stick around.

The fall of standardized tests. Maybe “fall” isn’t the right word. There are still ACT and SAT tests, and there are still schools that require them. But the role of those two tests has certainly been diminished, and I don’t think they’re coming back to the prominence they had before. I’ve written about the tests a number of times in the past year:

Opting in and out of standardized tests

Juniors, should you take the next SAT or ACT?

Should you submit your test scores to a test-optional college?

It seriously looks like SAT/ACT testing is going away

Should you bother to take the SAT or ACT?

A more deliberate approach to campus visits. Last fall most college campuses were closed to student and parent tours, and many are still closed to visitors. However, a lot more virtual tours and online opportunities to explore became available. I hope this remains the norm, even after in-person tours get going again. While I think visiting a campus before committing to attend is still the best approach when possible, the past year taught many of us how to be more deliberate with visits. In the future, I hope people will get enough from the online options to feel comfortable applying to schools, and in-person visits will be limited to schools where you’ve already been accepted. I want to see more students touring schools online in the 9th-11th grades, and a lot fewer touring schools in person in the 9th-11th grades.

I hope that in the future, visiting colleges will be a lot more like touring homes for sale. Lots of people (including me) have fun checking out real estate listings both where we live and throughout the world. But we only book a visit with a real estate agent when we’re actually looking to buy. I’m sure they’re out there, but I haven’t heard of anyone saying “while we’re visiting family in California, we may as well check out some homes for sale just in case we end up moving here!” But I know plenty of families who, once their kids are in middle school, will say “while we’re visiting family in California, we may as well check out UCLA and USC, just in case!” They go on college tours wherever they happen to be, just to get the kids some exposure. I think you can do that much closer to home if you want, but colleges are making it much easier to get to know them without being there in person.

An appreciation for the old rituals. As a high school teacher, especially when I taught seniors and had AP exams to prepare for, I really didn’t like all the extra stuff that came with senior year. Prom; senior skip day; senior prank; senior trip; awards night; graduation rehearsal, sometimes several of them. I was fine with seniors doing college visits at places who had accepted them, but the rest felt like too much celebrating a win before they had crossed the finish line. But talking to students in the classes of ‘21 and ‘22, I keep hearing how much they miss those things. I’ve come to a better understanding of how important those transition rituals are, and I hope students do, too. School communities can reflect on which of the rituals and traditions they missed the most and why. The next two years will be a good time to appreciate and accentuate the really meaningful ones. It’s also a great time to let go of the ones that aren’t as special.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Taking time to reflect, Things for high school seniors to consider before committing to a college.

3. Ask a question in the comments section. Or let mw know what pandemic-related changes in your life you hope to keep.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.