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+--- Thread: college tours (/showthread.php?tid=206522)
Re: college tours - sekker - 07-02-2017
I think tours can be an excellent way to see some key aspects of colleges.
We did different tours for our two kids, with different goals in mind.
My son ended up going to where we thought - our local Big10 school.
Our daughter legitimately did not know where she wanted to go, and we ended up excluding 3-4 colleges via our first summer (her Sophomore to Junior year in high school). We then looked at another 3-4 schools her next summer.
What made the most difference for our daughter was to take summer courses at 2 different colleges.
Re: college tours - rgG - 07-02-2017
Daughter did two. She got into all three schools she applied to, so went with her first choice, one of the two she toured.
Re: college tours - DeusxMac - 07-02-2017
mattkime wrote:
i'm open to hearing otherwise, but I suspect that college tours exist to confirm existing choices by parent and student.
Perhaps if they only went to one, but otherwise, nope.
Re: college tours - Speedy - 07-02-2017
Three tours but 20+ applications, rejected by about four. Never again. He went to our local Big 10 university where he graduated which is all that matters. Two years later his worthless degree has him working at Target for $15/hour.
Re: college tours - dfilpus - 07-02-2017
Five and one. Second son got a good financial offer from Villanova, went on a tour and that was it.
Re: college tours - Ombligo - 07-02-2017
As an educator, I'm really getting tired of people saying certain degrees are worthless. Education is about opening the mind to new ideas, and learning to think, essentially learning how to learn. It is a life skill that can applied broadly. You know what pre-law means? it means just get a bachelors in whatever you want then law school will do the rest (and bar exam cramming will get you to pass the Bar) -- Pre-med means take lots of math and science, then apply to med-school.
We have turned the idea of higher education into overpriced trade schools. I want employees who can think independently and problem solve. I want them to have people skills, and confidence. I can teach them the business (which I'll likely have to do anyway).
There is nothing wrong or wasteful in a liberal arts degree. The bearer will have a well rounded education that can be applied across the spectrum. With the system in place now, schools are just churning out drones who know how to do one skill and little else. That isn't education - it is indoctrination.
Give me students who have expanded their world, not number crunchers who are afraid to try anything new. We wonder why education has declined - this specialization is a major reason why.
Sorry, I'll get of my soapbox now (the Krishna's have free lunch going in the quad)
Re: college tours - lost in space - 07-02-2017
5 for our daughter, I think.
She'll be senior this coming year. A year from now, our son starts college, we'll be doing the tour thing again soon, and eating beans for years to come.
Re: college tours - DeusxMac - 07-02-2017
Ombligo wrote:
I want employees who can think independently and problem solve. I want them to have people skills, and confidence.
Unfortunately the majority of business owners do not agree with that. At least it's not high on their wish list. And a liberal arts degree is no guarantee of those qualities anyway.
Ombligo wrote: I can teach them the business (which I'll likely have to do anyway).
The last statement is what the majority of business owners believe about those "liberal arts degrees", but they don't want to have to "teach them" their business.
Re: college tours - vision63 - 07-02-2017
Michael wrote:
We did 4 tours.
The university that my kid ended up going to was a bad experience with her first tour. The tour guide was on his phone through much of the tour because it was NFL draft day and he was getting reports from friends. It really turned off my kid and she wasn't interested in the place. My wife and I thought the university was actually a good fit so I called the Registrar and told him we had a bad experience and asked for a redo with his best guide. He was very apologetic and set us up again a month later. It was magic and our kid loved the place and signed up. The difference in the 2 guides was pretty amazing.
Go USC! no?
Re: college tours - Numo - 07-02-2017
We did 3-4 for each kid and I think that was plenty. Both wound up at the same school, which was great for all involved.