Taking DD to college campuses just so they could look around?

[Rambler34]

Same for us. DD visited the campus of what has become her dream school the summer after 7th grade. She had been to multiple camps at different places up until that point. We visited while we were playign at a tournament in the town and she loved it. We would drive through and check out different schools on the way home from tournaments or vacations just so she could see the different sizes and compare them.

Now that she has done some unofficial visits it has confirmed her dream school is #1. We know she is getting offered and should have all the details before Christmas and I am pretty sure I will have to muzzle her to keep her from committing instantly.

 

[Bryce]

We always do this on trips. Sometimes with an informal drop-in to the admissions center, but mostly just to get a feel for the campus. DD1 is a junior and with the ACT taken we're starting to get more serious. These informal visits have really helped get a sense of what features matter to her and what kind of school she's interested in.

 

[Cannonball]

We did it all of the time. They are unofficial visits and so, there are times when the softball staff is not on campus. We did this most often when driving to a tournament. We always made it to the softball diamond. We also wanted to go to dorms to see what was happening there.

 

[Central Cali DD dad]

We did it all of the time. They are unofficial visits and so, there are times when the softball staff is not on campus. We did this most often when driving to a tournament. We always made it to the softball diamond. We also wanted to go to dorms to see what was happening there.

Thanks cannonball for mentioning where you went on campus. That was my question and if others could say where they stopped by and if they had any places are "have tos" or places you know you get denied to walk through. (training facilities,dorms, softball feilds, etc). Looking forward to going to 2 campuses this winter for clinics and would like to walk around.

 

[_MIA_]

Thanks cannonball for mentioning where you went on campus. That was my question and if others could say where they stopped by and if they had any places are "have tos" or places you know you get denied to walk through. (training facilities,dorms, softball feilds, etc). Looking forward to going to 2 campuses this winter for clinics and would like to walk around.

At OU, we never see any softball recruits visiting the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering building. Not sure if that helps

 

[Rick M]

DD is only 13, but we've visited a number of schools just to get a feel for what type of campus she might be interested in: small & rural, mid-size & suburban, big state schools, and city-center schools. I wish I could say she's leaning in any one direction, but she's not. And she has no idea what she wants to major in, so that doesn't help narrow it down either.

For the schools that we have visited, seeing the softball field is always a stop. We've also tried to park and walk around the student union, which is what I remember being the center of activity when I was in college.

 

[Milo]

My daughter's a jr. and has been to 31 different schools. We visit any school within range of her tournaments, if we're on vacation and by going to camps. She's visited every division level and size of school. She knows right away if she likes it or not. She has a strong interest from a D3 school that's 3 hours away from us and interest from a D1 that's just over an hour. These were the two schools we made special trips to to make sure she liked them before moving forward. She didn't really like the D1 school and the D3 is larger. She really like the D3 and has developed a good rapport with the coach including meeting her in person at a local camp and several phone calls. We don't want to waste anyone's time and she's going to school for academics first and softball second.

 

[MNDad]

Regardless of level most of the athletes are there for academics first. No reason to state the obvious.

 

[ez_softball]

My daughter is a senior and we have probably walked 20-25 campuses over the past few years. Most of these "visits" have been us just showing up and poking around the campus. It was an eye opening experience for my daughter, what she initially believed she wanted in a school wasn't what she really ended up being attracted to. In the end, every kid is different and will want different things from a college/campus and for us going out and visiting campuses really helped her identify what she wanted.