http://theneuroticparent.com/2008/04/where-to-eat-on.html Angst-ridden look at the college admissions process Wed, 20 Apr 2016 03:30:39 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.41 http://theneuroticparent.com/2008/04/where-to-eat-on.html#comment-2268 Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:22:30 +0000 http://theneuroticparent.com/?p=380#comment-2268 This will be covered in a future post, “My Favorite Tour Guide”.

]]> http://theneuroticparent.com/2008/04/where-to-eat-on.html#comment-2267 Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:00:48 +0000 http://theneuroticparent.com/?p=380#comment-2267 I’m about to read how you’re headed into the world of college dining, which is something only hardened tour veterans would know about, but it occurs to me that “The Importance of the Tour Guide” is absolutely necessary as a post. With all of the anxiety and information and test prep and money and everything that goes into this decision, isn’t it a bit strange that college choice is 70% about the random tour guide? Eager to hear your thoughts.

]]> http://theneuroticparent.com/2008/04/where-to-eat-on.html#comment-2266 Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:56:01 +0000 http://theneuroticparent.com/?p=380#comment-2266 The timing of the tour is a crucial element. With the SD family, you raise the good question of whether anyone should ever go on a tour at all. I happen to disagree, but there’s obviously enough information and good counseling (and neuroses) out there that kids and families can apply and then go see the places where they get in.
But for me, Spring Break in 11th grade is 1)yes, a good time to study, since it’s the crunch year, and 2)a bit too late to serve the proper motivational purposes that a good college tour can provide.
I have to say I’m a huge proponent of the PGSFPG program (Perfect Girls School For Perfect Girls). The PGSFPG students, naturellement, go on their school tour in Spring Break of 10th grade, which gives them an idea of what they’re going to be working for in 11th grade. It also jumpstarts the process and the anxiety. For zhiv, an off-the-charts ND (neurotic dad), this allowed me to take the GD on a follow-up tour in the Spring of 11th grade, as we have discussed at length. (Which reminds me that you might want to do a post breaking down our schedule for visiting schools every weekend for an entire year, if we lived in NYC.)
Would CJ have done anything differently if he had visited Duke a year ago? Probably not. Does he have an early decision strategy shaping up? zhiv can obviously attest to the remarkable 3-stage stress reduction program of successful early decision, knowing, however, that it is posed against the abject horror of unsuccessful ED.
And while I’m thinking, perhaps you can track and comment on this whole thing where colleges with ridiculously large endowments are giving some financial relief to poor, suffering, affluent Prius-driving “middle class” families like ourselves. What’s up with that? Which schools have those big endowments, besides the obvious behemoths?

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