I have one more child left in school. She is in the 11th grade and we wanted to get a head start on touring colleges. We are visiting colleges within driving distance of Atlanta to see what they have to offer. I just got back from touring colleges last week here is what I learned…..
It’s a lot of walking. That’s the post right there cause shat. I had no idea I would be walking so much. I did almost 10k steps in a span of 2 to 3 hours for all the colleges we visited. We did a few colleges in my home state of SC. We stopped by USC, College of Charleston, Clemson, Francis Marion, and we glanced at Winthrop (I had to visit a friend so we didn’t tour it but we stopped through). I’ll talk about what we loved and didn’t love about each school and what I learned from the tours.
Let’s run down the schools…
First let me say this she wants to go to a PWI. Why? She said the world is diverse and she needs to know how to interact with all races. She also said most HBCU’s are in the hood. They aren’t but ok. I am making her visit at least two HBCU’s but it’s her decision either way. I want her to be informed but also it’s her life as long as she gets a full scholarship we are going where the money resides.
USC – Lots of walking. Nice campus. She said it had more black kids than it did white. I compared it to UGA but just the SC version. I was accepted here years ago but didn’t attend. I think for me it lacked any umph and I think she felt the same way. It’s off the list (plus expensive as hell)
Francis Marion – She said no immeditalely when we pulled up and wanted to leave but I made her at least try it out. Off the list. They do have her major which is Foresnic Science.
Clemson – She liked the program but she wants to be in a city and she felt it would be boring out there. It’s on the list but way down there. It was a huge school but I didn’t love it.
College of Charleston – This school surprised me. I loved that they have a program where you can come into college without declaring a major and take your time to pick what you want to go into without losing credit hours. She liked that it was in the city and she felt good there. They weren’t that expensive and she didn’t have to stay on campus (which she doesn’t want to do more on that later). They also have a marine biology program that peaked her interest and it’s near the beach. She is a beach baby.
Overall I liked CofC the best out of all the ones we visited in SC. I won’t sway her decision but she knows if she picks that school she will have my people near her.
Now her biggest issue is that she doesn’t want a roommate. I told her you can’t really avoid that at bigger schools you must stay on campus your first year and most of the time you have to have a roommate. She said no. How would I feel if I had a stranger come and stay with me? I said it’s one year she said I am expected to maintain my A and I would like to do that in my own room. She said she would share a bathroom and a common area but not a room She will stay home and go locally before she gets a roommate.
She has her boundaries and I will respect it for now but……again we going where the money resides I’ll get someone to talk to her about the roommate thing so she can be more relaxed but it’s up to her because again this will be her life.
Now some info on the tours. I planned out the tours a month in advance and mapped out our road trip in SC to visit the schools. I scheduled each tour ahead of time so that we weren’t just walking on the campus (security). I made sure we had enough time for each tour to where I took on one school a day. One day I did do two schools but I will never do that again. It’s too much walking and it was hot. Take one college tour a day if you can and map it out. I would do it state by state and take a week to just tour and visit. We went during Fall Break and we will tackle some more during Winter break. Walking shoes have them and please dress for the weather.
What tips do you have for college tours? Did you visit your college before you attended or were you like me and just picked a college and went?
