Jay Mathews of the Washington Post offers up his usual dose of college admissions sanity in his recent article about planning college visits.
“Thirty years of interviews with teenagers, their parents and admissions officers about this process — plus my experience with my own three children — lead me to conclude that campus visits are taken too seriously and generate too much stress. Many families, maybe even the Obamas, will be making these trips while on vacation. Should family fun time be treated like you’re studying for a big exam?”
It’s important for families to find the fun and sense of adventure from those portions of the college admissions process that offer it. Preparing for the SAT, writing college essays, and completing financial aid paperwork are not activities with much fun to be had. But college visits? Relax. Enjoy the scenery. And treat them more like visiting an amusement park than researching a thesis.