Do the tour!

[jonriv]

I have head too many times of prospective college students going to visit a college campus and limiting their tour to the athletic facilities and an interview with the coach- but never visiting the rest of campus? In fact I have known a few that went to visit only one or two schools. Even if you are offered a verbal, how can you truly make an educated choice with out at least getting a better idea what is out there? Books and internet information is great and there is certainly a LOT more info out there than when I was looking at schools way back when, but there is nothing like an in person visit. JMO

BTW- having now been on countless tours with both my kids- we have a running joke on what you see on every tour:

College Union(student center)
Library
Dining hall
A Statue
New Science Building
Sample Dorm Room(usually a "model" room"
Sometimes the athletic center(usually the student "work-out" area

[BAM2]

We still have a couple of years to go. But, what if any recruiting visit are paid for, and do they pay just for your daughter and or a parent. How many visits are you allowed throught their high school years? (Paid )

[jonriv]

Senior Year

You can make up to five Official – expense paid visits to college campuses. the visit to the campus cannot be longer than forty eight hours in duration. you are are not allowed to have an official visit until after your first day of classes of your senior year.

College coaches need to have an official ACT or SAT score and a copy of your official high school transcript before you can make a visit.

[Sftbll4ever]

Not all of the parents expenses are paid either.

[jonriv]

I think at this point with all the verbals(and really early ones) The "official" visit is after the fact

[BigSoftball]

We still have a couple of years to go. But, what if any recruiting visit are paid for, and do they pay just for your daughter and or a parent. How many visits are you allowed throught their high school years? (Paid )

With the backassward state of softball recruiting, you will likely only get one paid visit, that being to the school you have already committed to. Good for the school softball budget, bad for the player, who loses out on four opportunities.

It is odd that in big sports, like football and hoops, where there is so much more at stake, the elite players don't rush in to lock up their deal by committing as frosh or Sophs. And even if they verbal, many are still recruited right up to NLI day, and most take full advantage of their max allowed official visits. By comparison, elite softball players appear desperate.

[softballdreams]

My DD visited a lot of college campuses early on in high school to get a sense of what she liked and didn't. Sure, they were all on our dime but glad we did it. Schools she thought she would like, she didn't. And schools we never knew anything about previously (other than what was online), she fell in love with. In her situation, it had to "feel" right and the only way for her to get a feeling was to visit the campus. Since she is going to spend four years of her life there, it made sense to spend the time to do our due diligence.

[3'sDad]

Jonriv is spot on with what most college tours show (DD is just beginning the process). One caveat: if tyour child is seriously considering a school make sure to have one or two meals in the dining hall. The kid will be eating this food for several years and it really makes a difference.

My niece (freshman @ Washington College playing softball) passed on her #1 collegiate selection (who offered more aid also) because the cafeteria food was only ok. She is a softball player and meals really matter to her.

[jonriv]

Food is key- however every school I visit the food looks 10x better than I went to school! The food was so bad where I went that my summers at Army training had better food!

[Blind Squirrel]

Most college athletes I know spent their freshmen year in a dorm, as required. After that they moved into houses/apartments and ate whatever they wanted and it certainly wasn't in a school cafeteria. Do people rely on cafeteria food for 4 years due to financial reasons? Even that strikes me as odd since we are paying $900/month for my son to live in a dorm his final semester which is more than we paid for him to live in an apartment.

Sorry for my ignorance but I haven't seen this happen to any of the few dozen athletes I've known in 3 different sports. And some of these kids come from pretty poor families.

Mystified Squirrel