College Road Trip versus Disney

[corpcomp]

How many of you have had to make this decision?

We have to cancel yet another vacation due to a school issue. Not snow days or what we now have as hurricane days in CT (extra week just recently tacked on in June due to Irene) but the dreaded college search. (We did go last August but after experiencing the heat, we will not do that again)

We only have Feb and April weeks open and as our DS 16 is now a Junior, his advisor is telling us not to waste the time off on vacations, but take him to about 10-15 schools to see what he likes. We already hit 4 schools in Boston during a soccer tournament (he liked the BC campus best but they have no technology / engineering degrees - I think it was the layout of the campus and the absolutely beautiful architecture). Every one of them has about the same tuition = about 45K per year now forecasted to be 52K when he enters and about 62K the year he graduates). So likely no vacations for the next few years, just staycations

So we are going to make some family very happy in Feb when our week at BCV (Presidents week) comes open. Very sad but the road trips are much more important. Oh and we do plan to put the pressure on him to go for a Disney internship once he is a sophomore, hopefully in the Imagineering department.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We did both about a year ago. Short trip to WDW (well, not so short, 12 nights at OKW) and ten night trip to the NW US (2,000 mile on the rental car once we got there by plane). The road trip was the most beneficial because we hit six schools that he had narrowed to. We had originally planned six, dropped one and hit another that we found only five miles from another. The new one moved up into the top three. The one that was on top dropped to last place. But the last one we hit was the one he is now attending.

Do all the studying now, and have your son figure out what he wants in a school. Make an appointment at each school so he can meet with an advisor in the field he is interested in. Sign up for a tour of the school. But keep out of it all. In fact, if you let him go on the tour while you do you own tour separately and let him work up a list of questions to ask the advisor. He'll be nervous, but it will make it more important to him.

We took our son up to his university in August. We loved going back to that state so much that we are now looking at selling all our DVC points to buy some land to build a house in a few years.

 

[kikiq]

Yes, fortunately the girls played travel softball so the initial touring was taken care of without sacrificing any Disney.

Do more fact finding on the college program and professional internships. Our youngest DD just graduated from college with a degree in Animal Science. She was NOT placed behind the scenes at AK but worked in AK during her college program time. She was not able to take classes for any credit since she had those credits already. She was able to "network" around WDW, so that IF she had wanted to apply for a professional internship working with animals, she would have had WDW references to use. The college program have specialty classes for certain declared majors that he can apply to his degree IF his college accepts them.

During the 7 months that my DD was in Florida, we used our DVC points 4 times (coming from California, looked for airfares constantly).

Good Luck!!

 

[bobbiwoz]

We didn't own DVC when we did the college road trips, but yes, that's where we were during school vacations. In the end, it was the fly-down to Houston over MLK weekend that did it for our younger son. He loved Texas and Rice U for chemical engineering.

Bobbi

PS. It's possible that BU has an agreement with another school regarding engineering. Older son went to St. Anselm's in NH and finished at Notre Dame U after 5 years of schooling. 3 at St. A's and 2 at Notre Dame. He received 2 degrees, liberal arts from St. A's and Engineering (I forget what kind) from Notre Dame.

 

[dbs1228]

My DD is a junior in HS, also we have to do the college visits, but we are going for 10 nights to WDW over Presidents week! We are playing on college visits on some weekends, April break and early June (summer if it warrants). I have 2 DD's currently in college and we are finding it very difficult to vacation together so we are keeping our plans. (2 college DD's are coming down for 4 nights over long weekend) Good luck in the college search it can get stressful!

 

[Granny]

We only have Feb and April weeks open and as our DS 16 is now a Junior, his advisor is telling us not to waste the time off on vacations, but take him to about 10-15 schools to see what he likes.

I think this is WAY too many colleges to visit. With the internet information available, you should be able to narrow that list down quite a bit. Obviously it is up to you, but I took my daughters to about 6 schools each before they chose.

Good luck. College tuitions are crazy.

 

[stitchineeyore]

I think this is WAY too many colleges to visit. With the internet information available, you should be able to narrow that list down quite a bit. Obviously it is up to you, but I took my daughters to about 6 schools each before they chose.

Good luck. College tuitions are crazy.

listen to Granny! Seriously. When we were in your shoes, my son injured himself at the start of the summer before senior year and couldn't work. SO we did road trips. To all the colleges his counselor suggested. 15 of them. Biggest mistake EVER! he was so burned out by august that he almost didn't visit the school he enrolled in and graduated from! We did the web thing with #2 kid and only visited 4 or 5. much more successful and painless. Granny knows best!

 

[corpcomp]

listen to Granny! Seriously. When we were in your shoes, my son injured himself at the start of the summer before senior year and couldn't work. SO we did road trips. To all the colleges his counselor suggested. 15 of them. Biggest mistake EVER! he was so burned out by august that he almost didn't visit the school he enrolled in and graduated from! We did the web thing with #2 kid and only visited 4 or 5. much more successful and painless. Granny knows best!

Good advice. I forgot we also visited GWU and Georgetown (DW's school)last year while on a vacation with friends whose daughter was lookng - one year older). He loved Georgetown because the new student union had a MacDonalds, Burger King, Subway and I think some pizza shop all together. When he saw that he said, wow what a good school. And if they had an XBOX store, he would be in heaven. So much for priorities. He had a soccer camp at UCONN in Storrs but when he realized there was no air conditioning in the dorms he immediately disliked the place. But if I'm not mistaken, I don't think any campus has air conditioning in the dorms.

 

[sarahk0204]

I think this is WAY too many colleges to visit. With the internet information available, you should be able to narrow that list down quite a bit. Obviously it is up to you, but I took my daughters to about 6 schools each before they chose.

Good luck. College tuitions are crazy.

ITA Even 25 years ago when I was looking at colleges, I only visited 6. I wrote letters via snail mail and had my questions answered. Good luck to you!

 

[Psychodisney]

Good advice. I forgot we also visited GWU and Georgetown (DW's school)last year while on a vacation with friends whose daughter was lookng - one year older). He loved Georgetown because the new student union had a MacDonalds, Burger King, Subway and I think some pizza shop all together. When he saw that he said, wow what a good school. And if they had an XBOX store, he would be in heaven. So much for priorities. He had a soccer camp at UCONN in Storrs but when he realized there was no air conditioning in the dorms he immediately disliked the place. But if I'm not mistaken, I don't think any campus has air conditioning in the dorms.

My son's dorm at University of Wisconsin has A/C. That being said, the weather changes so quickly that you only need a/c for a couple of weeks!


One thing we did was look on www.collegeboard.com and do a search of your son's intended major, geograhical considerations, etc and narrow down you r choices.

 

[dbs1228]

I think this is WAY too many colleges to visit. With the internet information available, you should be able to narrow that list down quite a bit. Obviously it is up to you, but I took my daughters to about 6 schools each before they chose.

Good luck. College tuitions are crazy.

Totally agree! Both DD's went on about 6 - 8 college visits and they are where they are suppose to be. That is why I am still using presidents week to enjoy my daughters and not worry about college visits. As you said it is the comfort level of the original OP and what makes you comfortable. Once again good luck!