Final Trip Thoughts

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Dear All,

Thank you for subscribing to my “Travel Blog”. Twenty-five schools in ten days and approximately 2000 miles on the road allows for only a quick survey of schools. Your tour of schools need not go at such a fast clip once you identify the kinds of schools of interest to you.

My goals were 1) to promote Christ School to college/university admissions offices in the northeast, 2) to develop stronger working relationships with admissions personnel who review our Christ School student files and 3) to learn more about schools which might be good matches for Christ School students.

As you have noticed, I have made notes for myself, and in the process, tried to give you a feel for some of the schools in the region as well as an idea of things a college counselor might note. I will remember stories and or experiences on each campus, knowing that I can retrieve statistics and other more specific facts from a school’s webpage.

My advice to students is to take time to visit schools with your parents, to collect your own “random facts”, as I did, and to compose an essay expressing why you think you might be a good fit at a particular school. In today’s competitive admissions market, doing a little bit more than is required or expected (i.e. visiting a campus, writing a thank you note to an admissions officer, and if so inspired, writing an additional essay to a school on why you at X school) might help tip the admissions scales in your favor, all other things (academics and extra curriculars) being equal.

My advice to parents is to continue serving as a “sounding board” for your son and to be open to the many college possibilities that exist. I continue to be amazed at the plethora of college/university options available to families and will continue to travel the country by bicycle or by car in hope of finding schools which might just be the “perfect fit” for our Christ School students.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. Please feel free to call or set up an appointment with me if you would like to discuss your son or need assistance planning your next college tour.

Best,

Kirk

P.S. I will try to add trip pictures to the blogs and notify you once this is done.

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