Final Thoughts, Survey and Next Year

Well I have to say for the first time ever doing a trip like this I think it was an absolute success. In 10 days we saw 15 schools, the Georgia Aquarium, went white water rafting and Six Flags over Georgia to name a few things. We traveled over 2200 miles through 6 states and saw the majority of the South. It was a whirlwind trip, but one these students will remember for the rest of their lives. All through the trip we kept saying that visiting these schools will help make the final decision for many students or help them decide what type of school they will like to attend. That being said we couldn't finish the trip without getting their opinion on the schools they visited.

We did a closed survey at the end of the trip and asked students to list their top three schools they are thinking of attending. We said that they did not have to limit it to the ones we visited. Here first are the totals for the entire group and then I listed it by each individual.

Samford-11

Belmont-7

UNC-7

Furman-6

UVA, Tennessee, Alabama, FSU, UGA-3

Liberty, Covenant-2

Brown, USAF, NYU, GA Tech-1

Cassidy Curtis-Samford, Belmont, UNC

Jeryly Escar-FSU, Alabama, UNC

Danny Dorfman-UNC, Tennessee, UVA

Christina Anduiza-Samford, Belmont, Liberty

Kristen Robotham-Furman, UNC, Samford

Andrea Fant-Samford, Furman, Belmont

David Luzinski-GA Tech, UVA, Samford (also MIT)

Lauren Cooley-Furman, Belmont, Samford, UNC

Zack Vinson-Covenant, Furman, Belmont

Kendall Stempel-Samford, UVA, Belmont

Bethany Lanciault-Furman, Samford, UGA

Josh Longerbeam-Covenant & Samford, UGA

Stefanie LaMay-NYU, Belmont, FSU

Alex Boe-Brown, USAF, Furman, UGA, Samford

Tyler Reynolds-Alabama, UNC, Tennessee

Joe Lee-FSU, Samford, Liberty

Jordan Farmer-UNC, Tennessee, Alabama

What next?

First of all I want to put out a plug for next year's trip. Tentatively we are going to go the same basic date, the week after summer school, and plan to visit schools in the Northeast (Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington DC, Maryland and possibly Ohio and West Virginia. Schools like Georgetown, John Hopkins, Boston College, Harvard, MIT, Westminster, Penn State, Brown, Princeton, NYU, Columbia, Cedarville, Ohio State and West Virginia to give a few. I am not set on this yet, but would definitely like to hear everyone's input so to best serve the group.

Secondly, I would suggest following up with the admissions director for our region. Many of these people were the ones who took us on the visits or spoke to us during the information sessions. I would also suggest that you might want to look into sending your student to their top choice school during the actual school year for one of the "Experience Weekends." Every school that we looked at mentioned it. During these visits the student will stay in the dorms, attend actual classes and participate in activities with other potential students. You can find out this from their websites along with other helpful information or contact me for further information.

Lastly I would thank the many people for making this trip possible. My wife, Ashley, and son, Brady, for allowing me to go for an entire week and a half, the entire Guidance office staff for assisting in coordinating the visits, Julie Stempel and Sam Freas for helping chaperone the trip and for each family for helping make this possible by sending their student. It was quite an experience and I really look forward to next year!