Tara Attends an Open House!

Welcome to From Carpool to College, a show for parents who are trying to keep their sanity while navigating the college planning landscape. Tara, Yes, I hear you had a big weekend. Yes, we did. I can't wait to hear all about it. I have my coffee clutched in my hand. Listeners, I'm going to let Tara tell you what she did this weekend. Okay, so we did an open house. It wasn't labeled an open house, but it was definitely you know, it fit the definition of an open house. So an open house at a college or university which who shall not be named Voldemort Voldemort University. Yep, that shall not be named. So you went to Valdemore University. We probably wouldn't say Valdemoort because it makes it sound evil. Yes, it's actually a beautiful school that I can't say, but we're not going to say no. So you had a great time at the school. Go ahead, road trip Okay, So. Got up nice and early, you know, really excited to go. There were four of us, who did you go with? My daughter, her friend, and her friend's mother, who happens to be a good friend of mine. So the four of us went. It was our second appearance at this establishment is University, but the first for our friend and her daughter. So we had a little experience which was kind of interesting and I'm glad that we had gone before because we knew a different side of the campus. So the first time you visited Lovely University, Huh it wasn't an official open house? Was it a visit day? What was the first visit like for you? The first visit was a scheduled tour college tour with a small group of people that was you know, very specialized and pretty much you know, intimate. I would say. We had an opportunity to ask questions. We could hear our are you know, the the upper classmen who was bringing us around to the different buildings. We were able to you know, talk to them and ask them any questions and we could hear them and it was really informative. All right. I just wanted to get some context. So, yes, you're going up, Okay, So we go up. This is the second round for us. We go up and there are a ton of people when I say a ton, a ton, and we it was very well organized, but it was very differ friend, so we had to check in. We were given lanyards. Oh did the lanyards have a color on them? They were all red? Okay, now that's okay, we're not giving away anything. Terra's eyes just fell out of her head for those of you who can't see her, because she doesn't want to give away any school colors. Yeah, just a primary color, primary color color, go ahead. On that card. Gave us you know, we had the name of the student who is on at the open house. Also gave counselor that was assigned. The admissions counselor. Yes, excellent, yes, and who would be our point person should we need to reach out and afterwards excellent. So there was a gathering in one in an auditorium where there was a slide show and talking that was almost on loop. How many people do you think we're there? Like, think about like how many roads there were? How how big is big? Because I've been to one and I'll just say the school Penn State. I've been to one and there was probably one hundred and fifty people in the room. No, no, I don't know Penn States. Giganteah, yeah yeah, no, this was more, this was oh more? Oh absolutely, I would say this was a good five hundred people. Wow. Now it was open to sophomores and juniors okay okay, which which yeah, they are okay okay. And it was extremely crowded in the hallways because they had the different tables set up with the different departments and you know, the the sports, the financial aid, the admissions officers, the exceptional children or students. Aren't all of our children exceptional Sara. Multicultural table, a multi cultural table was there, all different you know, and you could go up and speak, but it was it was even hard to hear because there were so many people. So you were able to have you went to the big everyone's all together, and then it was like breakout and you could you could go to these tables like a trade show. So it actually was backwards I said that backwards, So they were you walk in, you register, and then you could see that there were people starting to assemble in this auditorium with a looped slide show that was had different students who were commenting on the different departments and expect you know, things that you could expect to experience at the school. But that official presentation to start till about ten thirty, So prior to that, you were to make your way through the tables and kind of gather information and what have you. Were you able to I'm just putting myself in your shoes. Yeah, it sounds like it's high energy. Yeah. Were you able to focus on any one particular table or did you go together with your daughter or did you just divide and conquer? So we went as a group and then we myself and my friend, we stood back and we let the girls do the talking. They went up to the athletics table, and then we made our way around the corner and we happened to come across the freshman admissions counselors and we stood back again and we encouraged them to introduce themselves and ask a question or. Two ay plus okay, pleas for that. Yeah, and they did pay plus good awesome. Yeah, and they could see us. We were not We didn't leave them completely. But yeah, I mean open house. You there's an implication that the parents are still there. They don't just dump them, right and then leave. It's very much for parents also. Right exactly. So went back into the auditorium after that, and everyone gathered and it was pretty full. They had. The president of the university speak to the entire you know audience. And after that they had a senior ambassador who came up and you know, with a slide show, gave an overview. Uh. Some of the key points really common things that parents may have on their mind when they're shopping around and you know, thinking about different schools. So that was good, you know, all the selling points. Let me selling points. As you were listening to the president, what was your impression. I wanted to have a cup of coffee with him. I wanted to sit down and talk with him. He seemed so approachable. He was really really just a genuine person he appeared to be. He's also from New Jersey, so m. Yeah, so yeah, he was. He really was very calm, you know, made a few jokes, kind of spoke from the heart. It appeared to be. But but that was good to have, you know, to put a face and you know just kind of get a different, you know, a perspective from him. And then the some of the selling points that the senior ambassador provided were things like class size testing, if it's test optional, all the little facts and figures that you're thinking of, you know when you're shopping around, all of which were you know, sounded wonderful. Oh, I know. I love me a good open house, Yeah I do. Yeah, especially when they're done well, it sounds like it was really done well. It was, it really was. It was so totally impressed at this point, really impressed. And it wasn't a very long presentation, which was good because anything else that you were really looking for and the points that they were making you probably could easily find out through brochure or by by going on their website. I forgot to mention that each when we first walked in, each of the girls got a swag bag. Tell me about the swag bag. Just one of those little you know. Austreet ye sheepy was Oriental Trading Company kind of right exactly. It's the school color and it has the mask on. And what was in the swag bag? There were brochures. There was a copy of the schedule for the day. There was a little cut out of the school kind of like an infographic type of thing, which was good. And I can't remember what else. There's supposed to be a coupon for the bookstore, because we always have to go to the bookstores. Exit through the bookstore. Yeah. They also when we walked in, had a beautiful breakfast, complimentary breakfast provided. I just have to interrupt you, and this has it's kind of tangential, but it's very important. We know that college bookstores are so much fun, and who doesn't love some swag from the college. But I have to tell you, and you could appreciate this, Tara, because Tara and I are lifelong teachers, we never pay full price for anything, and we always know how to find a bargain. Well, I can tell you the local walmart around every college will have racks of college gear. The shirt I'm wearing right now, College to Charleston, this cute V neck shirt is Russell brand Athletics, and I bought it at a CBS just outside of Joey's school, College to Charleston. I could see that that would be That makes so much sense because even in our local towns, they all of the you know, drugstore, CBS, the Walgreens, they all have the high school colors and the shirts and everything correct. So that's one for you parents, For our fellow parents who want to get swag and don't want to spend fifty dollars for a long sleeve T shirt. You just head over to Walmart or the local CBS. I guarantee you will find swag. Okay, that was a worthy interruption, No, it was okay for sure, So you got the swag bag. Yep. Yeah, okay. So after the presentation, we were told that we could go to lunch already complimentary lunch. Oh did they roll out the spread. It was the best lunch I have had in a long time. Probably has to do with the fact that I don't. Eat lunch. And I was really hungry from the drive and I didn't have any breakfast, but lunch in a beautiful dining hall. I did have a question though, that I still don't have a I don't have an answer on yet, which is there wasn't there were no college students to be seen anywhere on campus, so this really yeah exactly, I was wondering where are they? And then you know, I had asked my daughter. She said it was eleven thirty on a Saturday morning. Oh yeah, and they had some formal the night before. Oh but I felt there had to be some no doubt. Okay, we'll do another episode on student life. Okay, yeah, okay, So when we just a backtrack, had taken our tour. You could everywhere you looked there were little clusters that had their you know, school gear on and they were excited or gossiping or whatever it was and going into the dorm or leaving the dorm or kicking a soccer ball around, and that was a different experience, different experience because it was a weekday. It was a weekday. So here we are again. So just not to like compare and contrast, but I walked into this open house thinking it was going to be very similar to the original, you know, the original tour that we had taken, and it wasn't. And it was very valuable to know that because you know, in future months we're headed to other places to do other tours, and I really think it's good to do both. I think there were good things we got from the one that we attended the open house, but but really so informative to do that, you know, scheduled tour where you are, you're you know, it's recorded that you're there. So yeah, demonstrated demonstrated interest. I love demonstrated interest. So anyway back to this, So after this, we went at we had our lunch, and then we were to take a tour of you could jump on a few different tours that were happening, or you could be bussed to a different location down the road where there was another campus. So we chose to go down the road because that is the campus that my daughter and her friend were thinking of going to. So we when we got there, I really was expecting the same tour and I thought, oh, this okay, I'm going to go through this again. I know what they're going to say, but it's okay, we'll go through it for the friend her daughter, And if you blinked, it was over. Oh it was so quick. And it wasn't even done by a person a you know, senior level person, a student who necessarily would be in that building, if you know what I mean. No, so building was it nursing Okay, so it was a nursing building. Yeah, and you asked for a tour of the nursing building or you wanted to get more like a breakout information session. So it was it's actually the health and human y. Every school has a real version of it. Right, And so when we went the first time, we had a senior student who was a nursing student. When we went this time, we had someone who was an exercise science student who would also be studying in there. So of course, yeah, I can see why she was there, but it wasn't I felt like it didn't address some of the issues and or or questions that maybe the people had that were on the tour got it. Like it wasn't as in depth and personal ass rights because it was an open house. Because it was an open house, right, but when we went on our open or when we went on that specialized tour, we did not get to talk with someone in athletics. We did not to talk with someone for the multicultural you know department, or clubs or even the freshman admissions counselors, which we did get to do on. This open house got it. So that was great because you know, we want I wanted to, you know, have my daughter and her friend be exposed to that and see what that was all about. So they're both valuable, but they were both different, and I thought they were going to be similar in terms of what we would find out and whatnot. So but they both help us in terms of again that demonstrated interest because now we're on the books two times that you know, we've been there. As a way to kind of you know, just have that for the application or you know, to have account for. Well, sure, I think about terror. Back in the old days when we were applying to college, when the pterodactyls were flying over, we applied to three colleges. Right, we have our reach are just right and our oh my god, I didn't get anywhere else and we didn't have the key strokes click click, click, click click of the common app So demonstrated interest is a huge deal now because those admissions counselors you got to meet. The regional admissions counselor is tasked with not only figuring out is this kid a good candidate, are they a good match for the school? Will they find their people? Is this a good jam for them? But also they have to take into account that some people may say no. So by kind of making yourself present and saying by attending what you did, you're saying yes to the dress before it's even offered to you. So you're making the job of the admissions counselor a lot easier, which is absolutely what we should be doing. This is why Tara is smiling ear to ear yes, no, it's true. And also, you know, just to kind of along those same lines when we're talking about applying to the different colleges, right, and you either have your child do it on their own or with the help of a counselor as you're working to do this, your child will be given recommendations for where to apply. Right to apply here, try here, try this. Have you thought about this? This might be something different? Or but I've heard this time and time again. Did you ever think about this school? And the student replies no, I haven't, or yeah, but I never, I just never, you know, have been there or whatever, And the response of a counselor is you better get there quick because the school is adamant about students showing that demonstrated interest. Right, because it's so easy to just apply without ever even as a last minute thought. Whereas you know, my daughter now has been thinking about this school, will be pretty much a full year before she goes to submit the application, and even if she decides it's not a full year, not a full year. No, no, but since we've our first visit there, first visit yeah no. No, no, no, no, time is flying. I know, parents, time flies. I know that's true, that is true, But it is close to a year at that point and her friend who was there as a sophomore. I mean, really, to just show that is valuable versus someone who just decides to go into the common app and hit click right for the school with that's it. Yeah, you want to stand out and for my parents who are like me a little bit, and maybe well, because you don't have a time machine, we're gonna we're gonna bring that up a lot in our in our podcast, because none of us have a time machine. So this is part of the reason why we started this podcast, to give you as much information as we possibly can to front load thinking about college, even if your kid is still in diapers. No being sarcastic, but even if your kid is only in eighth or ninth grade. When you visit colleges and you are interested in demonstrating interest, of course, hitting a formal tour, an organized tour is important. Yes, an open house important. But guess what, when you're on spring break, the rest of the nation is on spring break. So if you decide to do your road trip down to Tennessee and you want to hit a bunch of schools, good luck getting in. It's like getting Hamilton tickets, you know, like you're not getting in. You're not getting into the open house and parents are crushed. Oh my gosh, what should I do. I'm going to tell you what to do. Don't panic. What you're going to do is you're going to reach out to the regional admissions counselor. Well, let me put it this way. You're not your child will However that happens if you're the puppet, if you're the person behind the curtain. However it happens from your child's email, it goes too the regional admissions counselor. And you could google that, or you can just you know, do a little web searching on that. It's pretty easy to find. So find your regional admissions counselor. And in the email says dear such and such, my family and I are taking a road trip to Knoxville. I'm just I have Tennessee on my mind. So we're going to be in Knoxville, and I'm I see the open house is full, but Knoxville really piques my interest. We're going to do a self tour. We're going to be there on February twenty eighth, and please advise so then the admissions counsel gets back and says how to have I'm so glad that you were able to reach out to me. That's my terrible accent because it's the complete antithesis of a New Jersey accent. But that admissions rep will reach out and say thank you for reaching out. Absolutely, come on down. You could do a self tour when you come in register at the admissions office and I'll give you a walking tour guide and you just do a self tour and guess what that is demonstrated interest. Same thing. So parents, don't panic if you missed it. A very good friend of mine has four kids and she was panicking because she wanted to hit like like the Rally, Durham Duke and High Point and NC Stay and there's a wake forest so that's a great hub for visiting colleges. And two of her older kids they were kind of double dipping and doing the college tours and they couldn't get in. So I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, just reach out. Don't don't throw away the baby with the bathwater. So but you are a type A and you were able to get onto Yes you were. You were able to get onto that awesome open house. That's great. How did you learn about the open house? Okay, so that's good. I'm glad you asked, because that is another thing that again, this being my first round going through. On a personal level, we are registered with the school in terms of email. Share your email with us, make sure that you check our social media pages, and then we were emailed after our first tour of this open house, don't miss this date, don't miss that date. And interestingly enough, the next open house doesn't happen until the end of the summer because they just saw that come through. So I mean, there's still ways obviously, of course to get on campus and you get a good feel for it, but they're not that often, no, so. They're a huge production. They're very costly. Also for all the balloons. The day they have the arc of the balloons, they had the arc. Oh so great, isn't it. Yep? Now, let me ask you one last question before I completely pop all of those balloons for you. How did you feel after you left? I felt happy that I went, happy that we went. I felt a little not I don't want to say sad, but I felt uh, what's the word guilty? Maybe for sharing the information with my friend to go to the open house first before doing a tour, okay, and I'll tell you why because and maybe it was the time of year. I'm not quite sure what happened, but prior to going, my daughter's friend was really gung ho on the school. After going, she said she really didn't know. She felt the same that my daughter felt about it, which is fine. There's still lots of time, you know, ahead, but you know, we were climbing through snow piles, and it was a different and look for the school than when we had gone first. And I know that most people will usually attend the open house as a first glimpse and then go back for a tour, but I guess it can work either way. For us, it was better to get that specialized tour first and then go back and you know, kind of peek around again in a different way. So but I overall, I felt good about it. I think that it was good to see that there were a lot of people who were also interested, because you know, we think that it's a very good school. And you know, we did the drive again, which is good because you can see like how long it will take and just to see, you know, how people are in the area and get a feel, you know, kind of like a pulse. But yeah, I felt good. Good. You're ready? Yeah, I'm ready? Okay. So have you ever seen The Truman Show? Oh? Oh yes, all right, parents, listeners. It was a great movie if you haven't seen it, Tarah's laughing. I'm laughing because I feel like I know this already and I'm going to tell you something funny after this. Okay, go ahead. So the Truman Show? Oh gosh, Tarah, how'd I explain it? The Truman Show is a great movie. I don't want to go too much into it, but and I don't want to blow it for people who haven't seen it. It's with Jim Carrey and his life is a reality show. Did I just ruin it? No? You didn't. But you know what, Nate Bergatzi, who's a great comedian, he always has this joke like, if you haven't seen it now, don't tell me you're going to go rent it at Blockbuster. At this point, just you know, it is so and. In the movie Truman, the main character, everyone is so nice to him. Everyone around him is just so doting, and it turns out to be very, very staged. So I will tell you a quick story about one of the first times I went to the KNACKAC conference. Now the KNACKAC TAR and I, as public educators, we have all these organizations that we belong to and we can't even keep all the initial straight. The KNACKAC is the National Association for College Admissions Counselors. So I was at the NJ NACKAC, the New Jersey KNACKAC, and I presented at one of them. As a school counselor, I do dual enrollment things, and I decided I had a little extra time, so I crashed one of the workshops and it was something about the open house and the population of the attendees are usually college admissions counselors and school counselors. Mostly college admissions counselors. It's mostly for hire ed, but a savvy school counselor attends these because it's networking and you get to kind of see behind the curtain. Well, I went to this. I think it was like called, Oh I wish I still had the documents. It was like crafting the perfect open house. I was the only school counselor there, the only high school counselor. So I sat kind of in the front because I tend to not pay attention if I don't, so I was sitting in the front like a nerd. I'm taking notes and the two ladies who were leading the I go to this workshop and these two ladies are running it, and their job is their consultants and they go to different colleges across the country and they help admissions throw the ultimate open house. Yes way, so everything from the balloon arc of the colors for the photo ops in front of the curtain so you can have your kid in front of the little yeah, like there're a celebrity on the red carpet. Some even do have a red carpet. Again, I was the only school counselor there and I'm looking around and they're all like feverishly taking notes down to here are some of the takeaways. In one module that you could purchase as an admissions department. You could purchase the swag bags the Oriental Trading Company swag bags. The colored backpacks are coded by what major the applicant has showing interest. So then when they go on their tour, as they walk past different academic buildings, surprise, surprise, the green backpack kids happen to be walking past the health sciences and the biology professor just happens to be there. Hey, you guys want to come in and see the lab. Yes, plants. Plants. They will ask the department heads and professors to come in and they will plant them around the buildings. They will paint just along the pathway where the students will be walking. Depending on the time of year, they will plant flowers just along the entrances of where those tour groups will get. Unbelievable. It was crazy to me, and I felt kind of sick about it because while I'm excited for the schools because I totally understand the business, they have to keep their lights on. And I say this a lot when in counseling that you know, colleges are a business. They are selling us the product, but it's a huge product and there's a great return on that investment, and there's a lot of competition. So the open house is a great opportunity to sample the best of the best of what they have to offer. The presidents are awesome. The best presidents will be the ones who are talking. The ones who are not quite as good. They'll have the vice presidents or provost or somebody else talk who has the best personality. That's the person up on the podium and you said you want to have a cup of coffee with him, right, Because here these presidents are amazing people. I think, Wow, can I be a president? Ever? No, because they're just unbelievable people. You could, I know, but you know what, I know one and maybe I could. Maybe he could come in. I know one very well. Not well like we're gonna play you know, rummy together, but rummy turn to my mother. But I do know him professionally, so maybe he'll come in and talk to us about his school, because he's a great guy too. But so the different speakers they will have. The tour guides. The tour guides for the open houses are the best of the best, their borderline cheerleaders. The tour guides for the regular visit days are the JV team. Yeah, not as much and some are just terrible, which really could blow it for a school because that that impression is so strong. But the whole objective is make the family feel good about the school. It's okay that you don't have a lot of granular details, Like you talked about going to the nursing building and you were surprised that you didn't get the real nitty gritty. Yeah, I'm not surprised because it wasn't the objective of the open house. The open house is to make you feel like you can trust your precious cargo here. This is what we have to offer. We're gonna take really good care of you. And I gotta tell you, a lot of schools can they're really they're excellent. In my experience, I've visited over two hundred colleges across the country, and they really do a bang up job with the kids. There's some schools where are you know, it's just not a good fit for your own kid. But you go to these open houses, you're gonna feel. You're going to feel a certain way, and that's what you're gonna remember. Okay, So here's my question, because I know we're probably gonna wrap up soon, if you had advice for parents right that are sitting out there wondering what do we do? Do we do a personal tour, do we do an open house? Do we do both? Is it okay to do virtual Can you give some thoughts to that? Sure? Well, first of all, what's available? Yeah? Is it the thirteenth hour on February thirty. First, then no, then you don't really have much choice. But tera I think what you did was perfect. I think going to a tour that has something they'll say like tours for maybe like engineering and math and business. Sometimes they'll do specialized tours just for the particular school within the university or college. So if you can get as specific as you can, if you know what your child wants, or you kind of we kind of know our kids, like you know, I have a kid who's more of a humanity's guy. We're not math people, so we're not going anywhere near Stem, but we'll go to liberal arts and science and business. So so think about a campus tour is what you want to look for, and doing a self tour is okay, it's kind of a last ditch effort, but you aren't going to get those ins and outs for sure. Did they show you a dorm, they did. You go in the dorm room. Not for the open house, right, but for the specialized tour they did exactly. So the specialized tour, those campus visits are called the campus visit. Should you should be able to get your foot into a dorm, and we could talk more about that in another episode about kind of what to look for, what sticks out. You know, they're going to show you a model room. They're not going to show you what my kids room looks like, because you wouldn't want to go there, My poor perpetual bachelor sons. So great experience that you had, Thank you for sharing it. How did your daughter? What were your Now, our kids are tough, right because we asked them every day, how they doing, what's going on? How with school? They give us one word answers, So we're it's tough as parents of children of a certain age. We'll say, but did what kind of feedback did your daughter give? If at all any? Could you gauge her experience? Yeah, I think she's still very excited to have that as one of her choices in school. For sure, it didn't her her interest in Waiver. She didn't feel I think maybe her she felt a little deflated just because her friend had mentioned her thoughts. But she still that didn't stop her from you know, feeling like it's a good place for her. So that that was good to see. And you know, like I said, this was one of our first so we do have other ones scheduled, and I think it'll be nice to kind of get some feedback on those as well, because this was one of her first choice places. So we'll see if everything kind of is compared to that or if it changes her thoughts on where we were. That's great, great feedback. I do look forward to hearing about the subsequent trips as well. And also you mentioned the friend, right, So yeah, I'm also wondering if maybe going with a friend sometimes isn't the best idea. Even though our kids, especially our girls, not to be stereotypical, but they travel in packs and that circle of influence is so strong. So so parents, if your kids aren't going to visit a campus unless their buddy is going to come, then by all means, bring the buddy. But you hear it from Tara, like the only negative pull she had that Tara had as a mom was feeling a little of a certain way because of the advice she gave. You know, open house versus campus visit, right, so the only negative thing that you had, interestingly enough, so think about you know what your options are our parents. And yeah, one more thing, Tracy, just because I know logistics play a part, so we have in our case, we cannot travel very far all over the country, you know, to visit. Oh, let's just hop on a plane and try over here over there. Our schedules are you know, already tight as as it is. So I've seen a lot in terms of virtual open houses or virtual tours, even for myself as an educator. I just got one that came through from my one of the schools in our area that said, you know, come join our virtual open house to earn a certificate or to whatever. Do those give any value and or do those have any kind of weight in terms of demonstrated interests If you can't get to the school, should you say no, you need to get to the school some way, or is it okay to just stick with a virtual tour? And then you know, well, certainly if you can they do everything, it has value. Yeah, first we'll start with that. Everything has value. And the virtual tours are quite amazing these days. There's even that Amazon Prime special. It's a series. Well we can talk about another episode. The name is Escaping Me. But they're excellent too. They travel as the country and they just visit colleges and they throw it on Amazon so people can watch it and they could see soup to nuts. It's like a virtual open house every single time that just comes in through your computer. So it does add value, but it's the same stuff over and over again. So the open house also is really about a feeling that you leave with, Can I live here? Do I feel safe? Do I see other people like me? Because I don't want to be the only person like me attending this school. So there's a lot of discrete variables that are very important when you're visiting a school. I tell students when you visit a school, hang out, separate from your parents, go sit somewhere, make your schools in session, and find the college versions of your friends to see if this is kind of your jam? Are these your people? And I say that because again I don't think anyone should feel like they're the only one of a certain kind, whatever that kind is, So kind of find your people. A virtual tour may not be, as you know, you're not going to get that feeling, but you could certainly pick up things. You could certainly look at candid pictures on Instagram and see, you know, are my people here? Will it count as demonstrated interest? Yes, And depending on how far away the school is, So if I'm looking at if I'm a Jersey girl looking at Michigan, right, you mish big demonstrated interest school. They want you to come visit ann Arbor. And it's hard for me as a teacher because I can't fork over four hundred and ninety five dollars for the ticket for the airlines for me and then another one from a kid. So I'm going to take those virtual tours for sure, But when it comes down to it, you really do want to set foot on campus before you go there and before you apply for certain schools. Yeah, it makes sense, that makes sense, But in most cases, the virtual tour is demonstrating interest as long as you register. Don't forget the bots. We talk to talk about the bots all the time because the bots creep up in my nightmares, like the little terminator bots. A lot of pop culture references today, folks from the gen X terminator. Right. So there are bots that will track your presence on their websites. Okay, So when your daughter opens up her Gmail that she's used to communicate with that college and she goes on the virtual tours, or she goes on the web page, the bots click on it and they record where she is on on the website and how long she lingers and in some cases what she clicks on, so and all these things demonstrate interest. So we should not be applying to a nursing school if we haven't really thoroughly gone through the web page, at the least with your Gmail open in another tab. Right, So the bots smile. Oh, such a good infirm It's so good because every time we talk, there's something that you know comes up that I either forgot about or you know, may have, may have, I may haven't. I haven't heard of it yet, you know. So it's good to good to just always hear those little bits and pieces that many parents may not know about. So thank you again. That was good, very helpful. Oh I'm delighted. I'm delighted to talk about it. I'm also delighted that, uh, you're, as you said earlier, you're in the thick of it. Yes, so I being in the thick of it, you know it. Really it adds a nice element to what we're trying to do here with this podcast. Because I'm a little bit ahead of you with two kids in college. You're right in the thick of it. And we have parents listening who are whose kids may be a little bit younger, and you know we don't have the DeLorean flux capacitor loaded time machine for all of you, So we we created this podcast From Carpool to College for you and we are so happy you joined us here today. I'm Tracy Amadeo Tara Harritz, and we will hear you next time on from Carpool to College. Thank you. Please follow us, subscribe to us, like us, and love us wherever you listen to us. By subscribing to our podcast, you are helping everyone involved, and don't forget to share with others. And consider supporting us on Patreon because, as you may know, Tara and I are both public school employees and these podcasts are not free to produce. But our goal is to provide access to our information to everyone without spending thousands of dollars before your kid even gets to college. So consider supporting us on Patreon at the space dictator level, the JV or varsity level, we will give you extra resources and all our love and support. We also want to have special thanks to our producer, Chris Rywalt. Without him, you would be hearing all sorts of terrible bloopers and outtakes and now for some legal stuff. The content of this podcast is for informational and educational entertainment purposes only, and it's provided as is, with no guarantee of accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or outcomes. I could keep going, but I will spare you, and I will post this entire legal disclaimer on our website www. Dot Academic MENTORINGLLC dot com under podcast. Tara and I are so glad you joined us today on from Carpool to College. See you next time. Something like that. Yeah, done's good. Okay, Chris, make that pretty? Please? Pretty please? Make it pretty please,