For the old farts only. AARP

[stomachmonkey]

Going to be driving all over the NE in a month, college tour with the daughter, yes she still has not committed anywhere, mostly because her mother is involved and the longer Mom has to make a decision the more "complicated" things tend to become.

Anyway, my lovely bride has suggested I sign up for AARP for rental car discounts.

What do the rest of you old farts think?

Anyone join?

Get any value out of it?

[motion]

Not worth anything in my experience. Priceline Express Deals are the cheapest you can do for a car rental.

[wdfifteen]

Good for prescription drug discounts. AARP discounts for most things are straight discounts from the provider, without the limitations the bulk buyers put on your purchase.

BTW, we'll be in the Boston area in late November. If we are anywhere close we should get together.

[flatbutt]

Not a fan.

[island911]

You know that's just a business, right? Business of separating money from...

[PorschePilot]

Kinda hard to beat Costco if you are a member. Normally the best car rental rates, an extra driver is always included.

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by PorschePilot

Kinda hard to beat Costco if you are a member. Normally the best car rental rates, an extra driver is always included.

^^^this

[motion]

I just checked Costco.com for a car rental rate for a trip I have coming up. It gave me the exact same rate as Priceline.com.

[McLovin]

I've not found it to be that useful. AAA seems just as good or better.

But to save even more money, skip the college tours. Unless she is a recruited athlete going to meet coaches who can guarantee an admission (or something similar), or she is contemplating doing a binding early admission application somewhere, the "vanity college tours" are a waste of time. Esp. for students like your daughter, who I recall has high academic numbers.

[JackDidley]

I joined because its time for me to get medicare. I can get a very good supplement plan through AARP for a good price. They also supply me with a ton of junk mail almost every day. No problem, I have a big trash can.

[Crowbob]

There's probably value in it. But not particularly to you. AARP has so much money, I'm not giving them any of mine. I called them up to stop the junk mail and it worked...for awhile.

[LakeCleElum]

Just as good discount with aaa as mentioned. I dropped AARP some ago after repeated junk and spam mail regarding political candidates I didn't respect...

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

BTW, we'll be in the Boston area in late November. If we are anywhere close we should get together.

Only there 3 days. Right now plans are dinner with Shuan on Monday the 20th so if the timing works you should join us.

Thanks all for the feedback on AARP.

About what I suspected.

But to save even more money, skip the college tours. Unless she is a recruited athlete going to meet coaches who can guarantee an admission (or something similar), or she is contemplating doing a binding early admission application somewhere, the "vanity college tours" are a waste of time. Esp. for students like your daughter, who I recall has high academic numbers.

We are doing the tour because environment is important to my daughter. It's rather "sterile" around here.

If it were just about going to a school where she gets a good education she could stay home and commute to SMU.

She wants a bit more out of her college experience and you really have to see it first hand.

Last summer we visited Rice, it was on her top 3 wish list.

After the tour, it was not even under consideration.

[Halm]

Lots of other ways to skin the cat. I refuse to join. They are too left leaning for my taste.

[nvr2mny]

Originally Posted by Halm

Lots of other ways to skin the cat. I refuse to join. They are too left leaning for my taste.

^^^^^THIS^^^^^
For me at least, + the junk mail, spam mail, etc..

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Halm

Lots of other ways to skin the cat. I refuse to join. They are too left leaning for my taste.

Ha! Just the opposite here. I save a few bucks on health insurance through them, but I also joined AARP because I agree with most of their lobbying efforts.

[scottmandue]

I routinely throw out their mailers.
Wife is a coupon queen so she signed me up.
Watching this thread to see if there is any value in it.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

We are doing the tour because environment is important to my daughter. It's rather "sterile" around here.

If it were just about going to a school where she gets a good education she could stay home and commute to SMU.

She wants a bit more out of her college experience and you really have to see it first hand.

Last summer we visited Rice, it was on her top 3 wish list.

After the tour, it was not even under consideration.

That's what everyone wants.
But an application costs $75, and most schools are on the common app these days.
Just apply to all that she is considering, see where she gets in and does not get it, then go and visit in the spring. There's plenty of time.
This is especially true for high academic numbers students. Because no matter who you are, at the very top schools (e.g., schools that have an admissions rate of 15-20% or less) admissions is very unpredictable. And the schools applied to are going to be the "usual suspects" anyways. So pre-admissions visits don't do all that much.
I think you'll find that once she has actual admissions in hand, 80%+ of the schools she visited will have been a waste of time.
Finally, visits can be helpful, but also can give very bad data. I've seen many crazy decisions made on the basis of things that happened on a visit. The weather was bad that day. The student volunteer tour guide was bad. Etc.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by McLovin

That's what everyone wants.
But an application costs $75, and most schools are on the common app these days.
Just apply to all that she is considering, see where she gets in and does not get it, then go and visit in the spring. There's plenty of time.
This is especially true for high academic numbers students. Because no matter who you are, at the very top schools admissions is very unpredictable.

Because we'll be there for my nieces Bat Mitzvah already so the flights are already covered and we need hotel for the entire time anyway rather than going back a second time.

She did not even want to talk to Alabama and after our visit there she loved the place.

There are benefits to early admit / commit, and a lot of schools want that before / around the end of this year.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by McLovin

So pre-admissions visits don't do all that much.
I think you'll find that once she has actual admissions in hand, 80%+ of the schools she visited will have been a waste of time.
.

I don't agree. i would visit as many schools and I could. How can you tell a good campus experience from a bad one if you don't have some basis of comparison?