I’m a junior and want to start visiting schools, my parents both work full time so it’s difficult to find time to go. I was considering touring schools in the summer but a friend pointed out that all the students will be home for the summer and I won’t be able to fully experience what campus is like. I also don’t want to wait too long to tour school so I don’t think I would want to wait until school began again in September. Please help!!!
Weekends!
Weekday school break
Spring break. Also, many colleges start back earlier than high school in the fall. That leaves a nice window. If you want to interview, check when juniors can start that process. If you will need to travel to your schools and you want to interview on campus, summer may be a good idea in spite of the empty campus.
Do not ED without spending a night/day on campus first if possible. This is generally an option made available only to seniors.
Lots to consider!
@maddie321 Given your constraints, I think you should go whenever you have the opportunity to do so and to start as soon as possible. Many colleges purposely schedule Spring Open Houses on weekends or during high school holidays such as Presidents Day and Easter/Spring Break because they know it would be difficult for families to miss school or work. Visiting during the week when classes are in session would be ideal but you could still get a lot out of a visit on a weekend or even during the summer. On 90% of our non-Open House weekend or summer visits, current students were either the tour guides or made available by Admissions to talk to us. Also, most colleges have summer sessions so they are never completely empty. We visited many schools that way and it allowed us to compare large vs small, suburban vs urban, public vs. private on a schedule that was convenient for us. If you are not applying ED, then there is always the option of visiting in the Spring of your Senior year during Accepted Student Days to help you decide where you want to go.
If you have to go in the summer, then do that. But, if you can tour on spring break, that’s also a good option. Many schools don’t do weekend tours. If one of your parents can take a day off, you can tour on a Friday or Monday if it’s within driving distance or you can make it a long weekend. Definitely do everything you can to tour when the campus is alive. If some of your friends are interested in the same schools, maybe you can go with their families when they tour. Someone pointed out that you could also do the beginning of the college’s school year when you aren’t in school, but I think people are forgetting that full time jobs don’t have summers. You may even be able to find time to go during a holiday weekend if the schools does tours then (like Presidents’ Day or something).
If you can afford it, apply to the schools you are interested in after you’ve done extensive research. Maybe watch some videos about the school and do some virtual tours. Then, you can go and visit after you have been admitted. Good luck!