Best time to visit?

<p>What is the best time of year to visit/interview with boarding schools on the east coast? I'm from California, so if we go we have to do it all at once. What time is New England prettiest?</p>

<p>give it a month, fall foliage should be in full swing by then </p>

<p>its also a good time to visit schools</p>

<p>Early to mid-October is a good time to see foliage. Be sure to make your appointments early; Columbus Day is a very busy day for interviews/tours. Another interesting time to go is during the first week of November. The foliage will be way past peak, but this is usually spirit week at boarding schools. You can get a sense of how spirited the schools are when you visit. Generally the week leads up to a football game on Sat. with the rival school.</p>

<p>I know this is a bit contrarian, but, unless you are trying to sell your child on a school, I think you are better off visiting in weather which is typical. In the NE, that means rain, snow, cold or mud much of the time-from late October into early April. Then, if your c loves the school, he or she is more likely to love it as a student-to the extent buildings and grounds are important. Revisits are in the Spring and the weather is usually warmer, so you will likely get the chance to see the school to its advantage then. I would probably go later in the fall, but would definitely sign up now. Another advantage with a later visit is you may know your SSAT scores and can be objective in your selection of schools and in discussions with the admissions staff. Finally, the students at the school will be more settled in, so you will have a more realisitc sense of the school. Good luck!</p>

<p>how's the first week of december?</p>

<p>No later than that in December as exam time is not the best time to get to see activities.</p>

<p>And since you are coming from a distance, try to go when they are not having an open house, so you can schedule things on your time.</p>

<p>okay. umm 3-7th of november?</p>

<p>Exeter's admissions office says that October and January are their busiest months and that probably applies to most prep schools. I guess that any time other than that would probably be fine. November 3-7 sounds pretty good.</p>

<p>We did our visits between Columbus Day and the first week of Janaury. The January ones were hard because they were last minute additions and while I got my first choice of dates and times (even calling in mid-December for the appt) the application for one was due just 4 or 5 days after the interview. Since we didn't think he'd apply, he'd only kind of started working on it. THEN, he decided YES and it was a cram weekend.<br>
So, if you have to do any in January, pick schools that the later deadlines - the schools we visited and applied to had due dates of eith January 15 or February 1 (and a couple in between).</p>