<p>After your son/daughter goes through that "I'm not getting out of the car here!" stage.</p>
<p>Thursday nights.</p>
<p>^^^
Several degrees more informative then the campus tour.</p>
<p>The best times are those weird "teachers days" when most schools are is session, but your HS is not. The college tours won't be crowded and the hotels won't be overbooked. Make the most of these, even in fall of junior year. Try to avoid planning a visit to remote northern schools in the coldest part of winter, because a snowstorm may ruin your travel plans. Don't go during Christmas holidays or the 4th of July, because many schools are deserted then.</p>
<p>I agree with the posters who say to make safety and match schools a priority. However, if a student is considering an ED school, add that to your priority list. I am totally against waiting until acceptances are to visit - IMO, a student can squeeze in maybe two, or three, max, accepted student days, but it will be expensive and stressful.</p>
<p>midwesterner---that's exactly why we are trying to shove in a bunch of visits into August (even though it's fairly stressful to drive hours and hours w/extended family in the car to get there!!). A number of people have said, "Oh, just wait until he's accepted, then you can just fly out to the college!" Not quite that easy. </p>
<p>Once HS is in session there are all those fall after-school activities, younger family member activities, tough HS courses you don't want to miss, work obligations, etc. etc. Just way more hectic than the summer, and I'm going to make that extra push to get some schools out of the way now, rather than let it slide it into a hectic school year...!</p>
<p>My advice parrots most of the above. Do it as early as you can starting in your Daughter or Son's Junior year if you are going to be applying at highly competitive out-of-state schools. Spring break when college classes are in session give everyone the best idea of the school. If your D or S a good idea what they want to major in they should make appointments with the various schools Department Heads. I recommend you plan a full day at each school you are seriously considering unless you are just passing by the college and you want to see the campus. Plan--Plan--Plan ahead of time and make sure that you have clear ideas on your safety--match and reach schools. My son's good friend tried for all Ivy League Schools and got burned even though it was strongly recommended that he needed at least one good safety and one good match school to consider as well.</p>
<p>Visits are great junior year-- the earlier, the better, and throughout the year--a few at a time. My son was getting study-weary after a challenging sophomore year, and was recharged once he visited a few colleges that he could envision himself at. He looked up their stats and decided he would try to increase/maintain his gpa and test scores to match those he thought were a fit with his academic and other interests. </p>
<p>He started high school so innocently with the belief that the purpose was intellectual exploration and academic knowledge. Once he got jaded and realized he could crank out specific grades without being truly engaged, we became concerned. I really think those visits gave him a second wind, and provided him with a reason of why he was working so hard.</p>
<p>What about winter break in February. I think its only exclusive to the Northeast, but here we get a week off from school on the third week of February. Im going to be a junior and i was planning on visiting colleges during winter break and spring break</p>