@RuralAmerica We were just at Duke on Saturday. It was gorgeous (and the info session was packed!)
@carpoolingma that is when we were there as well! Were you there in the morning or afternoon? My daughter was kind of iffy about Duke prior to going and even when we first got there. After the information session and especially after the tour (our student guide and her hit it off like they were long lost bffs) she was talking about applying ED there!
@RuralAmerica 11am info session followed by the tour. DS also LOVED it. I was really impressed by everyone we met there. And, with the game that afternoon, the school spirit was running high!
@carpoolingma we did the 9:00am session followed by a tour. By the time we finished the tour we had plenty of time to explore the rest of the campus, check out East campus and go to eat in Durham. I was also impressed by everyone we met there. It was by far our favorite visit yet, so we’ll see how the others stack up after!
So, is this college visits schedule nuts, or could it work? Day 1 - NE College 1, Day 2 - NE College 2, Day 3 - Play in NE tournament, Day 4 - Mid-Atl College 1 and College 2, Day 5 - NYC College
Not nuts. Impressive!!
I don’t know, I tend to bite off more than I can chew. We visited 6 BS in 3 days, and after #4 it was a blur…
@GoatMama
I think that is good with the possible exception to Day 4. Two colleges in one day is doable but exhausting. To do it that far into your trip may be a lot depending on your energy levels.
@GoatMama I wouldn’t say it’s nuts, but it’s definitely a lot especially with volleyball thrown in there! You might find, like you did with BS visits, the last few may be a blur! Will that also give y’all enough time to check out the surrounding area/cities as well?
@GoatMama - When we have to pick and choose schools because of limited time or when we have to decide between official tour or self guided tour, we look at the common data set to see how the school counts interest.
@GoatMama I think you could make it work if college tour times and drive times allow. Most schools we visited had 2 daily times for tours Just make sure to check drive times in rush hour. I took notes on my google keep app about our impressions of each school to remind us of the details of our visits.
Thank you all for the tips and comments.
@GoatMama , definitely doable. And in a weird way, the tournament could break it up in a good way. I confess, we did 7 in 5 days (all NE, upstate Ny) and it was fine. They didn’t blur together at all. But we couldn’t have done more!
Miscellaneous ramblings here. . . I’ve been lurking on BS Class of 2019 as we enter the vortex of the college admissions process. Lots of information over there, if you haven’t already traveled to the senior/6th former’s side 
In reading about the tour itinerary of @Goatmama, I am feeling inadequate. Please tell me that visiting 10 schools is enough. We’ve done Boston, PA/NJ, NY, Chicago, and some CA schools. Our issue is that DD HATES info sessions and tours! Her idea is to just organically wander around campuses. My idea is to get as many stats and “official” information as possible at each school. LOL.
Should we just save our pennies for revisits next year? I’ve discussed this issue with her college counselor (aka DAD), and he concurs.
Are we just copping out?
Cheers!
I think visiting 10 schools is perfectly adequate. I don’t have the time or money to visit every school my daughter is interested in, so when planning we really looked at getting schools that gave her a broad view of things. We tried for different sized campuses, urban vs rural, traditional vs new, etc…
I figured if she visited one or two schools that had HUGE student bodies and she knew she hated or loved that feel than most schools that size wouldn’t or would fit for her in that sense.
She’s been on three tours with her school. We’ve done three and have one more planned. She also has one scheduled this summer at a service academy through an alumni family member while on vacation with her grandparents.
@itcannotbetrue I’ve no idea what I’m doing, so if you did just the opposite you’d still be OK. At this point, I think we’re just exploring - big/small, rural/urban, LAC/research university - just as @RuralAmerica said. We’ve seen 4 during short school breaks here and there (unofficial visits, without info session and tour). Now we’re seeing another 4 (with info session/tour, plus a second look at a previous one). We will see 2 more in April, and that’s it - 10 in total, plenty enough.
I actually enjoy the school tours, but we all find them exhausting!
We did 3 official tours and 1 unofficial tour last week that all involved travel. This week I hope to squeeze in a couple of day trip school tours.
After that, we will wait until the summer. I think there is just one other school ds is interested in that counts expressed interest and involves a plane ride.
Am I the only one that gets intimidated looking at the regular HS class of 2020 thread?
@itcannotbetrue I would push for attending the information sessions. We did not do this near enough with our older kids- we were masters of the drive by. With our 2019, we found that it is only by attending the information sessions that you get a real glimpse into the potential fit of a school. I can think of multiple times we immediately took schools off the list after attending the info sessions. Schools like Princeton, Swarthmore, Harvard and Wesleyan all were crossed off the list immediately after the info sessions, we didn’t even stay for the tours.The reasons we removed were all unique, but it became apparent to both her and I during the sessions that they would not be a “fit” for our daughter. Other schools moved way up the list and we learned helpful tidbits that she included in her application essays. Another important consideration is that many schools count demonstrated interest in how they review applications and acceptances.
I agree with @vegas1. Also check those common data sets to see which ones count demonstrated interest. The info sessions will sometimes even tell you what kind of info they are looking for in the Why so-and-so essay.