<p>S2 will be a junior this fall. He is an ROTC hopeful. Since everything is more complicated when the student is simultaneouly applying for the ROTC scholarship and college admission, and the ROTC scholarship application process starts good six month ahead, we decided to do campus visit much earlier than normal - way before the Junior spring semester.</p>
<p>He does not want to miss school at all, so that leaves this summer.</p>
<p>However, I have the feeling that during the summer, you really don't get a good feel for the school. Am I right?</p>
<p>In his case, in addition to the the regular school visit stuff, he would like to spend a good amount of time talking with the ROTC commanders. </p>
<p>Any input from experienced parents will be greatly appreciated. Especially, any of you out there doing ROTC around the DC and Boston areas - the two target areas for S2 - I am all ears.</p>
<p>You can certainly visit in the summer. I think it’s more relaxed and a good way to get a grip on schools and narrow down the list or make trips from far away.
Make two trips if you can, one to Boston and one to DC.</p>
<p>Some schools have open houses and tours. Call ahead to the ROTC department and you should be able to meet with them as well.</p>
<p>I think summer visits provide a different angle to the overall picture and is very valueable.
We visited last summer prior to college applications in August. DD college list had all the Ivies + Mit.
We visited in the order of Columbia, Princeton, Penn, Yale, Brown, Harvard and MIT.
Yale and Penn was quite high on DD’s list but dropped heavily after visiting in summer.
If we have gone during the school year we might not have realized how bad the surroundings are as there would have been a lot of college crowd. But in case of the absence of large collge students the town provided a realisitc image of how unsafe the two campuses are.
The problem was less obvious in Columbia.
The summer trip was a big factor in DD decision to not apply to Yale, Penn, Brown and Columbia. Since she didn’t visit Cornell she endedup applying there as she didn’t have the negative data from her school visit.</p>
<p>So summer is an interesting time to visit colleges to get the reality information about the surroundings.</p>
<p>We did a big college tour in the summer - 10 schools over all. It was really the only way that we could visit that many schools. Son got a good handle on the ones he was most interested in and visited 2 of them much more extensively in the fall. The school he ended up attending was one he only visited in the summer. Once the acceptances came in he decided he needed a bit more info and visited that school for accepted student days, confirming for him that was where he really wanted to be. </p>
<p>Overall, I think summer visits can be helpful and informational, but realize he may need to visit a few a second time.</p>
<p>We made summer tours and they worked out fine. DDs got a feel for the local culture, architecture, athletic facilities, and there were some summer students around. </p>
<p>Teens often judge the school on odd qualities :an individual tour guide, a speaker, or the food (see the thread about Why I did not Apply to a College). You’ll see the process is often irrational. You can always revisit a campus if and when child is admittted, and financial aid is concrete.</p>
<p>I’ve said this many times before…summer, depending on when in the summer, can be a hotbed of activity on campus.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t visit the day after Commencement. ;)</p>
<p>However, many schools begin their fall semester the third week in August, when high schools are still on vacation. And in mid-August, sports begin, pre-orientation kicks in, work-study is back, and before you know it, you’ve got 75% of the students back on a campus that’s in pretty much full swing.</p>
<p>Summer is a great time to visit. Don’t rule it out.</p>
<p>You go when you can go. Last summer, I did a three day trip with Son. Later, Husband did a 4 day trip with him. No way we could have done this during the school year.</p>
<p>Most of our visiting was over the summer. What we saw was absolutely sufficient for geek_son’s evaluation of what was important to him and how the specific schools measured up. He found his dream school on a summer visit, and subsequent visits didn’t change that first impression.</p>
<p>Most college campuses aren’t totally dead over the summer; there are students in summer classes and students conducting summer research. Quieter, yes, but still lively enough to get a feel for the culture and the environment.</p>
<p>Our visiting trip was about a week long. Like missypie, I never could have scheduled a trip like that during the school year. Way too much going on in senior year (and on my job) to take a week off!</p>
<p>We visited at the beginning of summer in June, so some had classes going and some had finished. The only thing you miss is the rush of the full student body, so you might not get a good idea of how crowded it can get between classes. I personally liked the summer tour since it felt relaxed with less students.</p>
<p>Every kid is different but for mine the litmus test for his college visits was the students at the school, so we didn’t even consider going when classes weren’t in session. He knew within about half an hour whether or not it was a group of kids he could see himself fitting in with.</p>
<p>That said, you can certainly get a lot of information on summer visits if there are people there to answer questions. Some kids also get a lot just from getting a look at the physical space/setting. We made all of the initial visits, sent in applications, got results, and then re-visited the two top choices to make a final decision. Your son might be more willing (eager?) to miss a day or two of school during spring semester of his senior year. He could go take a second look at his top choices when the students are around then.</p>
<p>When does your HS start in the fall? Colleges tend to start in late August, while in NJ HS’s don’t start until early September, leaving a narrow window to visit while college is in session and HS isn’t.</p>
<p>You do realize that your D would be attending school during periods while the town is in fact full of college students. I think your D is missing out on some excellent choices, particularly Yale and Penn, both of which are very safe when full of students (which is not to say they are unsafe otherwise). In any event, to each their own.</p>
<p>Summer visits can be valuable for getting a feel for the size and location of a campus. However, even if it is a hive of activity, the activity may not involve regular students; rather, it will be students from other schools or high schools. For colleges located in some parts of the country, the impression one gets can be misleading (eg. Dartmouth in summer vs. Dartmouth in February.)</p>
<p>Still, summer visits can be more leisurely and allow you to cover more campuses. Once your students has refined his criteria a bit more, he can take advantage of school vacations to visit those schools that are now on his short list. High school vacations and college spring breaks seldom overlap, making it possible to visit colleges when their own students and profs are on campus and in classes.</p>
<p>Starting the college visits in summer gives you experience in seeing campuses, you can always go back during the school year. Also- your spring break could also be the college’s, or it could be an exam week… It doesn’t hurt to visit nearby college campuses when you are vacationing with a HS student, it is helpful for them to develop a concept of what college campuses are like so that they don’t dismiss the first campuses of likely choices because they don’t realize features all/most campuses have in common. You may even visit nearby campuses to get the feel for large and small campuses even if there is no intention of applying there. This can help in determining which factors to consider when evaluating campuses far from home.</p>
<p>We’ve done summer visits, and while it’s not (to me) a perfect time to visit, it did help both of my kids winnow down what they liked and didn’t like. They did a lot of homework on the schools before we visited, and we tried to combine it with other travel as much as possible to minimze expenses. We were prepared for the eventuality that both kids would/will make return trips.</p>
<p>Our school system allows three days off for school visits, and S2’s school delights in having major work due right around the three-day weekends that would make other trips feasible. We have no choice but to do the bulk of the legwork online and during the summer.</p>
<p>We did most of our college visits in the summer, and we visited a LOT of colleges (each kid has different interests). It was interesting to see what was happening around campus that time of year, and usually the weather was better (we gave extra credit to colleges that had cool water in the Admissions Office!).</p>
<p>I have spent quite a bit of time in New Haven and I never felt it was unsafe. Some colleges are just in urban environments, like NYU, Columbia, Yale, Brown, UPenn, Harvard, MIT, etc. The surrounding areas might not be picturesque even if the college is amazing. However, you have cultural and other opportunities at your doorstep in an urban environment that might be more difficult to access from farther away.</p>
<p>Anyway, best of luck, hyeonjlee and others making the rounds this summer!</p>
<p>We did summer visits last year to DC, since that was the desired college location for S. (We visited Georgetown, American and Catholic.) After the visit, Catholic U dropped off the list. Because of the visit, Georgetown became his top college choice. (Yes, he was accepted, but he’s not going there.) </p>
<p>We had the same issue about not wanting to miss school during the school year. Spring break was reserved for visiting colleges we hadn’t seen yet or wanted to see again. The way things turned out, we didn’t end up going anywhere that week, as the short list of colleges were visited again at other times.</p>
<p>There’s certainly a fair amount of activity on a univ campus during the summer. And if a school is located in urban areas, a summer visits will give you a sense of the city - - even if the campus is dead. </p>
<p>But any advice re: visiting LACs - - small schools located in small towns - - during the summer?</p>
<p>We know both Yale and Penn are very good choices academically but college is not just that. It is full experience including the living experience of the city and its culture. DD and we were not comfortable at both these places. While Harvard and MIT were also in an urban environment but Cambridge doesn’t seem to be intimidating. We didn’t write off Yale, Penn and Columbia all together but put them in the pile to apply only if DD didn’t get into MIT/Caltech during the EA.</p>
<p>D just graduated from Yale. She had a great experience, including living in New Haven. I have two nephews that graduated from Penn, one this year and one four years previous, and they feel the same way. None of these three ever had a problem with the environment in which they were living. Quite the contrary, all speak very highly of their experience with both their schools and their surroundings.</p>
<p>Oh well, the subject of New Haven and West Philadelphia have been beaten to death in this forum. I hope your D enjoys wherever she ends up going to school.</p>