<p>Just wondering if it makes sense or even works to visit prospective colleges in the fall when it is in session rather than the summer (son is a junior this coming year). Can you visit at either time or do the colleges only allow set times to visit?</p>
<p>Are there advantages to either?</p>
<p>Also does it make sense to visit the department they are looking to major in to meet the professors?</p>
<p>Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>My experience is that colleges show a lot better when they are in session. There are some schools that have quirky calendars (UChicago, NW, etc.) and so you can go during the “summer” and still have kids on campus.</p>
<p>Make sure to check individual college websites for special programming (some have Open Houses on a certain day, for example) and many will let you know “better” times to visit (fewer crowds, more accessibility to students/classes/professors). I would definitely have your son sit in on classes and/or talk to the department, if possible. (Some schools are more flexible than others.)</p>
<p>Through my own bad experience with my daughter 2 years ago, I would recommend against visiting colleges in the summer if at all possible. While we saw many nice campuses, most of the schools were devoid of students and gave us a false impression during our visits. My wife and daughter didn’t even like the school she wound up attending during our summer visit. It wasn’t until she returned during the school year after being invited to compete for an honors fellow position that she realized she really liked the school.</p>
<p>We enjoyed visiting when school was in session. D was able to get a sense of the student body. In two instances the schools also offered to have D sit in on a class.</p>
<p>Try to go while school is in session; it’s generally a richer experience. That said, my son’s visit to the University of Chicago in late June was terrific–there were plenty of kids on campus and there was a lot of buzz. Washington University, by contrast, seemed like a ghost campus (plus it was unbearably humid).</p>
<p>There are benefits to visiting while school is in session but many schools offer special programs in the summer as well. We have done both. Both DS and we parents agree that we could not do more than 1 campus tour a day. My DS is also a junior and he has enjoyed having time between visits to digest all the info. In the summer we were able to meet with a recruiter that likely would not have been available on an open house day. During the school year we got to see more of campus life and see a class, as well as a lab, in session. We plan to visit before applying if at all possible and revisit his top 3-4 after acceptance. Many schools release their fall open house days in August so start watching for them. </p>
<p>Most of our visits were in the summer. Not ideal, but that’s when we had time, and they proved to be useful enough.</p>
<p>Ds1 ended up attending a LAC he first visited in the summer when no one was around. We revisited n April of senior year after he was accepted.</p>
<p>Ds2 ended up at a school we visited over our spring break (the school was in session) after he’d already been accepted EA. It was the first time he’d seen it. </p>
<p>He and I visited a couple of Claremont colleges in February of his junior year. They said it was too early to do an official overnight and interview, however, we did the tour and he sat in on classes. At CMC, he spent the night with a kid we knew from HS so he got a taste of the campus life. We also had dinner with a Pomona kid and his mom, who I met through cc. 
Even though he didn’t get an official interview, he was accepted to both of those colleges. </p>
<p>Visiting while the college is in session is ideal otherwise you’re getting an architectural tour which won’t tell you much about the professors, the student body, or the campus culture. We had several college visits during the summer which just didn’t tell the story.</p>
<p>Depending on the size of the school, there may be classes and session and profs there. We met with three different profs at one mid-size uni during the summer.</p>
<p>In session is best, although we did some in the summer (including the school D2 now attends). Use spring break (but you might find colleges have the same week off, thwarting your efforts there). We used other long weekends during the school year, and tacked on another day or two off school to fly and visit schools. But when D2 went to a summer program on the west coast, we decided it was better to have me fly out and do school visits with her at the end of the program, instead of trying to find another time when we could pay for her plane ticket (again) when schools were in session. It worked out, she attends one of the schools we visited on the summer trip.</p>
<p>I would recommend doing as much visiting as possible before school starts fall of senior year (and get all of his testing out of the way junior year, too, leaving time for 2 attempts at SAT or ACT with study time in between). You will be really happy if you have his school list and test scores settled by fall and don’t have to scramble on those items. Fall of senior year is crazy enough without adding college visits and standardized test stress to the mix.</p>
<p>Also, remember that (assume your student does not apply ED), you can go back to a few schools for accepted student days if he gets in. No more than 3, though – also crazy to try to do too much in April of senior year.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned being invited to sit in on classes. ASK about sitting in on a class when you (or your student) communicate with the school about scheduling the tour, etc. My kids sat in on classes at almost every college visit they did. There are a few very top colleges where I think you can’t do it (HYPS) – but pretty much all the rest will let your student do it if you just ask.</p>
<p>One of my kids met with profs in her area of major when classes weren’t in session as an alternative. She was my outgoing one. My introverted one really didn’t want to do that – one college scheduled her with an interview with a prof without asking, and she dumped that college off her list immediately (pure torture for her). So it depends on your student and his/her interest in meeting with profs. :)</p>
<p>While big state schools usually have a pretty good sized summer session going on, they usually have other things too like band camp, science camp for middle schoolers, conventions, football camp for the varsity team. There is energy on campus, but it is just different. </p>
<p>We’ve been trying to do summer visits on “Open House” days when we can. Not every school has them but I’ve found that you get a better feel at these type of events then on just a regular visit during the summer. We have had a good experience with the ones we’ve attended.</p>
<p>
There may indeed be some universities where you cannot sit in on a class, but HYPS are not among them. Each of those four admissions offices will have a list of classes that a prospective student may attend.</p>
<p>If possible, visit when it is in session. However, I did the majority of my visits during the summer and I was able to get a good relative feel for each one and whether or not it would be a good fit. If travel costs or timing is an issue that is when I’d recommend summer if you cant visit during the year</p>
<p>My daughter refused to visit colleges in the summer and planned all her college visits for fall of senior year. </p>
<p>We’re on the east coast; she wanted to visit east coast colleges, from Boston to DC.</p>
<p>She traveled alone. She took two separate week-long trips. It included one scheduled overnight visit at a LAC – for the rest she stayed with friends either college student friends or adult friends of our family who lived in the cities where the colleges were located.</p>
<p>I did not think this was a good idea, because of the time missed from school, but d. managed to clear things with all her teachers. </p>
<p>It worked out well for her. She dropped some colleges from her list, added on other that wasn’t on the list before, and was rained out of some anticipated college visits.</p>
<p>I know that she had interviews scheduled at some colleges. Aside from that, I really have no clue what she did or didn’t do while visiting campuses – (info sessions, sitting in on classes, etc.) – but it worked for her.</p>
<p>Like many things that worked for my headstrong d., I would not necessarily recommend the plan to others. But the point is, college admissions offices are definitely open for business and accepting of visitors during the fall months. I know that when my d. was in college, she hosted the high school senior daughter of a CC’er for an overnight at her college during fall months-- arranged via CC as her college does not arrange overnights for prospective students.</p>
<p>The only college that either my Ds ended up applying to that we visited over the summer was the University of Wisconsin. However, Madison is pretty vibrant in the summer. </p>
<p>ALL other college visits in the summer did not results in applications. I do not recommend summer visits. </p>
<p>We did most of our visiting during spring break of Junior year. Unfortunately most of the other juniors on the east coast were doing the same thing! But you do what you have to do. We squeezed in a few more local ones on a random Friday or Monday which worked well. We never visited in the summer; only during the school year. As for talking with professors, it’s nice if your kid is open to it. Mine only did that twice, both at schools he is not going to be attending. But even just walking around the department your kid is interested in (particularly if it’s STEM) can be enlightening, as you can typically see posters of the research that is going on. We did this at Swarthmore (where he is going) and some current students recognized him as a prospective and were very encouraging and friendly about the department (CS).</p>
<p>Fall is a great time to see the school, the limiting factor will be taking time off high school. </p>
<p>We did a junior year spring break college trip, and all 5 colleges we visited were in session - sitting in classes was my daughters favorite part of the week. It was a zoo (so many visitors!) everywhere we went - and my daughters feelings about the other applicants may have unfairly tainted her opinions on a couple of the schools. On summer visits, the relative calm put the focus more on the academic offerings and feel of the physical campus (city vs suburban, are there shops/movies to walk to from the dorms, would you need a car, etc). </p>
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<p>Thanks, I didn’t know this. The only one we visited was Stanford. We went in the summer, and it was a complete cattle call. The info session was packed, I am sure there were a couple hundred people there. Tour group was quite large. I figured as many students as go through those schools to visit, orchestrating class visits for individual students would be pretty challenging. So… I guess you can attend a class at ANY college.</p>
<p>I do know a dad who went with his daughter to see CalTech. He was bragging about how his daughter was invited to sit in on a class, so they must really be interested in her! I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it didn’t mean that… and she didn’t get in.</p>
<p>Hi- OP here. Great feedback!</p>
<p>One more question- how much of a chance did your S or D get to ask students at the school their opinions on the college or the profs/department when you visited? I know you can end up with a small sample with a skewed viewpoint but was it helpful?</p>