<p>I'm going down to visit my S (a freshman) at his university and am considering taking my 10th grade D to an admissions information meeting and tour. It will be mid-April and I am assuming there will be admitted seniors in attendance and then, mostly, juniors. Do you think it is too soon to take her on the tour? I don't want her to feel out of place or overwhelmed!</p>
<p>Will it be during the admitted students' weekend? If not, then your D will be among juniors. It is not too early to take her on the tour unless she is unwilling. In fact, it is great that she is combining this tour with a visit to her brother. It allows her to feel less pressure and to have a more personalized visit. An admissions information meeting is also a good way for her to know what colleges are looking for. Some of it she may know from you, her teachers and GC, but it is more effective coming from adcoms. She will have more time to take their advice to heart.
This tour may also help her define her own college preferences a bit better; she and you could then visit other colleges during the summer, fall, and spring of junior year. I think it's a great idea!</p>
<p>Let her go. You already know that the talk track is not changing much and it is an opportunity to really see the college for her self out side of the "canned" tour.</p>
<p>She will get a chance to catch up with her brother (he may even have a friend who could host her to spend the night and get a real feel for the place). If they have the same interest maybe she can attend a class with him, meet and talk with other students.</p>
<p>worse case scenario, she will tell you if she feels the place is not for her. You'll get another opportunity junior year to see if she changes her mind.</p>
<p>One every tour we took there were sophomores and even freshmen. Can't hurt to take her along to start getting ideas and setting goals. And we all know that sometimes Mom and Dad can say something and the kid doesn't listen, but when someone else says it...</p>
<p>We took my oldest daughter on a visit during spring break of her sophmore year, and on another one over the summer between sophmore and junior years. They were very useful in a number of respects, including one we hadn't anticipated, namely, she was able to view the schools on their respective merits prior to the frenzy of activity and fellow student comments which characterize junior year, and not view them from the standpoint of safety/match/reach which consumes some students' decisions. As a result, she "loves her safety"--so much so that she may well go there even if she gets into her match/reaches based on the strength of the particular program she's interested in, and her overall feel for the school. It's a good situation to be in as we approach senior year.</p>