<p>Just curious as to whether (m)any of you started college tours with your Ss and Ds during the summer after soph. year. During school visits with our junior, I thought the sophs. we ran across were rushing things a bit and wondered why they were so focused on colleges so early in their h.s. careers. On the other hand, starting (as we did) over spring break of jr. year made for some rushed last minute visits and didn't allow a lot of time for reflection with respect to ED considerations. Fortunately, the "later" start to the process turned out not to have been a problem, but I'm considering whether to start a little earlier on the second go-around. I'd appreciate any thoughts, comments, and/or suggestions on the topic. Thanks.</p>
<p>Based on my DD's experiences, one or two VERY low key visits during sophomore year might have been helpful. My daughter's experience with colleges was very limited, and she is our oldest, so we had a rushed feeling during that tough junior year. Perhaps an informal visit to a friend or older sibling would be the best, not even a tour, just something to get them thinking, and develop some sense of size.</p>
<p>Of course, in our case it would have triggered parental angst one year earlier, which also would not have been fun.</p>
<p>Schoolmarm:</p>
<p>Sophomore year is a great time to visit some colleges in order to get a feel for the right type of schools (size, location, general atmosphere, etc...) Some information cannot really be obtained when colleges are not in session. But a general feel can be obtained. If the student is not in danger of overdosing on college visits, it might be a good idea to schedule some during spring break.
During junior year, the visits should be far more focused and designed to elicit more specific information from admission officers and students about issues such as academics, financial aid, housing, the social scene. Then in senior year, perhaps one or two visits if it is possible (that will depend on distance to be traveled, homework load, and other such factors).
Leaving aside the burnout factor, I think it is a good idea to string out visits. Junior year can be stressful if the student is taking PSAT, APs, then has to prepare for SAT, SAT-IIs, AP exams, class finals, etc...
Sophomore year presents less stress, but the student may not be ready to think about colleges yet. So it really depends on your student.</p>
<p>A great benefit is the sheer number of schools that can be visited if you start springbreak 10th grade. Such an approach yielded some real gems (Centre and Rhodes) which stay on the list that might not have even been visited if we were seriously culling from the start. </p>
<p>An equally large negative? (Possibly immature) First impressions formed by 15-16 year olds (even with warnings by parents) have a way of killing off fine schools that SHOULD have made the list (Davidson and Emory).</p>
<p>All in all, I'm happy for the early start although I realize that the she that she is now , is not the she that she was then.</p>
<p>Some of our most enjoyable visits were during sophomore year. We just visited 2 or 3 schools that happened to be near where we were vacationing, even ones that might not be on "the list" but to get a feel for the type of school (large, small, etc). No pressure then, took our time. We used impressions from these low key visits to help target the "big summer trip" last summer between junior and senior years.</p>
<p>Each kid is different, of course. Sophomore year would have been WAY too soon for my S. However, he and I, along with his close friend/my close friend kid and mom, did a very low key one day "drive-around" to various sizes and types of schools in the Boston area.</p>
<p>Key success factor (in our case): we moms specifically chose schools we were pretty confident our boys would NOT be interested in. Just to avoid what curmudgeon describes - 15-16 yr old first impression knocking out a really good fit school (truth be told, I didn't want any of the schools to suffer the "I-visited-there-with-my-Mother-roll-eyes" syndrome).</p>
<p>So we chose a bucolic small LAC, an urban-no-campus, an urban-with-campus etc. etc. This really gave the boys a feel for what style of campus appealed. And got them beginning to picture themselves in college and start thinking specifically about what they would be seeking.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, by the time spring break Jr. year rolled around, Mom and Dad and kid visiting college campuses was no longer cause for rolled eyes. ;)</p>
<p>If possible, I recommend visits during Spring break. Visits during the summer, while better than nothing, won't give the flavor of the campus with the actual students who attend during the year, as opposed to various summer programs. </p>
<p>We ramped up beginning Spring of 9th grade: one visit, combined with a vacation. 10th grade, 5 visits, combined with a vacation. 11th grade, Air Raid, Pearl Harbor, this is no drill: seven schools in #1 area, main purpose of 10-day admittedly grueling trip. The 9th- and 10th-grade visits set the table in a number of ways for the 11th-grade visits and from them D had evolved a sense of at least what was important to her and what wasn't in a way that wouldn't have happened had she not had the experience of the visits to react against.</p>
<p>My sophmore daughter has gone to see her sis at college many times over the years- but we haven't started looking at other schools
Things change so much the last two years of high school- I really want her to concentrate on what she is doing now-
some kids are interested this early- I know she talks about schools with her friends- and we may do one or two summer walk throughs if the mood seems right- but otherwise with this one- we will wait</p>
<p>schoolmarm,
We did one college visit (Penn) summer after sophomore year because we happened to be visiting in the Philly area. It was productive (tour and info session) in that my son knew from then on that he had no interest in an urban campus, no matter how strong the academics. We started visits in earnest during junior year. There are many colleges who do not have certain holidays off and whose vacations do not coincide with high school vacations, so we took advantage of three day weekends, spring break, etc. and finished everything by the end of junior year.</p>
<p>We visited two, both in conjuction with vacations. Both were schools with very strong programs in her area of interest (journalism), and both were schools which, if past standardized test reults mean anything at all, she is very likely/certain to get in. By visiting these early--before kids (and parents) start comparing notes about who's considering where and turning college admissions into a competition--I think your child stands a better chance of satisfying the "love your safety" mantra on this board, because he/she is judging the "safety" on its own merits. That certainly happened in our case; my daughter really, really liked the journalism program at Missouri, and liked the campus feel to boot. For her, it will change the whole way she approaches the admissions process.</p>
<p>I so agree with Marite - our college visits during that time were very informal, mostly getting a feel for the place, sometimes taking the tour, sometimes not. We looked at a huge variety of places (incorporating them into vacation/convention trips already planned - if we travelled at all, we incorporated some colleges into it, even if there never was going to be any interest). But it gave my S some background experience for when he was seriously looking. And, as others have said - no stress at all. I recommend it.</p>
<p>If you have a child who is a little lacking in motivation or never wants to listen to mom or dad, an early visit can help. Hearing what schools are looking for from an admissions person helps it sink in.</p>
<p>we did some early visits as part of vacations, starting the summer after 8th grade. S wasn't interested at that point, but mom and dad were, and it kind of got the wheels going. I would not incur actual trouble or expense to visit sophomore year if your child isn't interested yet, but if you have some campuses near you or near someplace you plan to visit anyway, it at least gives the kid some idea of what campuses look like and what sorts of things are discussed in the tours.</p>
<p>We visited three schools in the summer of my daughter's sophomore year. I called them "inspirational visits." My goal was just to show her the best of what was out there, not thinking that she would want to attend these particular schools, but to inspire her to do well her junior year. To tell you the truth, I don't think it worked. She just isn't ready to wrap her brain around the concept of college! She thinks I am rushing things. And of course, maybe I am, a bit.</p>
<p>
You may be on to something. In fact , I think you are. ;)</p>
<p>We took our S to visit 3 colleges during the summer after sophomore year. S was moderately interested and the visits got him thinking about what he wanted. He is now a senior and has applied to 1 of the 3 colleges we toured on those sophomore summer visits (along with several other apps). The one he applied to from the first tour just happens to have a strong scholarship program he may be able to get. When we initially visited, we had no idea they had the program or that he might qualify for it. :) So his applying there is just a coincidence! The one college he really wanted to visit on that tour quickly fell off his radar screen afterwards.</p>
<p>Whether it is helpful or not probably depends on the individual student. It may be more helpful to go while the college is in session, if the student is mature enough to get the whole concept of "fit", and is highly involved. Otherwise, it may not matter much whether those first little footsteps take place in the spring or during the summer. However, as your child matures in the process and understanding of what they are looking for, visiting while the college is in session probably does have a great deal of merit. My S is planning to do an overnight at any college he is seriously considering, after all the dust settles from the acceptances, scholarship offers, etc., before making his final decision.</p>
<p>During that first college excursion, we did the generic college tours and walked around campuses on our own after the presentations as part of our summer vacation. Our visits got more involved as my S matured.</p>
<p>In our case, it was helpful in a very general way to begin the trips at the end of sophomore year. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>During the summer after sophomore year, we took a long road trip and toured 10 colleges. There are pros and cons to this: </p>
<p>Pro - it was a good motivator for my daughter; she got a clear picture of what SHE needed to do to be accepted to these colleges. She also refined what type of college she was interested in.</p>
<p>Con - some (not all) colleges really didn't take her interest seriously; some colleges require interviews, but don't interview rising juniors so she will have to do off-campus interviews.</p>
<p>But besides touring the colleges, it was a great way to spend vacation time by seeing a lot of the country we hadn't seen before.</p>
<p>My brother and his family live near Boston. Their oldest daughter (of 4 -- youngest is first grade) is currently a sophomore. One suggestion for them is to take a few days here and there and visit all the Boston area schools they can -- to get a sense of whether she likes big, small, public, private, urban, suburban, rural, coed, women only, etc etc etc. This of course is quite possible if you live in <em>Boston</em> ! They can probably also do UMass/Amherst/Smith/Holyoke in a day trip.</p>
<p>Then ... she can start making lists of potential types of schools if she is thinking of a different part of the country.</p>
<p>Just one way of getting your feet wet a bit early.</p>
<p>I agree that much depends on geographic preferences. If it is likely that your child will only be applying to schools within say 500 or 1000 miles of home -- schools that can easily be visited in a long weekend or a driving trip --- then there is probably no need to get started too early with visiting colleges. On the other hand, if your child might be interested in schools on the other side of the country, or schools that can not easily be visited in a weekend, then starting early in junior year makes some sense as it allows you to plan an effective visit schedule.</p>
<p>When my daughter was finishing up her sophomore year, I bought a bunch of the videos from collegiatechoice.com. I just kind of picked schools at random - a large university, a small LAC, a mid-sized Catholic school - all in different parts of the country. This was a good, no stress way to introduce her to the idea of "college" and at least got her thinking about what college might be like (I still remember her shock at seeing a dorm room on one of the video's for the first time).</p>
<p>Just before junior year started, we were going to be back on the east coast (we live in California) for a trip anyhow, so I threw in visits to three schools that were along our intinerary. I stressed that none of the colleges was likely to be to her liking, just wanted us to get a sense of what a campus felt like to her. During those three visits, however, she came up with some things she definitely did not want in a college, and that made it somewhat easier for us to focus over the next year. We did a few short visits to schools on the west coast over three day weekends during junior year, and then spent spring break doing a long college visit trip in the midwest.</p>
<p>As firefly noted, many of the schools we visited in junior year didn't offer interviews to juniors, and even at schools that did do interviews, D. wasn't at her best since she hadn't yet clarified her list. She ended up doing local interviews or phone interviews this fall with several schools where she had already interviewed last spring.</p>
<p>And, as others have already mentioned, kids do change their minds alot. The list of schools that my daughter had at the end of junior year ended up being quite a bit different than the schools she has actually applied to. In fact, she dropped a school this fall that was her "favorite" after a junior year visit after she decided she may want to major in art, not just minor in it or take a few classes as she thought last year. As a result, she also is applying to two schools that we have not yet visited.</p>
<p>So, I guess the bottomline is - visits can be useful and wonderful, but they don't always lead to the final list you expect. :)</p>
<p>Wow - thanks for all of the great advice. We've decided to go with a few visits over soph. year spring break for many of the reasons listed above.
Marite: S already o.d.-ed visiting colleges with his older sister(!) but - for better or worse - he has different schools on his radar screen so we'll probably be starting from square one. Kind of odd since I feel like we've already visited every single school east of the Mississippi!</p>