<p>One of the best things my sons did was to do a university-based high school program when they were 15 or 16. Over the two or three weeks, they got used to campus living, good and bad, at their own pace. Later, they were able to concentrate on what they felt was important during their college search. An overnight visit, especially with parents in tow, is not really much of an education in what college has to offer.</p>
<p>On vacation , visiting relatives or friends, got a free weekend ? Stop by some local colleges D might be interested in. It's a great way to see if they like big vs. small- city vs. rural etc.</p>
<p>I also think this depends on the personality of the student. D#2 announced that she didn't intend to visit a college until she was accepted there! So we used a couple of sophomore year vacations to "pass through" some of the schools on her tentative application list. Most were immediately dropped from consideration, and D now has a much better perspective on what she wants in an undergraduate institution. So starting early worked with her.</p>
<p>Someone may have already mentioned this, but EA/ED really compresses time available for visiting campus'. Plus, D's high school treats college visits as unexcused absences, and has a strict "five unexcused absences and student repeats the year" policy. Consequently, visits during Fall of the senior year are hard to fit in (especially if the student wants to visit on a weekday when colleges are in session).</p>
<p>We visited two schools the summer after my S's sophomore year since we were in the area visiting friends and family - MIT and Brown. We did the formal tour in both instances - both for him to get a general feel of those kinds of schools, and to specifically consider them both. The colleges were not random but were part of the narrowed down list already compiled due to his strong interest in majoring in comp sci. Our S had been to summer programs (computer and math camps) at a few different colleges over the previous 3 years so already had an idea of the varieties ranging from small private suburban to state universities. We actually went back to both this past summer, MIT for a formal tour of the Comp Sci facitilities and Brown just to look at the town and a refresher of what the campus was like. Interestingly he did not initially like MIT since it was in a city but eventually decided that was not a problem. And Brown was still in the running until he saw the application! We visited two more schools during junior year spring break, and three while in Califonia last summer. If he doesn't get his SCEA he will do an overnight at his second and third choices over the winter. I do recommend if you visit after the sophomore year that you make your child jot down some notes right away about what they thought - those impressions will come in handy a year and several other visits later.</p>