College visits by myself as a Junior? Help please

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Okay So I'm living up to my dad, who had an ungodly GPA, A 36 ACT, and a 1580 SAT (back when it was out of 1600) and his mom is super rich so when he was a junior he took two weeks off of school and traveled around the country by himself, looking at whatever colleges he wanted, He looked at cornell, grinell, lawrence U, etc... (ironically enough he picked Lawrence, the least selective school, and it was the best decision he ever made.)
Now my dad told me that he is going to do the same for me, but I havent even taken my ACT yet (although Ive been preparing 8 months in advance without stopping, so I think a 34+ is safe to say) and my GPA is a rough 3.72 (unweighted though, im big on AP classes,) and for my school, it puts me in the top 10% (top 5%, i think, actually.)
So I want to visit</p>

<p>-Lawrence
-Dartmouth
-Colorado College
-NYU</p>

<p>Do these sound like reasonable colleges for me to visit? or are they just completely out of my league? be honest please... thanks</p>

2

<p>I’d worry that two straight weeks off school would do a number on that GPA. At least at our school if you missed that long for college trips it would unexcused and you wouldn’t be able to make up any tests you missed.</p>

3

<p>Visit anywhere you like . . . but it would make a heck of a lot more sense to hold off on putting together a list until you’ve got your scores back, so you have a way of assessing which colleges might be possibilities for you. If you test in the fall, and take your trip in the winter or spring, then you can get the most out of it.</p>

<p>However, things have also changed since your dad was a teenager, and I think you might find encounter difficulty checking into hotels as an unaccompanied minor. If you wait until you’re a senior, many schools will offer you the option of sleeping over on campus - which would give you a much better sense of the place. So, if waiting 'til you’re a senior is an option, it might be a much better adventure!</p>