<p>We live in California and visited 19 east coast colleges during the summer between 10th and 11th grades. While not ideal, we enjoyed the experience, thought it was very beneficial in helping daughter decide which colleges to apply to, and would do it again.</p>
<p>For initial visits, getting a feel for the campus size, layout, programs, etc. summer visits are just fine and I actually prefer them. We have done many summer visits so far mainly because of our schedule and the kids’ schedule. The kids know that the campus will be quiet, not an issue. They have ruled out some schools because of things that would have been discovered with or without students present. If they get down to having to pick “the” school to attend and are having a hard time deciding, we will go back when school is in session though.</p>
<p>My preferred time to go is on a Saturday. It gives you a feel for what the campus is like on a weekend, which to our kids is very important as they will not be coming home every weekend. We got burned with that by just asking people what the weekends are like when we were doing the visits with our oldest and don’t want a repeat of that.</p>