<p>When should we be visiting colleges? My daughter is a sophomore. I heard we should go during spring break of her junior year but I don't think she will get her SAT back yet. How would I select the colleges to visit?</p>
<p>Did she take a PSAT? If not, she might want to take a practice S
AT or two and see how she does. </p>
<p>And yes, spring break of junior year is a good time to visit schools, which will be in session. You can visit in the summer but she won’t be able to sit in on classes or meet students - although it’s still worth doing since it’s hard to visit more than one school each day over spring break. And of course, she can visit local schools during the school year on days that she has off from school but the college doesn’t.</p>
<p>Yes, she took the PSAT and got in the 90th percentile.</p>
<p>Use her PSAT score as a proxy for the SAT. The actual SAT is a bit harder (because it’s longer and people get tired), but that is offset by the practicing she will probably do. Remember that her grades, class rank and the difficulty of her coursework count for more than her test score. Look at the Common Data Set for each school she is interested in to see how her scores and grades compare to those of the students who were admitted. And if your school has Naviance, you can see how students with grades and test scores like hers, fared in the application process at different schools.</p>
<p>Our college visits with DD in tow will begin in earnest this summer (2011), between her sophomore and junior years in high school. We have visited our only local universities–University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University–many times over the past several years in connection with sporting events, Girl Scout symposiums, concerts, etc.</p>
<p>Our summer plan is to visit at least ten schools she’s previously identified, devoting a day to each, in Washington and Oregon, with a bit of sight-seeing thrown in too. We don’t feel this is too early to begin visiting campuses, as it’s quite likely we’ll have another ten or so to visit next summer as her interests change and grow. DD is a strong student academically and is also looking for volleyball scholarship opportunities.</p>
<p>Read thru a good book or two about college admissions. They will have a chapter on college visits – what to look for, questions to consider asking, etc. </p>
<p>At this point its probably too early to begin visiting colleges in earnest. What I suggest is a low-key approach focusing in the beginning on types of colleges. In your area find a large public, a college in a rural area, a small LAC, etc. Then during her junior year she can start visiting examples to get an idea of what its like. Some students may idealize a school in the heart of the city or a small LAC that’s the centerpiece of a small town, but once actually spending some time there they realize its not a fit. Once she has the type(s) that work for her understood will be the time to begin picking specific schools to visit.</p>
<p>As for when to visit, I suggest doing so while the colleges are in session. Students make up the flavor and character of a college, and even colleges that might sound very similar on paper will have different vibes.</p>
<p>I’m just going to throw out some advice here, whether you already know this or not… Do a lot of research on individual schools before visiting them.</p>
<p>Does your daughter have any specific academic interests that might develop into a major? I learned the hard way that it would be pointless to visit a school that doesn’t offer a strong program in what one specifically wishes to study. I began visiting schools my sophomore year in high school and, while I knew that I wanted to be a music major, I visited many schools (as recommended by my choir director) before I realized that I would not be satisfied with studying opera for four years. Seeing as the majority of these schools did not have programs for contemporary/pop music, jazz voice, or studio recorded music, I ended up not applying to almost all of them.</p>
<p>I also agree with what mikemac says in regard to types of schools and visiting times.</p>
<p>Basically, make sure your daughter does a lot of research on each individual school before deciding whether or not to visit. You should be researching the parts that concern you as well, ie. tuition, campus safety, dorm availability, etc. Spring break of Junior year sounds like a good time to start. If you feel like you all have researched enough before then, maybe you should visit some schools over the winter break of Junior year as well.</p>
<p>I agree with Mikemac that visiting school “types” is a good way to begin. So, too, is visiting potential safety schools. Finding safety schools to love is much harder than finding reaches, so it’s smart to start early.</p>
<p>^I agree with Hanna. We started looking at colleges in the fall of D’s junior year, often when there was a school holiday. Columbus Day weekend is a good starting point. We first started looking at the colleges that we considered either safeties or matches since we did not yet know what her SAT scores would be. This ended up being a good strategy for us.</p>
<p>We also made a point of visiting multiple schools in an area when possible. We might visit a state university along with a few LAC’s in the area. This gave us an idea early on what type of campus appealed to D, large vs. small, rural, suburban or urban, etc. It was interesting watching many of D’s preconceived notions get tested. Good luck to you!</p>