<p>Hi! I'm a junior-- I decided to pop into the parent thread to ask a quick question about visits because it seemed to me that parents would be pretty well-informed about this sort of thing...</p>
<p>I have two timing options for college visits this summer: the end of June/beginning of July or the end of July/beginning of August. I am unfortunately unable to visit during the school year, but I still want to have the best experience possible when I go. If I had to choose between these two dates, which option would you recommend? Are admissions offices/campuses more welcoming to prospective students at certain points within the summer? I would be doing a tour of the east coast (some ivies and LACs). </p>
<p>When you tour in the summer, is is best to spend a full day at each school, or to just go for the info session and a walk around campus and the surrounding area before moving on?</p>
<p>I'm sorry if these questions have already been answered. If anyone knows of a forum for general visit FAQ, if you could point me in that direction it would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>I think either of those dates would be similar. Unless the colleges your are visiting run summer sessions, things should be pretty quiet for both dates. The first date is after graduation, and the second is before orientation and the new school year. </p>
<p>Are you looking at big schools? Small schools? A larger school is more likely to have summer sessions and kids on campus. Either way, even if there aren’t many students there you can see the physical facilities and surrounding area, get your questions answered by admissions/tour guides, and show your interest in the school by touring at either of those times.</p>
<p>If you can’t get to a school, there is a section on College Confidential called College Visits (look at the listing to the left of this posting, near the top). People who have visited different campuses post their impressions. KEEP IN MIND that these are individual’s opinions, and tend to be skewed by their background (which could differ from yours), the weather, who their tour guide was, etc. What turns some kids on turns other kids completely off, so don’t take someone else’s opinion for fact - but the college visit reports are still worth browsing thru.</p>
<p>I agree that there wouldn’t be much difference with either of your dates. </p>
<p>We never spent a full day at a school on any of our visits - even open houses. A half day is usually enough. Of course, sometimes you just know from the beginning that it is not what you want and that cuts it even shorter! And for those that intrigue you, you would most likely want to make a second visit when classes are in session anyway.</p>
<p>I have noticed that some schools have one or several “visiting” days in the summer, where they seem to truck some students back on campus and have mock classes with professors. You might check if the schools you are interested are doing that and time your visits accordingly.</p>
<p>We visited last summer in July with my graduating daughter. I don’t think it really makes a difference when during the summer since there will be very few students on campus. However, I would strongly advise to spend the extra time on campus to visit with a faculty member in either the major you are thinking of or a subject you are passionate in. With plenty of lead time the faculty will be more than happy to make time for you. It was the highlight of each of our college visits. My daughter learned more about the campuses in this manner than any other. Faculty also have access to facilities which a general tour doesn’t offer so you can get into a lab for example. We actually ended up spending most of a day at each campus we visited.</p>
<p>Some campuses are quite busy places during the summer – with summer programs, reunions, etc. – but what you see is not the normal school-year routine. That doesn’t mean that you can’t learn a lot during your visit. Go to the information session. Go on the tour and ask questions (the tour guide is probably a regular student at the college who, for one reason or another, is spending the summer in the college community). If the dining halls are open (and they may be if summer programs are operating), try to eat there. Check out the area around the campus. Even in the summer, it isn’t hard to distinguish an iffy neighborhood from a nice one. </p>
<p>Although a visit during the school year is ideal, I think that the combination of a summer visit plus some extensive wandering around the college’s web site usually provides enough information to help students make good decisions about whether or not to apply to a particular school.</p>
<p>We agree with sharonohio: Faculty visits can be very enlightening and are worth the extra time and effort. And we always found it useful to walk around the area surrounding the school to get a feel for the place-even in summer, you can get some of the local vibe. Take advantage of the opportunity to do some sightseeing too-you may never visit these places again. Example: When we visited Brown, we discovered RISD, next door, really adds an artsy vibe to the town of Providence that we hadn’t anticipated. A walk through their museum was well worth the time. Then we dropped by the Breakers in Newport to check out the lifestyles of the 400, and what you can do if you have lots of money and terrible taste. Had we been trying to cram in two schools in a day, I’m not sure we’d have had as much feel for the place or as much fun together.</p>