<p>My daughter is a sophomore in HS. When do people usually visit colleges? I was told that the spring break coming up next month (March 2012) is a good time but it is too early for us to make arrangements. Is summer of this year (I was thinking August) too late? Thanks.</p>
<p>Summer is pretty dead at small colleges; I don’t know about larger ones. Even the tiny college we visited one summer had tours, but it didn’t have a bunch of students to talk to or classes to sit in on. My son visited several during junior year, and revisited favorites during senior year. Good luck!</p>
<p>Go during junior year breaks. Thanksgiving, February, and spring breaks are good to go in. You can also go on weekends for colleges that are close. I suggest that you don’t go during soph year, as you won’t have a good idea of what colleges to look at until you get some standardized tests done, and two years of grades in the books.</p>
<p>IMO there’s nothing wrong with visiting before Jr. year. It is a little earlier than most kids visit, but that can be good, it takes some pressure off, and you and the kid can just relax and enjoy. So, if you go somewhere for summer vacation and there is a “possible” school close by, set up a visit. Talk about the visit afterwords, and then when it matters more, you will have a little expereince with what goes on at a college visit, and know better what to look for, and to look at.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>^^ Absolutely, you can visit a college if it’s convenient but I don’t think you should spend an entire vacation doing college visits until junior year. The standardized test scores you get can differ from what you’d expect from your grades, which makes it hard to gauge what colleges you should look at.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters, soph. year is early to make decisive college trips. If you do look at schools, I’d focus more on seeing different types of school (ex. large/small, urban/suburban public/private etc.) so you can get a sense of the options out there. I would not focus on particular schools you might expect your D to apply to. We visited schools over some long weekends and during Feb. and March break of my D’s junior year. We revisited a few favorites early in her senior year. And definitely go when school is in session - it makes a huge difference.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving’s not that great of a time to visit, as colleges are generally out of session with many students off-campus.</p>