We have a long list of the usual suspects that we want to see in late Aug early Sept. I’m assuming that schools will be giving tours, if not, we will just walk around. We have family in LA and Berkeley so that will bookend the trip. But the amount of schools is overwhelming and I can’t envision how to plan this trip. Possible schools: Scripps/Pitzer, USC, UCLA (?), Occidental, UCSB, UCSC, Cal Berkeley. Maybe Redlands and Cal Arts.
Will you be driving from No Cal to So Cal or flying? How many days are you planning for this trip?
We will fly into So cal and drive north and fly out from SF. We can have up to 10 days. Thinking of meeting up with inlaws over labor day somewhere fun TBD
I think it is going to be tough to do it all in 10 days. You will need one full day to drive up the state. UCSB and UCSC are not along the direct route north. How serious are you about those schools?
Here are a couple of links to previous threads that might help
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UCSB and UCSC are along Highway 1, which is much more scenic than I-5 anyway (though it would have to repaired in time).
I see a bunch of colleges in/around LA, UCSB and UCSC along Highway 1 and then ending at Berkeley.
Seems doable if you budget 1 day for each college (and don’t mind fighting through SoCal traffic).
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I agree with this. There really aren’t a lot of colleges on I-5, so imho you are better off going up Hwy 1 even if it weren’t the more scenic route. It makes total sense, and you have a half dozen schools to choose from along the way to Cal.
Is Cal Poly a possibility? Santa Clara? USF? Stanford?
For perspective, it takes about 5-6 hours to get from Santa Barbara to SF, if you don’t hit traffic.
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Totally doable In ten days.
You will need more time if info sessions are in person, so I’m accounting for that.
-Scripps/Pitzer one day
-Redlands and occidental in one day - Claremont colleges are in between those two but you need a day to see Claremont
-USC and UCLA - you can combine
- Drive up the coast to UCSB
- next day UCSC
- Finally UCB - can be combined with cal arts SF
That’s six days of college tours
You can drive up the coast more slowly and sightsee, if you want, or add in a few fun days in between.
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You’ll may get to experience driving above the clouds (well, fog) on Highway 1 as well (but keep your eyes on the road if you’re driving! Lots of curves).
Check out the website Daytripper University - will give you ideas for lunch, coffee, treats etc for each school and helpful as you plan your trip. We used it for all campus visits and super helpful to get a quick overview of the school and surrounding area. Enjoy your California road trip.
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I’m always an outlier with college tours, but given that there are so many more interesting things to do in a ten day trip to So Cal, I’d make college tours the low man on the totem pole.
If it were me, I’d do Scripps and Pitzer before lunch time. Then I’d do Oxy in the afternoon, and head to LA proper, day one. I’d see UCLA and USC before heading up the coast after lunch, day two.
If you’re going to see Redlands and Cal Arts that itinerary won’t work. Those two are not convenient to the others. I guess I’d see Redlands and the Claremont schools one day, then stay the night near Oxy because I think Pasadena is nicer than anywhere near USC or UCLA. You could visit the Norton Simon museum or the Huntington Library, which is gorgeous with beautiful gardens.
In the morning, you could see Oxy, then USC and UCLA, then head out on the I5 to visit Cal Arts. That would get you up north quickly, but then you’d really be schlepping to get back to the coast and see UCSB.
If you have all the time in the world, you could do the classic two colleges a day, but my honest opinion is that three colleges a day is very do-able and allows time for more interesting things.
How many days will you be in LA and will you be staying with family? If so, where in LA do they live? The same for Berkeley - do your relatives live in the city of Berkeley and will you be staying with them?
You have a very diverse list of schools. Is the goal to see as many schools as you can or to find the right fit? What year is your child and does he/she have any idea what he/she wants to study, if they want a big school, small school, etc.? Are you aware that the UCs do not give financial aid to out of state students?
If you are planning on taking guided tours, you will have to prioritize which tours are important to you. For example, prior to the pandemic, USC had an intro session, a walking tour and a college/department tour. UCLA offered an info session, a walking tour, a dorm tour and college tours. Both UCSC and UCSB had an intro session and a walking tour but their timing was pretty limited.
Many schools do not offer guided tours on weekends, especially holiday weekends such as Labor Day. UCLA, UCSC, UCSB, SLO and Stanford are all on the quarter system and do not begin fall quarter until the end of September. You can still visit but the campus and surrounding community will be relatively quiet in late Aug/early Sept.
I’d run a google maps for travel times between locations on the days/times you intend to travel. LA traffic notoriously awful. 3 schools in one day (except Claremont schools) is tough unless you are really disciplined about time on campus.
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I didn’t realize there was more than one cal arts so I’m not sure which one you’re talking about…
You need to figure out your goal here. If you are serious about seeing a college and you are coming from far, you really need to do an info session and a tour, but a lot of things are not happening right now in California so it’s not going to take anywhere near as long.
Honestly, you could do virtual info sessions since those are happening now due to Covid, and then you could just go in person to see the campuses and do a tour if it’s offered. We looked at USC after our son got in and nothing was open – it was a ghost town – so we just saw what would be his dorm area from outside and finished the whole thing in one and a half hours maximum. He had already done the info session online. When we toured it with our daughter pre Covid, it took half a day.
It’s hard to do all this during Covid as the campuses will be fairly empty 
We were always very disciplined, but we didn’t have to deal with So Cal traffic. We once did four schools in a day (not in So Cal), lol. It was fine. I am a native So Cal girl and have driven those freeways countless times.
I’ve visited 20+ colleges. We almost always skipped info sessions, because they were rarely useful (I’m lookin’ at you, Northeastern.) If we could, we did a tour. If we couldn’t, we did a self tour but always checked out dining halls, student unions, books stores and libraries. My son wanted to see gyms. Those are the places you’ll see students.
Indoor options might not be available during covid. A self tour on campus without going into buildings will likely be well under an hour, but I still think three colleges in a day are do-able, even in So Cal. It does depend on where you’re going.
Not the same schools…but we did these in less than a week…University of San Diego, Chapman, Claremont McKenna, Pepperdine, Santa Clara University.
Same geographic area, and I do think you could add schools easily.
We flew into and out of San Diego where we have friends and relatives.
Visited University of San Diego.
Left early and drove to the LA area. We visited Chapman and Claremont McKenna in one day.
Spent the night and visited folks in that area and drove to Pepperdine the next morning. Visited Pepperdine and took in the beautiful views as well.
Visited others for a dinner party and drove back to San Diego.
Flew to San Jose (only one parent and the kid). Toured Santa Clara and then did a walk around of Stanford because the grounds are so pretty. That was a day trip. They flew back to San Diego.
We relaxed and flew back to the east coast.
California is lifting COVID restrictions on June 15. Hopefully by late Aug/early Sept, colleges will be offering tours. 
This is the first time that OP has posted. I could be wrong but my assumption is that this is his/her first child applying for college. If that is the case, and his/her child is going to be applying to these schools then the info sessions and guided tours would be worthwhile. If they just want to see what campuses look like then walking around on their own would be fine. Many schools have self guided tours posted on their website (ex. UCLA tour, USC tour, Berkeley tour) For the UCs, some info sessions are better than others (UCSB >> Berkeley).
Scripps/Pitzer, Occidental, Redlands and Cal Arts can be done quickly. It sounds like they are visiting UCLA and Berkeley just because they are in the area. If that is the case then the department tours, info sessions, etc. aren’t necessary.