I’d say don’t try to see too many schools in one trip and I’d try to limit it to one school a day. Two at the most. If you try to see too many schools, it can be overwhelming and everything can start to blend together. Make sure to get brochures from every school. I’d also say to only visit schools that you are going to apply to…
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I free with one college per day for this trip. But instead of staying later for dinner…I would suggest you schedule morning tours. Plan to get to each destination late afternoon/early evening before. Have a nice dinner someplace, and then poke around a bit…then get a good nights sleep. You are already where you need to be for the tour the next morning.
We found that much better than checking out of a hotel in the morning and driving to the next place before an afternoon tour.
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I would even consider dropping some of planned four official tours. Four presentations and tours is a LOT in that time frame. I do think walking around the campuses is great, though, and would encourage you to include some others in that.
What kind of grades does your son have now? UNC Chapel Hill or Duke or Wake Forest would be fun to walk around, but if he has no chance then I don’t know if it’s worth it just to get his hopes up. If he might be interested in a really small school Guilford in Greensboro (just a hop and skip away from Elon) is pretty sweet. Lots more going on in Greensboro than in Elon, that’s for sure.
You understand that state schools in NC are required to accept no more than 18% of their student body from OOS, right? That’s what makes schools like UNC Chapel Hill and to an extent NC State hard admits.
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In my original post I didn’t realize your son was a sophomore. Not only would I not do more than 1/day, I might not do four in that trip. I would turn it into a vacation with a couple of college trips rather than a vacation of only college visits. If this had been junior year and your student was trying to see places while classes were in session and finalizing the list to apply to, then I could understand trying to cram more in. But with the process just starting and having an extra year to fit these in, I’d find some sites and activities that you want to do in NC/VA, and then fit the college visits in between.
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My first trip with my daughter included 4 schools over 3 days. It was a lot and definitely too much for the day that included two schools. I agree with those who say not to overload on the first trip. My son is also a sophomore in high school and as of now, he wants to wait until the summer to start touring and to see how he does on the spring PSAT. We’re following his lead.
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We flew to Raleigh and did an informal look at UNC, formal tour of Elon and informal look at Wake Forest. Stayed in Winston-Salem for 2 nights. Biscuitville was fun for breakfast. Did a formal tour of JMU and informal look at UVA. Agree that you should look at JMU’s gym -it’s incredible and their food gets an A+ rating on Niche. Drove to Clemson for a tour I arranged with a student since we couldn’t get a formal tour. Flew home out of Atlanta.
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If possible, I would go to an academic information session rather than a general admissions info session. The admissions session often cover the same type of general how to apply to college information which is similar everywhere. We found sessions about areas of study more interesting, especially when professors presented.
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How many college visits per day depends on the proximity of the colleges to each other, how much time you have, how much money you want to spend, etc….
With both my kids, we visited usually two a day, sometimes as many as three. That involved being on campuses for first and last tours of the day. Once my son and I saw four campuses in a day. My son ended up at the last college we saw that day.
In contrast, my daughter and I drove five hours each way in a single day to visit one college. She did the tour with no students on campus and that’s the school she ended up at. Both scenarios clearly worked out.
Our goal on longer college trips was usually to do something else besides see a college, especially bearing in mind that there can only be one in the end. No doubt that these trips are fun, but I personally think that in the LA area there are too many other interesting things to see. I’d aim to minimize time spent on campuses.
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Another vote for not making this all about college visits given he’s a sophomore. Do other things in the area.
I see early visits as akin to going to open houses when you’re saving for a down-payment. It’s fun to see what’s out there and think about your own dream, because you will, at some point, buy a home. But you aren’t really in a mindset to buy this open house home…
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We did 4 schools in 2 days with a sophomore and 8th grader. They were not overwhelmed, but they were pretty interested in the tours. Two a day would be too much if the student is not all in on doing so. We toured JMU in the morning (probably would have done W&L instead, but they did not have tours that day) and UVA in the afternoon. Drove to Richmond, checked into a hotel, then did a fun cooking lesson that evening at Sur La Table in Richmond. Toured Richmond the next morning, then W&M in the afternoon. We then had a fun day at Busch Gardens the next day before returning home. Each school was about an hour drive from the last. On another trip, we toured UNC and Duke on the same day and felt that we had plenty of time. My older daughter is a senior now; I’m so glad we starting touring early pre-Covid.
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