<p>Zoosersister is a sophomore this year. Hubby's job requires him to pick the entire year's vacation in January. We expect to possibly begin looking at colleges for her in late fall of next year. Since he has to pick vacation soon, ZS is considering putting herself on some mailing lists of colleges she might like to visit so that we can know what and when in terms of his vacation picks (even if that means visiting second semester of junior year and not using vacation for college this year). Is second semester sophomore year too soon to join mailing lists?</p>
<p>Hi, ZM,</p>
<p>No, I can't think of a single reason why it would be.</p>
<p>Many, many sophomores are on college waiting lists after taking the PSAT, so that sounds perfectly normal to me. Starting college visits a few months into junior year sounds good, too, as long as you keep in mind that her preferences and opinions will probably change significantly over the following year.</p>
<p>One of the very very very best things we did was start college visits early.</p>
<p>The earliest visits were just "one from column A, one from column B" visits of nearby campuses to get a general feel for large, small, urban, rural, etc. </p>
<p>The serious visits were over winter break (presidents' day) and spring break junior year. We were actually accused by other parents of "cruel and unusual punishment" for using spring break for college visits while they went to Fl and Mexico! (Spring break was the setting for our infamous 5-college-3-state-whirlwind-tour).</p>
<p>Anyway, this made things much easier when fall senior year rolled around. S played a fall varsity sport and had other activities that limited his ability to get away in the fall. More important: he knew where he wanted to apply and could get busy early and meet early rolling-admission schedules and EA deadlines.</p>
<p>Long way of saying that, IMO, anything you do to help your daughter start thinking about this early (as appropriate) is a good thing!</p>
<p>You can check college schedules NOW--just go on their websites and search for "academic calendars" and you will find vacation and exam schedules for next year--you'll need to check their fall breaks and spring breaks; you also might find certain days already set aside for prospective student events.</p>
<p>I'm a sophmore who's on a few college mailing lists, and I don't see anything wrong with it. I plan on beginning to visit colleges sometime this summer/next fall, and I agree that it's only going to help.</p>
<p>My daughter did not GET the connection between going to an interesting college and good grades until she went to a weeklong college guidance "camp" summer before junior year where someone other than mom explained it to her. It was amazing; her grades have been really high (knock on wood) this year. She did get a ton of mail after PSATs sophomore year but so much of it was from schools that only require Mommy to write a very large check that it probably just reassured her that even kids with mediocre grades could go to school somewhere with palm trees. I am definitely being much more proactive with her younger siblings!</p>
<p>DS2 is a soph and is getting mail already. DS1 got lots after the 10th grade PSAT scores came in, and it hasn't stopped. We looked at a couple of colleges while on vacation the summer after soph year for DS1. DS1 and DH did a five-school, five-day, 2200-mile trip (PA, MI, NY, MA, NJ) over Spring Break junior year. During Passover. They took a shortcut through Canada from Ann Arbor to Ithaca and couldn't even stop at Tim Horton's. The pain! The suffering! The agony! (and that was just my DH!)</p>
<p>The advantage: He had a list by April of junior year, had visited every school, sat in on classes and had talked to advisors/profs at most. Great spread of geography, selectivity, merit opportuntiies, and very strong in his areas of interest. The list did not budge, except for thinking about adding one school, until EA results came in. Made for a MUCH easier time this fall. Recs/GC forms were done/out without hand-wringing, his goals were established, which helped him really focus on the essays. He knew what he wanted and how he was going to get there -- and I am sure that it helped in his results.</p>
<p>DS2, on the other hand, is my every-finger-and-toe-in-every-pot kid. No real sense of direction yet, though he is doing very well in a tough program, so he is keeping his options open. He has gone along on a number of DS1's tours, so he has a starting point. I expect it will be very much a matter of "I've found my people" and we'll have to wait until serendipity strikes.</p>