I’m guessing the answer is yes…holiday weekend, very beginning of school in most cases, either chaotic with new arrivals or completely dead, right?
The situation: my DS19 is interested in many OOS options, and while we still have time to do college visits, I know how fast time flies and how hard it can be to travel everywhere he might want to apply. We have a family wedding to attend in Southern CA Labor Day weekend, and DS19 could visit Pomona and Oxy while we’re in the area. But if it’s a terrible weekend to visit, he’ll remain at home and we’ll save the airfare (he’s not required at the wedding, though would be welcome).
I’d definitely visit the schools while you are in the area. Colleges will be in session and some colleges hold class on Labor Day. Many colleges start in August so while it is early in the semester, it won’t be move-in weekend or anything like that. I’m sure we visited schools over that long weekend and it was not an issue.
In fact it is probably a busy weekend for college visit so be sure to make arrangements for tours/information sessions well in advance.
My D is at one of the 5C’s. I’m pretty sure they have class on Labor Day but not sure if tours are offered on weekends.
Oxy starts Aug 29th. I would go for it!
Many schools hold class on Labor Day so there will be plenty of kids around.
If by “visit” you mean walk around and get the sense of the place, that should be fine. If you’re thinking formal tours and interviews, probably not.
Check with the college. My kid worked in admissions and also ran tours. The school had no info sessions or tours the first two weeks of classes in the fall term…so their student ambassadors could get the term going.
There were no tours or info sessions on Labor Day weekend…but her school was on quarters and didn’t start until mid September.
DS’s school had move in day Labor Day weekend, as did a LOT of colleges in the area. A LOT. The traffic was awful, so…if you are going…I would suggest you see when move in Day is…because that’s not a great time to be on any of those campuses.
We did our first official athletic recruit visit over Labor Day weekend last year. You should be fine!
You gotta do what you gotta do. Should be fine.
I agree with those who’ve suggested checking with the college. My daughter’s college always had class on Labor Day, move-in was long over and classes had generally been going on for a week and a half at that point. My daughter did all of her visits on long weekends when her high school had a day off but colleges were open (Columbus Day, early Thanksgiving week, MLK day, President’s Day). That worked out well as she saw what she needed to see but never had to miss school. Of course, she only visited one school per trip that way, but we weren’t looking at multiple schools within any particular geographic area.
Thanks all! I had pretty much given up on the idea. I’ll check the individual colleges’ calendars and make sure they offer tours. We definitely want to do a formal visit instead of a ‘drive by’, if possible.
https://www.pomona.edu/admissions/visit/tours-info-sessions
For Pomona…no tours on Sat or Sunday that weekend. Will you be there by Friday?
https://admission.oxy.edu/portal/campus-visit
Occidental also M-F…no weekends… but they haven’t posted their fall term schedule for tours yet.
Thanks @thumper1. No, we won’t be able to tour until Sat or Sun, so it looks like a no-go this time around. That’s ok…we’ll make another trip solely for the purpose of visiting. Just thought it was worth a try.