<p>I don't know how we can fit in all the places we want to see for our twins (trying to leverage three-day weekends off school and the like) without having a few college visits taking place on Sundays. I'm totally comfortable getting maps and doing self-guided tours and hanging around student centers and the like ... but is this worse than just not seeing a place at all? Might it be misleading? Or better than nothing? Tawk amongst yourselves :-)</p>
<p>PG, you are so cute.
Well, according to my D, you are better off on a Sunday afternoon than a Saturday morning. On Sundays, people begin appearing, blinking into the light, to do homework and laundry.</p>
<p>Agreed…don’t go early in the day on a Sunday…it will be MIGHTY quiet on most college campuses (ditto Saturdays…but at least the tours and such are up and running). </p>
<p>Just a thought…if you are traveling far from home to a smaller school, contact the admissions office and explain your situation. They may be able to pair you up with a student for the day.</p>
<p>Here’s our experience: We went to see one school on a three-day weekend that had an official tour on Sunday. Of course there were no classes to sit in on, but apparently from what I heard from others who had toured that school, it seemed we got pretty much the same general tour of the as we would have on a weekday. My S was glad that we went. </p>
<p>HOWEVER - on the same day, since we were only going to be in that town for that day, we decided to stop by another school that was only about 10 minutes away. They did not have official tours on Sunday, but I thought we could just pick up a map and walk around campus, talk informally to a few students and get a feel for the place. That school was definitely NOT set up for visitors on Sundays. The admissions/visitor office was locked shut, and I hadn’t downloaded a map ahead of time to bring with us. The campus was nearly deserted. By the time we finally did get our hands on a map, my son was not interested and ready to leave.</p>
<p>So, for me, the lesson was - never just show up on a Sunday without an official tour, reception, appointment, student connection or whatever if you really want to get a feel of the school. Some places are empty and non-welcoming, and it won’t make a good impression. If you do decide to do it, I would print out a map from their website ahead of time, pick some buildings that might be open on a weekend, and head straight there. Without some plan in mind, the whole visit might backfire.</p>
<p>I love Thumpers idea of calling ahead and seeing if they will pair you with a student. I wouldn’t have thought of that.</p>
<p>We contacted the president of a club DS would be interested in joining. He graciously gave us a great personal tour. I am going to send him a little Starbucks gift card or something.</p>
<p>I would have prepared ahead of time with the maps and so forth … But I like that idea of asking the admissions office if there’s a way a student could give us an informal tour on Sunday. What’s the worst that could happen? They say no? Or, they blackball my kids for being pushy. LOL.</p>
<p>At a medium or large school, on any given Sunday, you can find an art show or recital or some festival of something or other going on somewhere on campus. Check the school’s calendar of events. Then there are three buildings you know will be open - the library, the cafeteria, and whatever building that event is in.</p>
<p>D called at 2:40 Saturday afternoon and said “Good morning” ! Just a fair warning that even if the Admissions Office is active on a Saturday, you still may not get a good sense of what a campus is like the rest of the week. </p>
<p>Another approach would be to post on the CC board for the college (if it’s a relatively active board). You may just scare up a student who is happy to show you around. My D loved to give tours at her summer camp and now would gladly spend some Sunday time with a family wanting a tour of her campus. (In fact, it was through CC board that D found a person to overnight with at the school she ultimately decided to attend.)</p>
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<p>I love it…LOL…like butta</p>
<p>Well, if you go in the morning, the kids will still all be asleep so that campus might look dead. </p>
<p>Thumper is right…ask the school if someone can show you around…sometimes a school can arrange for one of their student tour guides to do a walking tour on a Sunday.</p>
<p>Be sure you “get credit” for your visit. Schools don’t usually know who’s showing up and demonstrating iinterest if it’s a Sunday.</p>
<p>Pg, what schools are you interested in seeing? The idea of an unofficial student tour on a Sunday could work, particularly if you are willing to cough up a Starbucks card and you don’t want to do the tour at 9:30am.<br>
I know there are some HS students from my area interested in the school DD is at. They didn’t go up for a preview weekend due to previous plans. I asked her and she said she would surely show them around on another day…</p>