Ugh. It is a hit or miss for spring break tours. Some of the schools she wants to see are open so that is great. But then at least four of them are closed. One has the option for an info session and then a self-tour. Some don’t even have that option.
Is it best just to skip the closed campuses or is at least worth a drive by? Wish we could change our spring break lol!
I would skip it unless you can’t get back to that area some other time. Being on a college campus when the students are not out and about feels like going to the zoo with no animals. The info session will rarely tell you anything not on the website in my experience.
Thanks @gettingschooled …kind of frustrating that the schools are closed during what could be a peak time for them. Understandable of course, but just a little bump I didn’t expect.
I think it depends a lot on the type of school.
A big urban school where lots of the kids live off campus can feel pretty similar over break, because a lot of kids will stick around and work, and you can still get a feel for the neighborhood, etc.
An LAC in a little rural town…don’t waste your time. When the kids are gone, there’s nothing there.
If you are in the area and do not expect to be back, and the school tracks interest, signing up at the admissions office and going to the info session can be helpful. If you can go back another time, that would be great too.
We did some Saturday tours with say a 9am info session and a 10 am tour. Often the campuses were pretty deserted, because of course kids were still asleep or in their dorms. We also did some summer tours, and while not ideal, at least gave a feel for the college and the surrounding area. It is not always easy to get to a school at time when you know it will be busy with students. If you are going anyway, can’t hurt to take a look. Of course, concentrate on the schools that are open.
If your child can remain open-minded, I would say go for it.
There is something to be said for understanding the layout of a campus, how much open green space is there vs. a sea of buildings and concrete mashed together tightly. Identify the likely buildings where your student would take their major subject courses and get a feel for how far of a walk/bus ride it would take to get from dorms to class.
What is immediately surrounding the campus…is it generally a safe neighborhood? Is there public transportation to get to shopping areas if the student won’t have a car?
My D took a Sunday afternoon tour of a deserted campus (day after huge Football game) and she loved the beautiful campus and was surprised at how easy it was to get around, as the layout of buildings made logical sense. Didn’t see any insides of any buildings, and the only student she spoke to was the student tour guide. She was impressed by what she saw, chose to keep school on her list and applied (but didn’t attend bc it was an OOS and didn’t give much $$.)
We have only been able to do tours during the summer and despite the fact that there are few students around, we have found the info sessions/campus tours, etc. to be worthwhile. We try to eat at the student union or cafeteria to get a sense of the food. The area surrounding campus is also important to evaluate - if your kid finds the town to be a real turnoff, that’s useful info to know… And while buildings aren’t everything, the style of the architecture, the maintenance of the physical plant, and the layout of the university are all important.
When we have acceptances in hand, we will visit campuses when classes are in session.
What do most parents do? Take your kids out of school at “normal” times (unexcused absence) to go on college tours? Many do not offer Saturday tours either. We are still putting together spring break plans the week before Easter, with college tours, and we are disappointed by how many do not offer tours or are closed.
We found the tours were still useful even when school was out of session. There’s still a ‘vibe’ you can feel. We did a spring break tour last year and many of the schools were on spring break themselves, but tours were still fully operating and crowded.
If a school offers a tour/info session, you can get a good feel even if the students are on break. Then if the school seems like a place where you have a high degree of interest, you could go back in the fall. But at least you would be able to rule out/rule in by an initial visit and then continue with a smaller set
We found that ‘drive bys’ were somewhat useful-- whats the off campus area like? how spread out or compact was the campus? In some cases it made us come back for a revisit- in others it made the school drop from consideration altogether. If it’s not too much out of your way- I’d swing by, but I’d skip it if it cost more than 1/2 day that could be used for touring schools in session.
I wouldn’t make a long drive to do a self-tour of an empty campus but if you are making a trip to see another school that is open and there is one nearby you are also considering that is closed, it may be worth a stop, especially if you go to an information session.
Our high school allows up to 3 absences for college visits. We’ve managed with S to not miss any days by planning long weekend trips around school holidays. It hasn’t been easy but we’ve been able to do it. Schools where that didn’t work, we visited in the summer. No, not ideal, but gave us enough info to decide whether it was worth pursuing, and for some of those schools we went back on accepted student days to get a better feel in his senior year.
For us it also worked well to do visits in smaller chunks. My kids burnt out if we tried to visit too many schools in one trip.
My kids find organized tours only slightly beneficial (getting to see inside dorm rooms is the biggest bonus of the organized tour.) They really like meeting with depts and possibly sitting in on a class.
Let’s be honest. Without students around, tours are just a bunch of old buildings; the same at every single school. It could be worth it, however, if only to get a feel of the surrounding city, town, area, etc.
There were several schools we visited that got nixed without a tour/info session due to the ride in through town or just the look of the campus. Old mill and factory towns are pretty depressing, with or without students. One very popular LAC looked so much like our high school campus that, although D had an appointment with admissions, we called from the parking lot to cancel. Maybe its not great to judge a book by its cover but hey, if the cover isn’t even appealing for $60K +, well then…
If the closed campuses are on your route, I’d do a drive by. If they are way out of your way, I’d not bother. When we have visited campuses over the summer, D17 rejected some because she didn’t like the surrounding area or the campus was large enough to overwhelm. Some kids are very sensitive to place; others couldn’t care less.
I have at least 2 schools where we are planning a drive by on Spring Break. They are on our way to other, open schools or not too far out of our way. I figure seeing the town and the campus is worth something. I remember going to Vassar with oldest D and after driving through Poughkeepsie, she refused to even get out of the car.
School visits are excused absences at our HS. In fact many teachers tell the kids they are a priority. We made visits over long weekends ( Presidents’ Day etc…) and many in the summer. For my kids personalities. These were MUCH better. They did not want to feel like a tourist gawking at the students. I know this isn’t an issue for a lot of kids but it was for mine and for several students we deal with when I volunteer at the college counseling office.
@“Queen’s Mom” Vassar was one of the places that prompted my comment. We did the tour and admissions talk, went to the art museum, had lunch on campus. My daughter LOVED it! Then we checked out the town. Not an automatic deal breaker, but she was less than thrilled.