This was our trip schedule in June 2021, a week after S22’s school closed for the summer. It included admission info sessions and guided tours, where available. We were just emerging from COVID, so many places required masks indoors. It was hectic, but turned out to be a great family trip!
Day 1: Temple (AM)
Day 2: Pitt (AM)
Day 3: Ohio State (AM) and Denison (PM)
Day 4: Case Western (AM)
Day 5: Purdue (AM) and Indiana (PM)
Day 6: Illinois self-guided (AM) and Wisconsin (PM)
Day 7: Break (drive to Northfield, MN)
Day 8: Carleton (AM) and Iowa State (PM)
Day 9: St. Olaf (AM), Macalester (self-guided walk around noon) and Minnesota (PM)
My daughter and two friends tried to do 5 Boston colleges in three days. Logistically totally doable, but they eventually skipped the last one because they just felt overwhelmed and it seemed counter-productive.
It still helped her narrow down, which 2 area colleges to apply to (with little overlap with the other two girls).
As far as gargoyles…
interestingly, my Harry-Potter-daughter set foot into “the” big hall at BC and to my surprise instantly proclaimed “Nope”. That seemed to be a recurring theme - she couldn’t get out of the gorgeous Sterling library at Yale fast enough; and never applied.
He ruled out small schools, much to this parent’s dismay. He liked all the big schools, and applied to all but Indiana (no engineering). However, Iowa State became the favorite from the moment he entered Soults Family Visitor Center for the admissions info session. He is a happy Cyclone now.
I think it’s fine to do two schools in one day, but I wouldn’t do more than that. And I’d try to do two schools that are fairly close to each other, that way you aren’t rushing from one tour to the other. If you want, you could try calling the schools to see how long their tours are…
If it’s a school that your kid is REALLY interested in, I’d make that the only school you visit that day (or at least really try to) that way you can allow a lot of time to explore the town, sit in on a class, etc…
Boston area for D21 was 4 schools in 2 days: Brown, BC, Tufts, Brandeis, March 2020, finished the day before 3 of the 4 of them started shutting down and sending kids home for Covid. She loved 2, and the other 2 were cut. The close temporal comparison helped her make decisions and cull the list.
Funny - that’s exactly the first trip my daughter did - I think in 10th grade. OSU was just massive. And Dennison, she didn’t like - but for a small school, I thought it was large - area wise…
But it pinpointed to the middle and mid/small size.