<p>Looking for advice on campus visits. Did you find the planning process overwhelming? Did you get burnt out doing a lot in a row, or spread them out?</p>
<p>I don’t think it is too hard to plan…do you want to do a spring break type visit and do a bunch at once? or do you want to go on weekend open houses? All I can say is that two in one day is difficult so don’t do that very often, if at all.</p>
<p>Thinking about going to visit a handful of schools in a different region, just trying to gauge the best method for organizing all of the things we want to be sure to fit in! </p>
<p>I have done two in one day a few times, and it has worked (only recommendable if the schools are within 90 minutes of each other)</p>
<p>try this: visit some nearby schools. Don’t drive more than an hour or two: an LAC, a mid-size uni, and a larger state uni. Sit in on a class. Eat in the cafeteria. Talk to the students and teachers. No, really. Talk to them. Do any of the schools shout “no” at you? Is it the size? the distance between classrooms? the anonymity? the everybody’s in everyone’s business? Such a nearby trip can narrow down your list and limit your visits to the kinds of schools you like. </p>
<p>I hated going on campus tours as a parent. They were dumber than dumb and the guides were almost no help for getting a feel of what the campus was like. What they didn’t know about the school was amazing. But on the other hand you very well could find them quite helpful if you’re a different kind of person. The tours turned me off, even at the beautiful campuses, but I wouldn’t let my child enroll in a school she hadn’t visited.</p>
<p>Great advice from @jkeil911 - Most people can visit an handful of different types without traveling too far. The local ones can serve as proxies for distant campuses with a similar profile. Try to go when school is in session and talk to the students about what it is like to live/study there. </p>
<p>No shame in applying to a school you’ve not seen but, like jkeil911, i wouldn’t send my kid there without a visit.</p>