<p>I am an upcoming senior but I have yet to visit any college campuses. I plan on visiting several surround colleges (there are many because I live in Chicago), however, I am confused about whether I should start during the summer. I have heard many people say that a campus is not the same in the summer and because of this I am wondering if I should wait until September to start visiting campuses. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I would highly suggest that you visit during september or the end of august when classes start if you have the time. People are correct that during the summer there are not alot of people on campus so you wont really get a feel for it since it is almost empty. Visit during the school year so you can see how small or large the student body feels and the general atmosphere and attitudes of the students. It is nice to see that the students are happy and enjoying themselves and it will also give you the oppurtunity to ask current students questions about classes, the social life. etc. If you can only visit during the summer because you have alot of free time then I would suggest that but you could probably even visit now and visit again during accepted students day which is during the school year. I know there were a few schools I did not visit until acceptance students day because of the distance.</p>
<p>If you are already a senior and looking locally, why not make a trip now, so not to have all of the visits crammed into fall semester. For the schools that you particularly like, you can always go back for an “in session” visit, later.</p>
<p>I’ve gone on a few college visitations this summer, and I’m sure it would have been somewhat different during the schoolyear, but there was still a lot to glean from the tours.
But, later this year, once you have applied and have been accepted at schools, I would recommend visiting your top choices during the schoolyear.</p>
<p>thanks for all the help! the only thing is I am hoping to get a feel of these schools to see if I want to apply to them so I want to make sure I get a good feel of how the campus really is</p>