<p>In your experience, when's the relatively "least" hectic/crowded time to visit Harvard before October? Around late August or early September?</p>
<p>The fall semester doesn't start until the second week of September, so you won't get much of a feel for the typical campus life if you visit in August.</p>
<p>Late August/early September is about the worst time to visit. The summer school students are gone, the Harvard students have not yet arrived back. The campus is as dead as can be for one always crawling with tourists.
The best time, if one is a high school student, is to visit during school break. High school breaks seldom coincide with college breaks, so the chances are high that college students will be around and attending classes during those times.</p>
<p>Good advice above. Unless you already have a recent personal familiarity with Harvard, I think it's crucial to visit when students are there, you can take a tour, go through an info session, and generally see that most of the preconceived notions you may have about the place (e.g. snobby, elitist, old money, inaccessible) are outdated. At least that was the case with our family.</p>
<p>As close as you can to October. I'm thinking 29 September :), catch my drift?</p>
<p>does it really make a difference if you go during the summer?</p>
<p>i live far away from a lot of the schools that i need to visit and would have to miss a week of school to visit during the year...</p>
<p>please advise</p>
<p>^ In your case, not at all...</p>
<p>@Poisonous - lol I don't really follow...explain?</p>
<p>^ what do u mean in my case/
:)</p>
<p>^^ oh sorry about that medkid. What I meant was - you should probably visit during the summer if you live so far away that you would have to miss a lot of school if you wanted to visit during the fall. Obviously doing well in school (which means attending classes) >>> visiting Harvard</p>
<p>Medkid:</p>
<p>Doesn't your school have one week of vacation every once in a while? Our old high school did. That's when my kids did their college visits. They got to talk to profs, students, eat in cafeterias, sit in lectures if they wanted.</p>
<p>I took a week off to visit Harvard/Amherst/Williams/Yale, and that was the trip that solidified my love for the Crimson. Over 16 million books? That is just pure sexy. I strongly recommend that you also take some time off, it is extremely refreshing to have a nice break like that.</p>
<p>@ marite
we do not have a fall break; we have maybe one day in between the first and second quarter, then we have three days for thanksgiving (but thats too late)</p>
<p>@ poisonous
i think im going to go back to some schools during the year (the ones i really like based on the summer visits) im already up here for a summer program...</p>
<p>medkid:</p>
<p>Why is it too late for Harvard? It no longer has EA. But don't visit at Thanksgiving. If you can take a couple of days off, visit around Columbus Day. There won't be any classes, but students will be around. You can travel over the weekend, do the guided tour over the weekend; if you stay through Tuesday, you can sit in on one or two classes, talk to some profs maybe (email first to find if they can see you) return on Tuesday evening. But perhaps the most important thing is to get a feel for the campus when it's in session and talk to students.</p>