<p>When we took my S to visit schools, my D was a freshman. She felt she just tagged along and would look and feel out of place. She acknowledges now that she enjoyed the visits, felt they were worthwhile, and now she has a few added schools that we don't have to visit again -- yet. So, having gone through this process with her brother, she's great when we suggest looking at the calendar and planning state school visits around days off. We're saving the summer for vacation centered around the schools in nearby states. Kind of fun meandering from place to place, actually. :) Before it's done she'll have seen all the schools she'll be applying to, unless she throws something in the mix we didn't expect. And we might repeat a couple of visits if she's admitted there and seriously debating.</p>
<p>Rachacha, Summer visits are maybe not ideal but I wouldn't go so far as to say they are not useful. By necessity, my son did all his visits in the summer. At some of the larger universities, classes were still in session. At the smaller colleges there were just a handful of students doing summer programs or research.</p>
<p>But all of the admissions offices were in full-swing: information sessions, tours, students to talk to, in many cases interviews. The cafeterias were all serving lunch. In most cases the facilities that he wanted to visit (the art departments) were open and functioning.</p>
<p>The plus side was that summer travel makes for a relaxed and focused visit. Time is not pressing. You can wander around campus, stay in the nearby town. Try to absorb and visulize.</p>
<p>In the end my son fell in love at first sight with the college that he eventually applied ED to, matriculated at and recently graduated from. His first impression, during summer, during a terrific thunderstorm, was spot-on.</p>
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When we took my S to visit schools, my D was a freshman. She felt she just tagged along and would look and feel out of place. She acknowledges now that she enjoyed the visits,
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<p>LOL, Zebes, your observation reminded me of how my D (as a h.s. freshman) literally fell asleep in the middle of her big brother's first college information session during his junior year, in front of the Dean of Admission and a dozen other people. I made sure the Dean knew she was NOT the prospective student! As luck would have it, that college became her first choice 2+ years later, but she stayed awake for her own search process.</p>
<p>Did not visit all, but most of the schools. After visiting a bunch in a burst, D decided most of the speaches were basically the same. It was only the location and campus that varied. Felt she knew herself well enough to make those judgements in some cases without actually going.</p>
<p>Current son has seen half of the private schools he applied to and not the other half. He would still need to go back to the ones he's seen if he gets in. He has seen his top state school choices. His schools are pretty far flung and it would be a very expensive and cumbersome trip to see all of them. He felt he'd rather wait until he knew if they were options. My DD did get into some schools that she had not seen and one top school had to be taken off the list, sight unseen, because it was too geographically difficult to get to it and the other schools she needed to see. April 1 to May 1 is not a lot of time to try to see three or four schools in any depth.</p>
<p>"I felt the student presenters were pretty honest as well."</p>
<p>I've thought so too, although you have to take what they say with a grain of salt. I recall a student at an Ivy saying that the importance of SAT scores was exaggerated...but he was a URM.</p>
<p>We did not visit every college our ds applied to. But we did visit the top 6 at the time-RPI, Rochester one weekend and Case-Oberlin-Wooster on another long weekend. And our state flagship during a Saturday open house.</p>
<p>As a result our state flagship fell toward the bottom of his list as a financial safety, Rochester was eliminated, and Oberlin-RPI-Case became his top 3 choices. </p>
<p>He did apply to several other LAC colleges but he did not feel compelled to visit since he was quite certain that they would not have been up there with the top 3, and certainly not with Oberlin. If something extraordinary had happened with the acceptance package he had ample time to visit before decisions were due. It didnt happened and we saved ourselves both time and money.</p>
<p>I was hoping to visit some colleges over spring break in March but I am noticing that on-campus interviews are not available until after May 1 (or even later) for current juniors at the schools we are looking at. We will have to fly and stay in a hotel so multiple trips will get expensive. My D is pretty outgoing and talkative so I was thinking the interviews would help her. But my D was hoping to visit while schools were in session. How did others handle the interview scheduling part? D is planning to do her apps this summer so wanted to visit before she starts writing.</p>
<p>See if the schools have some admissions "road shows", in which admissions officers travel the country and do interviews. My d interviewed at a local hotel for a school that was far away. Also see if your d can do an alumni interview in your area. Then she can visit now and interview later.</p>
<p>Dsultemeier, re the schools who say they don't do junior interviews until after May 1: It's been our experience that if you call the admissions office and explain your reason(s) for visiting now, and the reasons (distance, cost, etc) a second visit at a later date is unlikely, they will often bend this rule. It's worth a try, anyway.</p>
<p>I wouldn't necessarily suggest it for schools that simply don't do junior interviews - just the ones who say they only do them after May 1 (or some other date that isn't working for you).</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I think it is important to visit schools when they are in session ... looking at the buildings and getting the pitch from the admin folks are WAY DOWN on my priority list ... my kids seeing and feeling the kids and the vibe of campus is WAY UP on my list </p></li>
<li><p>I would like my kids to visit all the schools they get accepted to and are seriously considering going to</p></li>
<li><p>I would like my kids to visit a bunch of schools before applying to get a feel for things like big/small, city/suburb/rural, etc</p></li>
<li><p>I do not see the need and think it will likely be logistically impossible to visit all the schools to which they apply (assuming visits are while school is in session)</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks for the reply. To be more specific I looked at UChicago's website and it does say they offer both on-campus and alumni interviews with on-campus interviews only offered to juniors after May 1. So we could visit in March or April on a 3-day weekend and then do an alumni interview later. My D emailed our regional admissions officer about our visit and she reiterated the May 1 date so I would not be comfortable in pushing it. Do you think an on-campus interview will be considered any differently than an alumni interview? My daughter has no experience living in a cold climate so visiting earlier would also help with seeing if she can really take the cold. Thanks.</p>
<p>My daughter didn't visit any colleges seriously, until after she knew she was in (why waste a trip?). However, both of her brothers are in college, and she had seen several campuses before applying. </p>
<p>One regret, she never did make it to see Grinnell. I think that's the only one that she was admitted to that she did not have a chance to see. I have this feeling that had she visited, she may have ended up going there. However, she seems happy where she is, so it's okay. I just am a second guesser, by nature.</p>
<p>I looked at UChicago's website yet again and they are doing a "road show" in our area in late May. So we seem to have a lot of options for interviewing. I didn't realize colleges might be traveling through here again before the fall so that is good news.</p>
<p>My S visited Chicago in early fall of senior year and did his interview on-campus. We visited Reed while on family vacation last summer and he interviewed there as well. He talked to one admissions person when he came to present at DS's school. The other interviews were with local alums. (Wow. Just realized how many interviews he had! Didn't seem like that many.) </p>
<p>We were pleased at how easy the schools made it for kids to interview locally. They know it can be tough logistically and financially to travel all over the place. If you live in/near a major metro area, that will also make it easier.</p>
<p>There are people who can't visit all of their choices. At least visit the top two after the acceptances, but I have heard of students choosing to go to a college sight unseen! We have always had one or two that were "safeties" that we never got around to seeing, but when we went to my son's absolute number one choice, he did not like it, and luckily, we had not sent the SIR, or he would have been going anyway.</p>
<p>Thanks for information on interviewing. Adultparentmom: That is great you visited before your son went off somewhere he didn't like. We are spending so much time on the college search that I would have just had a breakdown when he said he didn't like it. </p>
<p>I thought we were way behind in visiting but am realizing that my daughter has been to a lot of campuses around our state for math contests or other events. But she wants to leave Texas so none of those visits count in her mind as official college visits. We have a local public university that is fairly large (25,000+ students). I took my daughter there several times last fall on Friday afternoon around 4 pm for math sessions and was surpised to find that the student center was completely empty. So one of my issues for our visits is finding a school where kids are there on the weekends, especially since she won't be coming home to visit except for major breaks.</p>
<p>Could have been that the students had gone home for the WE, could be the parties had started in the dorms. Either way, visits will help you figure it out. I don't think visits in-state are wasted, even if your D wants to go OOS. They have probably taught her a lot about what she is (and isn't) looking for.</p>
<p>Yes, dsultemeier, we were pretty shocked that my son changed his choice because we had sort of planned everything aroung this decision. He actually chose what, he tells us now, was his third choice. He even missed the deadline for a certain scholarship because he never had any intention of attending his final choice. He is a pretty independent thinker and does exactly as he chooses. It has worked out brilliantly, so all is well.</p>
<p>dsultemeier
Go ahead and do the March trip. Do check the school academic calendars beforehand to see if they are on break; Chicago and Northwestern run differently than most schools.</p>
<p>Don't worry about the interview at this point. Your daughter may well have no interest in a school after being on campus for 15 minutes - no need to put everyone through a prolonged visit if that happens. Interviews have diminished in importance as part of the acceptance process. Many colleges don't require them, and most are willing to arrange something for senior year. March is a terrible crunch time for the admissions staff, so they have a good reason for discouraging interviews.</p>