I’m looking for opportunities to take 3 day weekend trips in September and October with D24, but schools haven’t posted their tour schedules yet.
We’re focused primarily on SLACs (not the top 20) in the mid-Atlantic/NE.
Thank you!
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It will vary by college. Your child can always contact the admissions department of each school and ask.
The tours often depend on tour guide schedules which are solidified closer to the start of school.
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Thanks - that makes it hard to plan a trip in September!
She has a rigid rehearsal schedule most Saturdays of the school year, so we just have a few windows of opportunity. I’d hate to book a flight and then not be able to make the tour.
@parent42 - i’ve been looking at the same things today; downloaded HS calendar, figured out when she has her activities. I’ve found two dates in the fall that work for her to tour colleges; but can’t seem to find anything on the colleges’ web sites. I think i’ll book flights through southwest as i know i can get the credit back if things change.
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College application process is like a part time job. May need to lighten up the schedule for a bit to allow for tours & interviews.
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Unfortunately, ballet doesn’t work that way. Either you are all in, or you quit. She can miss one Saturday morning for a tour and one for an SAT later this spring, and then she’s pretty much maxed out on allowed absences.
I’m counting on the occasional Monday staff development day for some Junior tours. We also have spring break, but we can’t cover 5 states in a week. 
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Smart. Don’t forget hotels - sometimes there’s one that is convenient to the school and the rest are 15+ minutes away…
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actually -thanks for that reminder. i think there’s a big game over one of those weekends, so that’s helpful. It’s funny sometimes how its easier to miss school than a mandatory practice.
and edited to add: yep - a $300/night price difference on our two dates due to a game. again, thanks.
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Based on the last few years(ourfirst college tours were Sept 2018), schools post September and October schedules in August, rarely before.
My ‘23 has a similar intense fine arts commitment every Saturday and even some sundays. Summer tours (after 10th and now finishing the last batch after 11th) really helped, plus some mid-week tours after AP classes were over in late spring of junior year. Don’t forget virtual programming has ways to interact with students and get more specific details on the schools.
Last summer we did 11 and even with some as self-guided outdoors-only, we still got a lot of information out of them and were able to expand or narrow the list accordingly.
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Great points - thank you!
It is frustrating. We found several would only post a month to 6 weeks in advance. It made it very difficult. There are few colleges who offer anything on Sundays, we did not realize that when we started planning. The timing makes it impossible to get to more than 2 full info sessions and tours in a day, even when they are right by each other.
Also, check for parent weekends, etc…those become tough on some campuses or hotels.
When booking flights, airlines do not think it will get much better in the fall, plan for late flights and extra travel time. Flying into one airport and leaving from another can help so you do not need to circle back.
Safe travels.
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Highly recommend this if possible. We are starting a HUGE trip next week, but are flying in and out of different airports at the start and finish of the tour.
Airfare and car rental prices are high this summer, but I got a large discount prepaying for the rental car and a special perk on my credit card. I’ve planned the trip where most of the driving is four hours or less, worked in a short beach vacation, and paid for the hotels using points.
Unless it’s convenient, I would definitely suggest flying in/out of different airports and doing a one-way car rental. We did one of these in the spring, and the cost was really not that bad, considering we saw all the schools of interest in that geographic area (quite large). We didn’t have to double-back to the first airport, which would be totally impractical given our tour.
In terms of posting tour schedules, the schools that D was interested in touring this summer only posted their schedules a couple of months before the date, so it pays to check EARLY and often. Until that happens, start planning your route, mode of transportation, and accommodations (BOOK EARLY), so that you have a rough sense of how you want to do the trip. Try to keep it cancellable/changeable at no cost (easy enough with car rentals and hotels). Then, if you speak to the school to get a sense of what days of the week they will have tours (assuming no pandemics etc), you should be well on your way to getting there.
DON’T leave air tix and car rental to the last moment.
Oh, and if the story is true and we are offered $10,000 per person to be involuntarily bumped off a flight (like the recent story about Delta on a flight from Grand Rapids, MI to DCA), D and I have TOTALLY agreed we’ll take it!
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I had a couple of other thoughts:
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Not to be nosy, but if D is applying in 2024, does she really need to do the tour this fall? As others have said, things may remain messy for travel/transport, so could it wait until Summer 2024? HOPEFULLY, things will stabilize by then. I guess there are far fewer students around in the summer, so there is that to be said for touring while schools are in full session. It’s fine for us, as doing these trips in the fall of D’s senior year would be difficult.
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Worst case, do the online tour and do your own walking tour of the school when convenient, even if no formal tour is available. Yes, this might not give you the full flavor, but it’s a very good option that we’ve used. As with many things associated with the pandemic, I understand this is a totally workable option for a lot of students to get a good feel of the school.
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My S also has similar weekend arts commitments so that even school weird days off don’t turn into a long weekend. We are going to a few places this summer to get the feel for what he likes and then will do very targeted visiting over spring break and then next summer. We have tours set up at a bunch of places for July and August. With S21 and no ability to do tours before acceptances we realized they really arent that important and your D’s activity will mean more to the school than a visity.
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Our kids had youth orchestra every Sunday all day. We visitors colleges during the summers, and on school vacations when youth orchestra wasn’t happening. Each kid went on a couple of full week trips that involved at least 6 colleges in the week.
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