I’m a freshman in HS and I’m going to be visiting Boston in a couple of days. I’d like to take advantage of where I am and visit Northeastern or BU. Am I too young? Should I schedule a tour?
Visit the college websites and sign up for one of the informational tours in advance. You are very early but it’s not against the law. It may give you a sense of the competition and give you some motivation
You could. It might help you get a feeling for college tours and info sessions. But by 3 years from now you likely will have forgotten most of what you see. Also, some colleges limit numbers on their tours so you might not be able to schedule on such short notice.
Plus, you have no idea what your grades or test scores are likely to be. Your thoughts on majors may be vastly different. Your parents may not want to discuss college expenses yet. So these schools could be completely inappropriate for you.
My kids did a couple visits as sophomores, more to see if they liked a specific size or type of school, then did the rest of their visits junior year/summer after.
If you go, be sure to bring a small notebook and write down your impressions after your visit. Use this notebook for all your college visits. This will help you remember the different colleges and what you liked/disliked about them, and what was important to them. If you end up applying to the school, your notes will help you answer the “why do you want to come here” essay.
When you were in 5th grade, would you have picked a good high school for your 9th grade self? Or your 12th grade self?
There is no harm in visiting if you are curious, but to be doing it as part of your search? Focus on the present!
There were freshman at almost all our info sessions. Take notes but also just start thinking of the overall feel of the school. You can get a sense if you prefer larger vs smaller campus, city vs rural, etc… Have fun!
I would have said freshman year is too early, but we just did a tour where my freshman son tagged along with his older brother. My DS21 may not remember very much about THAT school in two years, but I think he greatly benefited from getting a sense of what college life was about and why you may want to work hard so as to have choices. My view now is that it is a good idea to take a freshman to a couple of schools, just so they understand what all the college talk is about, but not worry too much about school A versus school B.
Sure, especially if there’s a chance you won’t get back to Boston in the next two years. I’d tour both just to get a sense of the Boston college scene so long as its not interfering with any other plans. Just being in Boston will give you a sense of the area and if those schools (which are very hard to get into btw) or any other school, there are hundreds in the general area, should be a consideration at all.