<p>When should a student start "formal" college visits (i.e. not just walking though the campus, but actually having a tour, etc.). Is it best to wait until you have some test scores, so the school might know that are interested in you? Or is that meaningless, because they don't care WHO they walk through the campus?</p>
<p>My vote is on the side of meaningless regarding scores.</p>
<p>Whenever. I think the summer between junior and senior year is ideal.</p>
<p>i think most people start in spring of their junior year</p>
<p>We did 1 state public's Junior Open House in Feb of junior year. Then did a couple over spring break and the rest the summer between junior and senior year. She revisited a few schools during senior year when there were students on campus.</p>
<p>Visits are really hard to fit in, so if early opportunities arise, take them. Some places have a junior visit day during second semester (Worchester Polytechnic does this). UMBC has a sophomore/junior combined visit day. Definitely start in the late winter and spring of junior year. Summer visits are all right, but most places are pretty dull then. Fall of senior year is really busy. You will have difficulty squeezing in visits, and should be working on applications by then.</p>
<p>Funny you should mention that, OneMom. I've been reading a lot about University of Tulsa and it seems like a good fit, we've seen the school. I looked on line and they have a junior visit day on a day DS has off from school, so I just signed him up.</p>
<p>I agree with OneMom regarding how hard to fit these things in. With my S, now a college freshman, we started with one relatively local college tour late summer prior to his junior year to get him thinking. Then' he visited 3 or 4 more through the school year, including visititing a cousin at his college. So, by the end of junior year, he had 5 or so under his belt. This gave him some perspective, but he still had no idea what he wanted, until we made some major multi-college trips during the summer. The trick is IMO, prior to summer between junior & senior year, to do enough to get them thinking about "fit" and "safety-match-reach" but not enough to overdose them. With every subsequent college tour, my S got more focussed...may take only a few visits for some kids.</p>
<p>For my D, now a HS junior, we hit a few westcoast schools this summer while she was out in Cali for a sports camp. I wouldn't normally push visits that early, but with my son's experience fitting in trips, I thought there would be little way to get to both west coast and east coast schools she might be interested in later on. I may push one or 2 more visits in this school year as they can be opportunistically scheduled, but the next main push will be junior-->senior summer.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don't know how people figure this all out if they don't have 90% of their visits done by the start of senior year. With S, he returned to his top selections in senior fall to fine-tune his preference list by seeing his favorite schools in session.</p>
<p>Ah, times have sure changed! When I was looking at colleges for myself about 500 years ago, I knew I had to go to a state univ. for financial reasons, there was only one state univ. that had my major, I applied (HAVING NEVER VISITED THE CAMPUS!), and was admitted. My first visit there was after I had already accepted and was invited to a scholarship competition weekend. One thing I can say-the whole process sure wasn't very time consuming! (Those were also the days of just showing up on a Saturday morning to take the ACTs....no prep whatsoever.)</p>
<p>I think a college visit or two just before or at the beginning of junior year helps a student get focused. However, I agree with the posters who have said that taking any opportunity to visit a school will be helpful. A student doesn't need to sit through the whole admissions office rigmarole - the best introduction is having an on-campus chat with a current student. The next best thing is to sit in on a class. The tour would be third on my list. Information sessions are generally a summary of what's on the website, although there are exceptions.</p>
<p>I think that Papa Chicken is right about the time frame. If you don't start early, you will be in a bad spot timewise. I also think that it is worth visiting a few places just to get perspective.</p>
<p>lololol, you should just go visit whenever you are seriously considering a school.</p>
<p>spring of Junior Year</p>
<p>We're visiting this fall (Junior Year) ... many times, the spring information sessions cater to accepted students ... and my dd wants to see the schools when students are on campus (as opposed to summer, when everyone's cleared out)</p>
<p>DS started in the winter of his jr year. DD, who is 2 yrs behind, went on many of those visit and benefited greatly. As long as there's no pressure involved, start as early as possible in high school and take the standard tours and info sessions. When traveling or visiting relatives some distance from home, take a half day and visit a school if you can. Be discriminating, but take advantage of the opportunities you have as early as freshman year. You may not get them again later. Also take advantage of school holidays, like columbus day, MLK day, and president's day. Most colleges don't give their students these days off, so it is a good time to visit campus while classes are in session, and without having to miss a day of school. (My kids hate missing school. It's hard to make up the work.)</p>
<p>Spring of jr year and fall of sr year are the time for serious visits, (overnights, sitting in on classes, and interviews). Spring of sr year is for post-acceptance, tie-breaker visits when deciding which school to enroll in.</p>
<p>I'm just applying to a handful of colleges that looks good, and then I'm going to visit the ones I get into an make a choice from those. Since my dad works full-time, and my mom both goes to college and works parts time, it's had for them to really just go somewhere.</p>
<p>I disagree with sheed30..sometimes you don't know if you'll be serious about a school UNTIL you visit...the visits are really important. Do a couple summer before junior year....but do most during the second semester of your junior year. I think summer before senior year is ok but you don't get a real feel for a school when it is not in session. I visited 9 during my junior year srping break and all but one was fully in swing. That's when you get a feel for things. This frees up the fall of senior year to do apps and second visits, if necessary. The only schools I really didn't spend too much time visiting were true safeties...i figured, if all else failed I would visit them only if I needed to after acceptances were out.</p>
<p>How should I approach visits? I live in Ohio, and many of the schools I'm considering are on the East Coast, about a 12 hour drive. My spring break is just Easter weekend, which isn't a good time for visits. I'm also not sure how willing my parents are to have me drag them across the country looking at colleges. I also will be working 45 hours a week during the summer, with the object of making money.</p>
<p>I know it's tough but you gottta fit it in. I did mine during spring break junior year adn my parents drove from Chicago to Maine, VT, MA, and update NY. It was crazy but doable and I was far ahead of the game when everyone was trying to cram them in during fall of SR yr. By that time I knew where I could see myself and had a clear vision of where to apply. It allowed me alot more time on getting good essays done during the fall when everyone else was trying to figure out where to apply...and it didn't distract me from school as well. Extend easter break by a few days of you can, it will be well worth it, trust me.</p>
<p>Started with son summer before junior year
Looked at seven schools in six trips
Finished with all schools under consideration by spring break junior year</p>