This spring break I’m pretty sure I want to go on a big New England college tour and tour Amherst, Brown, Wellesley, Williams, Wesleyan, Yale, Tufts, Smith, and Vassar, among others. Anyone have any suggestions for when I start planning this? I’m a just-starting junior (obviously).
This is a great time to plan such a trip! We first did it two years ago, and my son is now a brand new freshman at Williams College. We did two big New England trips (we live on the East Coast but well south of New England) and visited Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth. It was great fun. We also did a big driving trip to the West Coast visiting Washington & Lee and WUSTL on the way West to Pomona, CMC, Stanford, and Berkeley and then swinging back through the University of Chicago and home again. It was great family fun, and it assured that our son had a good feel for a variety of different colleges when it came time to make a decision. In some ways, it undoubtedly helped, but he was still left with difficult choices in the end. His last two were Dartmouth and Williams. Given his first experiences at Williams, we feel safe in saying he made the right choice. He’s having the time of his life and classes haven’t even started yet.
So, yes, visit if you can. It’s great fun and valuable. And those visits may give you additional leverage when the time come to apply to these highly competitive colleges and universities. Just keep good notes from your visits to each school (these may inform your essays) and do at least one official thing – either sign up for the tour or the information session or both (so there’s a record of your visit). And remember to have fun. This is an exciting time for you and your family.
It is probably too early to sign up for information sessions/tours etc.(check online for each school) but you can start to look at a map to plan out the route, look at the academic calendar for each school so you can try to visit when they are in session etc.
In our experience, I suggest you visit one school per day even though many people try to schedule 2 visits each day. It’s easy to get burned out if you don’t pace yourself. Stay at hotels with pools so you can unwind at the end of the day. Also, if possible see colleges when they are in session. It helps so much to see other students on campus rather than just seeing buildings.
Some colleges offer specific days oriented toward HS juniors. You may want to see if any of these fit your schedule.
The colleges you are visiting are mostly reaches for everyone. You may wish to add in some safety schools and matches. Also, make sure you have run your list by your college counselor and/or naviance. I know far too many kids who toured Yale only to learn that they really had no chance whatsoever and could have spent the time elsewhere.
@roycroftmom i do have a 4.0 GPA, will be a Full IB Diploma candidate, and have scored a 33 act on practice with little to no prep- hope to score in the 34-35 range. I understand that some of those colleges are reaches for everyone but some others like smith, Vassar, wellesley come closer to the match range with my desired stats. I’ll definitely be adding a few safeties! Thank you for concern!
Smith, Vassar and Wellesley reject candidates with a 4.0 and strong ACT scores every day. Actually Wellesley rejects more than half of them.
@roycroftmom i definitely know that! I also have extracurriculars ive dedicated a lot of time over the years to, including some social justice and feminist activism that I think would appeal to schools like Wellesley. but perhaps I’m wrong to call Wellesley a match. it would be a Reach and perhaps Vassar as well. I think smith would definitely be a match, and Bryn Mawr as well, based on friends from my school. 
my safety will likely be my in-state flagship.
Re: #7
If, say, only marginally more than half, then Wellesley would be a match. Vassar, with its differentially lower acceptance rate for female applicants and highest standardized scoring from this group, might be a high match though. Smith, which reports a relatively high acceptance rate, would seem to be a fairly reliable match.
@merc81 my thinking exactly! thanks
FWIW Mt. Holyoke might be a good additional match/safety school that would be in keeping with the rest of your list. One of my D’s friends was very happy there.
You can definitely start planning now and figuring out your route, but you may want to cut your list a little. Maybe doing a little more research would help you narrow down the New England schools. You may need to do them all in one trip, but we found that after a few visits, the information sessions started to run together. I also noticed that my daughter got tired after seeing several campuses and tended to view the schools more negatively that were at the end of a string of visits.