When to start visiting colleges?

[Anonymous]

I think it really depends on the kid. Neither of mine was ready to think about college their sophomore year, or even at the beginning of junior year when I initiated some "let's swing by" visits. By the Presidents' Day long weekend and Spring Break of junior year my kids were more motivated and able to focus on what they wanted in a college, and those visits were more productive.

[Anonymous]

I should add that although I think it makes sense for your sophomore to visit, some colleges may limit tours to juniors or seniors at spring break if they’re really busy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think driving or walking through a campus when you're near for another reason (vacation, family visit etc) is totally fine and can be fun. My DD was recently in Dallas for a sports event and drove thru SMU with another family. She has no interest in the school, but it helped form her opinion about campus size and location (decided she likes in or near a city), likes a campus with grass/trees and something like a quad (vs more urban campus like GW).

This. Make it incidental to other travel.

And, as someone upthread suggested, don't start with Harvard and Princeton. Instead, try to group different types of schools together. Go to Philadelphia and walk UPenn/Drexel/Temple and then go out to Haverford/Swartmore and then stop at Delaware or UMD on the way back. It can be done in a long day without formal tours, but you get a sense of big/small/urban, rural and suburban.

[Anonymous]

It all depends on your kid and his/her schedule. Mine has a very demanding schedule with sports/school, so we started early. I'm glad we did because the environment she thought she wanted (urban) turned out not to be what she wanted at all once she visited and compared urban schools to those in more rural areas. Just makes sure you visit schools that are matches/safeties, and not just reaches early on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is a sophomore. I thought maybe see some colleges during Spring Break 2022. Too early?

My kid wanted to start then. I thought it was early but indulged her.

In retrospect, it was perfect. We could visit at our leisure, over breaks, vacations, etc. It was fun, not stressful.

They get busier and busier with high stakes activities as high school goes on.

If this is your timeline, why not give her a College Guidebook (like Princeton Review's Best Colleges) under the Christmas tree this year (if you celebrate Christmas).

My daughter thought it was very exciting to start generating her list at that age. It also helps them consider what factors are important to them.

[Anonymous]

It’s not too early, but I wouldn’t do a solid week of tours. We toured local schools first and mixed it up with a big campus, small campus, rural and city. This gives the student a feel for different kinds of schools. Think about when you looked for your first house. In the beginning, they were all contenders, but then you were able to quickly access the pro/cons of each home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think sophomore spring break is too early. By fall of senior year, those visits will be vague, distant memories. If you happen to be near a college, there's nothing wrong with swinging by for a look-see, even a walk around, though I wouldn't book official tours until later. Most kids that grade are not ready to experience a campus in the same way that they will when they are a bit further along.

Fall of junior year is the earliest I'd do official tours, and even then I'd keep the number of tours down. Spring break of junior year is prime time, when the big picture starts to come into focus.

Of course, it's tough if your kid doesn't have much time off in the fall. Check the school calendar now - president's weekend or any other long weekend can be a great time for tours, though whether colleges will have classes on holidays will also vary.

+1

Never understood the early visits. Makes no sense, and your kid has no idea where they will fit in. Parents push way too hard, to their kids' detriment.

Don't generalize from your family please.

MY KID pushed me to start when she was a sophomore. She was very excited about the next phase of her life.

[Anonymous]

I think there's a lot to be said for visits late in or just after sophomore year, not to schools they might be specifically interested in, but to schools of a few different types (small, large, urban, not urban) to help them start thinking about how they might want to narrow down their choices when it comes time to make a real list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We visited a few in DS's sophomore Spring break, focusing on getting a sense of big schools, small LACs, college town vs urban. This was really helpful in focusing his search in junior year because he came away with a strong preference for a big school in a college town. He's now happy at VT. I don't think a big trip is essential -- you could get at these preferences via some weekend/holiday visits to schools nearby.

DD is a junior and tagged along on those visits and doesn't remember much but does have a sense that she'd prefer a smaller school. VT feels way too big to her so we've done a few LAC visits on days off school this year and will do more focused visits over spring break. Probably won't get to everything she applies to. If they don't fit our roadtrip area she can wait until after acceptances.

I suggest you buy your kid a nice notebook they can use to jot down their impressions. Otherwise they will mix it all up in their head.
Or they will forget 15 months later why they were excited about a place that now seems long ago and far away.

Those notes also came in handy when you kid was writing her supplemental essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on your kid and his/her schedule. Mine has a very demanding schedule with sports/school, so we started early. I'm glad we did because the environment she thought she wanted (urban) turned out not to be what she wanted at all once she visited and compared urban schools to those in more rural areas. Just makes sure you visit schools that are matches/safeties, and not just reaches early on.

+100 We did not visit any reaches. No point in helping them fall in love with a place they are a) unlikely to be admitted and/or b) we won't be able to afford. We visited in-state publics and OOS/privates with a reputation for merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Agree wholeheartedly with PPs who have said it's helpful sophomore year to visit a few different types of schools (small vs. large, urban vs. suburban vs. rural) if student is interested. DC is a junior and we're so glad we did this over spring break of sophomore year. My nephew had no idea of what "type" of school he wanted so he applied to many different types. In the end he chose large state flagship honors college -- but would've saved a LOT of work applying to 15 schools if he would have narrowed down the size/type of school earlier than after he was accepted. DC is glad to know with certainty what type of school so DC's applications list next fall will be pretty short. We purposefully chose to visit schools a couple hours away that we didn't think DC would apply to -- so there was no pressure to "like" a certain school or feel pressured to meet any stats.

[Anonymous]

I love colleges. I don't know that with a sophomore I would necessarily go out of my way but if there's one that may be of interest near where you are - I might stop by.

I drove my 7th grader and his friend to an activity at local GMU recently and I talked to them about the campus / college life while we were driving through it.

We have nieces and nephews in college and we've visited them with our kids - even though our kids are too young to really be on college visits, but I don't mind introducing them to the idea of college in the future.

[Anonymous]

My kids started touring colleges fall of sophomore year and it was great to just get them excited about their options, what it may be like etc. We would just add any local college that we were near while on vacation etc. Thankfully we did because covid came along junior year and really cramped that style down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think driving or walking through a campus when you're near for another reason (vacation, family visit etc) is totally fine and can be fun. My DD was recently in Dallas for a sports event and drove thru SMU with another family. She has no interest in the school, but it helped form her opinion about campus size and location (decided she likes in or near a city), likes a campus with grass/trees and something like a quad (vs more urban campus like GW).

This. Make it incidental to other travel.

And, as someone upthread suggested, don't start with Harvard and Princeton. Instead, try to group different types of schools together. Go to Philadelphia and walk UPenn/Drexel/Temple and then go out to Haverford/Swartmore and then stop at Delaware or UMD on the way back. It can be done in a long day without formal tours, but you get a sense of big/small/urban, rural and suburban.

+ 1 also. I read this advice and used it. For example, on a road trip we stopped at a college campus and had lunch in student center or when visiting city, strolled through campus. No organized tour - just getting a sense of what colleges look like. No stress involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a junior that has not done any visits yet. I personally think sophomore year is too young, unless tagging along on an older sibling’s tour.

I'm on my fourth round of this and I agree sophomore year is too early.