Can kids visit colleges "just looking"?

[Anonymous]

My sophomore is starting to ask about colleges and explore websites. I know it is early and I don't want to overwhelm him or pressure him, but I think he would enjoy visiting a couple schools to see what campuses feel like without being there in the role of potential applicant. Can this be done? Going to mom's and dad's schools not an option (too far away). Anybody do exploratory visits in the sophomore year just to help DC see what colleges look and feel like? I was thinking of visiting a couple Va schools for starters. Thanks for any info.

[Anonymous]

Sure, you can do that. I would recommend you do the admission tours as that gives you a much better feel for schools than just walking around. At some schools the info session and tour is together (true at Georgetown and William and Mary.). Both my kids started the summer between sophomore and junior year just to get a feel for what appealed to them.

[Anonymous]

Sure, the schools love to get their hooks into them as young as possible!

[Anonymous]

Just because you go visit a school does not mean you have to apply. Sophomore year is not too early. the more schools you visit, the better chance you have to see what your son wants in a school. Most applications for EA/ED are November 1st of senior year so it makes a lot of sense to start early. Keeping in mind that junior year means SAT's and AP's doesn't leave a lot of weekends to see schools in April and May.

Summer is not the best time to visit a school. You really don't get a good feel for what the students are like as many aren't there. We try to go out to local student hang outs to see what the social life is like.

[Anonymous]

Lucky you! My junior DD2 is not yet interested in visiting colleges. Go visit! (But try to go while school is in session and have a meal in the dining hall or at least visit the "student center" and buy a t shirt or gym shorts at the campus store).

[Anonymous]

Of course. This is not unusual at all.

[Anonymous]

We visited several schools that DD will probably not apply to. We still get tons of mailings from these places, but I don't think an obligation is felt on either side.

This is what visits are for. Sometimes your kid loves the vibe at one school and just doesn't like the vibe at another school. And sometimes your kid gets the wrong vibe. (Tufts is diverse, really? Great school along other dimensions, but it's not exactly NYU.) But the point is to learn as much as you can about schools before you narrow it down.

[Anonymous]

I just took my 8th grader on a campus tour. They were happy to see him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just took my 8th grader on a campus tour. They were happy to see him.

Mine did several in 8th grade but only because he was tagging along with his sibling. Now that he's a junior I will say that there wasn't much value in those and we will visit a couple of those again. He's a pretty different kid now compared to 8th grade and has a much better sense of what's of interest to him. I wouldn't recommend doing tours in 8th grade for the sake of doing tours.

[Anonymous]

There's no harm in pre-registering and doing the official grand tour. You'll get extra "interest" points at some schools if the kid later decides to Apply. We have done a few tours "unofficially" and have found out those are not the best way to go, unless you know a student there who can show you around. In addition, it's important to go while school is in session, so schedule them when your high school is out, but college is in.