Summer for college visits?

[Anonymous]

I have a junior and I'm thinking about organizing our summer vacation around college visits. I know it is better to visit during the school year when things are in full swing and we'll do some of that. But I was wondering whether anyone else has done college visits during the summer and whether you felt like you got a good feel for the school even though it was summer.

[Anonymous]

My DD (high school junior) and I did a few visits last summer. We felt they were worth it. It allowed her to get a feel if the physical environment was somewhere she would be comfortable. We paid a visit to 4 schools and she is planning on doing formal visits to 3 of these schools.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanks pp! Hadn't occurred to me that dd could make a follow up visit later during the school year if she really liked a place.

[Anonymous]

We did a bunch of visits during the summer; a few during the school year. If it turns out in January that there are schools on the short list that she hasn't visited in session, she can go in the spring after she's accepted. It just gets too overwhelming to travel all these places during the school year, particularly when they get added and dropped from the list with some frequency.

[Anonymous]

We found summer was a bad time for college visits. We managed to see quite a few during spring break...the colleges were open/different spring break schedules generally than the high schools. It's good for the kids to be able to see college students in action. Also, you can visit some departments of interest and meet with some professors.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your thoughts, pps!