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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thank you so much for the helpful advice.  I agree summer is not a great time to visit.  I just see that junior year is so busy and hoped to get a head start so DS could do fewer visits during the school year.  But now I can see how that might be counterproductive.  As for helicoptering, if we are forking over $60k for a school, I certainly think that the parents have an interest in checking out the campus, too![/quote]

I posted earlier. I'd ignore some of the naysayers - especially people who are sharing their own experiences and not recent experiences with their kids.  Times have changed, even from 10 years ago.

We did some visits before junior year in part to get a sense of different types of schools to help DC figure out what she was interested in.  It was not at all counterproductive, and it made the limited time we had for visits during junior year much more focused.  With both kids in time consuming sports and heavy AP class loads we needed to minimize missed days during the year so were limited in the visits we could do during the school year.  We took advantage of spring break and long weekends but those don't always work out because the admissions offices need to be open too.[/quote]

I'm one of those who suggested that OP wait until her child's junior year.  My advice was based on my experience with my sons, who applied to college within the past 5 years.  I understand that it can be difficult to find the time for visits during the school year -- my kids were also varsity athletes with demanding courseloads -- but looking at websites is a good way way to identify schools that your child is most interested in visiting.  I would suggest that students and parents start with the admissions section, but then go on to peruse other website sections.  The online edition of the student newspaper can be very helpful in getting a feel for what's happening on campus.

Once you've narrowed your list, you should have enough time for visits -- you can go to schools that are relatively nearby on those non-holiday break days (grading/report card prep days, for example) and visit a few schools that are farther away during spring break.  Finally, I would caution against visiting too many schools, even during junior year.  It's more important for your child to have the time necessary to do well academically and in terms of fulfilling his/her responsibilities to extra-curricular activities.  And, please allow some down time even at spring break.  The college application process can be stressful and you want to have some fun along the way.     [/quote]

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