I think some of it comes down to personality. Mine is very analytical, wanted to tour as much as possible, but didn’t get emotionally invested. My youngest would envision her life there and be devastated, wouldn’t attack same way.

Except if applying ED, touring is not helpful at all.

Drive through a nearby large and small college to get an idea. That is it. After that everything else is fluff and pretty much every college is similar and any differences are evident from online research.

After you get admission is when you can really dig for more detailed information that is actually going to be helpful.

Definitely tour if you think they want to apply ED. We toured Brown (my son now attends) and although they don't track demonstrated interest, it did give him info that he used in his application & video portfolio, so I'm glad we made the stop. There will be plenty of students on campus over the summer who are taking summer classes & doing research. There were a few schools that my kid immediately crossed off the list just based on their first few minutes of the campus visit, so definitely worth the time, if it's in your budget.

If you can tour over spring break then go. If you can’t and summer is the only time then go. I agree with others to tour the super reaches after acceptance unless child will ED.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most universities offer guided campus tour during summer? I'm wondering when to take DC on college tour - during spring break or summer. Particularly interested in Brown and Harvard, if anyone knows.

Classic mistake to tour just schools where your kid likely will be rejected. Then they feel like they've failed you if they're not accepted to those places (which they can't control).

Disagree. If your kid thinks they might want to do ED to a school, they should see it beforehand. But I don't think summer tours really offer a great picture of the school when students aren't around.

ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers. Which one are you?

A sucker with a child accepted ED to Penn. Think I can live with it.

Would have been accepted RD and would have had other options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another approach which I've read about on here a few times, is to tour *after* the offer has been received.

Disagree on not doing any tours before acceptances. Go to a handful of very different schools early on to get a sense of what your kid likes - SLAC, state school, urban campus etc. We deliberately started with places DC was unlikely to apply to take the pressure off and just get a feel for "type." We then toured a few potential ED schools, and waited for the rest.

Agree, do tours before. Recommend doing them before senior year, or at least before applications are due for the school you're looking at.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most universities offer guided campus tour during summer? I'm wondering when to take DC on college tour - during spring break or summer. Particularly interested in Brown and Harvard, if anyone knows.

Classic mistake to tour just schools where your kid likely will be rejected. Then they feel like they've failed you if they're not accepted to those places (which they can't control).

Disagree. If your kid thinks they might want to do ED to a school, they should see it beforehand. But I don't think summer tours really offer a great picture of the school when students aren't around.

ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers. Which one are you?

A sucker with a child accepted ED to Penn. Think I can live with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most universities offer guided campus tour during summer? I'm wondering when to take DC on college tour - during spring break or summer. Particularly interested in Brown and Harvard, if anyone knows.

Classic mistake to tour just schools where your kid likely will be rejected. Then they feel like they've failed you if they're not accepted to those places (which they can't control).

Disagree. If your kid thinks they might want to do ED to a school, they should see it beforehand. But I don't think summer tours really offer a great picture of the school when students aren't around.

ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers. Which one are you?

Also,
If the school your kid wants to tour has a good football or basketball program, try to tour on a game day-and go to the game! You might have to get tickets through stubhub or something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another approach which I've read about on here a few times, is to tour *after* the offer has been received.

Disagree on not doing any tours before acceptances. Go to a handful of very different schools early on to get a sense of what your kid likes - SLAC, state school, urban campus etc. We deliberately started with places DC was unlikely to apply to take the pressure off and just get a feel for "type." We then toured a few potential ED schools, and waited for the rest.

I completely agree (with touring different types of school before admission--and even before application!)

Several years ago my younger son (high school class of 2022) tagged along with my older son (high school class of 2020) to tour a school the older son had been admitted to (large SEC school.) Older son ended up not choosing it, but younger son fell completely in love with it! For the next year and half, he knew that was the one. Then in the summer before his senior year, we convinced him to tour a smaller local school, and he completely changed his mind. He ended up applying to other small schools, and ended up going to one of those (even though he was accepted at that big SEC school!) If he waited until acceptances before touring any schools, he probably never even would have applied to any small schools.

Anonymous wrote:Another approach which I've read about on here a few times, is to tour *after* the offer has been received.

The downside of this is that students should tour a school before applying ED if at all possible. Not possible for everyone, but if a family has the means and can squeeze in the time, in my opinion this is important.

Save the April admitted student tours for schools where a student is applying EA/RD.

Also, summer tours suck and don't tell you anything. It's hard, but you need to do the tours when schools are in session.

Anonymous wrote:Another approach which I've read about on here a few times, is to tour *after* the offer has been received.

Disagree on not doing any tours before acceptances. Go to a handful of very different schools early on to get a sense of what your kid likes - SLAC, state school, urban campus etc. We deliberately started with places DC was unlikely to apply to take the pressure off and just get a feel for "type." We then toured a few potential ED schools, and waited for the rest.

Ok to tour schools that might be reaches, especially if that’s the only time you have before your kid makes their final
List- but tour those with the understanding that they are reaches/lottery schools. It’s a tough conversation to have with your kid but it can save a lot of disappointment and heartbreak down the road. I had that conversation with my kid before tours of a reach schools, and I think it helped them focus on building a good list of targets and likelies. We all want to encourage our kids to shoot for the stars but they need to understand the odds.

Another approach which I've read about on here a few times, is to tour *after* the offer has been received.