Anonymous wrote:OP here - makes sense.
I asked because we're going to be near Virginia Tech over Thanksgiving and I was thinking about just going and walking around campus.

How do you know what is a safety and what is a reach for your particular child? Is there somewhere to see an estimate of what GPA, SAT/ACT, and extracurriculars a typical admitted student has?

Absolutely visit since you will be so close.

For my eldest we did start in Sophomore year, and I am grateful we did. My second child is a sophomore now, and we will hold off - they’re not quite in the college mindset.

So it’s very student dependent.

If you are looking at schools far away, that require flights, you should start Sophomore year.

There is very little time to see campus when students are there. Spring break is one of the few times. So spring break of 10th and 11th are your best times.

If you are looking at schools that can driven to - you have much more flexibility.

OP here - makes sense.
I asked because we're going to be near Virginia Tech over Thanksgiving and I was thinking about just going and walking around campus.

How do you know what is a safety and what is a reach for your particular child? Is there somewhere to see an estimate of what GPA, SAT/ACT, and extracurriculars a typical admitted student has?

No. Did not visit any school. Kid visited Harvard and MIT when he was in middle school. Kid used to various schools in and around DMV to compete for various competitions or for other programs.

We decided to only visit the schools after he was accepted when he could narrow it to top 4.

Sophomore visits were only to schools where we would already be. Seeing a concert in a different city that happens to have a college of potential interest, book a tour. Traveling to Fl for Spring Break and there is a college 30 minutes away, go check it out. The let's hit 4 colleges in 2 day tours are too much at this age. DC didn't end up applying to any of the schools we saw when they were a sophomore, but they did help them narrow down types of schools. We didn't visit the two reach schools b/c we didn't want DC to fall in love. When they got into one, we visited and DC accepted.

There’s a world of difference between the kind of tours you get on a weekday in the summer and the hoopla of going to the biggest admissions event of fall or spring semester. We’ve done both and for the big events, they’ve had the pep band, cheerleaders and mascot, provided a lunch, handed out tons of swag, allowed us to meet and visit with faculty in dc’s intended fields of studies, had informational sessions on topics like writing your personal essay, financial aid, what support services they offer, and of course, had campus tours. In the summer, you mostly just walk all around the campus with your tour guide and briefly enter buildings.

My daughter was interested in dance programs, so she actually attended some summer intensives within a 4-5 hour radius. That knocked 4 visits out right there.

Did 4 trips for visits at other campuses, mostly on days off. One of them was during the VA private college week over the summer.

She did apply to 3 schools sight unseen that were in the Midwest. We never wound up visiting those in the end. Only one was a yes anyway, and it was just too far and remote vs her other options.

Visit after kid gets accepted. Totally different experience.

We started casually visiting summer between 10th and 11th grade and into the fall/winter. No guided tours, just our own wandering around. She began with 20 on her list, we went to 4 or 5 select ones that represented different environments (urban, rural, small private, large public) and that helped narrow the list from 20 to 9 or so based on what she identified as "her vibe"...

Ultimately we visited 12 and she applied to 5. Has heard from two so far and was accepted to both, waiting on the others!

Anonymous wrote:No, visited around half.

One piece of advice for visiting reaches: if you can afford to, visit any school that might be on the table for Early Decision OR might knock an ED school out of clear top place on the list.

This. We tried to visit ED contenders. I wish we’d had a chance to do a Midwest swing, because I think one or two of those could have wound up in the running for ED, but we didn’t. The schools are still on her list and if she doesn’t get into her ED schools, we will likely do a Midwest trip in the spring.

Started visiting schools summer after junior year and just finished final schools senior year fall break. Visited ten schools total. All track demonstrated interest.

Applying to seven others that don’t track, so 17 total. We will visit them if admitted in the spring and are still interested. Hopefully we don’t have to, as DS has an ED1 school that is a clear first choice. Visiting other schools was not going to change that.

An AO once told me that schools really like it when you attend their open houses. It shows that you are not just squeezing them in on a road trip.

I visited a lot with DC #2
1/2 of the schools visited got removed and she learned more about herself and what she wanted. Some schools she wanted to love - she didn't. Some schools I loved for her - she didn't.
Reminder - kids change a lot over the next few years. So give them the space to change their minds.
My oldest was all in on large urban schools - visited a SLAC and he fell in love with it. Decided to ED.

No, we visited the top two choices junior year. Applied early to 4 (including one ED.) Will submit more apps if ED doesn’t work out and will do visits in spring if necessary.

Visits really mattered for our DC. Visted the 4 schools he considered for ED and then others that were near those. In the end he didn’t ED so we visited some after he was accepted

Keep in mind that depending on when you can make your visits, some schools will only offer guided tours during the week, which makes planning ahead essential to find a school holiday to use.

My oldest kid is a senior so this is all new to us. We did a decent number of visits starting fall in junior year, but mostly to schools that were easy to get to and that encompassed a variety of aspects like large, rural, small, etc. She did apply to a decent number that we didn't visit and won't unless she gets in and she'd consider them strong contenders. She visited her top choice but only after she applied.