When should i be visiting colleges

How busy is it on weekend, or do most students go home? But the time of year you visit will impact what you see. When you visit during the school year, some colleges may allow you to sit in actual classes. If you visit when school is not in session i.

James G. Nondorf Vice President of Enrollment and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid University of Chicago There is no absolute best time to visit college campuses; it all depends on your own schedule. The summer before your senior year may present a great opportunity to travel and visit schools. After admission decisions are sent out in the spring, many universities host admitted student days or weekends, which can give you a good taste of student life and help you make your final decision on where to enroll.

We refer to this stage in the admissions process as the browsing campus options. You can select a group of colleges that represent different models within easy travel distance in this foray. Students do tend to get more excited and ready to begin the admissions process if they have seen some campuses.

Are there programs out there you can join to go and visit colleges of your preferences? If so, what are the names of some and what are their cost?

Several companies offer programs to help families plan and execute campus visits, including:. What should I bring to a visit to a school? After five or fifteen! More students are also finding it helpful to bring along a digital or disposable camera. Now, following the tour guide around with a video camera and conducting an on the spot interview is probably not going to win you many friends or lead to a relaxed experience on campus.

A few snapshots of key campus settings will likely be more than enough to remind you of high points and low points during your tour on and around the campus. What is one of the main things you need to know or do when you go to visit a college on its open campus days and what are some of the main questions to ask the people? How could it fit for you? What kind of college model is it large, small, urban, rural, competitive, arts-oriented, etc. Second, consider a few questions related to your own interests to which you would like to know the answers.

Then ask those questions of interviewers if you have an on-campus interview , speakers at campus information sessions, tour guides, students wandering around campus or in the dining halls, coaches, and faculty members, as appropriate. The most important criteria that will eventually make yours a successful and enjoyable college experience are the teachers, the academic program, and the match you feel with the students on campus. Consider what academic programs could be of interest to you, how the classes are run, and how students feel in general about their institution and their professors.

Should parents attend college visits with their child? Yes, parents, or at least one parent, should try to accompany a student on at least some of the visits he or she makes to colleges. There are a few qualifiers there. Given time and resource constraints, and many single-parent households, it is usually not possible for a student to have two parents along for every visit. We find that many families choose a divide and conquer strategy, letting Mom or Dad take a few visits each, letting son or daughter go on a few with a friend or another relative for a few others, especially later in the college visiting and admissions process, and sometimes allowing students to visit a couple of colleges on their own when they are making a final decision about a school.

Having a parent along can help a student to bounce reactions and reflections off someone he or she knows and trusts. The key is to allow students to take the lead in campus visits, and to let them offer the first responses to any given place.

The ensuing conversation can help a student continue to define what the best environment will be for him or herself. What would you say is the most important question to ask during a visit? That is, you need to ask a question, or preferably more than one, that relates to your particular areas of interest. This is a great idea, since it helps you to figure out where to focus your test preparation efforts for later tests in the summer or fall.

However, preparing for the ACT or SAT will keep you very busy, especially on top of your junior year course load, sports, clubs, and other extracurricular activities! With so much going on, it might be difficult to find time for college visits. If you do decide to visit colleges in the spring of junior year, plan on taking the ACT or SAT either well before that late winter or early spring , or during the summer.

The last thing you want to do is spend time visiting colleges that are not a fit for you based on your research concerning available majors, etc. Yet another disadvantage of visiting colleges early is that it is not always practical to visit distant colleges before you even apply. Maybe there is a college you are interested in, but it would be too difficult or expensive to visit early.

In that case, try to take a virtual tour, and if you are still interested, apply to the school. If you are accepted, then you can look into checking out the campus in person at a later time. Note: college students get a spring break in March, so you might not want to visit a campus during that time. It will not be a true representation of what the campus is really like during the semester.

You are better off visiting during your regular high school vacation in the spring. Lots of other students will be visiting during this time, and you might be able to carpool with friends! If the spring of your junior year is just too busy for visiting colleges, then consider visiting over the summer before senior year.

Visiting colleges in the summer before senior year is still early enough that you can rule out schools before applying later in the fall. If you visit a college in the summer, you will be able to find parking much more easily this is a big deal in some cities! One disadvantage of visiting a college in the summer is that there are not as many students on campus. Go on a Virtual Tour. Some schools offer virtual tours you can check out before the actual tour to get acquainted, or after to refresh your memory.

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