Visiting colleges (part 1) - when to go

I took a great college-visiting trip with my daughter last year. (She was a Junior.) We saw about 12 colleges in four days of driving from Rhode Island to Washington, D.C. It was a wonderful, eye-opening time. She had gone to a couple college fairs, but there was no substitute for seeing the schools live.

Here (and in subsequent posts) are several lessons I learned...

• When to go: Junior year... or maybe even earlier. Visiting colleges and talking to students there changed the concept of college from hypothetical to very real, and desirable. Not only did my daughter start getting some ideas about where she'd like to go to college and (maybe) what she'd like to do at college and beyond, but also she learned for herself why grades matter re college.
  
  Since then, I've decided that I'll take my younger daughter to visit at least one college this year, when she's a Sophomore -- to give her some idea of what college is about, early on.
  
  
• When to go: when the college is in session. This is obvious, right? The students at the college, and the professors and courses being taught, are essential parts of the experience.
  
  Unfortunately there's a large overlap between regular high-school calendars and college calendars. We were able to go during spring break (April).
  
  It's easy to check colleges' calendars online, to see where there are times without overlap.
  
  It's also worth checking whether colleges will be fully focussed on pre-applicants when you go. April is a slightly tough time -- when we went, some of the colleges were catering to high-school Seniors they had admitted who hadn't yet decided whether to accept admission.
  
  I would guess August is similarly an odd time for colleges since students are only just getting into the swing of things -- it may be difficult to line up tours and stay-overs and class visits. And many colleges have long breaks in December, and exams in January.
  
  
• How long to go: Seeing 2 or even 3 colleges in a day is doable, even preferable (more on this later). Road time between colleges gives the student a chance to marshal his/her thoughts.