“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.” -John Keats.
If your high school junior is your eldest child, you may not yet realize the change that is beginning to percolate in your family life. You may not be psychologically prepared for the idea that school breaks can no longer be wholly dedicated to family vacations (Vermont ski trips, Caribbean cruises, visiting Grandma) or sports (spring training, traveling team tournaments). Store the skis and the snorkel gear: this year, it is time to focus on college visits. Plan campus tours for Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, winter or spring break, and Easter break, or Saturdays for nearby colleges.
Your high school junior is just beginning to organize a potential “college list.” That college list will evolve over the next six to nine months, so it need not be—in fact, it shouldn’t be– “complete” before you begin campus visits. College visits will help your 11th Grader clarify what he or she wants in a college. Campus visits are the critical “reality check” that help your son or daughter determine whether a specific institution lives up to its reputation or the student’s expectations.
Of course, your high school student is extremely busy right now, preparing for the SAT or ACT, maximizing junior year GPA, participating in extracurricular activities, learning to drive, and having a social life. All valuable pursuits. Why not wait until summer to visit colleges? Unfortunately, campus visits in the summer are missing one key element: students. Yes, there are a few students around, high school and college students taking summer courses and graduate students conducting research. It is ideal to visit during the school year, because your teen can get realistic firsthand exposure to campus atmosphere (e.g., Greek life, school spirit, academic climate, classroom experience, sports or performing arts activities).
In the “ghost-town” weeks of July, you can’t attend a basketball game, musical production, or freshman seminar. Teens need to measure potential “fit” by actually observing students in classes, eateries, bookstore, or hanging out on the green. Do students wear Birkenstocks or J. Crew fashions? How diverse is the student body? Are students focused on academics, campus activities, urban entertainment, sports, partying, activism, business careers, or tech startups? Is the atmosphere dynamic, enthusiastic, isolated, or dead? Most important, your son or daughter needs to be able to say, “I can picture myself here!” (or not).
Don’t forget the weather! Upstate New York is lovely in summer, but what if your student is seasonal affective, and would become depressed during four months of subfreezing temperatures, grey skies, snow and ice? Wouldn’t it be best to sample the campus experience in winter? After all, most college students will not spend much time on campus during the warmer months. Okay, so why not wait until fall? Sorry, that doesn’t work either. High school pressure will actually be more intense during senior year fall. If your student has a grade “blip” as a junior or lackluster SAT/ACT scores, there will be more pressure to swing for the bleachers in the ninth inning, leaving less time to visit colleges.
You also don’t want your teen to wait until next fall to begin comparing his or her ideas of colleges to real-life campuses. The applicant needs to tweak the college list by comparing ideas with reality. Some schools will be crossed off immediately: in fact, he or she may dislike a campus setting so much vs. its reputation that he or she may not even want to get out of the car. If it is still junior year, oh well. But if the student is doing his or her first college visits October of senior year, it is easy to feel backed against a wall.
High school students need six to nine months of visiting campuses, because it simply takes time for their viewpoints and emotional reactions to campuses to evolve. This is the first major decision of a young person’s life, and it helps to have enough time to absorb and digest.
Starting late usually means not making a grounded, well-thought-out decision. It also precludes admission advantages, such as Early Decision, even if the family is in the financial position to consider a applying to college on an ED basis. Or it may foreshadow an eventual transfer when your student finally figures out what he or she wants. Transfers often make sense, of course, but it is unfortunate for a young adult to have to endure the painful emotional and financial logistics of transfer simply because he or she started too late considering appropriate college options.
Yet, with all this said about not delaying college visits, some parents do go to the opposite extreme and overload junior year with so many school visits that the student becomes overwhelmed. A student may become prematurely burnt out on the college process before it actually begins, or see so many schools too early that they all blend together and become a just blurry memory when it comes time to actually making the college decision. Families need to consider this possibility if they are chafing at the bit to visit colleges during the holidays in December of junior year, when there are no students on campus, and the student may not even have a rudimentary college list yet. It is better to generate a list in January and then visit on Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, winter or spring break, and Easter break.
It is not necessary to visit every college on the face of the earth, either; it is better to offer a taste of contrasts (i.e., a large school vs. a small school, an urban school vs. a rural school with a traditional campus, a Northeast school vs. a Southeast school). And doing a whirlwind tour of elite “dream colleges” that are most likely unrealistic for your student is the classic setup for ultimate disappointment. Develop a preliminary list of realistic targets before going off on campus tours.
Campus visits are not a “one size fits all” process, because some students are ready to start earlier than others. In general, I would advise starting junior year without overkill. Getting good grades and strong test scores are more important at this stage than seeing every college imaginable. Finding a comfortable balance that is individually right for your student is the key.