Boarding School Tours

Hi everyone! Applications to boarding schools don’t start until later this year…but I know that it is highly recommended to tour schools you find ideal before you start your application process. :slightly_smiling_face:So, I would like to ask about when should you start visiting these schools? Spring? Summer? Early fall? I have been researching quite a bit and have yet to find any info on it and I would greatly appreciate a response! Thanks :grin:

I have tour some of the school in the summer, these are great except they usually don’t have interview until fall where application officially start

Some are having Open Houses right now (just saw a post from S23’s school), but fall is a great time to visit. Schools tend to have Open Houses in Oct or early Nov. to squeeze it in after the first month of school but before Thanksgiving break.

Summer is great to take out schools that you didn’t like as much when you visit since fall is kind of late, but it not required since most people tour during fall

When my younger sister was applying to boarding schools, she enjoyed being able to tour schools while they were in session in order to get a sense for student life instead of just seeing empty classrooms and dorms. With that said, I know a lot of schools have application timelines where they recommend you complete certain portions of the process in a given time frame. What have these schools said about the best times to visit?

Since you can tour and interview before you apply, my best suggestion is to do so early in the fall. Late September - October. Schools are in sesssion then. That leaves you time to look at additional schools (if needed) before you have to apply.

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Agree with a lot of what has been said. My daughter researched 30+ schools, narrowed it to 13-ish that we visited, and then she applied to six. Her visits were during the summer because that was the only time we were in the US and it was a bummer not to be able to see the students and get a feel for the actual vibe on campus. She also wasn’t able to attend any revisits, so she had to make her decision sort of blind. It has worked out well, but I would definitely recommend you visit schools next September and then visit a couple again after acceptances to figure out which one will suit you best.

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Some schools have visit days and programming in summer. We did that last year for a few schools since my DS’s school does not allow any interview or high school visit days to get an idea . We then interviewed when they visited our area as well. This not ideal since you don’t see the school in session but sometimes inevitable.

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