Oops, then yes that’s a great plan. lol
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We did a very aggressive college tour last spring break and my D24 hated it by the end of the week. We visited 10 schools in 4 states in 7 days. It was too much and all blended together for her. We did another intense long weekend with 4 schools over 3 days and she was just overall unhappy with the intense approach. I thought it would be a great adventure and I actually loved it but she truly did not. For what it’s worth….
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I agree this is ambitious but doable.
Seconding two thoughts:
The main roads between Ohio and New York go through mountains but are aggressively plowed and salted. You’ll see all the stations set up along the way if you know what to look for. It takes a really unusual storm to shut them down, and usually they are not even slowed down for very long. Things happen but the odds are very much in your favor.
I’d try to look around Carleton since you are already going to be in Northfield. Yes, it is reachy, but you never know, and it is a nice campus just to visit. And to me it looks like you should have time.
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Yes, second this! My D knew within minutes if the place wasn’t right. Even if you have driven an hour to get there, chalk it up as a win as it helps cull the list down.
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These trips are fun, tiring and useful. For DS,
we visited 8 colleges in five days. Flew to Boston, drove to Conn college. Toured next morning 9am, Wesleyan 1pm (skipped info session to go to Trinity at 3pm). Third day, Holy Cross 9am, BC at 2pm. Drove to Saratoga Springs for Skidmore 9:30am and Colgate 2pm. Last day, Hamilton 1pm. Next morning fly back to CA. Not a “fun” Spring Break but son omitted many of these colleges on his list after visiting. So helpful to visit!
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My only advice would be to be confident this is something your Junior will enjoy. You mentioned the exchange student being fascinated, but not whether your son is looking forward to it, knowng how many you want to hit.
We went through this rodeo with three kids, the first two disproportionately focused on the SLAC’s like you. With the oldest, we did a lot of tours, but never more than 3 per trip and spread out over 2.5 years (started Sophomore year). And even then it ended up overwhelming our son who to this day (long after he graduated college) talks about it very negatively. I personally enjoyed visiting all the colleges, but for him the charm wore off after the first few. He found it both physically (all the travel) and mentally (feeling the need to try and form impressions, etc.) exhausting and despite the fact that these are all different schools they blended together for him. In the end, he ended up getting much more out of visiting about 4 schools he was accepted at after RD than he got from 2.5 years of gradual tours. Of course that isn’t a strategy if you’re putting high stakes on the ED round (he used his for a super reach and didn’t do ED2).
By the middle kid we did some but fewer tours.
By our third, he absolutely boycotted touring. He had been on some, but not most, of the tours with his older siblings but in general had a very negative outlook on touring by then from his older siblings talking about what a “grind” it was. We resigned ourselves to forcing one or more visits once he knew where he was accepted. FWIW, his results turned out well and he ended up at a college that was a great fit for him, despite no tours.
But if your kid is really looking forward to it and likes walking around campuses and hearing similar pitches, go for it. Some kids do (just like the kid at heart typing this). For the trips where we did do several tours, we really worked to blend in true vacation-y activities too. You mentioned the duck boat but I would put at least as much work into what you do when not at the colleges. I also recommend you don’t try to attend every info session. Look up which colleges truly track attendance for demonstrated interest and probably skip the rest. The info sessions at SLAC’s are 90% the same into in all of them (I speak from having attended at least a dozen different SLAC info sessions) so it feels like a slog and a waste, and you can get the important stuff out of the tour.
(Also, FWIW, it mortified my kids if I asked any questions during the info sessions or tours; perhaps your son is different.)
Good luck.
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Agreed that you’ll get more out of an official tour than walking around on your own, but if you can’t schedule a tour, then see if there’s a self-guided tour you can do with headphones and your phone. You’ll get a lot of the scripted information that you would in a guided tour (through obviously, there would be no Q&A), so at least you would get some extra information about programs and such related to what you’re seeing.
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Lol, you reminded me of something. Our first tour was Santa Clara. They talked about the blue light safety system and we were enamored. By the tenth school we couldn’t hold back our laughter when every guide inevitability got to that part of the tour. 
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Yes! I was going to reply something similar! The key is to be flexible, and to respect your kid’s reactions/responses. Forcing an extended visit when your kid is not feeling it, is counterproductive. This only happened at a few schools for my three kids, so as long as we felt they were invested in the process, we totally respected their feelings and didn’t push. Plus, freed up some extra time. My oldest went to Oberlin, so if you have any questions, or need suggestions regarding where to go/eat, lmk!
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Same thing with the stepping on the seal/crest/whatever and you won’t graduate. Every tour guide acts like it’s unique and nearly every school has a similar superstition.
OP, we are doing two equally ambitious tours with S25 and did a few with D23 as well. On one we covered Texas, Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota-planes were involved. Expect burnout, bickering, awesome moments, and a lot of fast food 
Highly recommend your student take lots of notes and pictures, it’s hard to remember from visit to visit.
Also, enjoy this time with them, it’s the beginning of an ending.
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I think they are harder to get into + maybe culturally a little more mainstream/preppy? Or am I off-base? I’ll see what the kid thinks when he does more digging. Willing to try.
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Thanks! I took Lehigh and F&M off my list after more homework. School culture doesn’t feel quite right. If kiddo wants to look at them we’ll shoehorn one or the other in. (It does feel weird to be so close to Lehigh and not give it a look but DS thinks he’s more interested in humanities than STEM, aside from physics.)
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@goldbug - Colby has strategically lowered their acceptance rate by waiving app fee - they just increased their app denominator and make themselves look harder to get into than they actually are. I don’t think the quality/competitiveness of the student body differs from Bates. Colby has a rep of being sportier. Bowdoin is more challenging to get into than either Colby or Bates, and has a rep of being more of a grind culture than the other two.
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Now I’m super curious about which schools elicited a NOPE. I’ll be honest; I almost had that reaction to Rhodes. The campus is beautiful but I was really turned off by the high security. The kid seemed unfazed.
What culture are you looking for and what do you want to avoid?
It does look half an order of magnitude harder to get into. Or are my eyes deceiving me? I also keep reading about how intense the students are…but yeah. It’s right there.
I read this advice somewhere else and am trying to manage that. It works everywhere but Dickinson and Lehigh, I think.
Oh, I scrapped that fun plan after mapping it out. We’re flying from MN to OH and then driving to PA. Which could still be gnarly depending on weather but probably not quite as painful.
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I think my son honestly isn’t ready to interview yet. He has a lot of practicing to do. (he’s the kind who rarely warms up/opens up until he’s comfortable. I’m actually worried about teacher recommendations for this reason. So hoping that his admissions counselor can help him with this skill over the summer and prime him for the fall.)
Yeah, I worry about this a little. I’m leaving the city tours for the end both for practical reasons and to have something to look forward to. But I’ll try to read the room and modify if needed.
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