You know that packing technique where you put out everything you need then pack half or less of that? Do the same thing with college visits. Line up all the lovely suggestions, which will surely add up to at least 4 times as many colleges as you and your family can reasonably and comfortably visit without killing each other. Then identify a couple of key priorities, and slash the list (while still ensuring a reasonable range of schools). Then plan a trip around that, not being afraid to drop a college here or there that will add more travel time than visit value. You can’t see everything…
I recommend considering general academic suitability first. If proximity to other destinations is important, then pick schools that fit both criteria. A primary focus on location and over suitability would not be advised. This, I believe, is what @merc81 is suggesting.
Lots of people say the general rule is two colleges a day. Personally, we crammed in three a day on several occasions, while college was in session. Got it out of the way more quickly, and we had plenty of time late afternoon and evening to do something more interesting. We would always stop in at the student union or cafeteria, depending on the time of day. By the time we finished our college visiting, it became clear that the number one priority was to see as many students as possible. As you are visiting in the summer, you won’t really get that benefit, so IMO, I would cram in schools and leave as many free days open for sightseeing as possible.
As it will be summer OP, you will possibly find that many of the colleges you plan on visiting do not conduct summer tours, so it might just be you wandering around campus for 30 minutes. Some do have summer tours, such as Wesleyan. Wherever you go, be sure your kids sign in at the admissions office, which should be open. I am going to suggest that if possible, you plan to visit campuses when college is back in session, often mid to late August. It gives you a much better idea of what a college is all about, because without students a college is a collection of buildings.
What kind of touristy things do your kids like? Museums - Art or History or Science? Amusement Parks? Natural Wonders? Major Sports? There could be a lot of suggestions depending on what you’d be interest in doing in your time not visiting?
if you fly into Chicago you could look to fly from there to Philadelphia - you generally can get relatively cheap tickets because it’s serviced by several airlines. If you visit Haverford/Bryn Mawr you should definitely take your son to Swarthmore as it has the academic rigor like U of Chicago.
It’s very important for the kid to sign in at the Admissions Office. This will count as “interest”. Another way to express “interest” is by filling out the “request info” form on the website - it’ll be useful to have basic information ahead of time, too. I agree that meeting with students is useful; try to ask the Admissions Office if there are any British (or European) students around, or students in the intended major. Try to eat in the cafeteria for an early lunch at the morning college, and have a midafternoon snack at the student union at the afternoon college. Are students social or buried in their cell phones? What do they talk about? If your daughter/son goes and introduces himself/herself, how do they react, do they invite him/her to join?
We usually did one a day, except really close together schools. But to be fair our kids usually sat in on a class, which can be hard to do in the summer.
@MYOS1634, pretty much no students at LACs in the summer, and those there at unis may be other kids in summer programs.
This burnout thing is why I strongly believe OP should prioritize the list given in the original post. Don’t miss those.
Most LACs will have summer programs as well but unlike universities probably no summer classes. We were at my kids’ LAC twice during the summer. Once it was during a scientific research conference. Pretty much everyone we saw was a mid-career academic. It think I literally saw a pocket protector or two. Another time was during the dance festival-tons of lithe sinuous bodies and not a book or folder in sight. Both were nice, interesting groups of people but the impression you’d get in one week would be totally different from the one you’d get the other.
Maybe.
DD worked in undergrad admissions and did tours. She also worked doin this for two summers. Her school…and most every other one we looked at (about 30 between two kids) did not have tours the last week before classes started (admissions office was closed) AND the first week or two of classes (so their student ambassadors had time to settle in). Most schools also don’t have tours during finals weeks.
What I’m saying is…it is very possible that mid to late August would be a time when some admissions offices are closed.
You need to look at the schedules for tours and info sessions for every place you want to visit. We visited 14 schools during the summer and all had tours, but the schedule was less of them than during the academic year.
@thumper1 I didn’t know that. We visited 5 colleges in the summer, including Wesleyan and Tufts, and only Wes had tours. One was completely and totally closed, even the admissions office. This was around mid July. If a college was back in session, would it be okay to walk around on your own and do a self-guided tour? At least you would still see students on campus. Or do colleges not want prospective students coming at those times?
I only know of a few schools that are gated and restrict access. Many building may not be open or some may be restricted for events. You might be able to go to an event on campus and see part of it that way, a play or a sporting event. I’ve been to 4th of July fireworks, the Shakespeare Festival, sports, weddings, church services, taking my kids to band camp all on colleges campuses in the summer. Some things are open, others locked.
We toured colleges in the summer because that was the only time available to us. We visited about a dozen schools over the course of 3 weeks and were able to tour and attend info sessions at all.
In retrospect, I don’t think my son was particularly handicapped by the summer timeframe. Summertime in the northeast – both urban and rural – is just overflowing with fun activities and we were able to really enjoy the down time between campus visits. In some cases we stayed at a centrally located resort town and “commuted” to several nearby colleges. (For example, we stayed in Old Saybrook and made day trips to Wesleyan, Conn College, Yale and Trinity.)
Even though most schools weren’t in session, I think my son was able to get a good impression of the culture and personality of each college from the tour guides and the kids on the information session panels. He also took advantage of on-campus interviews wherever they were offered. Sometimes the interviews were conducted by top people in the admissions office; sometimes by current students or recent alumni/ae. Either way, he made good connections, some of whom he communicated with throughout the application process.
As I mentioned up-thread we knew that it was unlikely that he would be able to return for a second look after acceptances were in. The one college a day system really worked for us, but because it focused the attention and because it allowed time to get a sense of the environment. As it turned out my son applied (and was accepted) early decision and his assessment of the school turned out to be quite accurate.
@valent2016, if you’re resigned to being full-pay, then your daughter might consider early early decision, especially at some of the more selective LACs. I would also plan your visit strategy differently if this will be the one and only trip for your daughter than if she’ll be able to visit again next spring after she has her acceptances.
The Berkshires mountain area of Western Massachusetts is a sophisticated summer arts and culture playground for New Yorkers and Bostonians. It’s beautiful and full of arts venues like The Williamstown Theater Festival, The Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, Dance at Jacob’s Pillow, Shakespeare in Lennox, the Clark Museum in Williamstown and MassMoCA in North Adams. Plus a lot of good food and wonderful hiking trails.
@lindagaf, @thumper1, @ sue 22 …the timing of the visit unfortunately is somewhat inflexible, as my D has an internship commitment and essentially means, we are looking at 3 weeks from 3rd week of July. While not ideal, I hope it will not be completely deserted. We are going through the tour schedules in parallel now…
@lindagaf, @intparent …we are looking at c.1-2 visits per day if we can manage it …I think a class sit-in is out given the timing…but hoping atleast we can do a tour and get to see some people on campus …@sue22, even a few dancers sans folders, would be welcome than a completely deserted campus 
@MYOS1634 …thanks for the tips…will def look to sign-up…a few offer online registration for the tours…assume that will automatically get registered as interest etc…
@momrath …actually yes it would be difficult to make another trip…and I think depending on how the UK options turn out and if/where she gets admissions in the US…the full pay scenario is not an impossible scenario …when you say plan the strategy differently …do you mean visiting more/fewer or possibly about the mix (reach vs match)/something else?
Also, “early early decision” do you mean, well before the ED deadline?
Thank you for the sightseeing tips…have got so many great ideas thanks to you and everyone else on this forum…that we are now having another challenge in short-listing what to do
@ dolemite…my D & S have completely different interests …so we are likely to have a blend of art/nature/amusement park-type of activity. If I am allowed, I would like to weave in atleast 1 sports related activity as well
@lookingforward…absolutely and realise while lots of great options in and around our travel path…but we would have to prioritise the visit options…still looking at around 9-10 ish as max…
Watch your child when you visit the zoos.
@valent2016 Sorry, the double early was just a typo. I meant early decision. I believe it can provide an admissions boost, but it eliminates the possibility of comparing merit aid offers.
If this will be your daughter’s only opportunity to visit then I would maximize the number of schools, even if it means narrowing the geographic range. After you’ve seen a few, she’ll have a clearer of what she likes and doesn’t, so you may want to leave some flextime toward the end to add more schools in the same general personality type.
If your son’s academic interests are somewhat different you may want to consider another trip for him next year.
For sports event I’d vote for a Red Sox game.
I wouldn’t pick baseball. It’s very very long and if you don’t understand the rules (which requires quite a lot of study and is quite different from Cricket) it’s plain boring, because all you see is guys far away moving or not. A little league game would be just as interesting and you wouldn’t feel bad leaving after one inning.
I’d recommend starting with “non dream schools”, as was mentioned upthread. Work you way up to give a chance to all colleges considered!
@momrath …haha oks …quite keen to explore the ED option …my thinking is to go ED app for a school of high interest but more towards the “Low reach” level …assume there can be very different approaches to ED as well …hopefully the visits would be helpful
Have cleared that up with my S …we have added only UChicago on the list keeping him in mind …rest are all from Ds list…else will get too complicated as you mention as well …
There’s a Redsox game vs Tigers that’s roughly doable from a date/time point of view …