<p>Check out tomorrow’s NY Times Education Section. There is an article about College Tours. Might be helpful.</p>
<p>My son was accepted ED to Dartmouth and had similar stats to your daughter. He took SAT in November of Junior year and got a 2130 and then in March of Junior year got a 2250. We took a trip in February of last year to see the schools in the winter. Flew to Newark on Friday and drove to Springfield. Got up early and drove to Hanover for tour and info session at Dartmouth. Then drove to Cambridge and stayed in Harvard Square. Took T into Boston and walked around Boston. Got up early and walked around Harvard and then went to a Indoor Track meet at Harvard. Great time seeing students from all over New England in this invitational. Son runs track and is thinking of running at Dartmouth. After the meet drove to Providence and had my brother who teaches at Brown give us a tour. After dinner drove to Princeton and took the tour and info session the next day. Then drove back to Newark and flew back to Los Angeles. Great trip and my son really became excited about Dartmouth. </p>
<p>Went back in September with wife, son, and my son’s friend. Took a red eye to Hartford and then drove to Williams for tour and info. Then drove to Dartmouth for tour and info and spent the night in Hanover. Son and friend got to hang out at the school and talked to the 11’s who were in for orientation as school started in a couple of days. Met great kids and really knew this was where he belonged. Next morning drove to Amherst for tour then drove to Tufts where son’s friend was interested in. Then drove to Providence and son and friend hung out for the night on Thayer Street at Brown. My son’s friend had Brown as her first choice and was accepted ED. Again my brother took us around the campus and went into the main library. Then drove back to Hartford. </p>
<p>For warm weather folks, I think it is important to get back there in the snow and see what kind of weather these kids are going to face. It is a lot different than in September when kids in shorts are playing frisbee.</p>
<p>Don’t try to do all the schools in one trip. Not only will you be so exhausted, you may not remember the schools after a while.</p>
<p>Last year my S and I went to Williams and Amherst in one day and it was doable but rushed. Since I knew Amherst, we made that the afternoon school and missed the information session but joined the tour. We also did Swarthmore and UPenn in one day.
We visited 14 schools. We used planes, trains and rental car for the most part and made three separate trips - 3-4 schools at the most in one trip.</p>
<p>I agree with poster #23. Lots of posters here say the schools all get blurred together, all look alike, all sound alike, etc. We saw 20 LAC’s on 4 different trips, no more than 1 per day and they are still clear and distinct in my mind, I think because we spread it all out and took our time. If we hadn’t had as much time, I’d have suggested visiting fewer campuses. What did start sounding identicle were the info sessions. If I were going to leave something out of the day, I’d skip the info sessions and spend more time talking to students.</p>
<p>Bethie – I agree in principle with you and polyglotmom. However, financial reality often trumps other considerations. Even for someone in the so-called “upper middle class” bracket, multiple trips between California and the East Coast might not be feasable. If the OP can’t break the search up into several trips, ten days does provide adequate time to see the colleges on their list at a reasonable, although certainly not relaxed, pace. I do agree that in the ideal world one college visit per day is the best practice.</p>
<p>I’d still advise one college a day, and drop some off the visiting list, to be visited after admission (which should be done whether you visited before or not). Otherwise, save your money and don’t visit at all until after acceptance. A “whirlwind tour” ends up often being worse than none at all - the schools at the end get dropped off simply because of burnout, not because of anything that has to do with the school.</p>
<p>We did a whirlwind tour - 8 schools and lots of milage and 3 flights (New England to Florida) - in 6+ days - BUT - we approached it like a travel agent/trip organizer would. Every school had a folder with EVERYTHING that was needed to visit that particular school - the packets were arranged in order of visits - we researched each school/town significantly prior to leaving also - so the folder had all possible phone numbers/contacts that we might have needed - maps to get there - all reservation info - coupons if needed - school paperwork/info… etc… - we also took pics at every school (especially one with the school name in it) - the pics would be in order of visits on the camera - we joted notes on each folder as we went - and added to the packet any info we collected during the visit (prior to leaving we also scored each school - and then rescored each school at the end of the visit) - we were actually able to eliminate several of the schools during the trip - and the scoring helped to keep them in order of preference.</p>
<p>We knew we only had one shot at this school tour and by the time we got home - we both were able to easily identify - and keep track of - every school we saw pretty easily - no bluring at all. Because of our time schedule - we were actually able to arrange to do one visit in the evening - which included dinner in the D-hall - with a very good tour and private info session - another we did not have a ‘reservation to visit’ but when we got there - they gladly invited us in to visit - treated us very special - with many percs too 
- another we missed our appointment because we were following a hurricane LOL - but they were very supportive and arranged for us to pick up a special packet of info - and a special guide for us as well - who was wonderfully informative. 3 apps for EA went out within a week - so it was a very successful trip</p>
<p>It can be done - just have to be very organized :)</p>
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<p>Definitely not our experience. We did the whirlwind tour due to financial and travel logistical considerations. The schools that were immedate drops came early in the trip, not late. By like Jeepmom said, it requires tocomplete organization: college folders, triptiks & hotel reservation all in order, not to metion exact driving directions from each college website.</p>