Hi - Does anyone know if here are tours available in the spring for boarding schools? We’re on the West Coast and my daughter has seen SPS but during the summer on a Sunday when no one was on campus. I wanted to take her this spring for a few days to see a variety of schools, but SPS and a couple of others didn’t have any tour openings. Then I received a marketing message from Taft about spring tours and then a single day notice of an SPS experience day. Is the fall the only option to see several schools within a 3-4 day period? Thank you.
I think it varies by school. Call the admissions office and tell them you will be in town. I think many will accommodate you if they can, but if you want to couple the tour with your interview, it is more ideal to do it in the fall not to mention the experience will be fresh in your minds as you try to differentiate the schools in the essays.
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I think the Fall is a better time because you can schedule her interview the same day as the tour. We are local and did some tours in advance, but I think the kids are better prepared for the entire application process if they are doing the tours, interviews, applications and essays in the same season.
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There are a few schools that do spring open houses. I am going to a Miss Porter’s spring open house on May 15th. Two years ago I did spring open houses with my son at St. George’s and St. Mark’s.
Slightly different advice from our family. We followed the advice to wait until Fall to tour schools - and regretted that we hadn’t taken the opportunity to tour the spring beforehand. There was just too much to cram in a few short months once the fall started, with SSAT prep, schoolwork, and applications.
It all worked out in the end, but it was a definite takeaway from our n=1 experience. As with just about everything, ymmv.
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I agree - we ended up touring some schools in the fall with my son and did the interviews at the same time, but then it felt a little awkward when he decided that he didn’t like the school and we had to call and say we were not going to be finishing the application. I’m sure it happens all the time, but if we had toured more in the spring we could have saved ourselves and the schools the time! I am trying to visit more this spring and summer with my daughter who will be applying next fall.
Lots of students choose not to apply after tour & interview. While it’s certainly polite to let admissions know you’ve decided not to continue the application process, I don’t think it’s necessary. If they don’t get an application by the due date, schools will assume. At least that’s been my experience. YMMV.
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That’s my inclination - that it’s better to tour schools when not in the application process to narrow the list and then maybe do a 2nd tour in the fall on the more targeted list. That being said, it seems the opportunity to tour is more inconsistent. Maybe we will go and tour fewer schools and just call to see who allows us, given that we’re coming from the west coast.
Spring tours are also good for figuring out if a big school or a small school or a remote school etc seems appealing. A school that’s far from an airport might be less appealing for those who fly home. That can narrow your search too!
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George School has an upcoming open house. This is a really low stakes way of checking out a school. If it’s not your taste, just don’t apply!
As mentioned above, a few schools now do this, realizing it may fit into some families’ schedules better and also as a way to let families check them out before committing to a tour and interview.
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My kid is a tour guide and does tours year-round (it seems to be only on weekdays, never on a weekend). It’s not the big ‘experience’ day that you’d get for a revisit day but school is in session and you’d get a fairly good vibe as to the type of students, where they hang out, if they look happy or stressed (see if you can find out when exam week is, kids are more stressed around that time).
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My daughter is a tour guide at Lawrenceville and there are some tours going on now.
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Middlesex had (late) spring tours last year, I know.
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Governor’s Academy is having an open house type visit day for prospective applicants on 5/14.
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St. Mark’s (MA) has spring open house this Saturday 5/4.
We went to the fall open house last year and it was an hour long tour on the campus. We saw everything.
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Thanks all - I was able to reach out to the key schools we wanted to visit on this trip and set-up tours, so it’s all worked out quite well. Much appreciate the help!
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