My daughter’s college list is very diverse, geographically and admissions-chances wise. Most of them are out of state, so we are planning a college visit trip this summer.
How do you prioritize a bunch of schools that look good “on paper” but are too many to visit? Should we skip all the super reaches like MIT until she is admitted, or is it important to see them before you waste time applying? My big concern is how busy she gets in spring and whether it would be easy to visit anywhere that notifies in late March before decision day in May.
Her major is something geosciences/earth and planetary sciences/geophysics related. Her goal is graduate school in planetary science, which is not an undergraduate major (except at Purdue). Her main EC besides science stuff is dance, which she wants to continue to do in college, but does not need to major in.
Her list is:
Public universities: (all of these are safeties for general admission, match for honors programs, she has no “stand alone” match schools, just privates that are a little less reachy than others)
Arizona
Arizona State
Nevada, Reno
Purdue
Washington, Seattle (in-state, not in impacted major)
Privates:
Case Western
John Hopkins
MIT
Rice
U of Rochester
WashU STL
Wellesley College
One piece of advice my teacher gave me is that before admittance it isn’t necessary to visit every single college on your list, just every TYPE of college. for instance, make sure you visit at least one large school, a small school, a suburban school, an urban school, etc. Visiting every type will you/your daughter a feel for what type of college(s) she is interested in. After acceptances, then definitely visit for campus feel and fit, etc.
IMO I would look at the CDS and determine which consider interest to be important and try to include those. Does she know if she likes large,small, public or private? If not you may want to pick a few of each. It will be hard without students and professors to get a good vibe, but she may be able to see what the academic programs have to offer and if she likes the surrounding area. It was hard for my son to get a good feel for much last summer, but he was able to determine a few “No’s”. Good Luck!
Her first day of school isn’t until Sept 18th, so she may be able to visit some places when classes are just starting.
That’s a great option. With many colleges starting in August, they should have tours in full swing. We found it much more revealing with students on campus. However my son seems to have liked a lot of colleges, so we will either being going back after admittance or he will be doing a few overnights in winter. I would add that some will say not to visit the super-reaches…I would say don’t visit any you can’t afford. It could save heart-break down the line 
Agree with @jcmom716 that you might focus on schools where demonstrated interest is a factor (definitely Case, also Wash U, I think), and then Wellesley because it’s all women.
Update: she’s definitely doing one trip to see Arizona and ASU.
She’s still thinking about a second trip to URochester (very interested in this one right now) and probably Case. She’s a bit on the bubble between visiting Case which has a higher acceptance rate vs Hopkins which is higher on her list, but it seems more practical to visit Case.
You are right that waiting for April to visit is tough. The timeframe is short, flights are expensive on short notice, and spring is very busy.
Some schools (particularly state schools) may let her know results well before late March. For example, if you apply early enough, she will know if she in honors at ASU by December.
If she is already in a school she likes well enough, that could help you decide to possibly not visit or even apply to a school or two she doesn’t necessarily like better.