That might mean you don't book an info session or campus tour but still spend an hour walking around the campus. For a few schools on your list, perhaps those a little lower in your rankings, you might need to plan for an unannounced visit. You might find that school visit schedules don't align perfectly with your plan, and that's fine. While some schools welcome unannounced or walk-in visitors, many require reservations in advance - especially for experiences that have limited capacities, such as information sessions, tours and lunches with students. This is also the stage when you'll want to begin registering for visits and tours - even before booking hotel rooms. Two in a day is doable, but any more than that and you risk everything blurring together in your mind. To minimize stress and allow yourself time to explore the school and surrounding area - maybe even grabbing lunch on campus and visiting some shops downtown - try to plan one school visit per day. Start designing the route so you can visit as many schools as possible without doubling back or going too far out of your way. With all the pieces assembled, it's time to put the puzzle together. You'll be able to easily see whether your plan to visit School A on Friday, Schools B and C on Saturday and School D on Sunday could even work. Taking time to create this spreadsheet will save you time when planning your route in the next step. Plot that information into the columns on your spreadsheet. Next, visit that school's Admissions page to see when tours and scheduled visits are offered. Make seven more columns - one for each day of the week. Make one column for the school's name and another for the address of the Office of Admissions, or wherever tours begin. How long will you need to visit all the schools in that cluster? Are there any natural 'pairs' of schools - perhaps two in the same city - you could visit in the same day? Step 3: Make a SpreadsheetĬreate one spreadsheet for each geographic cluster of schools. Find the driving times between schools in a similar cluster. With your finalists plotted, try to look for schools you can group together.

Or you could use a free tool like Google My Maps to create a custom map you can share with family and friends. You could plot the schools as dots on a printed map or atlas. Whether your finalists number seven or 27, you'll want to put them all onto a map to see if any natural geographic clusters emerge.Ĭhoose an offline or online solution based on your preference. Step 2: Group Your Finalists Geographically You can always plan later one-off visits to schools you skipped if you think they deserve another look. Remember that your cuts aren't permanent. Still too many? Raise the floor by another point and count again. Perhaps every school with a 7 or higher makes the cut. Then determine which grade a school must receive to warrant an in-person visit. If you still have too many schools on your list, consider assigning each one a grade - 1 to 10 - based on your level of interest. Ask yourself: Am I interested enough in this school to want to spend at least two hours there - plus travel time? If the answer is yes, that's a good sign. You'll want to identify which schools deserve a closer look through an in-person visit. That way, you'll maximize every moment and get a better feeling for the schools on your list.įollow the steps below, and you'll be on your way.īy now you've probably created a list of schools that have caught your attention - perhaps because they offer your major, are in a good location or you know someone who had a positive experience there. Unlike some road trips where spontaneity is the plan, college visit road trips work best with careful planning. With a full tank of gas, the perfect playlist and a well-crafted plan, you'll have everything you need to organize the ultimate college visit road trip.Ī college visit road trip, typically planned during summer vacation or spring or fall break, allows families to visit several schools in a condensed period. You could even head straight for Cawker City, Kan., to visit the world's largest ball of twine.īut if your family's vacation planning intersects with your college search timeline, then there's only one type of road trip for you. You could follow the Mississippi River, stopping at historic markers as you go. You could traverse Route 66, eating only at roadside diners along the way. When planning a road trip, your options extend for miles in every direction. From top level menus, use escape to exit the menu. Within a submenu, use escape to move to top level menu parent. Use up and down arrow keys to explore within a submenu. Use left and right arrow keys to navigate between menus.

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