Spring Break College Tours: How to Help Your Junior Explore Without the Pressure
If your junior has spring break in the next few weeks, we have some suggestions for you! Spring break is a GREAT time for juniors and their families to start exploring options through college tours.
Before we get into our tips, let’s acknowledge how hard it is to figure out how to approach tours. Asking a student “which schools would you like to tour?” is sort of like asking “where do you want to go to college?” Students often have no idea where they want to tour, and much less where they want to attend. Touring schools is an early step in the process, so it is important to avoid putting the cart before the horse. We like to remind families that tours aren’t about deciding whether a particular school is a thumbs up or a thumbs down, but rather are for helping students identify priorities and characteristics that are important to them. It’s also important to acknowledge that tours can be expensive and time-consuming . . . but they don’t have to be! Before mapping out your tour strategy, here are some basic tips:
General Suggestions
Don’t sleep on virtual tours! One of the very few good things that came out of Covid is the virtual college tour. These tours, easily accessed on college websites, are informative, well-produced, convenient, and free! When we refer to “tours” in this post, we mean virtual and in-person tours. Both are very valuable and helpful.
Don’t assume that you have to tour a school in person before your student decides to apply there. In many cases, students apply to schools that they have thoroughly researched and watched the virtual tour, but have not visited in person. If admitted, they can schedule a tour or attend an Admitted Students event. If this sounds like a crazy idea, remember that an application fee is a lot less expensive than a three-day trip to see a school.
When mapping out your plan, remember that part of the goal here for your student is to get excited about college generally – and not just about a particular school. Visiting four schools with sub 20% acceptance rates and skipping a “safety school” option can have unfortunate consequences down the road.
Similarly, tour schools at a variety of price points. For most families, cost is a huge issue in making college decisions. Take the time to explore (in person or virtually) schools that are more accessible financially.
Virtual Tours
We suggest watching a variety of videos from different types of schools to start to see what characteristics are most important to the student. Students should TAKE NOTES! Jot down things that are appealing and not appealing to them, as well as unique things they hear about. We suggest doing this in a Notes app on a phone rather than on paper (unless your student is really good about keeping track of paper!).
A large public school with over 20,000 students
A small liberal arts college with under 3,000 student
A mid-size school with about 10,000 students
An urban school
A rural school
Based on these virtual tours, students can start to identify things that resonate with them – proximity to outdoor recreation, an urban setting, traditional sports vibe, Greek system (or not), and of course things like majors available and ease of transportation from home.
Local College Tours (for in-person visits)
Local (or at least close-by) schools are a great place to start. It is pretty common for schools to schedule many tour opportunities in the spring – they know that spring break is a convenient time for families to visit.
Local school tours are great EVEN IF your student is adamant that they don’t want to stay too close to home. Every time a student tours a school they are hearing different perspectives, learning about programs for the first time, and identifying things that they want to look for in the school they attend. They are also learning how to ask good questions and how to keep track of different tours. If your student is a junior and starting tours, this is often the first time they start to see themself as a college student, and that transformation is an important milestone.
If there are several schools close to you and you can conveniently tour, try to pick at least two with different characteristics. For example, if you live in a state with a very selective flagship school, don’t make that the only one you visit. Pick an additional school to tour that is accessible from both admissibility and financial standpoints.
A walk around or drive-through is NOT the same as an actual tour! There is so much more to learn on tours - about residence hall life and clubs and tutoring services and dining options and a hundred other things. Don’t miss out on these opportunities! (Plus, some schools track tour attendance (and other things) to assess “demonstrated interest” in their school).
If your student seems reluctant to go on tours, a local college tour with a group of high school friends can be a good way to get them more engaged.
Family Vacation-Centered Tours
Visiting family for spring break? Do a quick check to see what colleges are close by and sign up for a tour. Students can learn so much about their own priorities and preferences by visiting colleges - even if they had never heard of or never considered that college.
Remind your student to jot down thoughts after every tour. While it seems easy to keep track of them now, they do tend to blur together.
Planned In-Person Tours
Time and cost make it hard to do too many in-person visits. If you are fortunate enough to be going on in-person tours, make sure to group them geographically. It is often possible (albeit tiring) to schedule two tours in a day.
Schedule the official tour and take advantage of opportunities to hear from admissions staff and students.
Remember the tip above – your student can always decide to apply to an un-toured school and visit if and when they are accepted. You don’t have to tour all of the contenders.
Gentle Unsolicited Advice
Admissions and colleges in general have changed a lot since the 90s, when most parents reading this might have attended college. Try to refrain from making comments about what a school was like “back in the day.” In all likelihood, that comment is completely inaccurate or irrelevant now, but your suggestion can lead your student to form opinions based on outdated information.
The same goes for school rivalries. Plenty of schools have rivalries that are (mostly) all in good fun, but some parents would be shocked to know how much those rivalries and strong opinions affect their students’ thoughts on where to go to school (sometimes dismissing the more affordable school, the school with a more generous merit aid offer, or the school with the perfect major for your student). Sport your school swag but try to be positive about the rival schools as well!
As hard as it is . . . try not to offer too many opinions about tours or campuses or tour guides . . . at least not right after the tour. Odds are that your student observed the same things you did. Letting them absorb the experience and reflect on it without any interference creates more agency and can lead to more mature decisions.
If you are seeing multiple schools in a short time, try to avoid the “which did you like best?” question. It is too early in the process to whittle choices down, and students finding multiple schools that are appealing to them is a win. If you are inclined to ask questions, it is often better to ask them questions about what stood out to them at different schools. It’s also perfectly fine to not ask any questions, and instead just say “That was great - these schools all have so much to offer.”
If you haven’t started talking about the cost of college yet, now is a good time. Check out our video series if you need help getting started. Touring a bunch of schools that are ultimately unaffordable is a recipe for disappointment. Include affordable schools in your plans.
Remind them to write down notes after the tour and take some pictures on campus. Some ideas:
What did I like best?
What did I see here that was new to me?
Did the tour guide mention any interesting clubs?
What was the library like?
What unique campus traditions did I hear about?
Did anything on this tour give me a bad vibe?
Touring colleges - virtually and in-person - is exciting. It’s a fun opportunity to start these conversations and navigate the path together.
