We are headed out to the east coast from our home in Ohio over the 4th of July with our daughter (rising junior). We are planning on spending a few days in NYC, see a play, eat too much good food, the usual. The intent of the trip though is to start looking at schools with our daughter. We are planning on visiting Fordham, Yale, Vassar and Bucknell. We helped her pick the schools with an eye towards differences in size, urban/suburban/rural and a mix of schools where past academic performance would indicate she would have a better than fair shot of getting in (Fordham, Bucknell), a fair shot if everything breaks right (Vassar) and one of "those" schools (Yale). We have signed up for an information session and tour at each school. My wife and I just went through the college selection process with our older son, but he was an athletic recruit so we didn't really do any of the campus tours, etc. My guess is little of his experience will be instructive this time around. So, my questions are:
1)Other than the information session/tour, what do you recommend doing on each campus to get a better feel for the place, particularly in the summer? My son's visits were pretty long for the most part, but they usually involved meetings with coaches, a more in depth tour of the athletic facilities, touring the dorms, cafeterias, etc than I think my daughter will be afforded at this stage.
2)Are four schools too much for a trip like this? We have budgeted a day on each campus.
3)Other than casting about on the net looking at each school's web site, and talking to her brother who was recruited by three of the schools, what would you recommend a kid heading out to visit her first set of colleges do to prepare? We want her to enjoy herself and treat this as a preliminary "what am I looking for in a college" type of trip. On the other hand, these schools are a full day's drive for us, so I would like her to get what she can substantively from each visit.
Thanks in advance.
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