No sooner do we move one child into college we have to start the process all over again with our second child who is a Junior in High School.

We’re getting ready to take him on a number of trips this fall to visit college campuses so that he’ll have a better idea of the schools he would like to apply to next year.

What we’ve done so far is to draft up a short list of his top 5 schools.  Now one of those schools is Oxford which he has no hope of going to unless we win the lottery.

My son is at present enamored with all things British.  I don’t disagree with him that Oxford is a good choice, but I’m not sure how realistic it is so I’ve got him focusing on those schools that we can realistically afford.

Last week I made a couple of appointments at two schools we’ll be visiting within the next 6 weeks.  I’ve purposely planned to visit colleges between late September to early November in order to visit during those periods when schools are holding open houses. This time of year seems to be the season for open houses and of course home coming weekends which can be a great time to visit universities.

With an open house, the school is prepared specifically for visitors and hopefully you’ll get to see some of the best that the school has to offer.

Another great benefit of planning your own fall tour of colleges is that these trips make for a great weekend get-away! From choosing a hotel for your family’s stay to picking a nice side activity (like visiting an antique market or the local village) planning your college tour is almost as much fun as being there.

I can’t wait till we hit the road again in a few weeks!