If you're planning on combining summer travel plans with college campus visits you may get less than you bargained for. Most colleges are not in session during the summer, so key sights may be closed and key people may be gone. Whether that works for you and your child depends on where you are in the process of looking, and what you want to accomplish.

To Everything There is a Season
"There are three potential approaches to college visits and there's a tremendous difference in what you can learn about a college depending on the approach you take. The three possibilities are not visiting at all, visiting in the summer, or visiting during the term," says Ted O'Neill, Dean of Admissions at the University of Chicago. "I think that visiting during the term is much better than visiting in the summer, which is better than not visiting at all. Not visiting at all is an unfortunate mistake. Ideally, you want to see the campus with students there. You want to see how they look, how they behave, and where they hang out."

Of course, if you are just starting to think about college and your student is in their freshman or sophomore year in high school, you might want to combine summer vacation with some "look-see" visits.

"In the student's freshman or sophomore year it's a good idea for the family to use the smorgasbord approach. Look at a wide range of schools and get a sense of the different dimensions a school can have. Take the time to see the difference between a rural, urban, suburban, large, small, or medium campus," says Stephen Kramer, President and Founder of College Coach, a leading nationwide service that prepares students for the college admissions process.

A "look-see" visit works well in the summer, especially if you go with the expectation that you'll sample now and will visit the colleges you liked best for a more focused visit later. "Summer may not give you the student feel you're looking for, but you can get a lot of fact-based information during the summer," says Kramer. "You can see what the dorms, cafeteria, and library look like and what they offer. You can get a good sense of the kinds of things that don't require a student, faculty member, or coach to shed light on."

Everyone agrees that you need to get serious about applications and campus visits during the student's junior year.

"You should try and visit campuses during spring vacation of the student's junior year. Most colleges are in session when your child is on spring break," says Janet Spencer, author of The Princeton Review, Visiting College Campuses. "It's optimum to get an interview at the school at that time as well, if you feel that your child is mature enough. Peer pressure can really build up about the interview, and it's great if your child's done and relaxed when all their friends start doing their interviews. It's also a good idea, when planning your college tours, to schedule one campus per day. Never more than two in a day even if you're pressed for time. It's too confusing."

Digging Deeper
"A college visit is really an exploration of a culture and you are acting as an anthropologist. You can't do that in two hours," says O'Neill, who recently completed a series of six campus visits with his daughter. "If you want to find out about student and faculty morale, you can talk to the students. I suggest that you visit classes to see if the college is a learning community where students care about their work. You want to determine class sizes and whether students go to class prepared. Is there real conversation happening in classes, and are student's comments relatively sophisticated? It's particularly helpful if you can go to the same kind of class on different campuses."

"I'd heard how hard the college admission process was, but visiting the colleges was really the best part," says Spencer, who's been through it with each of her two children. "It's a wonderful time for a parent to bond with their child, and an opportunity to see how many great schools there are. It's an enriching experience to see the diversity of choices. I recommend that you make the experience as enjoyable as you can. Check out the neighborhoods and stay in nifty places. When you visit a campus together you can help your child identify and refine what they want out of a school. The experience is not just about finding a school, it's about finding what is appealing to the child."

The process can also be about selling yourself as a student. "Students can help themselves stand out in the interview process by scheduling their interview toward the end of the day or on the second day of a two-day visit," recommends Kramer. "Students make the school what it is so, make sure to speak with as many students as possible. It's not a strong visit if the only people you've had interaction with are administrators. You can't sell yourself as a good fit without having spent time on the campus."

"It's also critical for students and parents to take notes. Once you've visited a few they can become blurred. You can't remember the attributes that were outstanding or the ones that weren't strong," says Kramer. "At the end of the day, make sure that you debrief with your child and write down the positives, and negatives.

"One of the most important, and least thought about, goals you can have when visiting campuses is to find a safety school that your child likes, because they might not get into their first, second or third choice. It can relieve a lot of pressure if the child likes their safety school. It sets up a win/win situation," says Spencer.

What Can A Parent Do
Aside from the obvious help that parents can give by fearlessly engaging strangers in conversation, they can sometimes catch clues that a student might miss. "We went to visit one campus on a Saturday," recalls Spencer. "We wanted to see the gym but the doors were locked. A student came by, saw us, and told us that the school couldn't afford to keep the gym staffed on the weekends. I thought that was a pretty important statement. It wouldn't have come through in the brochure or on the tour."

Here are a few more helpful hints for parents:

• Prepare for the tour in advance. Use the internet to find basic information before you get to a campus. Most colleges have brochures, guide books, narrative reports, virtual tours, catalogues, and pages devoted to departments and activities. Sometimes you can even find unauthorized student pages.
• Find out the core curriculum and average class size.
• Find out the schedule of classes and events so you attend the ones that interest your child.
• Call ahead and set up a guided tour and information session.
• Arrange for your child to stay overnight with a student host.
• Arrange for your child to meet with a professor or coach in their particular area of interest.
• Get your child to the admissions office early, so if there is a tour to take; a video to watch; yearbooks, newspapers and literary magazines to paw through, they have time. It's also a good place to scope out the students who are scoping out the school.
• Pay attention to whether the physical plant is well maintained.

1. The student center: read the bulletin board to get a sense of activities, groups, politics, parties, and what subjects students are thinking about enough to post signs about.
2. Dormitory and other living conditions.
3. Cafeteria and other food facilities
4. Library and computer resource areas.
5. Any area that is of particular importance to your child. If they were active in their school paper, visit the campus newspaper. If swimming is their life, talk to the coach and investigate the pool.

1. Why did you choose to come to this college?
2. What's special about this school as opposed to (fill in the name of it's rival)?
3. What role do sororities and fraternities play on campus and are you in one?
4. Is there a barrier between the college population and the surrounding citizens?
5. What do students do on weeknights and weekends? Do they go home or leave campus on the weekends?
6. How much time do students spend studying and where do they study?