Tips on planning "the ultimate college trip"
We're helping plan a trip for Kim to visit several colleges in the Northeast to help decide where to apply. The logistics are overwhelming! First we make a list of potential colleges to visit, based in part on input from her high school college counselor, input from the Fiske Guide to colleges, and input from friends and family. "The list" of course is a living thing, one which can change on a moment's notice, but we began assembling information on each college such as:

• Web site URL (almost everything happens on-line so you'll need to go back here often)
  
• Tour & orientation session days & hours offered (many now offer Saturday and even Sunday tours so you can optimize your weekend time)
• Location of the school. Not just the name of the town or city, but the ZIP code.
• URL for the web site page with the links your student needs for signing up for tours.
• Any other information (like if they offer your student's interest as a major, if they participate in a discount or tuition exchange plan, etc.)

Next we used Google Maps for rough distance estimates between colleges. We could guess from a AAA or other road atlas which order we should probably travel, but the distances are hard to guess since we're not familiar with the Northeast. If you enter a ZIP code in Google Maps it will show you the center of that ZIP code with a balloon above a little green arrow head icon (below left). Click the link in the balloon that says "From here" to open an area (below right) where you can enter a second ZIP code for another college to quickly calculate approximate distances from college to college!


Of course, since we're planning the ultimate college tour for our daughter, even using Google Maps can get tedious because you can only evaluate a pair of colleges at a time. We got around that limitation by using the AAA Triptik on-line planning tool. You have to be a AAA member to use their tool but it's worth it! After logging in, go to their "Travel" tab and look on the left side of the page for "Online TripTiks®" under Maps & Directions. You can add multiple locations, plot a map, then go back and rearrange the order (see below) if the map shows you're doubling back or driving right past another school! The AAA TripTik tool also allows you to print complete directions for your entire tour, including maps of each segment (just like the original TripTik booklets they used to prepare for you then highlight your route).

Using a combination of Google Maps and the AAA TripTik we've got a pretty good sense of which order we want visit the schools. The next step is to go on-line and sign-up for info sessions, etc., in the correct order! That's why I said earlier to be sure to save the URLs for the school web site and the Admissions page where you sign up. Every school is different, so this will take more time.

Ultimately, an in-car or hand held GPS makes sense for these tours, and of course it makes sense to have a laptop along to fine tune reservations or check for that last minute e-mail confirmation. Also, many schools recommend arranging interviews while you're on campus; check each web site carefully for their recommendations. If you can't locate it, here's my final tip

• Use Google's "site:" command to search a college web site that isn't well organized or doesn't offer a good search feature. For example, if I wanted to search Cornell's web site for "interview" from Google I would type:
  site:www.cornell.edu interview
  (Notice you don't use "http://" and the only space before the search word, "interview")

Good luck planning your ultimate college tour! I hope this summary helps someone else.
- posted by Larry H @ 11:56 AM