how many high schools should I tour ?

This is a question that I get a lot. In an ideal world, the answer would be, “all of them”, but that is just crazy. It is not possible in the 2 months that you are given. The real question may be, “how many schools is it possible to see?” - and only time will tell. With limited time and the fear of being squeezed out of tours this process can be fraught.

Tour and Open House dates are popping up on calendars right now. It is a goofy time of year because some schools still have last year’s dates up, so the first hurdle is figuring out if you are looking at the right year.

The second challenge is that you don’t have your random number or Screened Group number yet. When you get your numbers, there may be schools where placement will be so unlikely that it is not worth considering them. But if you wait, those tours will be full. You won’t know those official numbers for a month and you need the time to research right now. You may make some dates now, only to cancel later.

You need a list of schools that is balanced with reaches and safeties. Even with a terrible lottery number, you get to have a couple of real dream schools on your list if you want. It is a balancing act. You don’t get what you don’t try for, but don’t buy the t-shirt. People scramble to get on the tours for the famous and popular schools, but it is just as important (or maybe even more important) to see the schools that are the good solid middle of your list or your safeties. Often it is easy to get information about the popular schools from currently attending students or your parent friends. Why not divide and conquer and crowd source information about those schools. Depending on your child, it may be more important to see the schools that nobody talks about.

When you look at your list, there may be schools that have similar characters. This is just a suggestion, but maybe you choose to tour the small liberal arts school that most intrigues you, and the middle-sized general school, and the Consortium school, and the school that has the intriguing CTE program, and the big school with 20 AP’s, and the wild card relative unknown that everyone is talking about. If your dance card isn’t full after that, then you can try a second small school, etc. Seeing a bunch of small schools that are all relatively the same may scramble your brain and fill too much of your time without diversifying your list.

There are other ways to get good information. There are recorded open houses on the schools’ websites and Youtube or Vimeo. There are power point slides, and class catalogues on the schools’ websites. Very good insight will come from your friends and neighbors, particularly if they have upper classpeople. The opinions of rising Freshmen or Sophomores may be less helpful, but their parents have been through the search recently, so that is something. I don’t mean to disparage the knowledge of rising Sophomores, but I will remind you that they only have experience of the basic Regents classes the school has to offer, and they are not generally thrilling. They won’t have seen A LOT of the good stuff that is coming. If you can, talk to a Junior or Senior to the get the big picture. Go here to see some recorded school videos. Go here to see some videos about he Specialized High Schools.

Happy hunting!