The Lion Shrine at Penn State. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
My oldest daughter is a junior in high school and has recently begun the college search. This can be a dreaded or welcomed activity, depending on your point of view.
She’s having a good time with the search. There are a few more schools to go to. Here is my not-so-expert advice for parents who haven’t done the drill yet:
1. Have your child bring a friend. It is more enjoyable for everyone, including the parent. There are fewer teenage-ary glares when a friend is along.
2. Go off-season, meaning go to a northern school in the winter and a southern school when it is hot. They should see the school at its worst.
3. Make your child look at a type of school they are sure they will hate. My daughter wants to go to a large, rural school with an awesome football team (yes, we clearly have our priorities in order). So, she has looked at two schools that are smallish, near or in a city, with no or sub-par football teams. And she liked them much more than she thought she would.
4. When you go to your alma mater, don’t embarrass your kid by taking pictures of your old dorm and the post office (if you went to Penn State, that’ll mean something to you).
Being fairly new to this exercise myself, that is all the advice I have.
What advice do you have?
An Untitled Life 
I would add let your children stay the night with someone at the school. They can get a much better indication of the people/life/social atmosphere away from their parents for a night or two.
I agree, James. All of my college visits involved a recruiting trip where I stayed with other students in the dorm. That’s when you really see what things are like.