College road trip question

[Janeway]

If you were going to be in town for each of two schools for less than 24 hrs, and live far enough away that you will not return to the area before when/if your child decides to go there, so basically, you would arrive the evening before, would you do something in the area the day before and then do the official tour the next day, or would you just focus on the college? As in, walk around the campus the day before, have dinner and such, and then do the official stuff the next day?

So we will be at Rhodes College in Memphis. I had figured we will arrive on Sunday so we should do something in Memphis on Sunday and have dinner and then go to the campus on Monday morning and do everything that is planned on Campus. But then we leave the campus in the afternoon and head to Arkansas where we will see the next college we are visiting. My big question is..should we be just focusing on the college and skipping any other side trips around Memphis? It is a big drive so we will not be returning for a second visit. Or would that be a big bore where we would regret wasting Sunday on Campus? Oh yeah, and it is a far enough drive that even if we left at 8am on Sunday, we would not arrive until 3pm. So we would not have all day Sunday.

[Arch at Home]

We like to spend some time exploring the area around campus. We scope out the closest ice cream shop, coffee shops, and restaurants. Campus is for covered well enough with the tour but you have to make an effort to check out the local neighborhood. 

[Janeway]

17 minutes ago, Arch at Home said:

We like to spend some time exploring the area around campus. We scope out the closest ice cream shop, coffee shops, and restaurants. Campus is for covered well enough with the tour but you have to make an effort to check out the local neighborhood. 

So..stick to the area close to the campus and not to areas far away from campus for museums and such?

[Arcadia]

8 minutes ago, Janeway said:

So..stick to the area close to the campus and not to areas far away from campus for museums and such?

 

We stuck to the area close to campus as my kids do not want to stay in a dormitory so that gave us a chance to check out apartments and real estate nearby. In our case it was an unintentional college visit as my husband had to conduct job and internship interviews at UCLA so we drove 6hrs southwards and arrived early enough to visit Caltech and Harvey Mudd along the way before arriving at UCLA around 4pm. My husband had to report to the Student Liaison Office at 7am. We drove back home in the evening leaving UCLA around 6pm.

[Hoggirl]

Go to Beale Street in Memphis and listen to live music. 🙂. 

I sent you a pm, also.

[Arch at Home]

9 hours ago, Janeway said:

So..stick to the area close to the campus and not to areas far away from campus for museums and such?

Actually you have enough to check further afar. We take time to see the neighborhood as my kids like to get off campus on a fairly regular basis. Not having to go too far for an alternative study location is a plus to a campus. They will explore the larger city on  days off but the larger city doesn’t impact their decision as much/quality of life as the surrounding neighborhood. 

[GoodGrief]

I think it depends on how energetic you and your prospective student are. When I travel, I love cramming everything possible into the time available, so if there is an interesting non-college sight, I'm all about that. I've got a daughter that loves that sort of thing too. However, two of my daughters need lots of down time, so if I need them to focus on the college, I'm not going to stray far from the primary purpose for the trip.