Preparing your first college tour and not sure where to start?

Here are some suggestions for schools to visit, grouped by region, to get you rolling. Each list includes 5-6 schools that offer a range of sizes, settings and selectivity to help imagine the possibilities.  We also suggest others worth considering and why.  

Cities currently covered include Boston, New York City, Syracuse, Washington DC, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  

Click on the Continue Reading link below to see our suggestions, or try our College Tour Planner to build your own custom campus tour itinerary.

Today the UC Office of the President issued a press release announcing that applications are up another 6.5% from last year.  Preliminary figures indicate the total number of high school seniors applying to at least one University of California campus is now over 158,000.  

An update will be issued in January.

University of California admission decisions have started rolling out in earnest.  Here are the official dates for both freshmen and transfers: