Itineraries for the two east coast college trips were announced Friday via email to the junior class.

The trips will be during spring break, starting March 31 and ending April 6.

The Bison tour will start in Philadelphia and end in St. Louis, visiting colleges in Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Missouri.

The Spider tour will start in New York City and end in Nashville, covering colleges in New York, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Tennessee.

Each trip offers 30 slots, so students will be given slots via lottery as long as their forms are turned in by 4 p.m. on Dec. 11.

The trip is designed to serve as an introduction to finding the right college, and will be the first opportunity to set foot on out-of-state campuses for some students, according to the email.

The colleges are selected to help students decide which criteria and features of colleges will be most important when they finally decide.

“It’s a great way for students to (sometimes drastically) expand their scope in the college search,” upper school dean Pete Silberman said.

Each day, students will visit up to three colleges. At each college, students will attend an informational session with an admissions officer, often the same officer who handles Harvard-Westlake applications.

If possible, students will visit with Harvard-Westlake alumni attending the university. The deans will also serve as chaperones, holding informal debriefing sessions.

Students will have oppurtunities to go out at night in small, unchaperoned groups, so students will be responsible for bringing spending money.Everything else is covered by the $2,495 cost of the trip.

Other meals are provided, and will often be eaten with  Harvard-Westlake alumni from  schools the students visit.

Lodging will be in hotels, where students must sign-in by 10 p.m.