Tips For Making A College Visit

As I noted in my last post, I was a college counselor for many years prior to working with Method Test Prep, and one of the most important pieces of advice I would give to my students was to encourage them to do whatever they could to visit the colleges to which they applied.

High school students are inundated with direct emails from colleges, they have access to official websites and they get viewbooks and catalogs in the mail all the time. They might even happen upon this site: if you’ve followed the blog for awhile, you know that I’ve written about my own visits to many colleges for the past few years, and I will continue to do so in the future.  While all of these sources contain useful information, the best way to make a truly informed decision about a college is to spend some time on the campus. After all, students are choosing a home for the next four (or more) years of their lives!

The following are some thoughts that might help you plan your visit and make it a successful one.

• It’s Almost Always A Good Time To Visit: College admission offices are open pretty much year round. They will typically have reduced hours during vacation periods in the school year (such as the week between Christmas and New Year’s), but they are generally willing and able to give campus tours all the time (though many are closed on Sundays). Visiting during the school year is preferred, so that you can see the campus in use, but any time you can be physically present at the college is good.

While every college website is different, generally there is a link somewhere in the Admission (or, for a university, Undergraduate Admission) section called “Visit”, or “Visiting Campus” or something similar. Typically this will explain the hours that the Admission office is open, and might even have an online calendar that will let you sign up in advance for your visit. Which leads me to my next point…

• Sign Up In Advance For Your Visit: While it can be fun to just take a detour on a long trip to drive through a college campus, or to figure that you learned everything you needed to learn during that soccer camp in seventh grade, you really only get the full experience if you attend the official information session and take a formal tour. And though I’ve never heard of a drop-in being turned away from these, it is only polite to let them know you are coming.

• Have A Bite To Eat: Generally the info session and tour combo will be either in the late morning or early afternoon. Either way, you should get some lunch on campus! Since you will be probably be eating in the dining hall for the first year, and you will be paying a lot for the privilege, it will be good to sample the cuisine in advance. Often the Admission office can give you and any traveling companions (parents, siblings) vouchers for the main dining hall; unfortunately this might not be an option during a vacation. You might have to call in advance to ask for cafeteria vouchers, but it is well worth the trouble. Besides getting some free food it will give you a good chance to observe campus denizens in their natural habitat. Watch how the students interact: do they seem happy? Careworn? You might pick up lots of valuable clues about life on campus while enjoying your meal.