As my new cycle of sophomore and junior high schoolers begin their college search journeys, I want to reiterate how vital College and University visits are.
So many times, I have seen and heard students and families think one thing about a college or university only to physically set foot on the campus and their initial thoughts begin to go in a different direction. Whether good or bad there are many ways to get the college/university experience.
This is the place where you are going to live and be part of; your community, and that place is an existing, working, and thriving environment. It is essential for you to see, hear, and experience—even if it is only for a few hours, those relationships between students, faculty, surrounding neighborhoods, and locals. Sometimes you get to a place and immediately feel out of sorts while other times you immediately feel like you are part of it and cannot wait to learn more.
Here are 5 tips to get the most out of your visits:
1. Prepare ahead of time
It sounds simple but many do not do anything ahead of showing up for their visit. Schools will have virtual tours and plenty of information that you can look at ahead of time. Or you may know people that have gone there – talk to them.
How is the tour organized and what will you see? Do they have the majors you may be interested in? How much of the school is on-campus vs. commuter? Don’t stress too much to fully understand the school, that’s what the visit is for, but a bit of pre-work will at least give you a sense of the school and help you with the next tip.
2. Go in with questions
Write down a few questions you want to answer for yourself – these are likely pretty common across all of your visits but each school may have some unique questions. Does it have the majors you are interested in? Is it easy and safe to get around campus? What is social life like? Is it a heavy Greek campus or not and is that what you want? How do they help with job placement? Is it easy to get back home (close to airport, etc.)? What do they provide or will you need to bring with you? Whatever is important to you.
3. Use it to help narrow on a major if you aren’t sure
Most visits will be structured where you get a view on the overall school but then an opportunity to drill down and get deeper into specific programs or majors. If you are undecided, this is a great way to sit and hear about a program, note which ones are at least interesting, and then go sit in one of those programs more detailed sessions.
4. Make some quick notes after the visit
You are likely going to see a lot of schools and they will start running together and believe me, you will forget as time goes on. It’s simple, but just write down some notes immediately after the visit:
- What was your overall impression? Can you see yourself attending there.
- What did you like and dislike? Force yourself to write 3 of each.
- Where would you rank it agains the other schools you have visited? This doesn’t have to be a strict ranking, even group them together in “Top school”, “Backup school”, “Eliminated”.
5. Make the most of virtual visits
There are those times when you are unable to make in person visits due to costs, time constraints, or other outside reasons. For those reasons, Colleges and Universities have really stepped up their games. They incorporate both student and faculty presentations along with some spectacular aerial views of the campus where you get to see more buildings and cityscapes, especially if it is a very large school or campus. There are also several additional sites to visit, such as TikTok, YouTube, blogs posted by current students, etc. So take your time and search for those, this is YOUR journey.
And while in person visits allow you to taste the food, feel the weather, and be able to approach live people, if virtually is your only way then, yes, MAKE THE MOST OF IT!
Either way, GET YOUR TOURS STARTED!
