While a college visit might be the most necessary part of the college search, students should keep their visit list to a reasonable level. If you make good decisions in researching and developing your list, you will be making visits to the places you are seriously considering.
You take a big risk if you never visit a college before you enroll. Often students pare down lists or make a final decision about where they will enroll based on a feeling they get when visiting. Even the most thorough college search cannot produce that feeling. You can only get that feeling from a visit.Visit Twice, Choose Once
If a school is within reasonable driving distance, it may be a good idea to visit campus multiple times. Beyond the admissions tour, you can get a sense of what a typical day looks like around campus, check out an athletic event, a concert, a speaker series, pay to eat a meal in the cafeteria, or all of those things. The more times you visit a campus, the better feel you will get for a school.
If you can only visit a campus once, the best time is either the spring of junior year or the fall of senior year of high school. A summer visit is not a complete representation of a campus. Most colleges and universities will not have a lot of students on campus, and some schools will be undergoing construction or renovations. This is a different experience from the spring or fall, when there are actually students on campus going about their daily routines.
Know Where You’re Going Before You Get There
Preparation on the student’s part will help you get the most from your visit. Although it’s great if a parent is well informed, the parent is not the one who will be enrolling. Students should know as much as they can about a school before visiting so they can have specific questions to ask the tour guide, the admissions counselor, the coach, marching band director, academic adviser, department chair or other person relevant to the student’s major interest. Consider planning your visit around these significant people and find an admissions tour that fits into that schedule.
While you’re in the area, check out the surrounding community’s shopping malls, outdoor recreation spots or other features important to you.
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Kathie Dickenson edited this post for SmartCollegeVisit. She is an award-winning higher-education writer and editor and a regular contributor to SmartCollegeVisit.
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