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Campus Visits - Overview
College and university campus visits are not
optional for students. You
must tour campuses to experience their atmosphere and culture first-hand, observe
the characteristics unique to each college and get a “feel” for each
campus to see if you fit in before making a commitment on May 1 of your senior
year. You must be sure to make the correct choice on where to spend four
years of your life as a college student. The college you choose to attend
must be the place that fits you both as a student and a person. If you
end up at a college or university you really don’t care for, it could be
a very unhappy four years or you may end up transferring to another school.
There are 2 types of visits: Informal campus visits are where you wander
around the college campus on your own. These informal campus visits typically
happen on a weekend or during the summer when students and families just drop
by for a casual walk-around. There are also formal campus visits which
include scheduled guided tours of each campus, interviews, and much more.
The information in MyCollegeCalendar details activities that are part of
formal campus visits. However, following the instructions and activities presented
in this online guide during informal visits will allow you and your parents to
make superior observations and more complete campus evaluations.
It is important the day you choose for a campus visit is a normal school
day. You’ll
be able to see the campus under usual operating circumstances with students and
professors active in classrooms, eating their lunch in the cafeteria, and maybe
even experience some scheduled social events. Also, on a normal school
day you should be able to sit in on a class or two (upon request). Visiting
on college holidays is not particularly good because the campus will look deserted. Mid-term
or final exam week won’t be typical because of the frantic days associated
with testing. Visiting during “Open House” or “Open Campus” days
means you’ll be one of 500 families visiting the campus that day; you will
get virtually no individual attention and no 1-on-1 time with an admission officer. |
