How to Make the Most of Your College Visits

If you're trying to determine which college or university is going to be the best place for you to spend your next four years, a campus visit can be a great way of adding information to your decision process. Read on to see some tips on how to make your campus visit the very best it can be.

Visit Early, Visit Often

If it is within your means to do so, you should try to visit the campus of most of the schools that you're seriously considering. I believe that seeing the campus and the people first hand is one of the best ways to see if you can imagine yourself attending that college. Also consider making return visits when you start to reach your decision phase. That extra campus visit might show you a side of the school you hadn't seen before.

Pick a Good Guide

Some colleges allow you to decide which guide you'd like to follow around for the tour. The guides will often introduce themselves and say where they're from, what their major is, and what sort of extracurricular activities they are involved in. I'd suggest selecting a junior or senior-they'd probably have a better sense of the way things work around campus. Pick a person who seems confident talking and who can project their voice. The guide can often make or break a tour experience, so make a good selection!

Walk Near the Front

Try to keep pace and walk near the front of the tour group. This way, you can ask any little questions you want to the tour guide as you walk from place to place on campus. The tour guide will be more likely to share little insights about the school that they may not tell the whole group if you're near the front.

Trust Your Guide-to a Point

You should accept everything your guide says as truth, but make sure you see the whole picture. Scripts for college campus visits are carefully planned and written; they're essentially advertisements. Just like you wouldn't trust an ad to give you a completely accurate picture, don't trust your tour guide to tell you the downsides of the particular college or university.

Wander Around

After the tour is over, peek into buildings that the tour didn't show. Are they class buildings or dorms? Are these buildings in good working order, or do they need repair? Why do you think you weren't shown the buildings on the tour? This can also be a good opportunity to ask current students what they think of the school. Most will be friendly and willing to talk to you. Just don't catch them on the way to class!

Attend the Information Sessions

Make sure you attend the information sessions that are often available before or after a campus tour. These sessions can give you important information on the college admissions process or financial aid, and help you decide if the school is within your means, both academically and financially. Just like with the tour, make sure you remember that these are advertisements. Treat the information you receive as such.

Take Notes Throughout

Keep a pen and paper handy to jot down notes or questions throughout the tour and the information session. Not only will this help you remember any questions and pay attention, it will also help you better remember the differences between colleges after you get back home. Trust me, after a bunch of tours, every college campus is going to start to look the same! Write down what you liked and what you didn't so you can refer to it later.

Trust your Intuition

The best part of a campus tour is that it can help you determine if you can imagine yourself at that college or university. This being said, trust your intuition over everything else. This is your only opportunity to feel what it's like to be on campus. Is something not sitting right with you? Does the school have great academics and programs, but you feel funny about being on the campus? Remember, you're going to have to live here for four years, so make sure it's a place that you're comfortable in. If you ever say "There was something that just wasn't right," after a tour, trust that bit of intuition.

Get On Those Campus Tours!

Now you have a good idea of some tips that can make your campus visits and tours more successful. Get out there and start finding the college of your dreams! Throughout your admissions process, keep everything in perspective, and good luck!