Visiting College Campuses - Accepted Students
Level 1 - Baby Steps
Welcome! Around this time, acceptance letters begin to come in and families begin conversations to decide where their son or daughter will attend in the fall.
Most families will focus on the financials or academics, but one of the areas often neglected is actually visiting the campus.
Why Is Visiting Important?
Unless you are going to commute to campus, you will most likely live on or near campus for the next 4 years.
This is not just a commitment academically, it is a commitment socially. If a student hates it socially, they will likely struggle academically or want to transfer out.
Visiting a college is an opportunity to understand what being a student there will be like. If you go and you find the people odd, or there is nothing to do on the weekends, or the social life is dead, you will know and can factor that into your decisions.
What To Look For On a College Visit
When you visit a college post-acceptance, you are going with a very specific set of goals in mind.
Evaluate the town/city life
Evaluate the social scene
Evaluate the other prospective students (where possible)
Connect with professors/academics
Evaluate the town/city life
You are going to spend the next several years here. And unless you plan to spend every moment in the library, you will likely venture off of campus. When you visit, consider the following:
If you wanted to get away from studying, what would you be able to do?
Do students tend to spend their time on campus or off campus?
If you were there for an extended break, what would you do?
How close are you to a major airport? Where would your family stay if they visited?
If a friend visited, what would you take them to do?
How far are you from family?
There are no right or wrong answers, but you want to know the answers and how they measure up to you. If everyone goes for hikes and you hate the outdoors, this might not be the place for you to thrive.
Evaluate The Social Scene
The social scene in college matters. The friendships you make in college last a life time. If you cannot make friends, college can be very lonely and the challenges you will face require support.
When you visit a college, you will want to ask several questions, including:
Is it a dry campus? (no alcohol allowed on campus)
Does the social scene tend to revolve around frats/sororities/social clubs? Are there social groups/Greek life on campus?
What role do major sports play in the social scene (e.g., does everyone go out for the football game?)
Does the college feel small or large?
What role do academic and other forms of clubs play in making friends (e.g., do all of the opera crowd hangout together or do people tend to make friends based on who lives near their dorm?)
Evaluate the Other Prospective Students
This may seem odd, but if you have the option, go during a prospective students weekend. Two main reasons:
Prospective student weekends provide you an opportunity to make friends with your class ahead of time
The weekend also gives you an opportunity to see what the social scene is like in person
At the end of the day, the people you will primarily know are those who are in your academic year. So if you are around people who will be your classmates and you feel that you do not fit in, that is not a good sign.
That does not mean you need to feel as if you made a best friend. What it means is that you need to feel as if you could make friends in this environment.
If you are anxious to go to a party and instead everyone wants to stay in and watch Netflix, this may not be your scene.
Be honest with yourself. Be open to the people, but know who you are and the college experience that you are looking for.
Connect with Professors/Academics
Remember, college is an academic adventure first. Take advantage of the opportunity to check out the lectures and classes that are available.
There was a student that we worked with that visited a college. It was his first choice, and he believed this was the best university for him. When he went, he visited a lecture. Within 10 minutes, he was put to sleep. Even though he loved the college, he immediately knew that if he was going to enroll, he had to avoid that professor because he would never be able to stay awake.
You will never get that insight without visiting.
But this is not just about knowing which professors will put you to sleep. You also want to use this as an opportunity to learn about the various academic clubs and express your interests ahead of time. This gives you an opportunity to build a connection and get a preview into what you could be doing on campus.
Conclusion:
To make an informed decision, you need to have as much information as possible. Please note, there may be other things that are particularly important to you that are not mentioned above. Ask questions and ask them often. Ask multiple people the same question. There is no such thing as asking too many questions. This is a serious commitment.
One other important note - these are questions to ask once you are accepted - not prior to applying to college. The assumption is that you are focused on selecting colleges and trying to find ways to compare them, not that you are trying to determine if a college is a fit for you at all.
Have other questions? Feel free to find us at Admissions Decisions for more information.