Visiting colleges
As families kick their summer planning into gear, if you are—or if you have in your family—a ninth-, tenth-, or eleventh-grade student, I highly recommend working a few college visits into your summer travel plans. Even if semester classes aren’t in session, you can often still schedule a tour, take a walk around campus, and get a feel for the college. If you haven’t already figured out exactly what you’re looking for in a college, visiting a few schools can begin to give you a sense of what you do and don’t like.
If you’re going on a two-week vacation, I suggest working in maybe three college visits. If you can—especially if you’re still formulating what’s important to you in choosing a college—sample a few different kinds of schools. If you’re visiting North Dakota, consider visiting University of Mary (if you’re amenable to the idea of attending a Catholic university) and Minot State University, as well as the University of North Dakota. Visiting some different types of colleges will help you to clarify your values and priorities.
Visit no more than one college per day. Schedule a tour and information session with the admissions office if they are available. Take a self-guided walk to the areas of campus that are important to you, but weren’t part of the tour. I suggest budgeting time for note taking, journaling, and even people watching. Taking enough time to really assimilate the feel of each school will help to prevent what can happen when too many college visits are scheduled in too short a time: they all kind of run together in your mind, and you may struggle later to remember which school was which.
If you really like a school during a vacation-time visit, and think you might like to go there, I strongly suggest visiting when classes are in session. Meet some students. Sit in on at least one or two classes. Eat a meal in the dining hall. Visit the coffee shop that’s adjacent to campus. Compared to the way campus feels when there’s no one around, you’ll get a very different sense of the place during the bustle of a regular class day.
If you’d like to learn more about college visits, the college admissions process, and more, please use the contact form on my website to schedule your free one-hour consultation today!
