Advice on college visits?

[AOIIalum]

My oldest is visiting some schools during spring break next week. What is the one thing you wish you knew before you made any college visits? Any tips on things to check out while on campus, outside of the regular info sessions and tour?

[Thetagirl218]

Any specific region?

[PeppyGPhiB]

If possible, interview with the admissions office.

[AOIIalum]

Originally Posted by Thetagirl218

Any specific region?

He's going to schools in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee next week. Later on I expect he'll want to visit schools in Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and New York.

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

If possible, interview with the admissions office.

Should he do that now, even though he's still a junior and isn't sure exactly where he wants to go?

[alum]

My kid asked to sit in on classes in her intended major. Of course, that only works if your child knows what he/she wants to study and many times that will change. Some schools will let a prospective do overnights. Carnegie Mellon has specific Sleeping Bag weekends throughout the year that allow prospectives to get the dorm experience.

I would definitely recommend doing an admissions interview as a junior especially if you are visiting campuses that you can't revisit easily. Have your kid dress conservatively as he/she would for a job interview. My kid always wore a business-length skirt and blazer for her college interviews. Teens don't wear hose much but she did for interviews. If your kid is applying to art schools or alternative, laidback colleges such as Reed or Hampshire, the conservative look is not really appropriate. I interview prospectives for Carnegie Mellon which is a university comprised of very distinct schools. The boys tend to wear suits or a jacket and khakis, the girls will wear a skirt or good dress pants. Even the kids applying to the College of Fine Arts look pulled together and ready for an interview.

My child also brought a resume to leave with the interviewer. No matter what, follow up the interview with a handwritten thank you note (even for the laidback schools)!!!!

If your child plays a sport or instrument and wants to continue in college, set up a meeting with the coach or music department. Even for D3 schools that aren't allowed to give out athletic scholarships, athletic prowess can help in the admissions process.


Obviously your high school guidance and college career departments have statistics on admission rates. Ask if they use the computer modeling program called Naviance so you can see the scattergrams for college/university decisions for the specific applicants from your high school.

I know some GCers don't like these sites but I believe that http://talk.collegeconfidential.com and http://admissionsadvice.com are both good sources of information in the college search process. CC gets a lot more traffic than AA. Many of the posters are from the northeast and are HYP-bound (or want to be). Posters will post their kids' stats to get suggestions of potential schools. You'll see what I mean after reading it for awhile. The parents' forum is the busiest and you will get the quickest and most responses there.

To get to the message boards of AA, click on the left hand side of the screen. It's a kinder, gentler CC. Both AA and CC are run by private college consulting firms but use of the forums is free for both.

Feel free to PM me. I love the college search process which is why I am still so involved although our next kiddo is only in 8th grade.

[ThetaPrincess24]

In addition to the info sessions (including those of greek life!!! ) i would also recommend taking a tour of his college program building, talking to that program director, talking to the dean of that college etc. I looked at apartments and areas around campuses as well to get a better feel of the area the campus was in and for possibilities other than living on campus.....speaking of which if your child is staying on campus tour the housing facilities!!!

[FSUZeta]

i am done with campus visits, but went thru them with 2 children-a daughter and a son. don't know if it is just a guy-girl thing, but my son was much more reserved on his first visit to the school he ultimately decided to attend than his sister was. that was very unusual for him, because he is generally very outgoing and the life of the party. so i guess what i am saying is, even the most outgoing kid can be a little intimidated when it comes to college visits-if it happens to your son, just let it ride. i have observed parents literally pushing their child to the front of the tour group or quietly chastising them for appearing distracted-not a good thing!

dressing nicely for any interviews is great advice. for a campus tour, i would let your son wear more comfortable clothing. there is a nice young man, the same year as my daughter, who is still a legend at school because his mother made him wear a blazer and khakis, during the summer(in alabama), on the campus tour-he will never live that down, and this is at a conservative school. so blazer for interviews, then off with the blazer and on with a sweater for the tour.

try to book an appointment with an admissions counselor and take an official visit. it puts your sons name on the list of interested candidates and the college will begin sending literature to him. they will also include him on lists for special events that the college may hold in the fall and winter.

check out the cafeteria or main dining hall and eat there. if your son feels comfortable to do so, encourage him to introduce himself to some random students and get the real scoop on campus life. try to give him some space so that he can get a feel for the campus and student population, but don't get irritated if he holds back and becomes a little reserved.

if your son has several areas of academic interest, try to get appointments with the dean or an instructor in those departments. the admissions office should be able to set that up for you.

have him prepare some questions that he would like to ask and some answers to obvious questions. it is inevitable that the admission officer will say the standard,"so, aopialumson, tell me a little about yourself", or "why are you interested in our school?" or "what are your interests-academic and personal?"
i think that it shows that the prospective student really is interested in the school if he is prepared. if he has not done so yet, it would be a good idea for your son to go on each of the websites and look around a little.

he also should look the interviewer in the eye and offer his hand when meeting the interviewer and at the conclusion of the interview. your son should intoduce you and mr. aopialum to the interviewer, although sometimes they greet the parents first. thank the interviewer for their time-same for any other college officials(deans, instructors) he meets.

do send a handwritten note to the admissions officer and to any deans, instructors that he meets.

at the least, take a car tour of the area surrounding the campus. how far is it to wal-mart, a drug store, starbucks? does it look like the campus is in a relatively safe part of town, or does the surrounding area look a little sketchy?

immediately after each campus visit, have your son write down his feelings in a notebook. just like during rush, if you don't take notes, the campus memories can start running together.take a camera. no matter where he ends up, it is fun to look back at the campuses and remember the trip. good luck!!

[DG4evah]

Everyone has given great advice above. The main mistake I have made is we should have applied Early Decision for all the schools. We did get decisions early from several schools but we are still waiting. We've pretty much made our decision, though.

Start applying in the summer before Senior year. I don't work, and it took a lot of time even with the Common Application (tedious)..

[RaggedyAnn]

The big one they don't tell you is ask about the social climate. What do people do when they are not in class. Are there local movie theaters, stores, etc. depending on your kids interests. College is more than just classes. I ruled out one school that told me about dancing on tables as a big social event. It was in a rural area, but come on. I knew that was not the school for me. Find out about the local takeout places. There was a book that was really helpful out that I found with Baird's in the bookstore. Lisa B something or other. I can't remember and it was years ago. I'm sure there is something else out there now.

Also, walk the dorms and look inside the showers. Smell the back hallways of the class buildings. Is it clean? Do the library carpets have big wholes in them? Is there a place where your kid would feel comfortable studying?-that is different for everyone. These things may seem petty, but what does it really say about a school.

Visit the cafeteria, but eat there as well. If you leave feeling sick because the food was that unhealthy, imagine eating it for 4 years.

[nikki1920]

I would say visit it on a regular day, outside of an "admissions visit" group setting. That's the one thing I wished I would have done when I visited Carolina. If its out of state, how much does it cost to get to the airport? Can freshmen have cars? What is the surrounding community like when school is NOT in session? And ditto to the showers/dorm rooms/residence halls. How far is it to walk from the dorm to the main campus? Is there free campus transportation? Check out the libraries. Visit on a weekend when school is not in session. Then write down what you've observed, and try not to let the parents' influence your decision TOO much. *wink*

[jon1856]

Besides talking to the Admin Office, see if you can talk to the professors.
And perhaps spend some time in the Student Union area and talk to the students directly.

If really bold, walk over to Greek Row

[KSUViolet06]

*I agree with SCHEDULING a visit via admissions as opposed to attending on the large group "open house" days. You have more time to walk around and ask questions that way (and the lines in the cafeteria aren't as long).

*Drive around the town that the school is in. See where the nearest restaurants, laundromats, gas stations, grocery stores, etc are located. Remeber this is not just where you would be going to school, but where you would be LIVING for most of the year. You might not want to live somewhere where the nearest grocery store or mall is 20 minutes away.

*Get the scoop on area apartments. Find out which ones are nice, reasonably priced, and conveniently located. Why? Because he likely won't want to live on campus forever so it's good to see what the area has to offer in off campus housing.

*Also try to get insider info about the meal plans and cafeterias. Is it all fast food or junk food crap or are there places that actually serve meals that are reasonably balanced? This may not seem like a big deal now but four or more years of eating unhealthy cafeteria food will really take a toll on your weight and overall health.

*Really LOOK at the dorms, particularly the ones in which he/she would be staying in if they decided to go there. Are they gross? Ugly? Run down? Take note of that.

*Get the scoop from students about what most students like to do there. Not clubs and stuff, but what you can do on campus just lounging around for free. Example: KSU shows free screenings of movies on the lawn, there's a bowling alley in one of the dorms, and coffee shop in the student center.

[KatieKate1244]

While echoing everything here, check into the commuter rates. Both schools I've gone to had very high commuter rates, and the campus would literally die each evening around 5. My last college had 2,000 folks go there, but less than 500 lived on campus. Now, that wouldn't be so bad if you lived in or around large city, but if it's a suburban or rural campus, it can be a huge drag.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

*I agree with SCHEDULING a visit via admissions as opposed to attending on the large group "open house" days. You have more time to walk around and ask questions that way (and the lines in the cafeteria aren't as long).

*Drive around the town that the school is in. See where the nearest restaurants, laundromats, gas stations, grocery stores, etc are located. Remember this is not just where you would be going to school, but where you would be LIVING for most of the year. You might not want to live somewhere where the nearest grocery store or mall is 20 minutes away.

*Get the scoop on area apartments. Find out which ones are nice, reasonably priced, and conveniently located. Why? Because hw likely won't want to live on campus forever so it's good to see what the area has to offer in off campus housing.

*Also try to get insider info about the meal plans and cafeterias. Is it all fast food or junk food crap or are there places that actually serve meals that are reasonably balanced? This may not seem like a big deal now but four or more years of eating unhealthy cafeteria food will really take a toll on your weight and overall health.

*Really LOOK at the dorms, particularly the ones in which he/she would be staying in if they decided to go there. Are they gross? Ugly? Run down? Take note of that?

*Get the scoop from students about what most students like to do there. Not clubs and stuff, but what you can do on campus just lounging around for free. Example: KSU shows free screenings of movies on the lawn, there's a bowling alley in one of the dorms, and coffee shop in the student center.

I agree. I did not say in my last post that I was a campus tour guide. And we did walk thru dorms, class rooms, Student Union et al. And I did include Greek Row.

[aephi alum]

Definitely go during the week. Yes, this may mean pulling your son out of school for a day or two, but you're not going to get a feel for the campus by visiting on Sunday morning. (My parents forbade me to miss even one second of high school, so I didn't get to do things like sit in on lectures.)

If there is a freshman core curriculum, he should sit in on a lecture or two. If he knows or has a good idea what he wants to major in, he should sit in on <whatever it is> 101.

Let him off his leash. (Can you tell I had overprotective parents?) Let him meet and chat with other prefrosh and current students without mom and dad hovering around. He'll get a better idea of campus life that way - nobody will say "This is a huuuuuuge party school!" in front of mom and dad. Meanwhile, you might chat with other parents, take a walk around campus, or check out the city/town where the school is located - look at off-campus housing, restaurants, cultural opportunities like museums, etc.

As for early decision, keep in mind that it's binding. Your son should only apply early decision if he knows he wants to go to ABC U and nowhere else. Early action is non-binding. But if you and he are comfortable pursuing early decision or early action, go for it! I applied early action, and even though I sent in a few regular applications too, it was a huge load off my mind when I got my acceptance letter and I knew I didn't have to stress about college applications any more.

Good luck with the college hunt.