If your mailbox has been bursting with mail from colleges and universities, you know that college brochures make every campus look amazing and sound outstanding. The best way to find out the reality of each college on your dream list is to pay a personal visit.
During a college visit, you’ll get to see how students live, what classrooms and college buildings are like, where students hang out, and what the surrounding community offers. You’ll get a feel for how you would fit in and whether you can imagine yourself spending four years there.
You’ll also discover make-or-break details that the college brochures leave out. When Beth visited a college in upstate New York, it was high on her list until her tour guide mentioned that in the winter, cross-country skiing was the easiest way to get from the dorms to the classroom buildings. Since cross-country skiing was not part of Beth’s college plan, that school dropped from the list.
When should you begin visiting colleges? The earlier, the better. Eighth grade is not too soon. Visits don’t have to be formal; you could attend a collegiate sporting event, participate in a summer academic program, or just drop in on an older sibling at college. Even if you have no idea where you want to go to school, you can begin to figure out what you like or dislike in a campus. When Matt spent a week at a Big Ten campus for a Scouting event, he learned that a large university was not right for him. When he began college shopping seriously, only small and medium colleges made his dream list.
By the spring of junior year, you should begin looking seriously at colleges you might want to attend. Check with your high school counselor to see if your school provides a certain number of excused absences for students to visit colleges. Otherwise, plan to spend part of your spring break on a college road trip. Once you’ve been accepted at one or more colleges, you may want to plan a longer overnight stay to confirm your impressions and make a final decision.
Elizabeth Johnson is a Lansing, Michigan-based freelance writer and EduGuide contributor.