Tips on the Process: College Visit

"Seven Tips for the College Visit"

Seven Tips for the College Visit

The college visit has the potential to be either a very useful fact- and impression-gathering mission, or a colossal waste of time and money. The choice is up to you. Here are seven tips to make sure you get the most out of your visits.

7. Bring an Umbrella. That may sound like frivolous advice, but there are few things more miserable than trekking around a campus in the pouring rain, getting your new tie or skirt drenched before your all-important college interview. Pack an umbrella-you won't regret it.

6. Do Research Before You Visit. You don't have to read an entire book on each college, but you should know enough so as not to sound like you just wandered in off the street. For example, if you ask a University of Chicago admissions officer what their in-state/out-of-state tuitions are, you will be embarrassed to hear him say, in front of everybody, that in fact U. of Chicago is a private college and thus their tuition charges are equal for all students who attend, regardless of their home state. Everyone will stare at you. To avoid this ignominious fate, just go to the school's homepage and look around for thirty minutes, or look up the college's entry in a college guidebook such as the Fiske Guide to the Colleges.

5. Take a Self-Guided Tour. Every single college you will visit has both downsides and upsides. Yet when you tour them, most of those colleges will, for example, show you only their one new dorm and not the four old ones where you will most likely live during your time there. Therefore, after your official tour is ended, take thirty minutes or so to wander around on your own and check out what the campus is really like, warts and all. Also, if you are thinking of majoring in, say, astronomy, then take a trip to the college's observatory to see for yourself what condition it is in and whether it is easy to get to. Or, if you are interested in the drama program, head over to the college's theatre to see if its proscenium arch is still standing. Finally, drive or walk around the immediate area. Does it look new or run-down? Are there restaurants, movie theatres, or retail stores nearby? Is it urban, suburban, or rural? Take the initiative and do some investigating on your own.

4. Introduce Yourself. Many colleges track "demonstrated interest," which means they take note each time you call, write, or visit, and they often use this statistic to decide between two qualified applicants. Demonstrated interest becomes even more important if you are placed on the waiting list: colleges want to admit people who are likely to attend, because that will increase their percentage yield, which will then increase their ranking in US News & World Report. Therefore they will often choose applicant who seems excited about their college over one who is only lukewarm.

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