By:
Allison B. - A High School Senior
who knows!
High
School is the time in a girl’s life when you figure out your identity: who you
are, who your friends are, and, possibly most importantly, who you want to be.
Even through all the drama, the homework, the self-esteem issues, and the daily
stresses of school life, we’re all frantically trying to figure out our lives and
prepare for one main thing – college! By the time Senior year rolls around,
there are so many students who desperately fill out the college applications,
hope for the best, hopefully get excepted somewhere, and then a few months
later head out to college. But when they get to college, it’s not what they
expected. Maybe the people aren’t friendly, or the campus is humongous, or the
professors don’t provide much-needed office hours for help. There’s probably
something all these first-year students had in common before they filled out
applications that caused them to end up at a school they don’t really want to
be at: they didn’t tour the college first.
It
cannot be stressed enough, by parents, by teachers, by counselors, and by
peers: college tours are extremely important in the college decision process! It’s
really hard to know you’ll love living somewhere for 100 plus days a year just
by looking at pictures online or in brochures, or even by hearing from your
neighbor’s, friend’s, sister’s, boyfriend how “amazing” and “fun” college life is
at that particular school. You have your own expectations, so you can’t go by
everyone else’s. You’ve got to go see it and experience it for yourself. Experts say picking a college is kind of like
buying a house. You don’t just buy a house because of what it looks like in the
photos. You actually go and see it yourself because you get such a different
feel from actually being there. The same thing goes for college, and there are
so many reasons why college tours are extremely helpful and useful.
On
a college tour, you get to experience everything, from sitting in on classes to
talking to professors to getting a feel of the campus and much more. This is
why college recruiters and admissions directors recommend them so much. The
many emails you might receive each month from different colleges aren’t just
meant to go into your deleted folder; they’re meant to remind you of the
incredible opportunity being offered to you as they tell you about upcoming
events and college tour dates. Gail Polizzi, an Atlanta recruiter for Purdue
University as well as a former Girl Scout leader, confirms this as she tells
interested students considering Purdue and other colleges the importance of
touring them all the time. “College tours are probably one of the most
important factors if not the most important for a student in making his or her
college decision” Ms Polizzi explained. “While students can talk
with Admissions Counselors, review the college websites or look through
viewbooks, the actual visit to campus helps the student to imagine what it would
be like to be there. For the student, it’s usually the most effective way
to determine if it’s the right fit for them.” But before you jump right in,
there are some important things to know and do first.
Timing is
everything, especially when it comes to college tours. So many students want to
tour colleges during the summer, but there are quite a few reasons why touring
during the school year is best. When it comes to scheduling college tours, Ms.
Polizzi says that “When you’re touring a college, you should do so at a time
when students and faculty are on campus so that you can get a sense of what the
energy is like there. While summer seems to be an opportune time to
visit-when students and parents can take time off to do so, it’s not going to
give the student the sense of what that campus really feels like as it would
during the year when students are changing classes and faculty are teaching.”
This brings us back to what a college tour gives you: the opportunity to get a
sense of what life is like for students there.
You also need to
keep in mind that the weather won’t always be nice. It might get really cold in
the winter touring northern colleges and really hot in the summer touring
southern ones. This means that you need to dress accordingly. Ms. Polizzi
reminds us that, “When touring college campuses, it’s important to wear
comfortable shoes because you’ll be doing a lot of walking and to dress
appropriately for the weather; hot, cold, rainy.” And for those nice, sunny
days, don’t forget to bring a camera or phone to take your own pictures to help
remind you of what you saw when you were there.
Once you’ve
scheduled a college tour, which can usually be done on the college’s website or
through an email, there are some things to make sure you do while you’re there.
Remember to be VERY observant. Take note of what the students are doing, what
they are wearing, and if it seems like they truly enjoy it there. Look around
the campus and try to figure out if it’s too big, too small or the right size
for you. But one of the best things you can do to make your college tour the
most meaningful is to ask lots and LOTS of questions. Ms. Polizzi made a list
of some of the basic and very important questions you might want to ask
professors, students, and recruiters on the tour:
(REMOVE
BULLETS BEFORE POSTING)
· How does your
Career Planning and Placement Office help students find jobs? What services do
they provide? Do they have corporate or job fairs on campus? How
many per year do they do? What are some of the companies who interview
here and hire students?
· What are the work
opportunities on campus? What are the internship or Coop Opportunities
for my major?
· What’s the
retention rate or the rate students staying at the college? What’s the
retention rate to graduation?
· Is the college a
suitcase college on the weekends or do students stay on campus? What do
students do on the weekends? How many clubs and organizations do you have
on campus? What is student life like?
· What is the student
to faculty ratio? What percentage of your faculty are professors?
Graduate Teaching Assistants?
· Do you have a study
abroad program? What is it like?
These are just a
few questions you might want to ask on a tour, but make sure you aren’t afraid
to ask about anything that comes to mind that’s important to you regarding the
possibility of going to the particular college. And Ms. Polizzi recommends bringing
“a note pad and pen with you to take notes about the college, how they answer
the questions above, and any first impressions you have of the college or
campus. It’s easy to visit multiple colleges and get confused on what you saw
or heard about each one.”
When
it comes to college tours, you always are told they’re important because they
allow you to “truly experience” that college. Many students don’t quite know
what this means or how to make a college tour especially meaningful besides the
scheduled tour of campus. You really want to experience life at that college,
be sure to tour the dorms and eat in the dining halls. And don’t be shy! Stop
and ask a student what he or she likes about the school. I remember one my of
my recent tours while I ate in the dining hall, my parents got me to ask two
girls sitting at a nearby table about their experience. The students were so friendly;
as they had me sit with them and told me everything they could, from general
college advice to life on that particular campus, for 15 minutes. They proved
just how nice college students are and how willing they are to help you. So
don’t be afraid to reach out while you’re there and feel free to treat a
friend, a friend of a friend, or a distant cousin who attends that school to a
meal off-campus. You’ll get quality time with a current student and someone you
know, and they’ll also appreciate a free meal!
Deciding
where you’ll go to college is definitely one of the biggest life-decisions
you’ll make, so you want to make sure to get to see all aspects of a college to
help you decide correctly. The importance of college tours cannot be
overstated. No one wants to be that student that ends up where he or she didn’t
really want to be simply because he or she didn’t take the time to see and
experience the college firsthand. Touring colleges is extremely easy and, more
than that, extremely meaningful. So whether you’re in 7th grade or a
Junior getting ready to prepare for the application process, don’t forget to
tour those colleges that interest you. Don’t make the college-decision process
your enemy. Make it a fun, easy experience by doing one of the best things you
possibly can: touring college campuses.
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