<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I am about to start college touring this fall. what are some good questions to ask?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>do the dorms all have air conditioning? it may be getting cooler now but trust me, you will bake in the dorms the first month or two and the last 2 or 3 months if they do not.
how close is the closest hospital, hopefully you never need to worry. do most people stay on campus during the weekends? what is the freshman retention rate. (anything above 85% is good) 90 and above is even better.</p>
<p>Do not ask questions that can be answered by looking at the viewbook or the college website.</p>
<p>Ask your tour guide - why did he/she choose this college? What other schools did he/she apply to? Is there a real dedication to creating your own classes or majors? (Even if this is of no interest to you it will help to see the flexibility and creativity of the administration.)</p>
<p>These are the kinds of questions that are not available through the college website or brochures.</p>
<p>Ask your tour guides what dislike about their college. If they can’t come with anything or if they dodge the question they are being less than honest, because no college is perfect.</p>
<p>Rather than ask questions, listen very closely to what they DON’T tell you. Read between the lines. Then ask about those subjects - it’s often what they don’t want to talk about.</p>
<p>For example, many schools hide the fact that most upper classmen move off-campus because of housing shortages or the dominance of Greek life for those who remain. This can be a problem is you want a close knit campus that is less drinking oriented. Or ask about the average class size of freshman classes, not all classes. No one wants to admit that Bio 101 and Psych 101 are 500 seat classes taught by TAs.</p>
<p>Parents, listen very closely because you’ll hear completely different things than your kids will. After you’re done at the school, take turns talking to each other about what you like and don’t like about a school. Kids go first. Don’t argue on the first pass. Both parent and kids will learn a lot about the school, each other, and what both are looking for in a school.</p>
<p>Finally, don’t be afraid to abort a tour because it becomes obvious that the school is a bad match. (During one orientation session at a school D insisted on seeing and thought she would love, D whispered to her mother, “I hate this place, I’m NEVER going to go here.” Her mother and I were both relieved, as we really didn’t want her to go there based on what we had seen.) Or extend a tour if it looks like a good match. This is easier if you do no more than two tours a day, and they really start to blur after two, so the third is useless.</p>
<p>Ask about things relevant and specific to the programs you are thinking about (if you know yet), such as research opportunities for undergrads, pre-med advising, etc. Also see if it’s possible to sit in on a class or talk with a professor or advisor. That gave me a chance to see what the students and professors were like in class rather than described abstractly by an idealistic, enthusiastic tour guide.</p>
<p>Also, I found it really helpful to make a pros and cons list right after a visit. Especially if you visit a lot of schools, this can help keep them all straight and help you realize what’s important to you based on what you think is worth writing down. Sometimes, I discovered, you can also end up idealizing some aspects of a school after the fact or your memory could end up filled with images of the pretty campus rather than the shortcomings. The list can act as a reality check in this case. It happened to me…</p>
<p>Speaking of dorms, I would ask how early you need to apply to get your ‘preferred dorm’. In some cases, that time has already passed for Seniors in High School going into college in the fall of 2014. I know dorms don’t make your decision on attending (or they shouldn’t) but it is a valuable thing to know that won’t be on very many websites.</p>
<p>Set some time aside to check out parts of the campus that were not on the tour. Sometimes there is a reason why something was left out. It is particularly valuable to see the facilities that serve your intended major. Or, a college may show off one fancy new dorm, but you find out most of the dorms are in bad shape.</p>
<p>Also, check out the surrounding neighborhood that is on the opposite side of the campus from the admissions office. </p>
<p>Sometimes sitting in a central place (such as a student union) and listening can tell you something valuable about the college.</p>
<p>Think about what is important to YOU and ask questions about those topics. For example, my D asked about weekend activities, science research opportunities and the school orchestra.</p>