<p>do you have to sign up for an official tour to visit? or can you just visit a college by yourself?</p>
<p>You don’t have to sign up for an official tour, but some colleges (particularly smaller ones) keep track of visits and consider “demonstrated interest” as a plus factor. Plus, if you go on a tour, you can sometimes sit in on a class, meet professors, get discounts at the bookstore, etc. On the other hand, you can sometimes get a lot of information stealthily.</p>
<p>You can visit a college by yourself. But as John2698 said, there are lots of perks that come with going on an official tour. And you can always do some exploring by yourself after the tour if you feel you didn’t get to see enough of the campus.</p>
<p>If you do decide to go on an official tour, though, you should definitely sign up. It causes lots of problems when people don’t pre-register but show up anyway. In fact, there was recently a thread in the Parents forum about this – I’m sure you can find it if you’re curious. Basically, the students who did sign up get cheated, because there wind up not being enough information packets, the tour group is too big, there aren’t enough tour guides, etc. So definitely sign up if you want to tag along on an official tour.</p>
<p>No you have to go on a tour. Otherwise, they will barricade the entire college and have police surround the perimeter to make sure that you can’t visit on your own. They will check at the perimeter if you have a tour scheduled.</p>
<p>In all seriousness though, while you don’t need a tour, it is better to have one since you get to hear a lot of (somewhat biased) info about the school and learn stuff a lot easier. They will also show you all the important places on campus and tell you what each building is (along with a whole bunch of other stuff). Plus, some tours are part of a bigger program which has info sessions for different things and sometimes free stuff. Oh and ditto the “demonstrated interest”</p>
<p>Going on a tour can be beneficial. But I would also recommend “bumming around” before or after. I went to high school three minutes from a top school & every once in a while I’d throw on jeans and hoodie (what I deemed ‘college wear’), grabbed school work and found an obscure part of campus to use as my study spot. Once (on one of the many teacher work days) I sat in the back of some lecture. Sometimes I grabbed something from the dining hall (which is very expensive without a meal plan). It helps you get a feel for the campus and the students on it.</p>
<p>I’d recommend a tour at some point or other if you’re really interested in the school. Apart from letting you see the school, it also officially lets admissions see that you’re interested enough to actually get a tour. Some schools keep track and refer back to it when looking over your application ;).</p>