Found a good article on Campus Visits

<p>It lists questions one should be asking when on campus, things I'd never even thought to ask, like "how many books will a student read each semester on average" and "how available are the professors to students outside of class". It's short but a really good read. You can see it at: Bing</a> - Doing the college visit right by Pauline Frommer - Travel Blog - Bing Community</p>

<p>These are great questions. But the thing is, those questions are already asked in the National Survey of Student Engagement. To me it would be much much more valuable to look at the aggregate data based upon the survey (which asks students at each campus things like how many books do you read in a semester, how often do you talk to a faculty member outside of class etc.), than to hear the practiced answer by someone giving interviews to prospective students. That way you get the REAL answer from the students themselves, the sample at each school is large (and thus meaningful), and you can readily compare results to the same questions across schools.</p>

<p>Do you have any experience asking colleges for their results on the National Survey of Student Engagment? It sounds very helpful.</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>USA Today has compiled responses from various institutions on the National Survey of Student Engagement. You can compare insitutions.</p>

<p>[How</a> to make NSSE scores work for you - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-04-nsse-how-to_N.htm]How”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-04-nsse-how-to_N.htm)</p>

<p>Thanks John. I found it interesting. I am surprised I have not seen it referred to more often, especially when trying to compare schools.</p>

<p>I don’t see how any tour guide could answer a question on average books read as it will vary 1000% from one major to another. Same for papers. And they all will say you can talk to your profs if you want to.</p>