<p>You don’t need to prepare anything; you don’t need to bring anything. I know some people bring a camera and a journal to jot down notes and take a few pictures of the campus to help them remember it.
Yes, younger (well behaved) siblings can come along. You’ll spend about an hour at the information session, so be sure the younger sibling can sit still for that long. At a few of the info sessions we’ve been to, younger siblings have Gameboys/PSPs to keep them entertained.
So, in short, yes, just show up, go on the tour and sit through the session and go home. You only need to ask questions if you have them. Typically, they won’t ask you direct questions except for things like: “Do we have anyone from New England here?”…“Anyone from the West Coast?” </p>
<p>One thing to be sure of: if they keep track of the kids who visit, make sure you get into their system. All you have to do is ask if they want your name for their records. </p>
<p>You’ll be on a tight time frame so, yeah, those two things will about take up your time. If you schedule other visits just one a day, you can try eating in the dining halls, talking to current students, prearrange visits with profs or some other area your particularly interested in, like the study abroad office.</p>
<p>You can probably eat in the dining hall for one of the two colleges. Sometimes at the info session they’ll ask you to stand up and introduce yourself (name, where you are from, year in school and possible major), sometimes they don’t. You’ll have a chance to ask both the tourguide and the info session person questions in a safe atmosphere where no one will ever remember you. There are always a handful of younger siblings being dragged along. My younger son brought a book and often skipped the info sessions, but went on the tours.</p>
<p>Wear comfortable shoes. Don’t wear a t-shirt or hat from the college’s arch-rival. Be sure to sign in and give them your contact info, so they know you were there (it shows interest, and yes colleges do track that). Do your online research first, so you don’t ask the obvious questions (“how many students do you have?”) - although they usually give you the basic info on the tour or in the info session anyway.</p>
<p>Most importantly - have fun! And try to picture it: can I see myself here?</p>
<p>Try to walk near the front of the tour so you can hear the tour guide rather than straggling at the back and ask some questions. They’ll tend to mostly show you buildings - i.e. “this is the library, that’s the bio lab”, etc. but make sure you ask other questions like “do a lot of students stick around on campus during weekends”, “what do most students do for fun”, “what do they think the dorm life is like there”, “which cell phone carriers work best on-campus”, “which campus eating place do ‘you’ like best”, “which areas do most people live in when they move out of the dorms”, etc. Part of this is to get the answers to your questions and part to get them to open up and give more info than which building is where.</p>
<p>After the tour see if you can talk to some regular students if you can and ask a couple of questions to see what they say. Take everything with a grain of salt though. Eating in one of the campus eateries is sometimes a good place to mingle a bit with students (assuming they’re in session).</p>
<p>Also make sure you check out the area adjacent to campus. See what restaurants and shopping is nearby. If it’s a campus where you’ll live off campus for part or all of the time, see where the apartment buildings are where most students live and imagine yourself living there. Find out where other things you might be interested in are - like movies, beach, biking trails, etc. Remember that this is a place where you might live for the next 4 years or so.</p>
<p>It’s generally okay to bring your siblings and family.</p>
<p>Will there be “regular” students in July?
Ask questions regarding what interests you or concerns you that were not raised and answered by the admissions officer or tour guide. Eg, housing: is it guaranteed four years? how are roommates assigned? are there theme dorms (e.g. substance free); how about meal plans? How are the …facilities? What is the size of a typical class? How easy is it to study abroad? Are there fraternities? How much of a role do they play in the social scene?
I’m assuming that you have researched admissions criteria and procedures and will be ready to apply come fall.</p>
<p>My D brought along a computer—on the trip, not on the tour itself—to write down her impressions and outstanding questions immediately following the visit, including what she most liked and disliked about the college, what it offered and what it lacked in comparison to other schools. That was a valuable process for her as several early visits helped to crystallize what she was looking for in a college, and made subsequent college tours much more focused and consequently much more informative.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t bring younger siblings who might misbehave unless your parent is also coming and unless you’ve prearranged with your parent to remove the child if he or she becomes disruptive. You shouldn’t have to remove a disruptive child. It’s more important for you to hear what the admissions representative and tour guide have to say than it is for your parent to hear it.</p>
<p>At most of the colleges that my two kids visited, the admissions representative doing the information session didn’t ask questions, but at one college, she asked each student to tell their name, where they come from, what extracurricular activities they participate in, and what they plan to major in in college. You could see the panic spread around the room as people desperately tried to think of what major to pick and to remember whether this college offered it. But it turned out that the admissions officer wanted the information only to personalize the presentation. When a student mentioned participating in debate, for example, she talked about debate opportunities at the college. And she focused her presentation about academics on fields that interested the students in the room. For example, she talked more about math than biology because there were several prospective math majors in the room and no prospective biology majors. So even though the situation looked intimidating, it really wasn’t.</p>
<p>If you will have a campus interview as well as an admission session and a tour, wear something a bit more formal than you otherwise might. Khaki and a polo shirt and shoes that are not too scruffy will do very well.</p>
<p>I also wanted to caution parents about what they wear on college visits as well…if it’s hot, of course please try and wear something comfortable (especially shoes–no high heels, ladies). When my D and I went on college visits 3 years ago, I cannot tell you how many times I was mortified for those kids whose Moms who decided to wear something totally inappropriate; i.e. either low cut or otherwise revealing, and also for the Dads who looked like they were just about to go and work on a construction project. Please, Moms and Dads, pair of bermuda shorts and a polo shirt are ALWAYS appropriate in hot weather. Leave the booty shorts, mini skirts, cleavage tops and pain-splattered stuff at home.</p>
<p>On attire - If you plan to do the tours of the UCs or CSUs - you and your parents can wear pretty much whatever you want including shorts and flip-flops. It doesn’t matter since you’re one person in a crowd, generally won’t be interviewed by an adcom, and are fairly anonymous. I always wore shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops (my standard attire) and it was fine. Plus, it’s California. </p>
<p>The above applies to the UCs/CSUs - privates are a different story.</p>
<p>As a father who has been on many such tours, I wish I’d seen MORE booty shorts, cleavage tops and mini-skirts. they would have made the tours far more interesting. I agree, though, that “pain-splattered” attire is probably best avoided.</p>
<p>When we did our tour of UConn, one of the parents was wearing a University of Michigan shirt. Our guide mentioned that he had chose UConn over Michigan because the engineering program wasn’t on a whole different campus. (It’s on what they call the “North Campus” there. </p>
<p>Of course, I was thinking that he probably got more money from UConn…</p>
<p>My son took notes on all his visits. We saw NO other students doing that. A professor at Susquehanna actually came over to him and said, “I commend you for taking notes! You’re the first student I’ve seen do that in two years, and it’s so important! Usually it’s the mother taking notes and making the decisions. We see that all the time.”</p>
<p>The notes were really helpful after a whirlwind tour! The schools started blending together in our minds.</p>
<p>One note on the younger sibling: leave him at home unless he really wants to be there. It will likely be boring for him, and his desire to leave might prevent you from looking around as much as you’d like. If this is a part of a family vacation, consider having one parent go do something else with the younger sibling.</p>