It turns out my son and I have a few extra hours this weekend, and we’ll be near a college he’s interested in (Appalachian State in NC) so we’re going to swing by for an hour or two on the trip home. With my daughter we always did the guided tours and never just a self-guided visit, but since this will be on the weekend there aren’t any guided tours running.
What type of things can you do on weekends just walking around the campus? Are you generally allowed to just walk into buildings to peek in some doors?
Any advice on how to make the best of it would be greatly appreciated!
I don’t know particulars about that college, but most of the colleges we visited on off hours had a box outside the admissions office that had brochures with maps and walking tours. Some of them had a sign in sheet that you could use to get on their mailing list.
You could also email admissions and let them know that you will be in the area and ask them to send you a map or brochure. There’s still time for it to reach your mailbox later this week. And you never know, they may have a student guide who wants to get some more credit hours in who would be willing to stop in the office to give you an unofficial tour. This happened to us at a couple of colleges.
One way to gain information is to hang out in the student union and strike up a conversation with current student.
I had to call the admissions office of a school about a visit. I realized I was talking to a current student. It quickly turned into a 20 min conversation
Print out the campus map in advance. Take the virtual tour on their website in advance so you can identify anything you particularly want to see. Many academic buildings will likely be open (not dorms, though - most dorms use student ID cards for access/security). Go to the student union, as mentioned. Pick up a student newspaper. Look at all the flyers posted for events. Eat in a dining hall. Try to find some students to talk to.
Thanks. Have the map and walking-tour guide all ready… I just wasn’t sure if you were allowed to go into buildings (even if unlocked) or not… didn’t want campus security called on us, lol.
Eating in the dining hall - good idea! Definitely didn’t think of that (again, assume you needed a student id or something).
wandering around academic buildings (which are likely open) should be perfectly fine. In fact you will look like obvious prospectives, and students may just offer information to you unasked! That’s what happened at Swarthmore when we were wandering around the CS department, which was my son’s interest. It made a great impression. There may be student posters that can give you an impression, etc.
Visit buildings and facilities that may interest you. Try to locate the dining halls. Maybe eat at one of them. See if there is a student union type of building. Try to locate freshman dorm. Walk around the outskirts of campus and see if there are places to dine, CVS, general store for supplies, grocery store nearby. Look for stuff that the kids may do in the free time, like movie theatre, parks, bus or mass transit stops if in the city. Eat at some place off campus because most kids get sick of eating in the dining hall 24/7. Some schools have apps with guided tours. Make sure you stop by the admissions office and pick up a brochure and see if you can leave your kids contact info. Maybe go to a sports game happening on campus or a play or performance.
Just have fun exploring. My kids liked those kinds of visits vs the school run tour.
I don’t think you’ll have any problems wandering into buildings. If they are open, look around, if someone questions you, tell them the truth! You’re not going to get into “trouble.” Of course, you can’t and shouldn’t walk around the inside of a dorm, and hopefully wouldn’t be able to get into one of those anyway.
When I go on reunion visits to my alma mater with friends on weekends, we walk around with our kids and poke around some of the bigger/prettier academic buildings, some are open, some not, and we’ve never had any trouble.
I like trying to find the campus coffee shop too and spending a little time there people (student) watching.
Might be worth contacting the Admissions office to see if they could arrange for you to meet with a current student, maybe majoring in whatever subject your child is interested in, for 30 minutes or so so you can ask questions and chat. You can do it I formally on your own by approaching students but give the Admissions Office a try . . . They may offer other things as well like arrange a quick peak into a dorm.