If I am a prospective student visiting colleges and universities, how can I make the most out of the visit besides going on the typical tour? Is it advised to go out of your way and find and talk to admission officers and professors?
We tried to pick with prospective student days where they have more beyond standard tours. Find your regional counselor for each school and ask for suggestions if you can’t make those. We also research if friends,mc smile or friends of friends have kids there and all offered to show us more. If you’re a top candidate you may ask admissions for a contact in the Honors a College or departmental contacts.
If you go while school is in session, ask the admissions office prior to your visit if you can sit in on a class (preferably in your proposed major, although my D2 in particular had widely varying interests and sat in on whatever looked interesting from the choices she had). Also, just a hint, some schools will SAY that class attendance is only open to seniors, but if you come from fairly far away, most colleges will let you sit in anyway if you ask. We also liked to eat in the cafeteria if possible, and wander around on our own to buildings that weren’t seen on the tour. D2, for example, is interested in Studio Art as a minor or secondary concentration. Tours almost never go to those buildings, so we would locate them on the campus map and explore on our own (although she did quickly back into me once when we wandered into a space where there turned out to be a drawing class with a nude model posing…). My D1 was pretty outgoing, and she met with professors in her proposed major if classes weren’t in session. Info sessions are also often offered – if you have never been to one, it is okay to do those (but after a while you realize that very little is said in those that can’t be found on the website).
Honestly, we only went to a couple of prospective student days, and we found them crowded, and it was harder to get into the classes she wanted to sit in at. I remember one in particular where there were only foreign language classes and some English classes available, all the science and social sciences slots had been quickly snatched up. I feel differently about accepted student days (after admissions), those tend to be students who are more interested actually attending the school, and the colleges work harder to put their best foot forward. But saving all your visiting until then can be a problem due to tight timeframes.
Some colleges (e.g. Tufts) have special programs for visiting students, as for example “lunch” with a current student, Or (e.g. Williams) an overnight stay with a current student. Very revealing of a college culture is attending a class or two.
It can be helpful to talk to students from your high school who have matriculated at a college. If you don’t know any personally, ask your high school college counselor for suggestions.
-Do your research before the visit. Look at the website, guide books and maybe even look for the school newspaper online. Made sure the school makes sense to visit. I’ve been to information sessions where a student asks, “How is your accounting department” when the college has no business school. Visiting schools that don’t meet your needs, whatever they might be, is not productive.
-Ask questions. Ask more academic program/admissions based questions at the information session and ask about campus life when you are on tour with a student guide. Reading up on the school before a visit will allow you to ask better questions.
-Try to eat lunch in the school cafeteria. If you are comfortable doing so ask a student if you can sit with him/her and ask questions about the school.
-My kids visited their top schools a second time (before they made a final school choice) and in most cases were able to get a more extensive visit including going to class/lunch with a student.
Special visit days are valuable because often more faculty are available for you to speak to then. What do the teachers talk about at the presentations–do they talk about students? Or do they talk about their own research work?
Having lunch with current students is useful. Try to do overnights at your top schools.
As you are walking around, look at what is up on the walls. Does the school take pride in its students? If so, you will see scientific posters up on the walls in the Bio & Chem departments, a lot of student artwork displayed at fine arts, etc. Is there a positive vibe there? Ask random students what they like best about the school. And always check to see how many first-year students get closed out of the classes they are wanting to take.
If you have time, try to arrive the day before your tour so you can check out the surrounding area, and there might be a performance or lecture of interest the night before. While on campus, pay attention to small things – does everyone have earbuds in, or do people say hi to each other? Extra points if you are clearly a lost prospective student (parents in tow are a dead giveaway) and someone stops to ask you if you need directions.
Lots of good suggestions listed here. A few more: immediately after each visit, make a few notes. What did you like most and least. Overall impression. If you are doing lots of visits, things tend to blur. Also, get your hands on back issues of the student newspaper (often available on-line) and see what’s on students’ minds and what is going on around campus. Some people recommend a visit to the Financial Aid office for a discussion - we didn’t, but I can see the value. And lastly, spare the others the agony of asking questions that were clearly answered on the web site like ‘what do I need to submit to apply’ and ‘are interviews required.’ There is always someone (usually a parent, sad to say), who asks these tedious, time-wasting questions that cause everyone else to groan silently Ior not so silently.)
We always arrive a day earlier and try to do an activity on campus. Last week we attended a basketball game on campus the day before our prospective student tour. This gave us a good feel for the student body and the school spirit. There may be a musical performance, an art exhibit or a speaker on campus when you are visiting. This really gives a good look into the school. We have also found that you can learn a lot by grabbing a cup of coffee or snack and eating in the student cafeteria.
My D got the most out of visits where she did go and sit with a current student for a few minutes to talk, and made arrangements to sit in on a class. I wish we had taken the earlier visits more seriously…as a junior I think we felt it was too early to ask a lot of questions, etc but it wasn’t! Also take lots of pictures. I have been surprised how few people on the tours took pictures. They really helped us to remember some of the details. Take a picture of your tour guide too…helped us to remember little things they said, or which tour guide was at which school.