<p>Hi,</p>
<p>We're planning to visit a few schools during spring break with our high school sophomore. We know we need to make these visits fun and informal but we don't want to waste our time. Any suggestions for ways to do self guided tours? At this point official tours are too much and too long. We just want to give her an idea of what colleges are like and hopefully spark some interest along the way. Should we stop by admissions and pick up information and then just wander around or is there a better way to do it. </p>
<p>We also have a very loose schedule without a specific time to be at any one campus.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>We've done several of the guided tours, too, and always end up going on our own. (we don't like the speeches and the slow pace) We try to find our way into a dorm tour by jumping onto an existing tour group just before they go in. One thing I think we'll add is finding out in advance where certain buildings are that we want to tour, and calling to make sure we'll have access. We have also left schools before talking to faculty in my D's area of interest. I think we'll have to change that now that things are getting closer. We're going on another tour this weekend. We will make sure to eat in one of the students' dining halls to see how things are there, too. And take a quick ride around the area outside the campus.</p>
<p>Visit the things that you think are most important- a classroom building , or lab, if the interest leads that way, the dining hall, the library, the athletic or rec center. Dorms are harder to enter if you're not part of a group tour. </p>
<p>And stopping in admissions is the best bet to at least pick up a campus map and some basic informative materials. They'll also let you know if there's anything off-limits for certain reasons or if there's construction to watch out for as you wander the campus.</p>
<p>A campus map makes a lot of sense - we don't really care about the dorms at this point. Stopping to see a few areas and having a chance to get a feel for the overall size of the campus is the main goal. We should be okay if we drive around, stop in admissions to get a map, and walk around a little. I want it to be motivating and fun -</p>