<p>I was wondering what is more beneficial to get a better feel to colleges: a campus tour (of housing, different buildings, and information seminar) or an open house? (I'm kinda confused on the difference between the two...)</p>
<p>An open house would be better since all the major departments would be represented, along with access to current students and professors for questions. A lot of open houses will have tours of their facilities not usually accessible during the campus tour, along with fun activities for current and prospective students. You could meet with representatives of the various campus clubs and sample the food in the dining areas. I took both my sons on campus tours of all the schools they were interested in applying and once they were accepted, we tried to attend the open houses to help them make their final decision. Either way, visiting a campus will help narrow down that college list.</p>
<p>I’ve gone on several campus visits, and overall I’ve found that the standard admissions presentation + generic campus tour isn’t really a very insightful look into the ins and outs of the school itself. It varies from person to person. I’m a transfer student, and I learned absolutely nothing from the admissions presentations that I hadn’t already found online or discussed with admissions representatives while planning my courses prior to transferring. As a transfer student, I also have more of an interest in touring the actual department for my major than touring the whole campus. I’m a physics major, and after I transfer, 90% of my classes will be in the physics and math departments. I’ve set up individualized tours of those specific departments, including meetings with academic advisers within each department. I was able to get a lot more useful information on those tours than from the generic tour. </p>
<p>I did a one week aviation summer camp at the school I ended up attending during my junior year of high school. We stayed in the dorm rooms, ate at the main cafeteria, and got special tours of the various labs and buildings. I can’t think of a better way to get familiarized with a school than that!</p>
<p>Next to that, I would say open-houses, followed by campus tours.</p>