<p>I finally get to transfer out of Community College after this semester! I've selected the schools I want to go to, but they're all out of state. I'm too busy between work and school right now to go and visit these schools since they're so far, but a lot of people tell me I need to visit before I enroll. I know I won't have the chance to visit before I enroll. Could I be making a big mistake by enrolling before visiting? I don't know anyone at these schools either so I don't have anyone to talk to about them.</p>
<p>If you can’t possibly visit, then do the following:
- Read as much as you can about each college. Places to go include the Fiske Guide to Colleges, the college’s own website (see if the school paper is online, that is a great source of ‘unvarnished’ info), and read far back into the threads here on CC to see what types of conversations have taken place about the college.
- Study the course catalogs and actual classes available for the next year at each school. Evaluate the faculty in your possible area of study. See what percent of the grads are in your chosen major.
- Post questions here on CC if you want to know more, especially about stuff the college marketing materials won’t tell you. Is the school very regional – are most students local and are they typically only hired locally? Do a lot of students leave campus on weekends/ Is the area around campus safe? What is the housing situation like, especially for non-freshman?</p>
<p>I do think it is best to visit. Do you have a spring break coming up? Can you get time off from work to see a couple of them at least? You may think you are losing money by not working that week, but it can be an expensive mistake to enroll in a school when you have not visited.</p>
<p>at the very least, you can do these things intparent suggests and then you can visit schools near you that are like the schools to which you’ve been admitted: urban/rural, large/medium/small, public/private, LAC/comprehensive u, etc. This might help you to rule out some schools based just on how they’re like schools you’ve visited and not liked. Lots of websites have video of the schools and also Facebook pages of the school.</p>
<p>If you’re a mature, very flexible person, you could enroll in a school you haven’t visited, but I’d recommend doing that only if there’s no alternative.</p>