<p>Hello all, my family and I are planning to make a trip to UIUC to take a college tour and to get more info. about the school. We are planning on taking the Amtrak to get there which does not have the exact departure times to fit us; this means that we would have to arrive several hours early and would have to wait several hours after the tour for our return train. Does anyone have any suggestions about what we should/will be able to do during this spare time that will be able to maximize the amount of insight gained from this visit? Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I do not know anything about this school so my suggestions are not specific to it, but general for any college visit. Have you contacted Admissions to see if they can arrange for you to sit in on a class or lecture? They may also be able to arrange for you to meet with a current student for coffee or lunch. Your family will have to find something else to do while you are attending class or lunch.</p>
<p>Is there a college town or off-campus area where students live? You could walk through there. After attending the tour, strike out on your own to visit areas that may not have been covered by the tour: the stadium, book store, a building or library of particular academic interest. If you do not eat with a current student, dine on campus with your family. You may need to inquire in advance to learn which dining options accept cash.</p>
<p>You may want to post this question in the UIUC forum to see if any current or recent students have campus-specific suggestions.</p>
<p>We liked to go to the building that housed the majors my son was interested in and look around. Many school invite you to do this 
Most of the time, someone would ask if we needed help and my son would just say he was thinking of applying and wanted to know more about their engineering programs. We got some awesome tours that way, several times by professors!!! At Case Western a grad student talked to us for over 45 minutes and showed us many of the labs. My son got some great advice that way, often not just about that school but also some of that school’s rivals. And college life in general.
Some places came off as being so welcoming (Case Western, Swarthmore, Syracuse, Lafayette) and others rather cold and uninviting (CMU!).</p>
<p>I’d also try to eat in the cafeteria and, if possible, leave your parents and sit with students so you can get more information about the school. I’d also call admissions and see if you can arrange to sit in on a class in an area of interest. And walk around, look around, see if you can picture yourself at the school.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the good advice!</p>