I’ve never been on a college tour, and I’m going to be a junior. Sure, I’ve been to a couple of unis for club activities, but I’ve never gotten a real feel of colleges. I’m worried that I’m delaying the tours, because I know a lot of people who’ve gone on tours in their freshmen and sophomore years. I know that it’s important to visit colleges to not only get a feel of the atmosphere there, but also have something to write about if asked why I chose to apply to ___ college. When would be a good time to start the college tours? Would it be a good idea to put some time aside to visit as many colleges as possible, or visit a few now and then?
We started fall of our Junior year .
People usually start summer before junior all the way up to senior year. Those who start earlier already have some idea of where they will be attending at a young age, either from their interests or helicopter parents.
Visit a few that are close to you (<~50 miles or so). Some colleges waive part or all of their application fee if you go on a (scheduled) tours. Calling them ahead of time helps them accommodate you and you parents better. B-) I would recommend spacing them out so that you won’t be overwhelmed with all the information, but depending on the proximity of the colleges and your schedule you can fit the visits in as you like.
Thanks! So what kinds of questions should I ask my tour guide? Should they be about my major, housing, entertainment nearby, etc.? Should I ask a lot of questions or just listen to my guide?
They give you a booklet (at least at Rutgers did- I was there for a minority engineering program during spring break and they gave us booklets to have during the tour) which gives you a background of the majors available. They show you around the campus(es) and give you some helpful information as you go (we didn’t witness it all though since we had workshops to attend). The tours can last 3 hours or more. Usually during breaks or towards the end you can ask any questions.
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Start in the fall - any days you have off school/long weekends/school breaks are all easy times to schedule visits without missing school.
Most tours have information sessions beforehand where you get a booklet/packet about the school (ie student-teacher ratio, financial aid, majors available, clubs offered, etc) followed by a walk around campus where a current student talks about major buildings (ie the dining hall or gym), campus traditions and their experiences. Some tours will show you a model dorm room to see what first-year students usually have space-wise, but others won’t and you’ll have to ask separately. Don’t be afraid to ask a few questions; in my experience, most guides will either be able to answer them or can direct you to someone who’s able to answer them.
I visited my first colleges during spring break of my junior year. I have visited a couple so far before my senior year and will probably go on a few more tours before I actually apply to colleges in the fall. @photogeek8 You have plenty of time for visits.
From all of the tours I have been on except for one, no students asked any questions. (The groups were relatively small.) I only asked a question at the end of one tour. I always regret not asking questions but they don’t always pop in my head while I am on the tour. Tour guides will ask for questions quite often and they would love to answer.
@TheSlacker16 Haha, I forgot to mention you. 
Thanks, everyone! If I have time, I might even go on my first college tour before school starts.
I don’t know if this counts as reviving old threads, but I actually did my first tour during spring break of freshman year! So far, I’ve never went anywhere strictly for college tours; I travel on all breaks somewhere, and if there is a college nearby, I just go! For example, we were going to Rhode Island for the beach and staying in the Providence Area. So of course we went to visit Brown. And we wanted to go to Boston to visit the museums and since we’ve never been…so of course we went to the Cambridge schools and NEU.
But I took a lot of notes on a doc so I don’t forget. I know I may change my mind, but I basically wrote the gist of the school on the doc so if I forget what it is about, I can just reference the doc. I just don’t want to waste some of junior year summer or a lot of breaks visiting colleges in a panic. Some people find college tours useless, but honestly they were very helpful for me. Just reading college brochures and their websites is so bias and offers little insight, while the tours and (some) admission sessions pinpoint specifics.
Some schools admission sessions suck though…the ones that are cookie cutter and basically are a blob of info you can find on their website. The best info sessions are ones NOT about statistics, but about specific programs that are unique to that college. It is helpful for essays.
But don’t worry too much. Do lots of research instead; visit where you can, but not all tours are necessary. One tour can help elimininate similar schools, and you can easily hit 2 tours in a day. I hit 5 schools in a week while on vacation, visiting museums, the beach, film festivals…it was fine, just don’t burn yourself out…don’t visit like 10 in a week because they will all blur together…
With my son, we started in fall of Junior year.
We’ve seen I think 5 so far-- 4 hits and one miss (that school was simply too big for his taste. OK, so we crossed off anything that size or large from our list.)
I’m hoping to get in 2 more before school starts in 3 weeks. I tend to take lots of notes; he tends to just take it all in. We get home and I type up all my notes and both our impressions.
When we get into the car, my two questions are:
- Can you see yourself attending this school?
- What didn’t you like?
I took my first the August before junior year (Fordham NYC). That’s the only one I’ve ever been on, and I’m a rising senior. I am trying to find an tour/overnight day at Montclair, but they fill up quickly.
How many schools do you anticipate applying to? I only applied to 2, one in state, so I did one visit of October of senior year and the other in March of senior year. But if you plan to apply to lots of schools, you’ll need to allot more time for visiting.
@albert69 I’m not sure yet, but because I live in the Bay Area, I think I should visit the nearby UCs (Berkeley and Davis) ASAP.
I had my first one right before my junior year (UC Davis, already lived in Berk for 2 weeks, and bay area too) and then went on a one week SoCal streak during break in Spring Semester.
I went on my first ones in April of junior year. Most of my friends started anywhere from October of junior year to August before senior year(now).