why is it important to visit a college before enrolling?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Personally, i think that colleges should be visited before enrolling to get a sense of the campus and community that youre going to spend the next four years at</p>

<p>but my father, who would pay for me to visit schools that are halfway across the country, says its a waste of time, visiting for a weekend can give a gross misinterpretation of what the schools really like, and you can find most important things and characteristics about msot of ht estudents and most of hte environments through websites (i.e. college confidential, college pro wler.com, theu.com...) </p>

<p>how do i convince him? is he right?</p>

2

<p>I agree with you! And coincidentally, my father also believes the same as yours, which is why I haven't visited any colleges.</p>

<p>I'm trying to convince my dad that I'm going to be living in this place for the next 4 years. It's like buying a house. Do many people buy houses without living there first? Especially when you're investing 80k to 200k on this "house."</p>

<p>Plus, you can't always base your opinions off of he-said she-said.
For example, take Texas. Half of my friends that go there love it, and can't stop saying enough good things about it. The other half is sick of it and ready to plan a prison break out of it.</p>

3

<p>I think that you get a far better sense from one weekend at a school than ypu do from any website! Especially if you do an overnight...that's the only way, IMO, to get a real sense of what living at X college and what X college
s student body would be like.</p>

4

<p>Personally I agree you should visit, but there does exist the possibility that you could have a crummy experience.
My d had a horrible visit at one school where she spent the whole evening in the host girls room with another visiting kid and the kids mother, who peppered the host with questions. That obviously could have gone the other way. However, d also discovered firsthand how far away the freshman dorms were from the rest of campus. Ironically on an initial visit the previous summer she thought the campus was beautiful, but that time did not walk to and from the freshman dorms.
Also did an overnight at a school near our home that she had applied to sort of as safety, she looked at all the online info and was not impressed, and then after the overnight it was her first choice.</p>

5

<p>Visiting is essential. Sure you can get an inaccurate picture on a visit, but you have to get a feel for the campus environment.</p>

6

<p>Many schools that look perfect on a website pale in reality, and others that are just "OK" feel good in person. The former happened to my d twice - we thought she'd love two schools based on all the info we had, but the visit (and particularly discussions with faculty) took them both off her final list. The latter happened once, with a school that was not in her initial geographic area. Once we visited and she got a feel for the school and the kids, she applied.</p>

7

<p>I don't think it's essential to visit every school if it takes too much effort to get there. Most of the schools are pretty much the same after you get past the location factor, which you can get a pretty good idea even by looking at a satellite map. </p>

<p>Some people might reflect on overnight experiences. However, those are probably not representative of the overall picture. Within a single school, one group of student can have a totally different lifestyle or experience compared to another group.</p>

8

<p>My son and I just came back from a week spent visiting colleges so I can offer an actual example of why visits are important – provided you pay attention and look beyond the canned marketing spiels of the info session and campus tour (because all schools will tout the same things – personal attention to each student, distinguished faculty, great food in the dining halls, lots of clubs and activities, etc.)</p>

<p>We visited two LACs that look virtually identical on paper – essentially the same student profile (GPA, SAT scores), similar size enrollment, same majors, etc. At School #1, everyone – and I mean, EVERYONE (from the tour guide to the Admissions staff to the security guide in the parking lot to the woman taking orders at the dining hall grill) – was incredibly friendly and helpful. My son sat in on a class and heard was plenty of lively discussion between the students and the professor. As our tour group passed by one residence hall, a student yelled out the window, “I love it here!” My son did too!</p>

<p>And at School #2? My son observed, “Mom, everyone here seems so angry. Look at the students walking between classes – everyone is either walking alone, or sometimes walking in two’s but not talking to each other.” There was no discussion in the class he attended – just a lecture by the professor, with students asking one or two questions. (It was the equivalent course of the one he had attended at the first school, so the subject matter was very similar.) In the dining hall, nearly everyone was sitting alone – reading a book or newspaper, or working on a laptop. There were no large groups, no raucous laughter. It all seemed rather depressing. Everyone was so serious and not having any fun, so that school got crossed off our list really quickly. If my son had not visited, he might have enrolled there. And he would have been very, very unhappy.</p>

9

<p>Why should you meet a person before marrying him/her?</p>

10

<p>LACs will be different from a large university. For LACs, you should definitely visit because the population and style is likely to be more uniform. Pomona and caltech probably have a lot of differences in culture than UCB and UCLA, for example. </p>

<p>
[quote]
Why should you meet a person before marrying him/her?

[/quote]

I'm not sure if you're into cultural history, but in a lot of non-western traditional cultures, marriage agreements happen before people meet. Gotcha there! hehe</p>

11

<p>Worried Mom- please pm me. I would love to find out what two schools you visited, becuase my son and I had identical experiences with two LACs also identical "on paper." I want to see if we were not just imagining what we saw.</p>

12

<p>Deciding not to visit the schools you are interested in is akin to deciding not to test-drive a car you might but because the experience of test-driving the car might confuse your decision, and you'd rather rely on third-party rankings and sales literature.</p>

<p>Similar to worriedmom, we had completely divergent experiences at two schools. One shall remain nameless, but it's a farily prestigious private college with a solid reputation and average SATs around 1300. The admissions staff was rather disinterested, the campus did not look particularly well maintained, and frankly we did not uncover anything particularly positive from our visit. </p>

<p>Conversely, when we visited Penn State the people were friendly and helpful, the open house was very well organized, and we came away with a very positive feeling which bolstered the reputation of the school as one having alot of "pride" amongst the students and staff.</p>

<p>Perhaps more importantly, our positive 2-day experience was reinforced by the admissions staff during the application and admissions process - very accomodating, helpful,, etc. So I don;t think our initial reaction was a happy accident. </p>

<p>My point is this - I cannot imagine making a decision to attend a college for 4 years at a cost of many thousands of dollars without first visiting it (unless that is completely impractical for some reason), even if only for a day. That seems to be common sense.</p>

13

<p>What I think really cannot give a fair indicator is visiting colleges: a.) in the summer b.) on a preview day/ weekend or c.) when there is something huge going on (homecoming week, for example). In the summer, one doesn't get a feel for the general student body and life during the academic year, on preview days the school has put its absoulte best foot forward, not showing one the usual routine, and it is the same with a hugely special event. I understand that sometimes students can only visit during these times, and that's better than nothing, but not nearly as good as visiting under normal circumstances.</p>

<p>Websites really are not an always-fair indicator of schools. You are right on. :)</p>

<p>As far as convincing him to let you visit the schools, I would suggest choosing your top choices and applying first. For example, I want to apply to eight schools. I have only ever been to one, my sister's school, so I don't need to visit it. I live in Washington, D.C.; the other schools are in CO, IN, NY, IL, and FL, and both of my parents work full-time. What I have arranged is to go with one parent and hit three of the schools at once. We planned the trip several months in advance so my mother could take the time off of work and put as much of it as possible with the unis' schedules over my spring break. We are leaving towards the end of the week so we can utilize a weekend for travel (getting from the first two to the third colleges).</p>

<p>So, in a nutshell: ask if you can go with him for a few days to get in several colleges. I am going to two in the same state and flying out to the third once, then flying home from the third one. That way, he can take leave from work all at once and kill several birds with one stone. :) Visiting those campuses will give you at least some idea of where you're headed. Don't like colleges with that rule? Need a bigger campus? Now you know. </p>

<p>Then, USING your knowledge from that visit, decide where you would like to apply. I plan to gain information about my preferences from those schools, then apply to them (if I like them) and use my information from them to make sure I still think my other choices are good matches. Then, I plan to visit the schools I get accepted to- after I get accepted to them. </p>

<p>Summary of tips :): 1.) Kill several birds with one stone
2.) Convince him that an interview in person is so much better and gives them an idea of YOU in person, not on paper. Then, find out which schools do junior year interviews and combine your visit with your interview
Visit 1.) your top choice and 2.) a school that has the most common traits of all the schools you are looking at to see if you like those traits in person (if you have six choices with tiny campuses, don't visit the one with a huge campus)
3.) Visit a few, then hold off until you are accepted at some. No use to make an expensive trip across the country if you don't end up being accepted there</p>

14

<p>other people have different opinions. they have variable preferences.
the only person who can decide if a college is the right fit for YOU is YOU! not theu.com xD
i did two series of visits: summer after junior year (combined visits with interviews at some schools) and visiting the schools i was accepted to during senior year.
the first visits were helpful, and they did help me decide where to apply to, but i don't think they were crucial unless you're having a reaaaally tough time narrowing down your list of applications. mostly, we were going to different areas of the country anyway, and stuck some college visits in along the way (well, sort of out of the way...)
but the second set of visits was ESSENTIAL. you need to visit schools after you've been accepted (or wait-listed). because once you've gotten accepted, you are no longer thinking, "oh, this school would be nice... man it would be so cool if i got in here...!" you're thinking, well, my other choices have x, y, and z, so what do you offer? how are the dorms at each school? which student body do you like better? which class structures do you prefer? which food do you prefer? which college town/surroundings do you enjoy more? you can be more nitpicky, and you know what details to pay attention to. you've already become familiar with the basics (the programs, the GPA of the student body, etc...) and so you'll get more out of your visit.
to go to a school sight unseen is... scary. even a school that i visited previously was crossed off my list when i spent the night senior year. and it was a perfectly nice school, with wonderful advantages i don't have here (large dorms, parking, no large lectures), but even though it was right for other people, the small atmosphere and quiet was not right for me. but listening to someone talk about the school, i'd be convinced i should go there!!
it's worth the travel expense now, than the potential unhappiness/pain of trying to transfer later. so good luck!</p>

15

<p>worried mom, I'm really curious, which two schools were they? You can PM them to me if you don't want to post them here.</p>

16

<p>I think it's crucial. I didn't really think much of the school I'll be attending in the fall before getting invited to Candidate's Weekend (on campus, and it was a requirement for admission, so yeaah...), and after visiting, I absolutely fell in love with it. : ) I couldn't even think of what would happen if I got rejected, because I was so convinced that that was where I belonged. Good thing I got accepted, I guess. ; )
And conversely, I visited another school with which I had been in love since Junior year. It sounded so fantastic on paper, and after visiting, I realized that it simply wasn't the place for me. Sure, it's still one of the best schools in the nation and all that, but it took a campus visit to show that I wouldn't really be that happy there. ...And I got rejected 3 weeks later. ; )</p>

<p>I know this is nowhere as actually informative as other people's posts, but hopefully a personal anecdote helps a bit. : )
Hope you can convince your father!</p>