We chose our D’s three top colleges to visit. Because of the distances involved, we had to fly to cover all three in one week. We tried to arrive the day before our scheduled to tour and walked around the campuses on our own in the late afternoon or in once case early in the morning before our scheduled tour to get our own impressions of the campuses.
During the tours, I made a point of asking the student tour guide, “If there’s one thing you could change about the campus, what would it be?” since directly asking “What don’t you like about your college?” might not get an answer. Surprisingly, the tour guides we spoke with were surprisingly candid in talking about what they thought needed improvement at their colleges.
At one of the colleges, we requested and were granted an office call with the Dean of Admissions. It was well worth the time and helped our D make her decision. At another college, we arrived early at the admissions office and the Director of Admissions came out and had an “informal” discussion with us. Both of these gave us valuable insights we didn’t get in the mass briefing or guided tour, especially about the admission processes.