What Should I Know About College Visits in Preparation for College Applications?

Spring Break is often an opportunity to go on vacation and relax. However, if you are a Junior in High School, then Spring Break is prime time to parlay that vacation into College visits. Be sure to meet with a College Counselor beforehand in order to generate a list of schools that you are in the running for given your metrics. College admissions has become much more competitive over the last decade, and especially with the influx of applicants who took a gap year or two during COVID, there are fewer spots available. Having an idea of which schools would be a possible good fit for you is important before planning your College visits, because you don’t want to waste your resources visiting Colleges and Universities that are outside of your metric range. You don’t necessarily need a list of Reach, Target, and Safety schools solidified in concrete, but you do need to sit down with a College Counselor for an Initial Consultation.

When visiting Colleges, make sure to sign up for an Official Tour. This puts you on the school’s radar for recruitment and marketing. Be sure to pay close attention to the tour and possibly foster a relationship with the tour guide, and exchange email addresses in order to not only thank them afterwards, but to also ask questions. Scheduling a College Admissions session in the Office of Admissions is another way to foster relationships while gaining valuable information regarding the College Admissions process at that University. The key is forming relationships everywhere that you go…

Finally, get a sense of the city or town that surrounds the College or University. Is it a college town or is it a big metropolitan city? Get a feel for what College life would be like in the area by checking out local essentials, such as the grocery store, the drug store, the movie theater, and local restaurants. Also, get an idea from the locals how life might be in the Winter or in the Summer when the weather might be more extreme than in the Spring. I remember talking with a student of mine from San Diego who went to a prestigious school in the south and never considered that ice storms in the Winter can get down to 15 degrees F with the windchill factor… They thought that the Southern states are warm and sunny most of the year, so the Winters must be mild. This is an example of something to think about in advance of visiting and applying to these schools. It can mean the difference between a happy four years and an unhappy four years!