What to do? What to do? College visit tips . . . Part 2

• Talk to everyone you can on campus–not just the tour guides. Ask questions in the library. Are people helpful? Ask students who aren’t tour guides why they picked this school, what they like/dislike about it, and if they would choose this school again if they had to do it all over again. Ask about the worst and best things about campus life. What is the warmest/coldest/rainiest it gets here? My counselor recently visited a campus where it had been RAINY . . . passing a group of enrolled students, one of the guys yelled: “Don’t come to school here–it rains every day!” Realize that students can be frustrated with the weather. Cold and rain get old. Heat and humidity do too. Make sure to get a realistic view of campus life. It’s easy to get that fenced in feeling like my friend Dublin—or even, like Molly, feel like you are completely surrounded by snow,
if you aren’t accustomed to living in the tundra! By the way, life generally keeps right on going—classes and all, if you attend a school that regularly has snow!

• Talking to everyone means seeking out info from the adults on campus who are resources to you: admissions, financial aid/scholarships, residence life, career planning and placement. While learning is what you go to college for, you do have to get out and get a job one day…that is also a major reason you’re going to college, after all.

• Visit the student center–read the bulletin boards. What is going on?

• Ask students what life is like on campus on the weekends.

• If you are a senior returning for a visit, it is possible that you are on campus for an admitted student day–check out all those students who really could be in class with you next year–what kind of vibes are you getting?

• Remember the DANGER ZONE! Get your parents to tell you when you can make a visit and then YOU, yes Y O U, make all the arrangements for the visit with the admissions office. The more practice you get taking care of these things, the better. Your parents aren’t going to be there next year to contest a grade for you or to speak with your R.A. about roommate issues.

Woof,

Clyde