How to plan a college visit?

When considering where you want to go to college, you should think about what it will be like to actually spend your time there on a day-to-day basis and how it will affect your decision.

Visiting the schools that you are thinking about attending is one of the most beneficial ways to find answers to your admission questions. It is possible to get a good idea of what it would be like to be a student when you first set foot on campus by visiting the school before you enroll.

Taking a look at how to plan college visits can provide you with first-hand experience, which can ultimately assist you in narrowing down your options and finding the institution that is the best fit for you.

What should you expect from a college visit?

Taking your child on a tour of potential colleges is the greatest way to determine whether or not they have chosen the school that is the best fit for them.

Despite all of the fantastic things that the internet has to offer, it will not be able to give you an accurate representation of what it is like to actually be on campus. You won’t get a sense of how welcoming the teachers are or how kind the other students are from this. It is also not possible to demonstrate how tasty the food is or how much concern the admissions counselor has for your child based on this information.

So, what should you expect from a college visit? When you go to visit a college, you can do a lot of things, including the following:

• Take a look around.
• Talk things over with an admissions adviser.
• Attend a talk with a teacher.
• Have a conversation with a trainer.
• Consume your meal on campus.
• Find out more information about a specific extracurricular activity.
• You can talk to anybody you like (dietician, career center, study abroad office, etc.)
• Spend the night at the dormitory.

Whereas the majority of institutions only provide tours for big groups, many tiny private colleges encourage individual visits to their campuses on a customized tour which will give you the chance to customize your visit and meet your specific needs. This will also allow you to participate in all aspects of campus life, including meals, clubs, the social scene, classes, and resident halls.

Seeing a college in person is the only way to truly understand what it has to offer, so take advantage of one of the free college visit days.

Why should I plan college visits?

You’ll be motivated to learn how to plan college visits when you know the importance of doing so. So, why should you plan college visits?

You will have the opportunity to obtain an up-close and personal glimpse of what your future experience at a school could look like if you choose to pay a visit to a college or university. Visits often consist of both a presentation of relevant information as well as a walking tour of the actual campus.

Information sessions give prospective students an overview of the academics and culture of a college, including its strengths, resources, and distinctive characteristics. This is the ideal opportunity for you to learn about the history of a school, its traditions, and the interesting anecdotes that are associated with it, as well as to ask questions.

You will be shown significant areas such as the dining halls, library, and student union. Examples of classrooms and dorm rooms will be shown during the campus tour as well.

It is time for you to acquire a feel for the school’s culture, including the number of students in each class, the variety of extracurricular activities offered, the standard of the physical facilities, and the environment as a whole.

If you make the most of your time here, you’ll be able to walk away with a very good picture of what it’s like to be a student here. Make use of everything the campus has to offer. Visits to potential colleges provide opportunities for you and your family to include them in the decision-making process.

Bringing your parents, siblings, or other members of your extended family along for the voyage gives them the opportunity to develop a knowledge of the environment, express their input, and participate in your excitement as well.

How to plan college visits?

The steps on how to plan college visits are as follows.:

Determine which schools to visit.

Do you believe that you would be more interested in attending a huge public institution or a more intimate liberal arts college? Or perhaps a university that falls somewhere in the middle? It is a good idea to visit small, medium, and large establishments so that you can get a sense of each of the available choices.

More so, you should consider what range of distance you envision yourself living while attending college as this will either narrow your choices or make them far more available to you.

In addition, identifying which schools are you planning to submit applications to will be helpful as well. Pay a visit to the educational institutions to which you have been accepted or to which you intend to apply.

Contact the admission office.

Calling the admissions office of the college you want to attend will allow you to sign up for a college visit. Every college has a campus visit coordinator who is in charge of answering the phone and setting up appointments for prospective students.

In addition, you can arrange your visit to the college by going online to the institution’s website. Despite this, I strongly suggest that you avoid giving in to the temptation to do that. Be aware that if you register online, you won’t be able to discuss the nitty-gritty details of your visit, especially if you have highly specific demands.

Choose a time and date.

Choose a time and day to pay college visits, and give this decision some advanced thought. Some universities require you to come on one of their designated visit days, while others let you stop by whenever you please during their regular business hours. There are also other colleges that are open on certain Saturdays.

Make sure not to forget to give yourself a sufficient amount of time to pay a visit. You should give yourself at least two hours or more to go on a tour and meet with an admissions counselor.

Don’t rush it! Also, try to avoid scheduling two college tours on the same day.

Determine what you’d like to do on the visit.

When you plan college visits, you might not even be aware of the possibilities available to you. You are able to:

• Do a daily visit.
• Opt for a large group visit day.
• Do a visit day specific to your situation, like an admitted student visit day, engineering visit day, or transfer visit day.
• Spend the night on campus.

Does it seem like your kid wants to disappear into the background? Plan a day trip with a huge number of people. Do you both feel more comfortable having a one-on-one conversation during your visit? It is recommended that the two of you pay a personal visit to the school.

Talk to the campus visit coordinator at the institution that you have decided to visit about all of the different options you have. They will be able to put you in touch with someone who can talk to you about topics related to your particular interests, such as the women’s bowling league or the chess club.

Watch for confirmation materials.

You should receive confirmation materials, and these items can come in a variety of forms, including the following:

• Text messages
• Emails
• Written confirmation via snail mail
• Phone confirmation

It’s possible that you will receive some or all of these different types of confirmations.

Check every piece of confirmation paperwork twice to ensure that the date, time, and appointments that you have written down are correct.

In addition, on the day of the visit or the night before, a confirmation may be sent to your email address or mobile phone through text message. Verify the dates and timings one more time.

Visit the campus on time.

On the day of your visit, make sure to arrive at the location at least ten minutes before your scheduled time. There is also a possibility that you will need to spend the night somewhere or make travel arrangements in advance.

If it’s a day reserved for group visits, you should report at the entrance office or wherever the tour will take place. It is likely that the campus visit organizer will meet you at the admission office when you arrive. The following is an example of how your day might go if you take part in a group visit day at a university. It’s possible to:

• Attend an information session led by an admissions counselor to gain a general understanding of the college or institution in question, the academic programs it offers, and the application process.
• Take a walking tour of the campus with a student tour guide, and while you’re there, check out the different housing halls.
• Eat lunch. It’s possible that certain businesses and organizations will feed you lunch for free.
• Attend an academic information session, which will consist of a meeting with an adviser for the department in which you intend to major. It is possible that other students and their families will participate in this session as well.
• Go on a specific academic department tour.

Remember to bring a permission slip issued by the high school where you are enrolled. It is common for high schools to require evidence that you have attended a college tour. You can get it signed on your behalf by a college admissions counselor or the campus visit coordinator.

 Ask outstanding questions.

This is the time for you to ask any and all questions that come to mind about the material being covered.

When you go to visit institutions, you should give yourself plenty of time to look around on your own. The tour guides will show you the most impressive student lounges, housing halls, and academic buildings on campus and will go through all of the other best features that the institution has to offer.

Look into things on your own, and if possible, talk to other students about what they saw, what they heard, and their opinions about it.  You should be encouraged to be truthful with the admissions counselor, coach, or professor.

Also, don’t just visit one! Visit a few different colleges so that you can discuss the differences and similarities between them. Taking a tour of several different colleges is the only method to determine which one would be the most suitable for you.

We hope that this guide on how to plan college visits will eventually lead you to choose the best college or university that you can attend. Afterward, we at AdmissionSight will be looking forward to assisting you with your college admission requirements as we have more than a decade of experience helping students navigate the rigorous application process at the world’s best colleges. Book your preliminary consultation at your earliest convenience.