If you're going to spend the next four (or more) years of you life at college, it's well worth your time to plan several visits to be sure you choose the perfect place. Do you want to stay close to home or venture as far away as possible? Want to escape from snowy Ohio winters? Would you prefer an urban, suburban or a small town environment? How important is it that you're close to a mall? How often do you plan to come home? Make a list of 5-15 schools you're interested in, and then make a plan to visit all or at least most of them. Guidance Counselor Mrs. Morgan often recommends visiting several schools in our area to get a feel for various types of campuses: Kent, Akron, John Carroll, Case Western and Hiram can all be reached within an hour and offer a vast range of sizes and settings to compare. Here's what some of my former students, who recently completed the college search process, had to say:
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Michelle Sabo Duquesne University |
"Spend the night, either with a friend or with a student host.
Each school really does have its own atmosphere and
attitude, and this 'attitude' is usually reflected in the students
attending the school. You can judge a lot about a school by the
types of students it attracts, and it is difficult to obtain a clear
picture on the character of the student body without actually living for a
day or two on campus. In addition, you will be able to see if you can
actually handle the dorms/bathrooms/food on campus."
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"Make sure you visit your top choices before they become your 'top choices'. At the start of high school, I was convinced I wanted to go to Ithaca. For years I told my relatives and friends that I was going to go to Ithaca and that I 'loved' the school. But when I visited, the whole place seemed cold, impersonal, and unwelcoming. It quickly fell on my list of schools. When you visit a school, you will just get 'the vibe'. You may know within 15 minutes whether you absolutely love or hate the school. Try to picture yourself being on that campus on an everyday basis -- if you struggle imagining this, then the school may not be right for you. Lastly, if you visit a college, GET AN INTERVIEW. Make sure these schools can put a name with a face and figure out the true 'you'. We are all individuals, and its hard to get the true grasp of us based on five sheets of paper." |
Brian Weiss |
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Grace Chen |
I'd say, definitely do college visits, if you can during the school year (and try to stay with a student overnight to get a feel for the dorms, my experiences staying with friends both before and after I had my admissions decisions were extremely influential in shaping my decision). For some schools you have to call in advance, and their website will usually say what to do. During a visit you'll usually find that all the other prospective students ask the questions you want, but my favorite question was "If you could change one thing about this school, what would it be?" It's sort of a negative question, but the answers you get from it often include what the person loved and disliked, which is very useful because sometimes what they hated won't bother you at all, but other times it will make you seriously reconsider. I found the internet to be a very useful tool, because most colleges have great sites for prospective students that include academic information, extracurricular information, admissions and visiting information, and who to contact with more questions. | |
| "During my junior year I was absolutely
clueless. I didn't know what kind of school I wanted. I didn't know what I
wanted to study. I didn't know much of anything. The scariest awakening that
I had was that no one was going to tell me. The guidance department did not
chase me down making sure that I had everything turned in. More importantly,
colleges didn't do much more than send mountains of brochures in an attempt
to recruit me. After I realized I had some things to figure out, I got
started. My mom and I visited 15 schools the summer following my junior
year. After about five or six I knew from the first few minutes on campus if
I loved or hated it. It became really obvious what I was looking for and
what was important to me. The most important thing about college visits is to go. It was so obvious once I walked onto a campus if it was right for me or not. From the infinite number of possibilities I was able to narrow my search down to one school. Everything just seemed to fit. I begrudgingly visited Ohio State even though it was 'too close', and 'too ugly', and 'too big'. As soon as I got there I realized that these descriptions didn't really fit. They were what I had been told by other people who didn't decide it was right for them. For me, it was perfect. I applied to only one school and so my application process was REALLY easy. My college essay from English class (senior year) and an updated resume from junior year were all that I needed. I applied very early and knew very early that I was accepted. For me this worked, but I'm sure that it wouldn't for everyone." |
Tracy Peshek Ohio State University
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