How Do I Schedule a College Campus Visit?

Scheduling a campus visit starts with the college’s website. Most colleges have a “visit” section within their admissions area where you’ll find all your options and a calendar of available dates and times. However, there are important details to keep in mind.

Not all colleges offer tours and information sessions on weekends. Those that do typically only provide weekend visits during select months, usually September, October, or April. This means you may need to plan around school schedules and take days off when necessary.

Beyond the standard tour and information session, look for special admissions events. Preview days, open houses, and admitted students days often provide richer experiences and more opportunities to connect with current students and faculty.

When scheduling, aim to include multiple activities in your visit. According to the Great College Advice Family Handbook, a complete visit checklist should include:

• Signing up for the school-sponsored information session and campus tour
• Registering for an admissions interview if offered
• Signing up to sit in on a class
• Setting up meetings with faculty or staff such as professors and coaches
• Arranging to see specific facilities relevant to your interests
• Scheduling a campus overnight if available
• Checking the campus calendar for events happening during your visit

How Many College Visits Should I Do in a Day?

The short answer: no more than two.

It might be tempting to pack your schedule, especially when traveling long distances. But cramming too many schools into a single day actually undermines the purpose of visiting. As the experts at Great College Advice emphasize, the more time you spend on campus, the more information you’ll gather and the better sense you’ll get of whether that college is right for you.

The most informative visits are those where you spend a full day, or even longer, on campus, from morning until well into the evening. When you rush from one school to the next, your experiences start to blend together. Weeks later, you might struggle to remember which library belonged to which school or what made one campus feel different from another.

Remember that a college is more than a collection of buildings. It’s a community of people with its own culture, traditions, and rhythms. Understanding that community takes time. You can’t learn it from a quick drive through campus or a 30-minute tour.

What Should I Do During a College Campus Visit?

A successful campus visit involves much more than following a tour guide. Here’s how to make the most of your time.

Start at the admissions office. Check in and fill out the contact card if you didn’t sign up in advance online. This officially logs your visit and begins demonstrating your interest in the school.

Attend the information session and tour. These provide the foundation of your understanding. Take notes and photos to help trigger your memory later—you will likely make mention of your visit on the application, so details matter.

Go beyond the official programming. Check the campus events calendar before you arrive. Sporting events, plays, concerts, and lectures give you insight into campus life that a tour simply cannot provide. One community member shared: “We visited and saw there was a basketball game that night. Going to that game told us more about the school culture than anything the admissions office showed us.”

Explore the surrounding area. Try local restaurants. Test the transportation options. Figure out where students find groceries, pharmacies, and other necessities. If your student will be living in this town for four years, understanding the community matters.

Meet with people in your areas of interest. If you’re interested in research opportunities, try to meet a professor. If you’re an athlete, connect with coaches. If you’re considering a specific major, visit that department’s facilities and talk to current students.

How Do College Visits Demonstrate Interest in Admissions?

Demonstrated interest has become a significant factor in college admissions. Schools track how much a prospective student has engaged with them to help predict whether that student will actually enroll if admitted.

As Jamie Berger, a veteran college admissions expert at Great College Advice, explains: “The first way to show demonstrated interest is to go visit and take an official tour—that definitely lets them know that you’re not just throwing darts at a wall of colleges.”

Why does this matter? Colleges care about their yield rate—the percentage of admitted students who accept their offer and enroll. By tracking demonstrated interest, admissions officers can better predict which applicants are likely to say yes. Some schools have even begun rejecting qualified applicants who haven’t shown any genuine interest.

Here’s what happens when you visit: the admissions office logs your attendance at the information session and tour. If you sign up for an interview, that’s additional engagement. If you email follow-up questions or send a thank you note afterward, that all goes into your file.

However, it’s important to understand which schools track demonstrated interest. As the Great College Advice Family Handbook notes, the most elite colleges often don’t consider it—they’re confident they’ll have high yield regardless. Many public universities also don’t track it, though some do care quite a bit. When in doubt, assume the school wants to know you’re genuinely interested.

After your visit, write a thank you note. Follow up with an email if you have additional questions. These simple actions show that you’re truly engaged in the process and want to learn more about the school.

What If I Can’t Visit a College Campus in Person?

Not everyone can visit every school on their list. Distance, cost, and time constraints are real barriers. The good news is that colleges understand this and have developed robust alternatives.

Many campuses offer excellent virtual visit resources. These may include:

• Virtual campus tours available on the website
• Virtual panels and information sessions
• Virtual interviews with faculty, students, staff, and alumni

While an in-person visit provides information that’s hard to replicate from afar, virtual visits can be a valuable substitute when necessary.

Jamie Berger offers this advice for students who can’t visit in person: “If you can’t do it—if your first choice is a school that you can’t visit—write them a letter so they know you’re not just applying to 30 schools blindly. Something short, though.”

Beyond that, he recommends engaging with everything the college offers virtually. “Once you have applied, you get into their college portals and they offer you opportunities to explore different programs. Just say yes to everything. These Zoom meetings, these Facebook groups—everything. And write to your admissions rep a very short, to-the-point email just so they know that you are genuinely interested.”

The key principle remains the same whether visiting virtually or in person: demonstrate genuine, authentic interest. Don’t just go through the motions. Engage meaningfully with the information and opportunities available to you.

What Questions Should I Ask on a College Tour?

The best questions aren’t ones you could easily Google. They’re questions that help you understand what daily life is really like at the school and whether it matches your priorities.

Before your visit, develop a set of criteria that matter most to you. What do you want in your college experience? Academic rigor? Research opportunities? A tight-knit community? A vibrant social scene? Strong career services? Once you know your priorities, craft questions that help you evaluate each school against those criteria.

Questions worth asking tour guides often relate to their personal experience:

• What surprised them most when they arrived?
• What do students typically do on weekends?
• How accessible are professors outside of class?
• Is it easy to get involved in activities even if you didn’t participate in them in high school?
• What are some fun traditions during the school year?

Questions about academics might include:

• How easy is it to switch majors?
• What undergraduate research opportunities exist?
• How large are typical classes in your intended major area?

Let your student take the lead. They should be the one checking in at admissions, asking most of the questions during the tour, and engaging with the experience. Parents taking over can actually work against the student’s interest.

When Is the Best Time to Visit College Campuses?

Timing your visits strategically can make a significant difference in what you learn.

The most important rule: visit when school is in session. A campus during finals, breaks, or summer feels completely different from one bustling with students going to class, eating in dining halls, and participating in activities. You want to see the campus as it truly operates.

September, October, March, and April are popular months when many schools offer weekend visits. Spring of junior year is ideal for exploratory visits—you’ll have time to process what you learned and still revisit top choices before applications are due.

Finding time for visits can be challenging. As one community member observed: “How do you find time for visits? Our daughter is on her high school dance team and does studio dance. Between practices, competitions, and camps, it seems impossible.” Many families find that strategically using school holidays, long weekends, and summer (for virtual visits or visiting schools in session on a different academic calendar) helps.

If you’ve already been admitted, “admitted students days” in the spring are particularly valuable. These events let you see the school with other accepted students, ask questions specific to enrolled students, and often include opportunities to sit in on classes and stay overnight in dorms.

Making Your Visits Count

Campus visits are investments of time, money, and energy. To get the most from them, approach each one with intention.

Before you go, research the school thoroughly. Know what makes it distinctive. Understand the programs you’re interested in. Have specific questions ready.

During the visit, take detailed notes and photos. Months later, when you’re comparing schools or writing supplemental essays, these notes will be invaluable.

After the visit, take time to reflect. Discuss your impressions with family. Compare what you experienced against your criteria. And don’t forget to follow up with the admissions office to thank them and ask any remaining questions.

The goal isn’t to visit the most schools—it’s to visit thoughtfully and gather the information you need to make one of the most important decisions of your educational journey.

For comprehensive guidance through every stage of the college application process, explore our complete guide to The College Admissions Lifecycle: A Guide Through High School.

Ready to Make Your College Visits Count?

Planning campus visits is just one piece of the college admissions puzzle. Our team of expert counselors can help you create a personalized visit strategy, develop your college list, and navigate every step of the application process with confidence.

Book a free consultation to discuss your college goals and learn how Great College Advice can support your journey.

The post What Should You Know About College Visits first appeared on Great College Advice.

Choosing the right college means looking beyond polished admissions presentations to understand authentic campus culture, student well-being resources, and true community fit. For families weighing both quality and value, assessing these factors accurately on the campus visit is essential to ensuring your investment pays off with a positive college experience. This guide provides practical strategies for evaluating what campus life is really like—crucial information that complements your research into scholarships and financial aid options when building your college list.

Why shouldn’t I rely solely on the official campus tour to assess campus culture?

Think of the official campus visit as you would a timeshare presentation—polished, persuasive, and designed to close a sale. Admissions departments invest considerable resources, sometimes hiring specialized consulting firms, to craft memorable visitor experiences. Tour guides are trained employees following memorized scripts, not randomly selected representatives of student opinion.

As veteran college admissions expert Jamie Berger observes, the fundamental issue is that these presentations offer very little variability from one school to the next. After visiting multiple campuses, families often find their experiences blurring together—every school seems to have the same talking points about small class sizes, accessible professors, and vibrant campus life.

The Great College Advice Family Handbook emphasizes this critical distinction: “A college is more than a bunch of buildings: it is a community. It takes a bit of time to get beyond the superficial aspects of a campus to learn about that community of people.”

This doesn’t mean tours are worthless—they provide useful logistical information and demonstrate that your student is serious about the school (which matters for demonstrated interest). But don’t confuse the tour’s polished presentation with an accurate picture of daily student life.

What specific activities reveal an authentic campus culture that tours miss?

The most revealing insights come from unscripted moments and independent exploration. Before your visit, check the campus events calendar to see what’s happening during your stay. Attend a sporting event, play, concert, or lecture if timing permits—these gatherings reveal how students actually spend their free time.

During your campus walk, pause at bulletin boards in building hallways. One community member noted discovering this approach: “It was a great way to get a little inside glimpse into what was happening on campus when there weren’t a lot of students to talk with.” Bulletin boards advertise clubs, events, causes students care about, and the general pulse of campus activity.

Extend your exploration beyond the campus boundaries:

Visit the surrounding area and try local restaurants. Test transportation options—can students easily get to town, the airport, or nearby cities? Help your student identify where they’d find basic necessities like groceries and pharmacies. These practical elements profoundly shape daily student life.

Most importantly, talk to students who aren’t wearing admissions office lanyards. Ask them directly about their experiences. One parent in the Great College Advice community shared an approach of simply stopping random students walking across campus and asking honest questions about weekend life, academic pressure, and social dynamics, yielding far more candid responses than any official tour.

If offered, schedule a campus overnight stay. There’s simply no substitute for experiencing evening and morning routines alongside actual students.

How can I determine if a college is a “suitcase school” where students leave on weekends?

The “suitcase school” phenomenon can dramatically impact your student’s college experience. When significant portions of the student body pack up and leave each weekend, campus social life withers, creating a self-reinforcing cycle where emptier weekends prompt even more departures.

Research from the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA found that 39% of first-year students at less selective campuses reported going home frequently. This trend concerns college educators who recognize that students heading home miss the challenges and rewards of building new relationships and experiencing campus community.

When admissions officers insist their campus stays vibrant on weekends, dig deeper with these specific questions for current students:

Do you or your friends leave campus on weekends? If so, why? If you stay on campus, do you feel there’s enough happening? Are students packing up for the whole weekend or just taking day trips? Do you ever feel like you’d miss something important by leaving? What about students from far away who can’t easily get home? Do they feel isolated?

If possible, schedule part of your visit during a weekend to observe activity levels firsthand. A campus that feels energetic on Tuesday morning but deserted on Saturday afternoon tells you something important about student culture. For more on identifying this pattern, see our detailed guide on how to find out if a college is a suitcase school.

What questions should parents ask about student well-being and support services?

Parents carry legitimate concerns that students may not think to address. Parents should seek out the answers to their own parental questions—your questions about campus safety or financial aid are perfectly appropriate.

The key is approach. Let your student take the lead during tours and information sessions. Consider a “divide and conquer” strategy: while your student attends a class or meets with a coach, you can separately meet with someone in financial aid, student advising, or health services.

Priority questions for parents include:

Campus safety: What security measures exist? What are the crime statistics (colleges must report these)? How does campus security respond to emergencies? Is the surrounding area safe for walking at night?

Mental health support: What’s the student-to-counselor ratio? Are appointments readily available during high-stress periods like finals? What support exists for students struggling academically or personally? Does the school have a reputation for high-pressure environments that impact student well-being?

Financial aid accessibility: Can you schedule a meeting with a financial aid advisor to discuss your family’s specific situation? Understanding how financial aid impacts admissions helps you ask the right questions.

Practical support: What health services are available on campus? What are the housing options and guarantees? How’s the food quality? What dietary accommodations exist? What resources support students with disabilities or learning differences?

You can also write a quick email to the general admissions email after your visit to ask questions your student found intrusive during the tour itself.

How do I assess whether a college fits my student’s academic, social, and personal needs?

True fit assessment begins with deeply understanding your own student before evaluating any college. Great College Advice uses a structured assessment approach including the “Why Go to College” survey, which examines student motivations ranging from career preparation to personal growth and self-discovery.

This distinction matters enormously. As one assessment process reveals: “Some students are going to college in order to do a specific job. If they couldn’t get a job from the college experience, they wouldn’t go to college. Some students are like, ‘Yeah, I’ll get a job later, but right now I’m going to broaden my mind, to learn more about myself.’ Those are two different, really different schools.”

Career-oriented students will likely thrive at professionally-focused institutions with strong internship pipelines and industry connections. Growth-oriented students may flourish at liberal arts colleges emphasizing exploration and intellectual development. Neither approach is superior, but matching students to institutions matters critically for satisfaction and success.

Jamie Berger emphasizes helping students shed the “gaming the system” mentality: “I like to think that a little added feature of working with an experienced admissions consultant for a year is to help people who’ve always done it right start to realize—I’ve earned access to one of these schools. Now what do I want?”

Discuss concrete preferences with your student: urban versus rural settings, large versus small student bodies, competitive versus collaborative academic cultures, strong Greek life versus alternative social structures, political climate, religious affiliation, and diversity priorities. Focus on compatibility rather than chasing an elusive “perfect fit.”

The colleges that match your student’s academic profile, social preferences, and personal ambitions will yield happier, more successful outcomes than simply pursuing the most prestigious names regardless of fit.

When is the best time to visit campus to accurately assess the culture and student life?

Timing can make or break your campus visit’s value. If possible, based on your family’s schedule,  visit when classes are in session. As the Great College Advice team puts it, this is when you can spot “students in the wild”—walking to class, crowding dining halls, gathering in libraries, and going about their actual daily routines.

Avoid holiday breaks if possible. During Thanksgiving week, students have ventured home, admissions officers are often out of the office, and colleges rarely offer tours. Campus dining facilities and amenities will be completely shut down. Winter break is even worse—dorms locked, libraries on limited hours if open at all, faculty traveling. Unless you want to see locked, empty buildings, these windows offer virtually no insight into campus culture.

Optimal timing includes February, spring break (when it doesn’t overlap with the college’s own break), and fall months. Note that not all colleges offer weekend visits, and those that do typically only offer them during September, October, March, or April. Look for special events like “preview days,” “open houses,” or “admitted students days.”

For the most informative visits, spend a full day or more on campus, from morning until well into the evening. This allows you to experience the rhythm of campus life across different times—morning class changes, afternoon study sessions, evening activities.

One critical caution: don’t schedule more than two campus visits per day. Your experiences will blur together, compromising your ability to evaluate each school distinctly. Months later, you won’t remember which library went with which school.

How can I assess campus culture if an in-person visit isn’t possible due to cost or distance?

When in-person visits aren’t feasible, whether due to budget constraints or international distance, virtual resources can provide meaningful insights, though with acknowledged limitations.

Many campuses offer robust virtual visit options: virtual campus tours on their websites, virtual panels, information sessions, and interviews with faculty, students, staff, and alumni. Visiting a campus in person can give you information that is hard to glean from afar, but if visiting is too costly or time-consuming, virtual visits can be a great option.

Check online campus events calendars—these serve as “virtual bulletin boards” revealing what programming exists and whether it aligns with your student’s interests. Connect with current students through official channels where colleges often make students available to prospective applicants online. Research student newspapers, forums, and social media for unfiltered perspectives on campus life.

As Jamie Berger advises families unable to visit their first-choice schools: “If you live abroad, you can’t go visit. Write them a letter so they know you’re not just applying to 30 schools blindly. Something short, though.” This brief, thoughtful communication demonstrates genuine interest while acknowledging the logistical realities of international applications.

Take advantage of every virtual opportunity offered: Zoom meetings, Facebook groups, admitted students’ online communities, and virtual information sessions. “Just say yes to everything,” Berger recommends when it comes to demonstrating interest and gathering information about schools you genuinely care about.

While virtual research can’t fully replicate walking campus pathways and absorbing the atmosphere, a thorough online investigation combined with genuine outreach to admissions representatives and current students can provide substantial insight into whether a campus culture might suit your student.

Assessing campus culture and student well-being requires looking beyond polished presentations to understand authentic student experiences. At Great College Advice, our expert counselors help families develop comprehensive evaluation criteria matching students’ academic, social, and personal needs. Combined with strategic guidance on financial aid timelines and merit-based scholarship strategies, we help value-conscious families find colleges where students thrive academically and personally—at a cost that makes sense for your family.

Schedule a free consultation today.

The post Tips for Successful Campus Visit first appeared on Great College Advice.

Winter break is not the best time for college tours

We do not recommend scheduling campus tours over your winter holiday break. When students head back home for a month, many campus offices also close up. Dorms are locked up tightly while students are away.  The library may be on limited hours if it is open at all. Faculty leave town and go on their own vacations.

Most colleges may be completely closed from December 23rd to January 2nd. If you venture to a college right before Christmas, a few admission counselors may still be in their offices, but they will more than likely be knee-deep in reading college applications. So, unless all you want to do is see a bunch of locked and empty buildings, the winter holiday is not a great time for college tours.

What about summer for a college tour?

For many families, summer is the ideal time for a college tour. High school students are no longer wrapped up in the demands of the academic year and campus visits can often be coordinated as part of a family vacation. While summer is not a perfect time to visit a college campus, it is better than winter break of even Thanksgiving. Some colleges and universities do have summer sessions, and most will have some sort of activities going on–even if they are not set up for their regular student bodies. Offices are generally open, as are most facilities. During the summer, you may not see the campus operating as it does during the academic year, but at least the admissions office is set up to show you the best of what the campus has to offer. While you’ll find it harder to have conversations with current students, at least you’ll get a general sense of the campus vibe.

Thanksgiving is not the best time for college tours

During the week of Thanksgiving, colleges are often open, but the students have already ventured home to be with their families. College admissions officers, too, are very often out of the office entirely–finally getting a few days to spend with their families following a demanding fall travel season. Colleges rarely even offer tours and information sessions during Thanksgiving week. You may be able to meet with someone in the admissions office, but it will be difficult to get a feel for the college culture with no students around. On many campuses, all dining facilities and campus amenities will be completely shut down as staff are given a few days off for the holidays.

Schedule your college tours during February, Spring, or Fall Break

Unsurprisingly, the best time to visit a college campus is during the school year. This is when you will see the college or university in actual operation. As my wife likes to say, this is the time when you can spot ‘students in the wild!’ Streets, sidewalks and walking paths will be bustling with students going to and from class, dining halls will be packed, and the campus will be alive. This will allow you to gain a better sense of whether you can see yourself attending this college.

Try to pick a time, such as February, spring or fall break, but be careful not to overlap with the college’s own spring or fall break if possible (once again, the college just won’t look or feel the same when the students are not around). Make sure you do your research and look at the school’s campus tour calendar where you can sign up in advance.

Need help building that college list?

Let the experts at Great College Advice help you create a well balanced college list as part of your college visit plans. Book your complimentary session now and start your college admissions journey today! 

The post When is the Best Time for College Tours? first appeared on Great College Advice.

College campus visits are a ritual. A rite of passage. A requirement. And they also are mostly a waste of time and money unless your student (a) does some research ahead of time, (b) has some criteria in mind as to what is important to them, and (c) sets realistic expectations about what they will learn from an admissions talk and campus tour. We don’t discourage our families from touring colleges. But, we want them to have an action plan in place otherwise they aren’t worth the effort.

As a new school year is upon us, the Great College Advice team has been busy debriefing our students and their parents about whatever summertime college campus visits they have done in the past month or two. While my colleagues and I have done hundreds of campus visits as a way to research colleges, our families are embarking on these adventures for the first time.

In our conversations, here are some of the things that families tell us that we wish the admissions offices around the country should hear.

Information Sessions Are Virtually Identical From School to School

The father of one of my juniors said the other day, “After three of these sessions, I could have given the information session myself.” The canned presentations. The gee-whiz videos. And the obligatory references to “undergraduate research opportunities,” “our robust study abroad program,” and “the surprising accessibility of our professors. The recent addition to prepared comments in 2025 is the unique clubs offered by every college. Well, a Cheese Club isn’t cute, fun, and differentiated if every school now offers one!

It’s true: I hate sitting through these presentations. Every once in a while an admissions officer is able to channel something fresh. Or genuine that helps his audience understand the essence of the school. But mostly these are just superficial, once-over-lightly overviews of college life. It’s virtually impossible to differentiate these presentations. And it seems that admissions directors don’t really want to. They want and need to be relatively generic and run-of-the-mill.

Why? Because they don’t want to say or do anything that might deter a student from applying. They need to hit all the major highlights–which happen to be the major highlights at the school across town or across the state or across the country. They have to appeal to the widest audience.

Because the more applicants they get, the more selective the institution can be. This will help raise the college’s ranking, which will then drive more applicants and continued improvements in the ranking.

Thus if the admissions office said something really distinctive about the university, that distinction might not appeal to certain people. So you have Jesuit universities that downplay their religious nature to broaden their appeal (“everyone is welcome!”). You have super-geeky institutions that play up the amount of fun kids have (“We have 106 different clubs!”). You have campuses where the overwhelming majority of students belong to fraternities or sororities but emphasize that Greek life is just a small slice of the social scene (“There are all kinds of non-Greek events on campus all the time!”). Or academically non-selective schools that emphasize their academic research programs (“Seriously, lots of kids participate in this program”).

Information sessions have to promise all things to all people. So they end up not being very informative. And there is very little variability in the presentations from one school to the next.

So why spend the time and money on a college campus visit if all you’re going to get is a bland, repetitive, uninformative presentation?

The Student-Led Tours Are Scripted

And so it goes with every campus tour in the land. The senior staff of the admissions department puts together an itinerary and outline of the campus tours, and the students hired to deliver them are told to memorize the itinerary and outline, and given a test to make sure they know what is expected by the employer. It’s really no different than any other job: know the “standard operating procedures” and implement them dutifully. Do the job as expected, and collect your paycheck.

But ultimately pretty boring for the students and their families who have traveled sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles to get the grand campus tour. And pretty darned identical to the tour given at Williams, Bowdoin, Yale, or the University of North Dakota (where all those North Dakotan students apparently stayed). Just change the dates, the names, and the name of the college student giving the tour, and you have an identical experience at any college.

Oh, and don’t get me started on jokes the tour guides make as they begin to walk backward. It’s the same joke everywhere you go.

Prospective Applicants Mistake Fellow Campus Visit Participants for Current Students

This one is going to sound crazy. But it’s a real problem.

The other day, one of our students mentioned that he had taken a tour at a small, very selective, liberal arts college. He said he was surprised at how many kids and their families were also on the tour. I asked him how he liked the tour.

“I hated it,” he sputtered.

“Why’s that?”

“All the other kids on the tour really weren’t my type. I found them really annoying.”

And I had to stifle a chuckle.

I had to remind this young man that the other kids on the tour actually were not representative of the students who attend this particular school. They are looky-loos, just like him. These tour participants, however annoying they may be, haven’t even decided to apply, and the admissions office certainly has not invited them to join the student body. They are just sleepwalking from campus to campus, attending the repetitive information sessions and shuffling along behind the well-trained tour guides–just like he is.

Again, this may seem downright silly for a high school student (a smart one at that) to mistake fellow campus visit participants for the sorts of students who attend a particular school.

But think about it: the information sessions and the tours do not really provide opportunities for prospective students to interact with current students. Tour participants may view “real” students from afar as they walk to and fro across the campus. Or they may passively observe “real” students in the dining halls or libraries. But interact? Not usually. At least not as a part of the official college campus visit.

So what else does the poor prospective student have to go on to make judgments about the campus “vibe”? Only on what he is experiencing–and that is the “vibe” of the tour group, itself.

Is the tour guide nice? If yes, then all students on that campus must be nice. If not, then all students on that campus must be annoying.

Are the other kids dressed like me? Do they behave similarly? Or do they seem to value the same things I do? Do they seem like people I’d want to be friends with? If so, then this campus is perfect. If not, get me away from these goofy people.

Parent-Child Conflict on College Campus Visits

And then there is the parent-child dynamic that also messes things up. Kids trudge through the tour in silent mode (which is mostly a reflection of their utter terror in choosing a college), while eager-beaver parents ask myriad annoying questions about things like “Where can my daughter do her laundry,” or “Are the beds all extra-long,” or “where can my son park his car on campus.” 

The bottom line is that these tours generally do nothing to give prospective students a sense of what the community is really like. Admittedly, this is a very difficult aspect of a school to put a finger on in a short, one-day (or more usually, two-hour) college campus visit.

Different schools definitely have different personalities. But you’re probably not going to get a good sense of that on your college campus visit.

Prospective Families Don’t Know What to Look For During College Campus Visits

Quite often, as soon as a family hires us as their college counselors, mom or dad calls us up and asks, “So which colleges should we visit?”

Everyone knows they should visit campuses. And everyone knows how to make travel arrangements: book the flights, pick the hotels, reserve the rental car. It’s also easy to figure out how to sign up for those tours and information sessions.

So let’s GO, already!

But wait.

What, exactly, are you hoping to find while on that tour? How will you know you’ve found the right campus when you see it?

What are the criteria by which you plan to choose the right college for your student and your family? And how will the college campus tour help you to ascertain whether the college fits those criteria? 

Use a college consultant to help with college selection criteria

One of the primary reasons to hire a college admissions consultant is to help nail down the college selection criteria. The process of choosing a college can be very emotional. And while it’s true that a lot of subjective factors and plain, old gut instincts do play a strong role in how most of us choose a college, it’s also true that the enormous expense of college requires that we try to keep the decision as rational as possible.

This is why we spend so much time evaluating the factors–the criteria–that will drive the college selection process. What are those factors? Well, there can be a whole lot of them. We have an exercise that includes nearly 120 different criteria to consider. But really they boil down to these six categories.

• Finances: does this school likely fit your budget?
• Academics: what are the curricular structures, degrees, majors, and other academic programs you seek?
• Activities: what activities are you now doing–or hope to do–that will be part of the selection process?
• Campus Culture or “Vibe”: social structures, political activism, religiosity, political persuasion, diversity, etc.
• “Atmospherics”: geography, campus setting, architecture, landscaping,
• Admissibility: how likely are you to be accepted?

As you review this list above, how many of these can be ascertained in ways other than the college campus visit?

Virtually all of them, in fact.

How can you evaluate a school without a college campus visit?

You can figure out whether a particular school fits your budget by doing research both on the college’s website and on third-party websites that publish basic financial aid data.

Also, you can have a very strong understanding of the academic opportunities offered by a university simply by spending enough time on specific pages of the college’s website.

You can research what activities are offered at the school, and you can easily connect with others (students, coaches, administrators) who can help you gather more information about how you might get involved.

Campus culture or “vibe” is perhaps the most difficult for prospective families to get a handle on. But as I mention above, the admissions office and its canned tours aren’t likely to help much. The best is to try to connect with as many current students on campus as possible–which frankly can be done online these days as many colleges offer up their students to interested potential applicants.

In terms of how a college actually physically looks? That is what virtual tours are for. Also, perusing a college site shows you all those pretty pictures of beautiful buildings in beautiful weather surrounded by beautiful students that you can find on every college website.

And admissibility? Do you really have to traipse all the way across the country to learn the admissions statistics or look up the statistical profile of the kind of students the college generally admits? No, all of that information is available with a few clicks of a mouse.

Research a college BEFORE you go on those college campus visits.

I have actually worked with quite a few students over the years who NEVER visit a college campus before they submit their applications. Of course, I don’t generally advise this approach, for there are other, very important reasons to visit a college campus as a way to give you a better chance of admission (this is called “demonstrated interest,” which you can read about here).

But it is undeniable that the Internet has mostly obliterated the usefulness of the campus visit as a way to gather helpful, objective, and otherwise unobtainable information about a college or university. You really can find it all online.

[Which is part of the problem, to be honest, and why so many families find it hard to make solid college lists and discern which college might suit them best. Sometimes too much information is actually much more confusing than too little of it. It is the surplus of information that helps to keep professional college advisors like me in business–because we help you sift through the information to find the stuff that is relevant to you and your family.]

Before you do your homework, however, you have to know what it is you are looking for

Thus we come back to developing that list of criteria. You will not find your criteria by zipping around the country and looking at schools. Rather, you will find your criteria by looking in the mirror. By having a family conversation about what aspects of higher education are most important to you. And by taking an inventory of your needs, wants, and aspirations. By being honest about things that are simply irrelevant to your own decision-making process. And first and foremost–by getting real about the costs and sticking to your budget.

Decide what it is you really want and need. Then develop a list of colleges that satisfies those criteria. Do your research in the comfort of your own home. Narrow the list. Then visit only those that really care whether you visit (see that stuff about “demonstrated interest” referenced above).

And remember that the college campus visit–by itself–is not going to be overly useful in helping you make a rational decision. The visit may give you a “feeling.” You may have a “gut reaction.” Your “instincts” may take over.

But don’t trust your gut until you have exhausted your ability to use your head.

Will College Campus Visits Help Me Get Admitted?

The answer here is more nuanced. It depends. 

Some colleges are very interested in students who demonstrate interest in their college. They want students who are excited about attending. Students who know what they are getting into–and embrace the challenges of joining that community.

Similarly, colleges like to know that your family has the money (and time) to traipse to their campus. Admissions officers know that it’s a pretty big financial commitment to travel from New York City to visit a college in California. And that commitment indicates a willingness to spend big bucks to pay tuition, room and board, and every other expense associated with attending that college. 

So for those schools–and there are a lot of them–your visit is definitely going to be a helpful addition to the overall evaluation of your application.

However, other schools–including the most highly selective ones like the Ivies, Stanford, and many others, it really doesn’t matter if you visit. These schools have plenty of kids who are demonstrating interest (sometimes they demonstrate too much interest!) and who would flourish. These schools also do not lack for paying customers–some families would pay two or three times the cost of attendance for that admissions offer. 

The most highly selective colleges simply do not care whether you visit. They review applications from thousands of kids every year who have not had the opportunity to visit their campuses. And these applicants are accepted nonetheless.  

Of course, a visit to one of these campuses could help you decide whether or not you would really fit at an Ivy League school, which might be valuable. But the visit will not be a factor in whether or now you are admitted.

You Can Do College Campus Visits the Right Way

Campus visits are an important part of the college selection process. And most families will do them at some point. But make sure you don’t waste time or money. Here’s what you can do:

1. Establish college search criteria first. Don’t leave home on the Grand Tour until you know what you are looking for.
2. Do your homework before you go. The web is a treasure trove of info on colleges. Use it.
3. Remind yourself about the limitations of the information session and the campus tour

Need Help Developing Your College Selection Criteria?

Do you have questions about how to get into college? Let the experts at Great College Advice help you navigate the complicated and sometimes confusing world of college applications. We have several tiers of services we can provide that can fit any budget. With our years of experience in the world of college applications, we’ve helped thousands of students get into the college of their dreams. We can help you, too!

Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.

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Thanksgiving is not the best time for college tours

During the week of Thanksgiving, colleges are often open, but the students have already ventured home to be with their families. College admissions officers, too, are very often out of the office entirely–finally getting a few days to spend with their families during a grueling travel season. Rarely do colleges even offer tours and information sessions during Thanksgiving week. You may be able to meet with someone in the admissions office, but it will be difficult to get a feel for the college culture without students present. On many campuses, all dining facilities and campus amenities will be completely shut down as staff are given a few days off for the holidays.

So we recommend you forget Thanksgiving as a viable time to visit a campus, unless all you want to do is look at a bunch of locked and empty buildings.  Not a super helpful time to get to know a school and its’ community.

The winter holiday is not the best time for college tours

Winter holiday break is just as bad, if not worse. When students leave campus, many offices also close up.  Dorms are locked up tightly while students are away.  The library may be on limited hours if it is open at all.  Faculty leave town and go on their own vacations.

Most colleges may be completely closed from December 23rd to January 2nd. If you venture to a college that third week in December, a few admission counselors may still be in their offices, but they will more than likely be knee-deep in reading applications. So here again, unless all you want to do is see a bunch of locked and empty buildings, the winter holiday is not a great time for college tours.

What about summer for a college tour?

For many families, summer is the best time for a college tour.  This is when students are no longer wrapped up in the demands of the academic year and time is a bit more flexible.  While summer is not a perfect time to visit a college campus, it is better than Thanksgiving or the winter holidays. Some colleges and universities do have summer sessions, and most will have some sort of activities going on–even if they are not set up for their regular student bodies.  Offices are generally open, as are most facilities.  During the summer, you may not see the campus operating as it does during the academic year, but at least the admissions office is set up to show you the best of what the campus has to offer.  While you’ll find it harder to have conversations with current students, at least you’ll get an idea of the what the campus feels like when there are actual humans around.

So when is the best time for a campus visit?

Unfortunately, the best time to visit a college campus is during the school year. This is when you will see the college or university in actual operation.  Students will be going to class, all the facilities will be open–and bustling–and you’ll get a better idea of not just geography of the campus, but the people who animate it.

Try to pick a time, such as a February or March break, but be careful not to overlap with the college’s spring break if possible (once again, the college just won’t look or feel the same when the students are not around). Make sure you do your research and look at the school’s campus tour calendar. Most colleges have sign-ups online.

For more tips, read our previous blog post:  Planning the Perfect Campus Visit.

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May I sit in on a college class?

Sitting in on a class is a great way to get a feel for the academic environment on a college campus. It gives you the opportunity to see how students and professors interact. Also, you get to know the teaching and learning styles being used. As well as what technology they use, and what the class sizes are like.

Some colleges will encourage you to sit in on a college class. They may even provide lists of options for you to visit, with different courses in different subjects. This way you can choose a course in a field that most interests you. 

Not all colleges will allow you to sit in on a class, however. In some cases, space may be limited, an exam is being given, or a field trip is taking place. Some professors really don’t like to have prospective students traipsing in to their classrooms, which can disrupt the dynamic of the learning environment.

In any case, if you are interested in sitting in on a college class, before you visit a college it is worth asking the admissions office if this is a possibility.

It’s also important to note that some colleges have special visit days for prospective students. Often on these days, the admissions office will provide a list of college classes you can visit. So if you are especially interested in the ability to sit in on a college class, be sure to visit on one of these special open days.

Why sit in on a college class?

The college learning environment can be very different from what most students experience in high school.  Sometimes the classes are much, much larger.  Professors lecture to hundreds of students in a large auditorium, and students are relatively passive in those sorts of classes.  Sometime professors will equip students with “clickers” that allow them to respond to questions posed by the professor, and the answers are projected on a screen at the front of the auditorium. One finds these sorts of classes in introductory level courses and in courses that are very popular. 

Other college classes can be smaller and more intimate, in which the professor engages students in discussions about the material being studied.  In these cases, professors may know all the names of their students, and the environment can be more personal and relaxed. 

In either case, you’ll be able to get a sense of how the class functions–at least in that particular class. However, it’s good–when possible–to talk to students in the class (either before or after class, of course–not to disrupt the proceedings!) to find out whether the particular class you are visiting is representative of others the student is taking, whether is it similar to or different from other classes in the department, and whether students this particular professor is good or bad.  

No matter what sort of class you visit, be sure to observe what is happening in the classroom.  Are students listening and engaged, or are many of them scrolling through their Instagram feeds in boredom? Do students seem prepared for what is being presented by the professor? If it is a discussion class, do students actively contribute or does the professor have to drag responses from them? Do students seem to know one another? Do they interact? How much does the professor interact and show interest in the student? Sitting in on a class allows you to be a keen observer of the classroom dynamic, even if you don’t understand the material being presented that day.

Three things to watch out for

Sitting in on a college class can be a very helpful exercise when visiting a college.  However, it can also lead to some incorrect assumptions about the general learning environment at the college.  Before you make gross generalizations about the college based on attending a single course session, consider these factors in evaluating the class you visit.

Remember that this is only one among hundreds or even thousands being offered on this campus. You are likely able to visit only one class, so be careful about extrapolating this experience to think that every class in every department will be presented in this same way.  

Remember that you are visiting this class on a single course session. Given the ebb and flow of the learning process, some class sessions could be full of lots of new information, and others might serve as review. Not every course session is going to be exactly the same from day to day or week to week. 

You may not be familiar with much of anything going on in the classroom.  Perhaps it’s a sociology class–and you’re not even sure exactly what sociology is.  Or maybe it’s a class discussing a phenomenon or issue that you know nothing about.  Or maybe it’s a science or math class covering material that quite literally flies over your head.  This can be frustrating, and may negatively affect your impressions of the class. 

The classes chosen by admissions for you to sit on generally are taught by some of the best and most popular professors on campus. However, in some cases, the professor might not be the best. As you select the class to sit in on, you can consult RateMyProfessors.com to see what former students have had to say about their experience with this professor and in this class.  Keep in mind that these rating are imperfect, and often students rate their professors only when they have something negative to say.  On the other hand, a professor with a lot of positive reviews is likely a respected and popular professor.  

Six tips for when you sit in on a college class

• Arrive on time (preferably a few minutes early).
• Introduce yourself to the professor so they know who you are and why you are there.
• Turn off your cell phone or put it on silent mode.
• Don’t leave early. It is distracting to the other students and rude to the professor.
• Be sure to thank the professor on your way out.
• Take time to try to talk to students before or after the class to ask their opinions of the class and the professor.
   
  
  

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TRANSCRIPT:

Tour at University Of Washington

So today I’m on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle. Beautiful, comprehensive university, 29,000 undergraduates, fantastically beautiful campus, trees. Of course it’s January, so they’re not in bloom, but I’m sure in the springtime it’s absolutely gorgeous here. I want to talk a minute about taking tours at large schools versus small schools. Yesterday, I was at the University of Puget Sound, which has about 2,300 students, and here there are 29,000 students. And it’s such a different experience going on a tour here.

There are probably 30 or 40 people on the tour today. And it is very scripted. The tour guide was terrific; she was very, very personable and very well, very knowledgeable about the school. But it was clear that we had a series of stops. And every place she would talk about specific things. So in one place, in fact it was just right over here, she was talking about academics, and she talked about majors. And then in other places, she pointed out housing options and dining options. And then the next stop was something about student clubs, and how to participate in student life here.

Tour At University of Puget Sound

The contrast was that yesterday when we visited the University of Puget Sound, really there were only two of us on the tour, and there were two tour guides, and it was very, very, very, very personal. So the two student tour guides really wanted to know about us and what we were interested in learning about, and then they kind of tailored the tour to whatever we wanted to do. And there were a couple of places that we passed by a building, and it looked kind of interesting, so we just went in, right? We didn’t have to take the whole thing. We didn’t have 40 people on the tour.

There is really no way that your individual interest can dictate what you’re going to learn on the tour. You’re going to learn what the tour guide has been told to tell you, and at this particular stop, at this particular place, and about these particular topics. Again, not really one is better than the other, but it helps to highlight how important it is that no matter what kind of school you go to, that the tour is only a small part of what you can and should learn about the university that you want to attend.

Ask Questions!

So if there are things you want to know about the campus that are not on the tour, then it’s your responsibility to learn that, to find out if there are other resources on campus, other people, other offices that you need to visit, or if you need to be looking more on the web for certain kinds of details or things that you want to know about the opportunities that you are looking for.

The tour is helpful, but it is certainly not the only thing you should do when you’re on a campus. And that is very true, probably the most true, on these large campuses where the tours are very scripted, very rigid, and perhaps less helpful because they’re just, they can’t be very personal. It’s the law of numbers. So again, think about what it is you want to learn about the campus before you even come, so that you can have the most productive visit possible.
 
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Transcript

I’m here now on the campus of Lawrence University up in Appleton, Wisconsin. You know a lot of people ask me, “What is the best time to visit a college campus? Is it summer time? Is it spring break, fall break?” Actually, I think probably the best time to visit Appleton, Wisconsin is in the winter because it’s really cold. And it will give you a better sense of what the campus life is really like while students are here on the campus and in session.

Despite the cold this is a really, really vibrant, active place. You see students walking across campus. They’re not afraid of the cold; they’re dressed for the cold. Okay, maybe a few of them are wearing, you know, a little bit too skimpy outfits, they’re parents might be, you know, a little bit upset. But they all deal with the weather.
So, one of the best times to come visit a college campus is when students are in session, and wintertime can be great. Especially in these cold places, you’ll get a better sense of what really happens here.

Mark Montgomery
Expert Educational Consultant

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