Tips for Successful Campus Visit For Parents and Students

campus visits

Get the Most from Campus Visits

As you plan the general goals of your campus visits, plan the logistics, take the tour, listen to the information session, and investigate the campus surroundings, keep in mind these few tips for making the visit as productive, successful, and fun as possible.

Parent Tips for Campus Visits

Don’t ask too many questions, either in the information session or during the campus tour. Even if your kid is silent, try to restrain yourself. Silence does not indicate that your child is comatose. I can guarantee that even the most taciturn teen is taking it all in, trying to incorporate new ideas about their own future, some of which are really exciting, and some of which may be sort of terrifying.

Don’t try to fill the silence by embarrassing or annoying your child. I can’t tell you how many tours I’ve taken on which students and their parents have traded eye-rolls, verbal jabs, elbows to the ribs. This is a stressful time for everyone, so don’t your parental instincts interfere with your child’s experience.

Do help your student to brainstorm the questions he or she has about this college and its campus before the visit starts. What information do you already know about this campus, and what questions remain? What things are important to see during the visit—facilities that may be important for your child? Encourage the student to ask the questions by helping to formulate the right questions in advance.

Do seek answers to your own parental questions. If you have particular questions about financial aid, for example, that remain unanswered in a general information session, you may want to call the financial aid office and seek their counsel. Similarly, if you want to learn more about a particular sports program, an academic offering, or more details about the curriculum, make sure that you check the college website thoroughly.

Colleges have become pretty adept at putting tons and tons of information online. If you can’t find what you seek, by all means pick up the phone. Better, if it’s a question that you and your child share, encourage the student to do the communicating. Empower the student to take charge of gathering the information that will help him or her find the right college match.

Don’t even think about accompanying your student to the interview with the admissions officer. Just asking the question could be a red flag for admissions officers who really don’t want to have to deal with overbearing, bossy, and domineering parents. Assume that you are uninvited, and be surprised (and pleased) when the admissions officer engages you in some conversation before or after the interview. If such a conversation does take place, don’t talk about anything beyond pleasantries. The worst thing you can ask is, “what are my kid’s chances?” Not only will they not answer that question, but they may be a bit annoyed that you even ask it. So don’t.

Student Tips for Campus Visits

Do take charge of the visit. Don’t be passive. Don’t let mom and dad do it all for you. Look at the maps and figure out where you are and where you’re doing. Take the lead as you wander around campus. Know what you want to learn during the visit, and know how you are going to learn it. At this stage of your transition from high school to college, every parent is a bundle of nerves, and they hate a power vacuum. When parents sense that their student is disengaged, they engage more forcefully. So don’t give them the chance. Do your homework, be involved in planning the visit, and take charge of the visit once underway.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is a big decision, and you are going to make it based on the information you have gathered. This is not the same as asking a question about proof in geometry class or about mitosis in biology. This is about your future. Everyone (including your parents) knows that you have about a zillion questions rolling around in your brain during a college visit. So ask a few, especially those that you think that a tour guide or an admissions officer can ask. If you can’t figure out how to formulate your own questions, perhaps memorize one or two from this list.

Don’t be afraid to talk to other students on campus, and to ask them what they like about their school. In most cases, students on campus love their choice of college and will be only too happy to share their thoughts with you. You can also ask them what they don’t like—for no place is nirvana. Usually, they will readily tell you. Of course, the answers they give will be based on their own, personal experience of that campus, and cannot be said to represent the entire student body. But if you ask several students the same question or questions, you may find a pattern that will help you confirm (or disconfirm) your own impressions.

Do focus on academic factors at least as much—if not more—than social, environmental, and geographical factors. Remember, you are choosing a school, not a vacation resort. You will spend a great deal of time in class, studying for exams, preparing lab reports, and writing papers. And you will spend a lot of time interacting (or not) with professors.

So try to gather relevant information about the academic program. Tour guides will all say that “professors are accessible” and the “average class size is low.” Dig beneath those platitudes, especially when you talk to other students on campus. Are professor-student interactions limited to office hours? Do academic departments host activities open to all students?

Do guest lecturers come to the campus, or is there not enough of a scholarly audience (or budget) to attract them? Do professors offer open lectures frequently about their research or other timely and interesting topics? How active are academic societies on campus? Do the honorary societies merely hand out certificates, or do they sponsor academic activities? How often do individual professors or departments host meals or other social events for students?

Prepare for Campus Visits

Campus visits contain some of the most important moments in the entire college selection and application process. You need to prepare. You need to be aware. And you need to know what things are important to you—and which are not. As with every other aspect of the college search process, the focus should be on you: your abilities, your preferences, your desires, your needs, your aspirations. The primary question in your mind should be, does this campus fit me?

The more you are able to keep yourself at the center of the visit, the more productive and helpful your campus visit will be.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant and Professional College Tour Taker

The Campus Visit–Considering A College’s Surroundings

campus building

Previous articles in this series on visiting college campuses have focused on some general tips, practicalities, the official campus tour, and the admissions information session. When touring a campus visit, it’s important to remember that in choosing a college you are also choosing the community in which the college or university exists. So make time during your visit to investigate the town and the campus environs. You should drive into the neighborhoods that surround the campus. Be on the lookout for commercial centers near campus.

Find out if the college offers some sort of shuttle buses. Where do these go, and how regularly do they run? As you become acquainted with the area surrounding the campus.

Here are a few thing to keep in mind:

Most Students Stay on Campus Most of the Time

For some students, the primary criteria for choosing a college is it’s relative proximity to a large city. Some want to be right in the urban core. Others want the boonies. Others seek the best of both worlds. The thing I always emphasize with my students is that most students spend the overwhelming majority of their college years on the campus they have chosen. No matter whether it’s in the burg, ‘burbs, or boonies, you will spend most of your waking (and sleeping) hours in and around the campus property.

Consider Where You Will Buy Essentials

Some campuses, whether urban or suburban or rural, can be far removed from commercial centers where you might expect to do business. Where will you buy toiletries? Is there a drugstore or two nearby where you can pick up toothpaste, or do you need to drive to a shopping center? What about groceries? I used to save money by opting for a small fridge. And stocking with breakfast supplies so that I could cut down on the number of meals on my meal plan.

Think about where you’ll get your hair cut (any salons or barbershops within walking distance?). You may find ATM machines on campus, but is there a branch bank nearby? You may want to find out where are the local student haunts. Such as the local pizza joint, the Chinese take-out place, or the burger bar. You’ll normally find screenings of many films on campus. But if you want to rush out to see the latest release from Hollywood, how far will you have to travel and how will you get there?

Many campuses, whether remote or not, will have their own campus convenience stores and other amenities. So it may not be absolutely essential to have a major shopping mall right nearby. But the point of visiting the campus—and its surroundings—is to get a better picture of what your life will be like for the next four years.

Consider the Necessity of Owning a Car

The considerations above may make you think about another important life necessity in 21st century America: the car. Some campuses, no matter whether they are located in an urban, suburban, or rural setting, are oriented in a way that make it completely unnecessary to have your own, personal automobile. Mass transit options may be fantastic. Or perhaps everything you’d ever want and need is within walking distance. Other campuses may be very isolated, making it impossible to renew your toothpaste supply without a trip in the car.

Moreover, consider the activities that you plan to participate in while in college. If, for example, you choose a campus because of it’s proximity to the ski slopes, how will you actually get to those slopes? Is there a shuttle or regular bus service? It is safe to hitch a ride? Or do you need to have your own wheels? Conversely, if you want to live in the city but envision that you will want to get out and about on the weekends (to the beach, perhaps, or into the woods as an escape). How will you get there? Is public transportation available to get you where you want to go?

Keep in mind that some colleges and universities restrict which students can have cars on campus. And sometimes parking costs are prohibitive. If you think you really need to have a car, then make sure you know what the school’s policies are in this regard. Also, I’ve noticed that more campuses in urban and suburban areas becoming hubs for hourly rental car services, such as Mint or ZipCar. If you want to save a bundle on car insurance, parking fees, and car maintenance. These services will be something to check out.

Don’t Overplay Attractions That You’re Unlikely to Frequent

I hear some students (and their parents) talk about certain attractions or amenities near campuses that really don’t matter much in one’s daily life as a student. Does it really matter how far the campus is from Disneyland? If you don’t much care for museums or concerts. Does it matter that these cultural facilities are within walking distance of campus? Of course, just because you don’t have a lot of familiarity with particular cultural or physical features, doesn’t mean you won’t learn how to enjoy them.

But put the local surroundings into their proper context. How likely is it that you will take advantage of the area surrounding the campus? And please remind yourself of the first item on this list (i.e., “most students spend most of their time on campus”) before you answer that question. Once again, the campus should be the focal point of your college visit. Yet understanding the surroundings will only help you in your final determination of which college fits you best.

In our final installment on planning the perfect campus visit, we’ll wind up with some general Dos and Don’ts.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant and Professional College Tour Taker

The Campus Tour–the Centerpiece of the College Visit

campus tour

The campus tour and official information session are the focal point of any campus visit. But it’s important to remember that a lot of thought (and money) has gone into creating a wonderful experience for the visiting family (there are even consulting groups that do nothing but advise college admissions directors on how to improve the campus visit experience).

At the risk of sounding overly cynical, I want you to think about those sales pitches for time shares at resorts. If you’ve sat through a few of those—just as I have taken hundreds of tours and sat through hundreds of information sessions—you’ll probably have the right frame of mind as you enter the admissions office for the first time.

General Tips:

  • Arrive early. Sometimes visitor parking is not right next to the admissions office. Leave yourselves time to get lost and found again.
  • Sign in at the front desk in the admissions office. Colleges collect information about which applicants go on tours and which do not. You want to make sure your name is on the right list.
  • Confirm at the front desk any other arrangements or appointments you have made on campus, including meetings with professors, coaches, or interviews with admissions officers. Make sure you have phone numbers and email addresses of the people you plan to meet. The admissions staff can sometimes help you confirm these meetings.

The Tour

  1. Don’t base your impression of the school on your impression of the tour guide. Some guides are great. Some are not. Some guides are people with whom you will instantly click. Others will have personalities that turn you off. Remember that the guide is only one student of hundreds or thousands (or tens of thousands). This person is only your guide—a paid member of the admissions office staffl—and not an elected or official representative of the entire student body.
  2. Remember that the student tour guides are told which route to take, which buildings or programs to highlight, and are coached on how to answer certain kinds of questions. But there may be many questions that either too technical (e.g., “are chemistry exams normed or curved?”) or too specific (e.g., “what percentage of the student body majors in chemistry?”) for them to answer well. This is why you must find ways to get answers to those questions—from faculty, from admissions staff, or from other students.
  3. Keep in mind that the dorms shown on the tour may be the nicest on campus. Ask the tour guide about his or her freshman dorm and current living arrangements. Ask which is the worst freshman dorm on campus (and perhaps pay a visit to that one after the tour!).
  4. Similarly, the classrooms you will be shown may or may not be representative. Often you will be shown very nice classrooms; ask about the classrooms in which the tour guide is now taking classes. Where are those classrooms, and how do they compare with the one you are viewing? Are they larger? Smaller? More or less technologically equipped? You want to get a sense of the variety of classroom spaces on campus. Science students, especially, should be sure to see the science laboratory spaces.
  5. Take note of which buildings and facilities were not on the tour. If the library is not on the tour, I take it as a red flag and make a beeline for it as soon as the tour is over. If there are particular facilities that you want to learn about and that interest you (e.g., the dance studio, art classrooms, labs, swimming pool), either ask whether you will have time on the tour to visit, or get directions on where to find these places after your tour.
  6. After the tour, continue to wander the campus. Take your time. Sample campus food. Visit the student center. Pick up a student newspaper. Read bulletin boards. Wander the academic buildings, especially those in which you have a keen academic interest. And if you pass a professor’s office and the door is open, poke your head in, introduce yourself, and ask a couple of questions about the students on campus. You’ll be amazed at how forthright professors can be!

In the next installment, we’ll talk about how to interpret the official “information session” that either precedes or follows the official campus tour.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

Planning the Visit to a College Campus: The Practicalities

Planning a good college visit takes some time and thought.  The visit is an opportunity for you to gather information that will help you in making an extraordinarily important decision:  which college will you attend?  You need to carefully consider your goals.  What questions do you want answered?  What facilities will mean the most to you?  What sorts of people do you really want to meet?
A previous post gave you some general considerations as you plan your campus visit.  What follows is a short list of practical tips to help you in your planning.

  1. Check the website to know what times tour and information sessions begin.  These are usually scheduled back-to-back, but it makes little difference which one you do first.  If requested, sign up for information session and tour in advance.
  2. Make an appointment for an interview with an admissions officer.  All but a few colleges will encourage personal interviews, so take advantage of the opportunity.  Check out this list of questions to ask an admissions counselor.
  3. Consider making an appointment to visit with a professor in a department in which you have a particular strength or interest.  Often the admissions office will help facilitate these appointments for you.  But it can be much better if you contact the professor yourself and request a brief appointment—this shows initiative and interest (two things that admissions counselors like to see).
  4. Athletes should also plan to meet with the coach or coaches.  You should contact the coach directly for an appointment.  Check out our list of questions to ask college athletic coaches.
  5. Performing arts students should also plan for an interview or audition.  The admissions office may facilitate these meetings, or you may have to call the departments directly.
  6. If your visit takes place on a weekday, try to sit in on a class.  The admissions office may be able to help you make these arrangements, so ask well in advance.
  7. Plan to take advantage of overnight stay options for students.  These are great ways for the applicant to meet a variety of students and to get a ground-level view of the campus from a student’s perspective.  You are considering spending four years on this campus, so you may as well spend a night before you apply so that you can imagine what the experience may be like.
  8. Print out and take with you several copies of your résumé, put them in a folder, and carry them with you during your visit.
  9. Plan to dress neatly.  No need for the cocktail dress or the suit and tie.  But don’t look slovenly, either:  decent slacks, decent shirt or blouse, decent shoes.  Your appearance is important, especially if you have arranged interviews or meetings with coaches or professors.

Our next installment will provide some guidance on how to get the most out of the official admissions tour and the general information session.
 
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
 
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Social Stereotypes and Campus Life–Carnegie Mellon University

College campuses have social stereotypes:

The geeky, intellectual campus.

The very conservative campus, both socially and politically

The earthy-crunchy campus where veganism is common

The laid-back, middle-of-the-road, “I-don’t-take-life-too-seriously” sort of place

The quirky campus full of off-beat individuals


Carnegie Mellon University has a reputation for attracting intellectually-intense math and science geeks who are studying computers, engineering, or likely both.  Students have sallow complexions from too many late nights in the lab or the library, and they think a social life is sitting next to someone while in the computer lab working on their problem sets.

Actually, CMU is more diverse than that.  It has a renown drama school and and excellent College of Fine Arts.  So there are plenty  of artsy-fartsy types, too.

Part of my job as a counselor is to visit colleges and investigate for myself the degree to which these stereotypes are true. And sometimes you just have to ask a student (or two or three or four) to get an idea of the sort of student who would be happy on that campus.

So I did.  I talked to a student about the stereotypes, and here is what he had to say.



Mark Montgomery
College Consultant



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College Visits: Remember Three Important Features

When I visit college and university campuses, I try to search for a few distinguishing features that will help me remember what makes this particular institution stand out from its peers.  Often I will start by asking admissions counselors–who are, after all, in the business of marketing–what they see as the three most important things I need to remember about a school.  Sometimes admissions officers are exceedingly helpful in identifying those unique features.  Sometimes not.

When I was on a tour of Connecticut colleges recently, I asked a representative of the University of Bridgeport to identify the three most important aspects of her campus.  This is what she said.



Mark Montgomery
College Consultant


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College Admission Visit to Millsaps in Jackson, Mississippi

I spend about 20% of my time touring around the country getting acquainted with colleges.  Millsaps College had been on my list for quite some time, in part because Loren Pope raves about it in “40 Colleges That Change Lives.”

So when a trip to New Orleans to participate in a board retreat for the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) came up, I decided to drive the three hours up to Jackson, Mississippi, to have a look for myself.

Here is some video I took of my tour there.  My tour guide, Philip, was excellent.  And I loved the fact that he is a classics major.  Gotta love kids who love the liberal arts!


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Bennington College–An Independent, Individually Planned Curriculum

I spent some time on the campus of Bennington College in Vermont, where the curriculum is very different from most other colleges.  Bennington requires students to create educational “plans” that map out their entire academic experience.  Faculty members review these plans very thoroughly, and apparently about 70 or 75 percent of plans are rejected in the initial stages.  Bennington is off-beat, but it is still quite rigorous.

I asked Emmet, my student tour guide, to explain a Bennington education to me.  Here is what he told me.


Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant


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