Importance of College Visits

As the college admission season wanes for seniors, it begins in full for juniors at this time of year. The endless talk about college acceptances and rejections and the process of making a final choice trickles down to the juniors from above and they begin to think about their potential choices.

The most important aspect for students in making a good choice about which colleges to add to and keep on a list is the college visit. Many facts, and myths, abound about colleges, and students need to keep in mind that they are selecting a college that will suit them for their continuing education. I caution students about making a college choice by “default” – choosing a college just “because” it’s the state university; it has a big-time sports program; it is highly selective; etc. Not that a student will end up in a bad situation resulting from a decision based on these or any other perceived quality, but because the purpose of attending college is an education, a student must dig deeper to find the true characteristics and qualities that will fit him or her and allow the best learning experience. The chance of finding that enriching intellectual and career-preparing four-year collegiate experience is much more likely when there is good research to back up the decision. And because the cost of a college education is expensive, it is worth a student making sure that it is money well-spent.

THE best way to do this is to make a visit to a college and see for oneself what it offers. Just as one wouldn’t marry a person based on reputation, a student should “date” a college some before deciding if it is the right match; and a college visit is a key component of that “dating” experience.

A good visit should be more than just the perfunctory information session and tour. Students and parents need to keep in mind that those are essentially marketing tools for colleges – means to encourage students that the college is a great place to go to school. One must go beyond those general experiences and get a clearer sense of the personality of the college. Here is a link to a wonderful piece on how to “Test Drive” a college – www.educdir.com/Test%20Drive.doc. Doing these ten things will give a student a great sense of how good a match a particular college might be and will empower his or her decision.

For further tools or information about visiting college, please feel free to contact wsdingle@educdir.com.