I can't imagine deciding to attend a college without having visited it first. I've only known two of my students who did that, and one was my own daughter! To be fair, the school under consideration was in Europe, so we couldn't exactly stop by for a quick visit. Fortunately for Jordan, it worked out, but the other student only lasted a semester.
When you visit colleges, what are the things you should do? Well, of course you should attend the information session and take the formal tour, but that's not all. Yes, you should check out bulletin boards and pick up the school newspaper to see what's happening on campus, and you should talk to students besides the tour guide (although you should be at the front of the tour, so you can ask lots of questions of your guide). And if possible you should attend a class or better yet, two very different classes. But you should also spend some unstructured time on campus. Ditch your parents for a while and walk around by yourself. I have a friend who used to say he'd love to make videos of all the parts of campus the school didn't take you to see! Sit in the student center and just people watch. Have lunch or dinner at a local diner or pub (bring your parents for this part, so they can pay).
In addition to the misconceptions about campus visits in this piece, don't rely on the "big game" weekends to tell you what you need to know. Remember, there are only about five or six home football games at any school, so you'll have the rest of the school year to figure out what to do on weekends.
Visiting campus is a little like trying on jeans. More often than not, you have to try on a lot of them before you find the one that fits just right. The more campus visits you make, the more you will discover what fits your needs, and the easier your final decision will become.
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