College-Bound Students: 6 Tips for an Effective College Visit

    Friday, November 5, 2021



    If you are considering visiting colleges, here are some tips that might help you make your visits as effective as possible.

    It’s never too early to start thinking about visiting colleges. If you want to prepare to make sure your visits are as effective as possible when the time comes, here you’ll find some aspects you should take into account.
     

    Why do Campus Visits? 


    When the time of starting the college application process comes, it is highly advisable that students schedule campus visits to get a closer look at the place where they may be living for the next four years.

    The Covid-19 pandemic has completely changed the ways in which we do many things, and campus visits are not an exception. However, colleges and universities had to adapt to this situation by implementing some safety measures to make sure students can still visit the campus while taking care of their health, including limited in-person tours that adhere to social distancing and other safety measures, virtual and guided campus tours online, among other things. 

    Whether you are visiting campus online or in-person, there are some tips that can help you get the most out of college visits. 

    1. Start planning early

    During senior year, high school students have plenty of things to deal with in a tight schedule. Trying to fit campus visits into this tight schedule or leaving it to the last minute is not completely wise. It is highly advisable that students start visiting colleges even before their senior year, so that they have more time to assess all the options more thoroughly and avoid making a rushed decision. 

    2. Kill two birds -or more- with one stone

    It could be a great opportunity to visit more than one campus if they are close to each other. This way, you don’t need to travel twice to the same place and will be able maximize the trip by investigating more options. For that reason, it is important to thoroughly study the city or area you are visiting beforehand, so that you don’t miss out on any campus. 

    3. Explore virtual tour options

    If you are interested in some schools that are too far to make an initial in-person visit, you can take a virtual tour first, which you can do from the comfort of your home. This way, you are still able to have a personalized tour and assess the college without having to travel in case it ends up not being what you expected. If the virtual tour makes you fall for that college, you can then take an in-person tour with more information on your hands. 

    4. Investigate the local community

    Even though the most essential thing you need to get to know is the college, its facilities, its reputation, among other aspects, getting to know the surrounding community where you may live and work when off campus is also important. 

    5. Get student perspectives

    The best way to really get to know what a student's experience in a college is about is asking other students. They will provide you with opinions about academics, facilities, dining services, student life, opportunities, safety, among many other aspects about their experience on campus. 

    Take advantage of this opportunity as much as you can, as it may help you determine if you want to spend the next four years of your life there. Make sure you prepare yourself to make your college visits as effective as possible so that you get all the information you need.

    If you need more information, please feel free to fill out the form with your contact information and one of our advisors will communicate with you as soon as possible to answer all of the questions you might have.