If you’re planning on visiting a college, you should seriously consider trying to sit in on a class. Some admissions offices are willing to schedule this for you, especially if you are an international student or are already doing an overnight. Most schools, however, leave it up to potential applicants to schedule their own class visits — and so most students don’t do it.
Visiting a class will usually not directly impact your chance of acceptance. Unless the professor emails the office of admissions raving about you — which generally doesn’t happen — they probably won’t even know that you were there. So why should you do it? The first reason for visiting a class is to get a better sense of the school. In college, you’ll be spending a lot of time in class, so sitting in on one before you commit seems like a good idea. Another reason is that you may be able to work your class visit into your supplement for that college.
In order to maximize the potential usefulness of the visit beyond your knowledge of the school, you must find the right class to sit in on (and two or three backup options should your first choice fall through).
If you have a friend enrolled in the school who is in a class you are interested in, coordinating with a professor through them will always be the easiest route. They can simply ask the teacher if it’s ok for you to join. However, this serendipitous situation doesn’t exist for most students, so for the rest of this post, we’ll be assuming that you don’t know anyone who can give you an introduction.
Ideally, you are planning ahead and will be visiting the school over one month from the time you are reading this post. If so, it is likely that you still have some logistical flexibility (such as when you will arrive on or leave campus). Whether you have time or are on a crunched schedule, the best place to start is always with a professor.
First, find the webpage for your preferred major department and look through their faculty listings. Identify a professor who seems interesting, and either pull their email address from the faculty listing page or go to their profile page to find their email.
It is easier to find a professor than it is to find a class because colleges are reluctant to list class details, like timing and location, in a publicly accessible format.
Once you have a professor, it’s time to send an email.
This email is not a place to try to sound cool. You need to be professional. First, address the professor as (duh) a professor…
Dear Professor X,
Then you need to introduce yourself. Write three to four sentences that include the following:
your name
where you are from
what grade you are in
that you will be applying to the university
what your primary academic interests are
what day you will be visiting.
Follow those sentences with your request. This should be detailed and specific.
I am very interested in your focus on X and am hoping it would be possible for me to sit-in on a class during my visit.
Use your own words, but you must be polite, and you can not sound like you think they have to say yes. Because they don’t. They do not need to let you sit in on their class, and many professors find visitors disruptive. Every piece of this email should reassure them that you would not be that kind of visitor.
Finally, end the email with a closing. This should be “best,” “sincerely,” or something of a similar level of formality.
Once you have sent your email, make a note on your calendar to follow-up if you have not received a response in seven days. Do not follow up in less than one week. If you do follow up, your email should be a polite and straightforward one-line note asking if they had time to consider your visit and asking whether there is another professor they would suggest contacting if they are unable accommodate you. If you do not receive a response to your follow-up email, you should reach out to another professor and repeat the process — which is why it’s good to start well in advance of your visit!
If you’re overwhelmed by the college application process and could use a guiding hand, we help students from college visit communications to pressing submit. Send us an email to learn more.