We recently wrote a guide for how to choose a college to tour, and this blog post is about the logistics of planning the tour once you’ve decided where to go.
There are two key things to keep in mind when planning a tour.
1. You should always aim to visit when school is in session.
We have written a lot about the “vibes” and culture of a school, and the importance of taking stock on how you feel while on campus. It is very difficult (almost impossible) to figure out how you feel while on an empty campus. There will be no students, it will feel weird, and you will have no one talk to.
2. You need to plan in advance.
Schools do not allow an unlimited number of students to take any given tour. And if you’re traveling a long way to get to the college, you definitely don’t want to take any risks.
To find tour schedules, you can either google “visit X school” or find your way to the tour schedule on their website. Start by finding a few days/weekends that work for you and then compare your availability with the tour offerings of the school. When you visit a school, you want to attend both the general tour and the information session. It works slightly differently everywhere, but the tour is when you’re on foot walking around campus and the information session goes into specifics about admissions, financial aid, etc. A lot of schools also offer information sessions for specific colleges and academic disciplines, which you should also attend if possible.
Saturday tours are generally the hottest ticket and fill up the fastest, so if you’re going to need to go during the week and miss school you should talk to administration and your parents ahead of time. Also, be mindful (by checking in advance) for blocks of time when the college is not giving tours. For example, Cornell stops holding tours mid-November and does not resume until February.
To make the most of your tour, see if you can sit in on a class. Again, this varies by school. Sometimes, you’re given the option to sign up while you’re scheduling the tour. If not, we wrote this blog post about how to request a class visit by email.
And when you visit the school, remember to try and enjoy yourself. It is not an interview, it’s an opportunity for you to find out more about a potential college. We’ve written more tour advice here, and here, but if we can leave you with one piece of advice it is to enjoy yourself.
We help students figure out where they want to tour, and why. Contact us here if you need help.