There is a myth that is pervasive in college admissions that we would like to take a little bit of time to dispel, and it has to do with building your perfect college list.
Myth: You need to tour a college before you put it on your college list.
Truth: For as long as there have been colleges, many students, especially international students, have had to build college lists without ever visiting any of the schools they are considering.
What does this mean for you? Well, if you are a junior in high school, you are now one of the students who will have to build a college list without visiting many, or all, of the schools you are considering. With college admissions offices closed due to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic and tours canceled for the foreseeable future, students who will be applying to college in next year need to avoid getting bogged down in the uncertainty. Instead, they need to find ways to keep pushing forward. One way to push forward is to make progress on your college list.
As we said, building a college list without touring isn’t new, and it isn’t a big deal. However, you do have to do some things differently if you are going to build a college list without visiting campuses.
College tours are a useful exercise because they help you figure out what you want and what you want to stay away from. Now you will have to figure those things out without being able to use campus visits as a process of elimination. Instead, you are going to have to ask yourself questions you may not have considered yet and come to conclusions that you may have otherwise put off until after you toured schools.
Below are the key questions you need to answer before you make your no-tour college list.
Do you like the idea of having to pursue multiple subjects through a core curriculum or distribution requirements, or do you want to be able to focus in on one subject without having to take anything else?
Do you feel the need to meet with your professors regularly, or are you more interested in self-directed learning?
Do you like speaking up in class, or are you more of the silent type?
Do you want to live on campus, or are you excited to get an apartment as soon as possible?
Do you like small, close-knit communities, or are you more energized when you are part of a broader community?
Do you want to be able to go home regularly? (When considering this, be sure to take into account the cost of travel, not just the proximity of a train station, bus depot, or airport.)
Would you feel bummed if there wasn’t a big party to go to on a Saturday night?
Are you interested in Greek life?
Do you want to be able to get an internship close to campus, or is that something you’d be willing to have to go somewhere else for in the summers?
Most importantly, what do you want to study? (Where you apply must offer what you want to study.)
These aren’t all the questions you need to be asking, but they are gateway questions. Going through them should open the doors to deeper questions that are unique to you and what you want in a school.
Once you have answered these questions, it’s time to take as many virtual tours as you can. If a school does not offer a virtual tour, you need to immerse yourself in its website. If you aren’t sure what schools to even start exploring, ask a friend or two who is similar to you academically and socially where they are thinking of applying — and start there.
Sometimes, a school that you think you’d love won’t fit every answer to every one of the questions above. That is ok, but you need to seriously consider why you love it despite it not delivering on everything you think you want.
Always remember that college lists are never perfect. Your college list can and should be a work in progress that you can expand, contract, and develop over the next six months. If you answer these questions and use them to guide you as you start exploring schools online, you’ll end up with a robust list of schools that offer what you need to be successful.
Figuring out where to apply is rarely easy, and the current health crisis certainly isn’t helping at all. If you’re feeling lost, send us a note. We work with students to create college lists that are both aspirational and accessible.