THE COLLEGE VISIT

1.      Try to visit during the “life” of the college.  Weekdays are best, but weekend and summer visits can be beneficial.

2.      Take parents for help to survey and to have someone to compare notes with after visits.  It is your decision to make, but do seek the help of your parents.

3.      Sit in on a freshman class.  Visit the student union, a science lab, a language lab, the TV and radio stations, the college theater, the music building, the gymnasium and athletic fields, the library, the bookstore, the dormitories.  Check for quality and condition of buildings and equipment, their up – to – date-ness and how well they can accommodate your particular learning needs – class, study areas, how many in a dorm, school rules (what is allowed and what is not); check for extra curricular opportunities for self-expression and/or achievement.  (School orchestra, choir, and drama society?  Visiting lectures? Student publications? Sports? An active student government?)

4.      Talk to students.  Observe them in and out of the classroom.  Is there an atmosphere that you can discern?  Does it attract you?

5.      Finally, it all boils down to how would like to live four years in a dorm like this, learn for four years in classrooms like these, relate for four years to people like these.

THE COLLEGE INTERVIEW

1.      If possible, arrange for interviews during the summer before your senior year.

2.      Purpose:  Exchange of information (you and college).

Be informed about the college from having read the catalog.  Don’t ask simple fact questions which could be answered from the reading of the catalog.  Pursue whatever is not clear to you with regard to subjects, and quite specifically to those things you might want to find on a college campus which will make meaningful your growth as a student and as a person.  Considered and sincere questions are in order.  Questions for the sake of filling time are unappreciated.                     

        

Have information available about yourself that you may need, (grades, approximate rank, test scores, etc.).  Be prepared to tell why you are choosing this particular college.  What kind of contributions do you think you can make to the college?

3.      Write a summary of your visits as soon as possible.  Notes will help you evaluate colleges that you have

Visited.  Review each visit with your parents and compare notes.

4.      Write thank you notes to people who provided you with their time.  Do it as soon as you get home – don’t forget!