5 Tips for Spring Break College Visits

Use your spring break to visit colleges but be aware of spring break schedules for the colleges you wish to visit. It's best to see a college when students are on campus. Here are a few tips to prepare for your spring college visits. 

1. Create a College Visit Itinerary. Using a map, look at college locations and decide on an itinerary that fits within your given time.  Don’t worry if you can’t see all of the colleges on your list. Focus on some of your top choices and then plan other school visits that are within the same geographic area. 
2. Register for college visits online.  Once you have a list of colleges to visit, register for campus tours online with the admissions office.  Resist the urge to plan “drive through” visits.  An official campus tour takes more time, but gives you a better feel for the college/campus. And don’t plan too many visits in a day -  one or two per day is best. 
3. Review your priorities for a good college fit. As discussed in the blog What is College Fit, fit includes 4 components; academic, social, emotional and physical.  
   Learn the basics. Look up the school’s size, majors offered, and other details that interest you. Your visit will be more meaningful when you already know the basics. 
4. Watch a Virtual Tour before you go.  Visit www.campustours.com, www.ecampustours.com, www.youvisit.com or www.youtube.com to find virtual tours.  If you watch the tour and do not like it, do not waste your time actually visiting the campus.
5. Create a List of Questions. Write down your Top 10 Questions for each college visit.  Focus on what you would study and who would you study with.  

5 Important questions to ask your prospective universities:

1. What are the most important admissions criteria?
2. How are these ranked?
3. How many of your students graduate “on time”?
4. How many come back after freshman year?
5. What is your enrollment yield?

Please share your questions you would like to ask when you go on your college visits!