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What to do on a School Visit
Make your school visit a fact finding mission.
Think of your school visits as fact-finding missions. Prepare a list of goals and questions you have for the visit, attend all informative events, and take notes. The schools will blend into each other if you visit many, so take notes to remember what you loved and what you hated.
HEAD Lines
This is your moment to feel what it would be like to live on the campus - these intangible qualities are just as important as the academics. See if this is a place where you can learn, make friends, and fit in.
Your visit checklist:
• Attend the formal information session and take the official tour.
• Ask the admissions officer questions (if you have real questions).
• If you have any friends who go there, ask them to also take you around.
• If you can, wander the campus without a guide (and even without your parents) to pretend what it would be like to actually live there.
• Ask random students questions as you go - they'll be brutally honest.
• Take notes!
From Other HEADS
LOOK AT THE QUALITY OF THE DORM ROOMS, the measures that the campus has taken for security (do they have emergency call buttons?). Get to know the town (walk around a couple times to get a feel of where you’ll be living), visit the registrar’s office to get information for the upcoming year, visit the religious center that you may want to become involved in, and find out the type of food they serve (because some places can have a really gross food service).
-- JENNA ISZAUK
OHIO UNIVERSITY
A BAD VISITING EXPERIENCE doesn’t mean you won’t be happy at the school. You might have a bad tour guide or host, or the weather might be gross, making the campus look uglier than you had imagined it. So if you’re not sure, visit again; it’s worth a second trip to make sure you’ll spend the next four years in a place where you feel comfortable.
-- ELANA BROWNSTEIN
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
Web Resources
Can't make it to a faraway school?
Try a "virtual visit" with the clever Web surfing tips at:
www.collegeboard.com/student/csearch/majors_careers/45103.html
HoH Tip
If you do see an admissions officer, follow up with a thank-you note - an e-mail is fine - for his or her time. This is a gesture that shows your continued interest - and it is the polite thing to do.