Visiting Universities

This is another post focused on my younger readers.

Before you decide which university you want to attend, you should visit a few different schools.  You may love the idea of one university, but when you go to visit it in person, you might dislike its environment or its campus.

Start visiting colleges towards the end of your junior year in high school.  Don't visit any schools too early.  You'll change a lot between your sophomore and senior year of high school so you can't rely on only your memory to be a deciding factor if you visited a university your sophomore year.

Be sure to call and make an appointment ahead of time.  In my opinion, the best time to visit a school is not during one of its group visit days.  If you go during a visit day, you'll be squeezed in with a huge group of other curious teens and you won't have much of a chance to explore and ask questions.  Plus, you'll get more of a tourist feel instead of seeing the school in its more natural, day-to-day environment.

When you visit a school, bring a checklist with you.  It might surprise you how much you'll forget even within a few weeks, especially if you visit more than one university.  Here are some things you might want to include on your list:
+ How many students go to this school?
+ How big is the average class?
+ How nice are the dorms?
+ Is the campus pretty?
+ Is the environment of the campus fun, peaceful, exciting, dull...?
+ What is the average religion of this campus?
+ How many churches are nearby?
+ Are there any rules, like curfews or chapel requirements that you'll have to follow?
+ What kind of financial aid is available to you?
+ Are the students you meet friendly or stand-offish?
+ What does everyone do on weekends?
+ How nice is the cafeteria?

Any more questions you can think up ahead of time, be sure to write them down.  Believe me: a checklist can be one of the best things you can bring to a campus visit.  Also be sure to bring your camera.  Take pictures of the overall campus to keep a reminder of how pretty everything is.  Take a picture of an example dorm, classroom, and of the cafeteria.

Ask if you can speak with a professor, preferably in a subject you'd like to pursue.  If you can, sit in on a class.  Be sure to sit with a counselor and ask about financial aid, which should be a big part of making your decision.

If you know any of the students who attend the university, ask if you can spend a weekend with them.  Meet some of their friends and sleep in the dorms.  Eat at the cafeteria.  If you don't like the people who surround you in the dorms, then you probably won't like them when you return to the campus in a year or two.

Remember: if you can't picture yourself at a certain university, then it probably isn't the right place for you.  A campus might be exciting, but if it doesn't fit you, then you haven't found your match.  You want to choose somewhere you can fit right in with as little trouble as possible.