Tips for Successful College Campus Tours
Brainstorm Colleges of Choice
I’ve been cautioned for years that this season of life approaches and passes quickly. Oh how true that is! The season of planning for college is upon us. From my experience, I want to share some tips for successful college campus tours.
Tip #1 is to sit down with your high school junior and discuss: career interests, college location interests, and financial obligations for college. Having these discussions early during junior year is ideal. Have your junior create a list of possible colleges he/she would like to visit.
As you can tell here, I love to travel! And visiting colleges offers multiple opportunities to see new places.
Auburn University’s Football Stadium
Set Up College Campus Tours
Returning to work outside of the home this year, I really felt behind on setting up college visits for my son. However, we picked an evening with no distractions and sat down with our computer and calendar to schedule college campus visits.
I learned during this process that some colleges only have Monday visits available. In my mind, I thought all college visits would take place on the weekend. That is not always the case. For example, the University of South Alabama held their college Pre-Med tour day on a Monday and since my son is interested in the medical field, we needed to schedule our visit for this particular day.
Out of the four schools we visited (University of South Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Auburn University and Mississippi State University), two tours were held on Mondays and the other two were held on weekends.
Include All Relevant Tours
Typically at each school, there will be a variety of tours offered. The standard tour is the campus tour; however, some colleges request their housing tours be booked separately as well as their recreational center tours. Take the time to look at all the tours available and schedule any tour that might be of interest to your student.
We booked campus, housing, and recreational center tours. In some cases, we scheduled meetings with the department chairs of the College of Math and Science. Scheduling meetings with specific department chairs allows you to ask detailed questions about the major your student is interested in pursuing.
A part of our campus tour at Mississippi State University.
Take in the Extras
If the college your student chooses is their home for the next four, six, or longer years, then take in the extras. What do I mean by that? If the college/university is a distance away from your home, book a hotel and stay a night or two. Allowing your student to experience the surrounding town of the college/university will afford him/her the opportunity to get a feel for what life will be like while they are in school.
We love asking the locals where to eat. I enjoy seeing what famous spots the towns are known for. For example, if visiting Auburn University, then Toomer’s Drugstore is a must stop for their world famous lemonade. The picture below is of the cute area of downtown Starkville, Mississippi where Mississippi State University resides.
The beautiful downtown area of Starkville, Missississippi – home of Mississippi State University.
Hopefully these tips will help guide you as you tackle this developmental milestone. May you have many successful college campus tours!
