One of the biggest challenges in getting a senior prepared for college is deciding which one to go to.  There are so many choices, and usually, they apply to multiple schools depending on major, closeness to home, student life, and atmosphere along with other factors.  Most students usually end up with three or four colleges as their top choices, but they eventually have to pick one.  The best way to pick a college is to go on a college tour.  This is the best way to see how the college actually works and can’t be replicated by brochures or information online.  Several things about planning a college tour have to be kept in mind.

Timing Your College Tour

The first step in deciding what to do about your free college tour is figuring out when it’s going to be.  Many students make the mistake of using summer vacation to look at their colleges of choice.  This may seem like a constructive use of time at first, but planning college tours shouldn’t be done during the summer for one reason:  it doesn’t accurately reflect the conditions of the school.  There aren’t many students there; dormitories are for the most part closed, and functions of the school are generally shut down.  You can talk to professors during the summer, yes, but it isn’t the best time to actually see the school in action.  If for some reason it’s impossible to get to the college, there are virtual college tours available.  To find these, go to http://www.ecampustours.com/ - there are over 1200 campuses in the database.

Know What To Look For

When you have a good idea of when you should go look at the college’s everyday life, then you have to decide what you’re going to look for.  If you’re going to be living on campus – which many first-year students do simply out of tradition – there are a lot of functions and facilities to take into account.  For example, get a good look at the university’s meal facilities.  Be sure plenty of nutritious food is served in the cafeteria when going on a college tour.  If not, look for stores around the area.  Most colleges are situated in areas that have plenty of surrounding stores to buy food.

Look at the condition of the dormitories – many college tours allow you to visit the dorms and look into the rooms, or even stay in an empty one for a night to see what it’s like.  You can see whether the dorm is large enough, what kind of environment it has, and other things.  An important thing to consider is whether the dorms will be co-ed.  Ask about this when taking your college tour.  Co-ed dorms can be found in some of the newer universities because of sensitivities about sexual activity decreasing.

Ask About Safety

Some of the most frequent places for crime are on a college campus.  This is because there are many campuses that are open – they’re not separated from the public in any way, so anyone can come onto the campus.  Sexual assault, robberies, and other crimes have been known to happen.  It’s a good idea to go to the campus police department and get as much information and statistics as possible on campus crime.  This information is available upon request in most colleges.  Also, find out what the policies on alcohol are – most of the time, alcohol possession underage is punished by suspension or expulsion from most universities.  Underage drinking is often a problem.  Look up what kind of alcohol awareness programs are offered.  This is one of the most important things to have on your college tour checklist. 

Look Into Programs And Academics

Of course, the real thing to look at when on a college tour or virtual college tour is the amount of academic or extracurricular activities that are offered at the university.  When planning your college tour, take a look at the gym, student center, or any other recreational facilities.  See what condition they’re in, the quality of the training staff, and equipment.  Ask about intramural teams as well – intramurals are a great way to get involved with campus life.  Also, joining the Residence Hall staff at many universities allows you to put leadership experience on your resume.  Most students make the mistake of looking at student to faculty ratio.  It’s better to go into more depth with this by looking up the number of seats offered to upperclassmen and freshmen.  Generally, more classes will be offered to freshmen, and the classes will be larger, so there’s going to be less attention given to individual students.  Some virtual college tours will allow you to see inside classrooms as well, to get a feel for how large the room is and how conducive the environment is to learning.

Get First-hand Experience

When making your college tour checklist, allow time to check out a few of the classrooms and possibly sit in on a class.  This allows you to see a professor in action.  In addition, you can decide whether to take that professor’s course.  Getting a second or third opinion is recommended as well – you can learn a lot about a college from someone who already attends there.  Try to talk to a current student; tour guides may be a bit biased, and you want an unbiased opinion.  Most students won’t hesitate to tell you what they like and don’t like about their college.  Your college tour should always include time for a brief interview with a faculty member.  This gives you the opportunity to see how personally they take students’ education.  In some large universities, students are little more than numbers.  Professors who take a more personal interest tend to have better results.

Planning a college tour is much simpler if you know what to look for in the university you’re planning to attend and can organize your time properly.  Safety, academics, and atmosphere should be your main priorities.  However, it would also be a good idea to look at student health services.  When you’re on campus, it’s almost a sure bet that you will be ill at some point.  For this reason, it’s important to have a quality medical staff.

Follow all the above steps, and your college tour will be sure to be successful in helping you determine whether the school meets your needs.