Guide for how to Choose a College to Tour TKG

Guide for how to Choose a College to Tour Before you get your hopes up about finding the right school on your first try, cozy up to the fact that you’re not going to walk away from your first college tour knowing that you want to attend that college. And you shouldn’t! If you do feel that way, you haven’t done enough research and you haven’t gone on enough tours.  Deciding that you want to go to Williams after only visiting Williams is like saying that the first and only restaurant you’ve ever gone to is the best restaurant in the world. Rather than giving you a long list of tips that could potentially get overwhelming and confusing, let’s go through an exercise that we do with our juniors. But just so you know, the touring process should ideally start sophomore year. All years of high school are “college prep years,” but junior year is best spent further building out extracurricular activities, studying for standardized tests, and narrowing down your college list. Sophomore year is much less busy. But for t he purposes of this exercise, let’s say that we’re talking to a junior. CASE STUDY: Amanda lives in Los Angeles, California. She just took her first ACT and got a 32, but plans to take it again. She definitely wants a liberal arts education and is leaning towards majoring in English or History. She wants to go to a small to medium-sized school. She has family on the east coast and would like to go to college there. While we’re proud of Amanda for narrowing down her interests, she’s a bit behind on starting the tours. As we said earlier, tours should be started sophomore year. If you’re in the same boat, no worries. Just get on it soon. Here’s what we know about Amanda:Current ACT score: 32Current location: Los Angeles, CaliforniaDesired school size: small to mediumDesired school location: somewhere on the east coast, but open to suggestionsIntended path of study: liberal arts, potentially English or History  The next step would be to find a school that’s close to Amand a’s current location that fits this mold. There is absolutely no need to travel across the country for your first school tour. It’s expensive, unnecessary, and an all-around a bad move. While we’re on the topic of bad moves, your first school tour should also not be somewhere that is completely out of range. If you have a B+ GPA and a 30 on your ACT, you shouldn’t be touring Stanford, even if it’s in your backyard. There’s a good chance that you’ll fall in love with the school (because it’s Stanford, although we’ve made our thoughts on that clear many times before,) and all of the other schools you look at won’t compare. Based on Amanda’s metrics, we might suggest that she tours Occidental. It’s a small school, it’s close to home, and her potential areas of academic interest are offered there. We would now ask Amanda to visit Occidental with our college visit notepad. And yes, you should literally print it out, bring it with you, and fill it out immediately . Do a brain dump on your tour and write down everything that you like (and don’t like) about the school. With a first college tour, you’re looking for a basis of comparison, not your one true love. It’s possible that Amanda loves the school, it’s possible that Amanda hates the school, and it’s absolutely possible for Amanda to be unsure. That’s why you shouldn’t be traveling out of your way for your first visit: there’s a good chance you’ll walk away with mixed feelings. When the time comes to schedule another tour, look at your college visit notepad! What did you like, and what didn’t you like? Was the school you just visited too big, too small, or just the right size? Did the academic programs interest you? How did you feel about the location? And never discount the importance of gut feelings and general vibes (aka how you felt while on campus) when deciding where to tour next. But dig into those feelings. Saying that you didn’t like the school “just beca use” is unhelpful, but something like “I found the giant lecture halls intimidating” does wonders. Use the feedback from your first visit in a smart way. Then, look for schools that offer what the first school didn’t. And if you loved the school you just visited, look for similar ones!  If going on multiple (or even one) school tours isn’t possible for financial or scheduling reasons, don’t discount the importance of doing research. It’s harder, but not at all impossible to find out more about a school without visiting. Reach out to current students, stalk social media, email for more information, etc. And if you’re only able to visit one school, do all of the research before making that final decision.  We help our clients narrow down their interests and then find schools that match. Contact us here if you want help.