Most colleges offer campus tours for new and potential students. You need to check each individual school for information on their tour program. However, they do share many things in common. For instance, you will definitely want to attend campus tours on a weekday on a normal school day. Holidays, weekends and big campus events like graduation tend to throw a wrench in the works insofar as your ability to gauge what the campus is really like.
Spring break is a great time to get many campus tours out of the way because it will still be during the spring semester but you won’t have to miss any school.
While the majority of your tour consists of walking around campus with a guide, you can do many other things as well to ensure you gain a well-rounded perspective of the campus.
For instance, you can stay overnight in one of the dorms to gain a sense of what it would be like to live there, what the students are like and the accommodations. You can eat in the cafeteria and you may even be able to schedule an interview.
You can also sit in on a class or two. What are the instructors like? What is the classroom dynamic? Does it feel like an environment you’d like to be a part of?
Have a list of questions prepared for each campus you visit. Keep a pen and pad of paper handy as you tour each campus, as well. You’ll be quite busy and it’s really easy to forget the details.
This is an excellent opportunity to interact with current students of your prospective schools. Are they a part of any on-campus organizations you’d be interested in joining? Ask about it! Do they enjoy their classes? Loathe their professors? Need a break? Regardless, ask current students questions to gain a real life perspective on each campus in addition to what the scheduled tour can give you.
Get brochures and applications from your choice colleges
Now that you’ve been on the campuses of some of your selected colleges, you can collect more information. You can either request brochures and applications while on campus or by mail.
Once you receive these documents, read them thoroughly. You don’t want to come across any surprise deadlines later on when you’re actually applying.
Plus, having these applications on hand from the get go allows you to prepare and collect any information you may need early, so it’s not a mad rush come time to fill them out. Some documents you may need include your parents’ tax forms, your own tax forms, transcripts and a listing of your high school achievements.
During the summer between junior and senior year, you can get ahead start on your college application essays. Write rough drafts and show them to people whose opinions you trust. What do they think? Do you need a more focused topic? Do you have grammatical issues all over the place? Get genuine feedback on these initial drafts so you can crank out essays sure to make college administrators take notice later on.
Starting early really is the key here. Admissions essays are the gateway to the school of your dreams. You need to make sure you do your absolute best. Not too much pressure, eh?
Apply for scholarships
During early spring, make it a point to start applying for scholarships. You’ve had plenty of time now to sort through them, collect any necessary information and take note of individual deadlines. Now is the time to start applying.
You may luck out and find a scholarship or two that only requires you fill out a form for consideration. But many others require you to write an essay. “Not another essay!” you cry. Not to worry. Just think of the incentive of winning these scholarships? You’ll get free money to go toward your college tuition, books or other expenses that you never have to pay back!
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