Students often use school breaks, typically during junior year, to tour colleges. However, if you find yourself visiting campuses over the summer, you may be wondering how to go about the process given that most schools aren’t operating like they normally would during the school year.
Plan your visit in advance
Before heading to campus, make sure you’re aware of the obstacles you may face in doing so. Are all buildings completely closed? Are there buildings you could enter—such as a residence hall that might be housing summer students or a specific cafeteria that’s open for the summer? If summer session is in progress, you’ll most likely be able to see places like the library and maybe even a couple academic buildings.
Get in touch with the admissions office or summer session administrators and see if there are any possibilities of you gaining access to certain parts of campus. Schedule an official admissions tour—but be aware that colleges have set summer tour schedules.
Be aware of what you’re heading into. Often, colleges use school closures to conduct construction on campus to work on renovation and installation of new facilities before students return. As a result, be prepared for some areas of campus to be off limits. Plan ahead so that you don’t run into unanticipated traffic. Give yourself plenty of time to walk around and see everything you want to.
Stop and talk to people
If you see people on campus, they might be students staying for the summer, either for summer session coursework or for outside summer programs. If they’re students who currently attend the school, you’re in luck! Current students are great people to stop by and talk to as they are the ones experiencing life at college. If you’re able to have a conversation with a current student, some questions you might ask them are:
- Why did you choose your specific major?
- Who is your favorite professor and why?
- What is it like to transition from high school to this college?
- What is your typical weekend like?
- Why did you choose this college?
- How would you describe the campus culture?
- What is the most impactful or meaningful extracurricular activity that you have been a part of?
- Do you like living in the dorms?
They might not have a lot of time to have a long conversation, so prioritize the questions you want answered the most.
Explore the town
A big part of campus life is spending time in the town where the school is located. While you might not be able to see typical life on campus during the summer, the town is still likely to operate in its usual fashion. Walk around and see what’s near the school, visit local businesses—where you might run into students—and stop by a restaurant to try some local favorites. Many college towns have a more subdued environment when school is not in session so your presence will liven up anyone’s day.
If the school is set in a big city, you might want to see what transportation is like, so hop on a subway or public bus and take a ride!
Meet up with a local alumnus
You can go about this in two ways. You could find an alum of the college who lives in the same town at the school. They might be available to meet up with you in person—perhaps you’ll get lucky and get a tour from them—or online and discuss their experience as well as the location. Or, if you can’t find anyone who lives near campus, there might be an alum who lives near you. Talking to alums gives you a chance to hear about what life was like for them at the college, their experiences with academics and extracurriculars, and receive application advice. If they’re local to you, they might later end up being an alumni interviewer for you!
Virtually tour the school during the academic year
If you’ve come back home and you still have questions or things you’d like to double check, you can choose to take advantage of one of the virtual college tour sites available. Virtual college tours help you decide which universities you want to apply to when it’s time. Sites such as YouVisit and CampusTours offer a feature that enables visitors to ask questions while they are on the tour that go directly to college officials to provide you with a similar experience of an in-person visit.
Virtual visits also enable you to eliminate schools which might not be a good fit. There are several websites that allow you to tour and compare almost every college and university in the United States. These tour sites provide you with interactive maps, photos, videos, and testimonials so that you don’t miss out on any of the experience of a real life tour.
College visits are helpful not just to demonstrate your interest—which many colleges track and count towards your application—but to add color to your supplemental essays. Therefore, while not the same as visiting during the school year, touring a college during a summer can still give you a sense of what life may be like for students, and inspire your “why this college” essays when it’s time to apply.
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