Читать книгу America's Best Colleges for B Students - Tamra B. Orr - Страница 17

Don’t wait a moment longer to go and visit schools. Seeing is believing! Reading about a place in a book or online is fine for background information, but it is a visit that will give you the true feel of the college’s atmosphere, attitudes and activities. (To find out what college tours are like, check out the website www.campustours.com).

Patrick O’Brien, former admissions officer and consultant-ambassador for the ACT, says, “The more opportunities to visit college campuses as a junior or in the first part of senior year, the better. And don’t just go for the standard college tour of the campus and facilities. Check out the dorms and dorm life,” he advises. “Insist on visiting a class in a field of interest—it will show you how the college academic system really works.”

Try not to visit colleges during summer, however. As O’Brien says, “Never visit a campus when school is not in session; that’s like visiting your high school on a weekend—dullsville.” Don’t depend on Mom, Dad or your guidance counselor to contact the school for a tour either. Do it yourself; it shows that college that you have initiative.

When you go for a campus tour, take part of your college-finding team with you so that you can get their impressions of each place too. Don’t spend your time exploring the things you can get from the school’s website. Pretend you are an anthropologist from the future and study the place like we study primitive cultures today. Watch the students interact, check out the food sources, find out how the place accepts those from different ethnic, political or religious backgrounds, gays or married couples. Read the posters in the buildings and the bulletin boards in dorms. What announcements do they have? What are some of the upcoming events and activities? Do they have a choir, band or orchestra? How about a drama group? Hang out in the student union and see what goes on there. Is there a lot of diversity on the campus? Go by the bookstore and see what souvenirs you like. Check out the shopping area around the campus. Pick up a campus newspaper to read later.

Remembering all your impressions of the places you have seen will not be easy. After you have seen a couple of campuses, facts and opinions will begin to mesh and soon you will find yourself asking which college had that great library. Do you remember what campus had those huge trees and large green lawns? To prevent this from happening, make up a form to write down your thoughts as you tour a place. You can create a form that reminds you to give schools a score of 1 (horrible) to 10 (perfection itself), and that offers a spot for general comments, thoughts and questions to follow up on later.

On Page 15 is an example of the kind of form you could use. If you don’t like it, my feelings aren’t hurt. Create your own! Design it the way that fits best for you.