College decisions are coming out now and this may be reminding juniors and sophomores about the upcoming decisions you have to make. College tours are a big part of picking the college that works for you. Juniors should definitely start looking at colleges as soon as possible, the more that you look at, the more you know what you’re looking for. Some less-decisive seniors are even still looking at colleges right now! (I’m touring my 7th school this week) Seniors this year have had firsthand experience of how different touring experiences can be based on what colleges you want to go to. There is, however, a right way and a wrong way to tour a college. Making a few simple changes can make or break the college tour experience; here is a how to guide to make sure that your college touring experience is the best it can be.
- Get your College Tour form filled out
The first step to a successful college tour is making sure that you have the AMHS College Visit Verification Form. In order to get this, you can either print it out off of the AMHS website or you can simply ask the attendance officer Ms. Fisher to give you one, because she always has multiple copies. Making sure that you get your teachers to sign it a couple of days before you plan on leaving is crucial to making sure that you don’t have a ton of makeup work when you get back, and also so that your absences from the tour are all excused. Your teachers will also be a lot more accommodating to your absences if they know you are on a tour (especially if the college you are touring is their alma mater).
- Make sure you book an official tour
Though self-guided tours are always an option, an official tour is normally better for a couple of reasons. First of all, many colleges take official tours as demonstrated interest which can actually help you get into a college that you tour! Second of all, the tour guides are almost always students who go to the school, giving good insight into any student life-specific questions that aren’t available on the website. Official tours also tend to be more in-depth and show more of the dorm situations, as well as giving you a good background on more statistics about the school such as total enrollment and average class sizes. The tour guides also typically offer fun facts about the school and perks such as how to get your tickets for gameday and what things the school is known for. Touring the school also makes it much easier to figure it out once you get there if you do decide to attend, having at least a little background knowledge of the campus layout can make your first few days at college a lot easier.
- Make sure you leave enough time to get to know the area around the college.
Though looking at the actual school is obviously very important, another big part of going to look at a college is making sure that you can see yourself in the surrounding area. If having more to do outside of school is important to you, then make sure you take the time to find out more about the surrounding town or city and make sure that you can picture yourself there. A good way to do this is going out to dinner after the tour and walking around the area to make sure it feels safe and like a place you would want to be. If the college you are touring is far away, staying in a nice hotel near the campus and going out for breakfast the next morning will also be helpful in finding out more about the town and if they have good places for you to go to as a student!
- Ask Questions!
Even though it might seem kind of overwhelming to ask the tour guides questions, especially when you are in a big group of people from all over the county, asking the questions that are important to you is the most important way to make sure you that you are the right fit for the school that you are looking at. The more specific questions are the ones that you need to be asking in order to find out things like, what is the best dining hall, what is the best way to get from one building to another, etc. Asking questions also makes you more recognizable to your tour guide, and they’ll be more likely to remember you if you decide to reach out and follow up to demonstrate more interest or ask any other follow-up questions that you thought about once you left the campus.
- Reach out to Alumni
One of the great things about Magnet is that the alumni are at colleges across the country and the world! At almost any college you are thinking about, there is normally at least one person who went to Magnet who you can reach out to. Almost all Magnet alum will be more then happy to show you around and even let you stay with them! This is another great way to really see what the day-to-day life of the college is like, and also a great way to catch up with other Raptors who have left the birdcage!
Overall, there are many great things that can come about from touring colleges. Touring is one of the most important steps in the college selection process and in order to make the touring experience the best it can be, make sure you follow these simple steps! Good luck to all the underclassman starting out on their tours and good luck to all the Juniors who are now starting to have to really think about what they want in a college. Especially good luck though to all the seniors who are still touring and cant make up their minds about what school to go to!
