Contacting and Visiting Colleges
Colleges welcome contact with prospective students. They keep track of you calls and emails, they typically respond promptly, and they are happy to answer any questions you might have. Don't hesitate to be in touch with the admissions and financial aid offices. Keep all telephone numbers, electronic and other addresses in your files. The quantity and quality of your contact with colleges is often seen by them as an indication of your interest.
Catalogs, viewbooks, brochures . . . all help you see the college through other people's eyes, and those people know their college well and have a good general sense of what you need to know. A request will get you lots of information. They best way to request materials is by email or inquiry through the college website.
Visits and interviews . . . are your chance to see colleges with your own eyes and to ask your own questions.
Scheduling:
- plan ahead, and plan no more than two college visits a day. Colleges are complex places; even a well-read well-prepared visitor needs time to absorb enough information.
- Call the office of Admissions at least two weeks in advance to:
- Make an appointment for the campus tour, and - if they are available - for an information session.
- Inquire about making an appointment for an interview, if an interview is required or recommended.
- If you will be applying for financial aid, it might be wise to call the Financial Aid Office to schedule a
time to meet with a financial aid officer.
- Ask for directions to the college and travel time from your starting point. Don't hesitate to ask Bates to tell you
how far it is to Bowdoin or Colby; all three colleges keep directions to the other two on printed cards for
visitors to their admissions offices. Colleges expect that you will be visiting other campuses.
Preparing
- Read the materials you have requested from the college, so that you can concentrate during your visit on getting
the information that was not in them.
- Prepare the questions that were not answered in the college publications.
- Get the names and e-mail addresses of anyone involved with your special interests: coaches, professors,
activities coordinators, studio artists, orchestra conductors. They will be particularly interested in
connecting with students interested in their fields, and can become advocates for you should you apply.
Being there
- Be comfortable, but presentable (save manure for the barn, paint for the studio - you know what I mean), and
relax about walking around campus as a visitor with parents in tow - you're neither the first nor the last,
and most of the students saw the campus for the first time in the same manner.
- Take notes, mentally or right there on the spot with pen and paper.
- Do everything you can to talk to students not introduced by the admissions office, see the dorm room not on the
tour, get the campus newspaper, see what's on the bulletin boards, eat in the caf, visit the bookstore …
Marketing is marketing, after all, and you've traveled a distance to get beyond the marketing.
- Project yourself into what it would feel like to be at that campus for four years. Can you see yourself there?
Why? Or why not? The answers to those question will help you make wise choices about where to apply.
Interviewing
- ...is a conversation, not a confrontation. Stay relaxed and comfortable (you want them to accept you, not some
facsimile thereof). This is a good time and place to ask the questions you have, and write down the answers.
- Make sure to get the name of your interviewer (ask for a card) so that you can write him or her a thank you note later. This is the person to call if you have further questions as you move through the application process.
Afterwards … other than writing the thank-you note, reflect on the visit and write down overall impressions. If you're visiting several colleges (and you definitely should) they will begin to merge in your memory unless you keep quality notes!
|
|
