The College Road Trip: Keeping Notes & Key Questions
Our visit to Dickinson College where she got two college tours.
One thing that really helped our future college student in creating a school list, was notes from the info sessions and tours we attended. The info sessions and tours are pretty fast paced and your student will be focused on the things being presented and their own thought process figuring out what is important to them. I would suggest a parent attend the sessions and take notes and let your student drive questions and tasks during the visit. We both took notes and combined them together on the spreadsheet for the schools list. Now, don’t be surprised if your student sits in silent and asks no questions. One common trend I noticed from info session to info session, your student and others might not ask questions. Is that okay, YES! Should you raise your hand, my advice is to ask your student if that is okay. Personally, I focused on the questions being asked, and making notes. Below are some of things that I personally tried to note at each visit. Some of the questions can easily be their go to, if they not already asked, and can even be asked during your tour. I feel the parents job is to remind your student to ask something they may be forgetting to ask.
Admissions Rep/Tour Guide Name: Noting their names and notes about how you felt about the info session or tour, help you remember your experience. Most of the time, between your visit and choosing which school to add your application list can be months apart or even a year apart.
Ratios & Sizes: A lot of times, school website data or even common data docs are not current. A great question for your student to ask is “What is your student/teacher ratio and what is the average class size?” When you think about it, knowing those numbers are very important to making sure the focus is on schools that really are similar across the board. Sometimes in these meetings a professor will be present, and to hear about their class environment, including the number of seats are filled.
Question About Key Interest: Campuses today flourish with many clubs and organizations. Another great question to ask, what club did the tour guides or admission officer, look forward to joining. All of the schools will touch on the vast community of clubs and organizations that live on campus. This is a great time for your student jump to a question about one specific club or even just simply asking, how many clubs exist on campus. Let them have fun with this question. We even made notes at each school on the total number organization and clubs on campus. You can also touch on specific departments of the school. One example is the music department. Our student wanted to explore music more, without actually taking the classes. This could be access to practice rooms, or even offers for music lessons from program students. Remember, students make great teachers. It’s that simple. Keep it simple.
Questions About Open/Close Curriculum: During your school selection process, one of the key factors in selection is whether the school has an open or closed curriculum. These two settings are very different and your student should stick with one of those two as a jumping off point. You will have some schools who indicate online on or paper they offer both. This question will become important during the info session, if no one asks about it, jump in and ask it, even if you are a parent. Some schools will note on their websites they are both. Letting the admissions officer explain their curriculum, should explain the overall layout of their majors and minors.
Study Body Makeup: Again, this data is available online, but hearing a student or admissions reps perspective on the total student demographic is important. If you are touring the campus during the school day and wekk, then you might get your answer. Key word is might. If you are visiting the school in Winter, you will only see students running to classes, trying to get out of the cold weather. This can be a question about how many are instate or out of state students. You can even ask about what percentage of the students live in dormitories in their freshman year. For the tour guides you can even ask if they have a lot of friends who live off campus or at home.
College Affiliations: Many schools are connected through consortiums or networks. You will hear words like brother or sister colleges. For example, Williams College is affiliated to Exeter College and Oxford in the UK. And some schools have colleges locally that offer opportunities for students to take courses on their campus that is not immediately available. For example, Amherst College is connected to the Five College Consortium, which includes Mount Holyoke, Hampshire (sadly is closing), Smith and UMass Amherst. Typically an info session will touch on this connection and promote it. If not, ask away!
Study Abroad: Almost all four year colleges offer study abroad programs. These programs vary in length (3-6month or even the whole year) and a few schools actually strongly suggest to students to partake in the opportunity. Typically the cost of the programs is included in your students tuition. If the school promotes or suggests these programs, the information session should touch on this subject. If not, be sure to ask at the end of the info session about such programs. While on tour, most guides are rising sophomores or juniors. Ask them about their experience or planfor such a program.
Transportation Options: If you are looking at a city school, walking is probably your primary mode of transport. But, satellite campuses or building might require taking a bus. Be sure to ask your tour guide, how do they get around campus. Another key part of transportation, is to find out if the school provides a shuttle service. For schools in small towns or outside of the metro area, transportation is key. This can be during the school and holiday breaks, or even if you have an emergency and you need to travel to airport or train service.
Visit to Mount Holyoke
As mentioned, I kept my own notes, and shared them after all of the tours and added them to my students spreadsheet. Let you student pick and choose their questions. I would text my student if they were missing out on a important question not being asked, to avoid whispering in front of the admissions officer. If you have any questions you like to ask, please share in the comments section of this post. I would like to know your thoughts on my questions or your questions. I do have two more heading to college in the future. Enjoy the tours and info sessions, and TAKE NOTES! Even when your student doesn’t, it keeps you busy and lets your student listen.