"For some high school juniors and seniors, fall is the ideal time to visit college campuses. For juniors, college tours are the perfect way to begin identifying the types of schools that interest them, while high school seniors can use these campus visits to narrow their short list of colleges and inform their applications.
But not all college tour experiences are equally useful. Here are two mistakes you should avoid making, based on advice from two current college students who have been in your shoes." …
Interesting advice, but I think that the second point–long term thinking-- can be misapplied in that one might write off LACs in a rural or small town setting as it might get old quickly when taking a long term view. I do understand that the example given focuses on academic long term view, but that suggests that one is set in their major which runs counter to the primary benefit of most LACs.
If the second piece of advice (long term thinking) is followed, then attending an LAC might only be worthwhile for those intending to go to graduate school. This advice was offered by one attending Indiana University which is one of the largest universities in the nation with over 32,000 undergraduates at its Bloomington campus.
Of course, many, maybe most, college choices are made in large part on the basis of affordability which usually limits one’s options & would override any advice offered in this brief article.
I agree…and it is hard to make college decisions with a long term view when you don’t really know what to expect. For example, again thinking that the small town would get boring, but I believe that most prospective students think that they are going to be off campus much more than the reality. I have to say I disagree with the first point too, about depth…right now is crunch time for the seniors with school, activities, and applications. I personally think that the time for those all day in depth visits comes later in the spring if you need it to make the decision, or if time/cost doesn’t allow 2 trips, that should have been done last spring or summer.