<p>What exactly does everyone look for when you are walking around a college campus?</p>
<p>Howabout the quality of facilities and how often you see the school colors? For starters…</p>
<p>believe it or not, the license plates on the cars, esp in the student parking areas.
you get a quick sense of where the kids hail from. Personally, I prefer 50%+ out of staters.</p>
<p>Interesting. I admit I did that, a lot, too. It’s a good way to get a feel for where the students come from, because I don’t think demographic stats show everything. For instance, you can go to Ole Miss and even though it will say MS students pretty much dominate the pie graph, I saw a LOT of cars from Memphis and Bama.</p>
<p>Body language and how people are dressed. Also I try to chat with several students about the school.</p>
<p>I like to see how friendly the people are. If you meet their eye, do they smile, or do they frown and look away? Do they look at you as if to say, “You don’t belong here?” I listen to the snippets of conversation I hear in passing and try to evaluate how intellectual or interesting they are. If I hear a lot of those, it makes me happy. </p>
<p>The way people interact with each other and the employees of the school–professors and others–is a subject of interest to me. </p>
<p>I also like to see modern, technologically advanced facilities, so I look for those, too, as well as cleanliness.</p>
<p>Unless I’m staying/visiting for a good amount of time (a week or so), I don’t do what birdrock (or phanatic to some extent) do. </p>
<p>I don’t judge an entire school (of potentially 10,000+ students) based on 1 or 10 students. It’s just too naive.</p>
<p>The “r” word (research facilities) was a big turn off for me even though I didn’t go to a single school where they weren’t trying to show me some state-of-the-art research facility I’ll never use unless I change my major on a whim to genetics or aerospace engineering, etc.</p>
<p>Just get a feel for the campus and what kind of vibe it gives off.</p>
<p>Cleavage…</p>
<p>Good dorms (I will be living there)
Nice Campus
Nice research facilities</p>
<p>I look at the bulletin boards. What activities are coming up? What types of student groups are on campus?</p>
<p>Honestly? Hot chicks.</p>
<p>After that, I’d pay attention to other things that cannot easily be assessed from the numbers.</p>
<p>Walk around. Do you like the architecture and the physical setting? What about the quality of facilities? Are there places in the library, or elsewhere, where you’d feel comfortable studying? If it’s in a very cold climate, how much walking is needed to get from class to class? On a quiet evening, does the sound of neighborhood gunfire disturb you? Oh, and (this is very important) how about the quality of graffiti in the bathroom stalls? Is it funny, or just juvenile and crude? </p>
<p>Visit a class. Are students just busy scribbling notes, or do they ask questions? Are they good questions? Is there much discussion? Are they working from textbooks or from primary source materials? Do the chairs face in a circle, maybe around a table, or are they all lined up to face a lectern and white board? Does the professor appear to be sober?</p>
<p>Eat a meal in one of the main dining halls. What’s the atmosphere like? What kinds of things do students seem to be talking about there (or in the snack bars)? Do the rugby players all sit with other rugby players, and the URMs with other URMs? As for the food, is it your basic institutional brown stuff and gray stuff? Or do they have a sushi chef and one of those wood burning pizza ovens imported from Italy?</p>
<p>Stay overnight in a dorm. Is it quiet? Smelly? Ask a couple of kids if “fishbowling” is popular. If they have no idea what you mean, that’s probably a good sign. Or not, depending on your needs.</p>
<p>** On your visit or later, ask routine questions to, or request help from, staff people.** Grounds attendants, admissions and finaid people, dining hall staff. Do people on this campus generally seem to have a friendly, helpful, positive attitude? Or do you get the impression they’d rather not be bothered? </p>
<p>In sum, is this a vibrant campus where you could easily stay motivated about what you are doing? Or are there features of the environment that would kill your enthusiasm?</p>
<p>^ Animal rights advocates may be the only ones interested if poultry in the labs suffer in overheated cages, but other than that, tk nailed it. Sit in on two classes.</p>
<p>TK,</p>
<p>Nice job. </p>
<p>I also agree with Bird Rock. I don’t care whether it’s a campus visit or a business meeting. Much can be learned by watching for general body language as well as when you ask someone a question.</p>
<p>Prospective students, </p>
<p>Many of you are a bit hesitant about striking up a conversation with perfect strangers. I understand that, but would suggest that being a bit bold is far better than kicking yourself later for not asking a question. Also, college is the time to get past yourself and it starts with being assertive.</p>