What I Didn't Look for When I Visited Colleges ... But Am Glad I Found

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Recently I stopped to chat with a Smith College student who was rolling a small suitcase up the sidewalk towards her dorm. “Back when I was choosing a college, I never realized how grateful I’d be to go to a school that’s so close to a public bus station,” she told me, explaining that, as a sophomore, she relied on the public bus to visit her ailing grandmother in Connecticut, and now–as a senior–to go on job interviews in Boston and New York.</p>

<p>Her comments made me wonder what else students appreciate about their college that they never would have thought to look for during campus tours while still in high school.</p>

<p>So I took an informal poll of collegians in my orbit, and here are some of the responses:</p>

<p>**-24-hour supermarket within a safe walk</p>

<p>-24-hour dining hall</p>

<p>-lockers in gym available to all who want them, not just varsity athletes</p>

<p>-WiFi everywhere on campus–including outdoors</p>

<p>-“Spot Jobs” (data base of short-term jobs, such as setting up for campus events, that are open to everyone, not just work-study students)</p>

<p>-Satellite gyms (areas with treadmills, exercycles etc. in dorm basements and other convenient places, not just at the gym on the edge of campus)</p>

<p>-theme dorms/residential communities (said one student, “This may be obvious to many people, but I’d never heard of them.”)**</p>

<p>Current college students … what do YOU love about your campus that it never occurred to you to look for when you were still in high school?</p>

2

<p>If you know what you’re going to be studying (engineering, music, etc.) you should see if the buildings where you’ll have most of your classes are located near any dorms you want to live in or might be assigned to. If you’re deciding between a couple colleges, and one of them requires a big trek between the parts of campus where you’ll be spending most of your time, you might want to take that into account when you make your final choice.</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>Good point. And this doesn’t just apply to academic areas. If you know you’ll spend a lot of time at the gym or at the newspaper headquarters (especially late at night) then consider proximity of these places to where you’ll live. If the campus is large enough to offer a bus or shuttle service, check it out when you visit. Do the buses run frequently? How late do they run? Do they go to the places you’ll most want to be without taking forever to get there?</p>