Last Recess we asked our readers to share advice from their own experiences involving campus visits. We were supposed to choose one winner to be featured as a guest blogger on the College Insider, but we just couldn’t choose! These three responses all had such great tidbits of advice for future college-bound students, that we couldn’t just pick one.

That said, here are three great pieces of advice on college visits.

Krystyna R. Waukesha, Wisc.

You should most definitely visit the college before applying there, especially if it is close enough for you to make the trip. Looking at the college website is not enough to gauge if you will enjoy living there for your college years. By going there, you can experience what is around the college – things to do, places to eat, etc. If you don’t like it, then don’t apply and this will save you a lot of time applying to college and also any fees that the colleges require with your application.

You should take the trip as soon as you have a college in mind, and dont just visit one. Visit as many as possible to pick the best one for you. Campus visits are very important and give you the chance to look at the school’s location, sports (if interested), tuition difference of living on or off campus, places to possibly get a job, etc. A campus visit was the crucial thing that made me choose my college!

Brittany K. Liberty, Ind

I would definitely suggest to every student that they visit each campus before they apply. By visiting before you apply, it gives you a much better chance to know whether you even want to go to that school. Some people think that they’re big-college students, and once they go visit a big campus like IU Bloomington or Miami University, they realize that a large campus isn’t for them, and so that gives them the opportunity to look at other colleges that are smaller in size and will focus more on their individual needs. Of course, it varies from person to person. Visiting before you apply to colleges also gives you a heads up for when you do get accepted: you can narrow your field down, and depending on the type of college you’re interested in, you can revisit and really get a feel for the colleges and see which one will fit YOUR needs the best.

Katie S. Louisville, Ky.

One thing that is definitely important is viewing the colleges of your choice. Websites can only go so far in showing the campus and the life and activities that are nestled within it. To get a real feel for it all, you need to at least visit once.

At my college, we are lucky to have a great program that shows potential college students our campus. You can schedule a tour of the campus, and they show you both on foot and on a bus. They also help to pair you with a teacher within the program of your interest to help give you a feel of the curriculum you will encounter.

All colleges have a method of showing their campuses to you, it’s just a matter of you contacting them and seeing what they can offer you. Some might just show you the campus, others might show you your program of interest, however you need to pick what will help you out to really get a feel for the school.

On top of getting a tour, you should see if you know someone who is currently at the school to give you their tour. I can’t tell you how important it is to see a school from the eyes of a current student. They can give you a different outlook of the school but also a more realistic one which might give you quite a bit of info that wasn’t told in that fancy bus tour.

One last thing to do: walk the campus. If this school is a serious contender, you’ll be walking there later on down the road, might as well get use to it now!

Need more help with campus visits? Try this!