College Visit Checklist

Wahoo! You’re starting to narrow down your once overwhelming college list and now choosing your top schools to visit. Spending time on campus can be one of the single best ways to get a “feel” for school culture, environment, and dorm life. Spending a few extra minutes to prepare before you arrive on campus will make your time there more worthwhile as you seek out answers to your questions.

We’ve grouped our College Visit Checklist into three categories: Collect Information, On the Campus, and Questions to Ask. If you’ve had the opportunity to interview with this school—great. Hopefully, that shed some light on campus life and specific fields of study that piqued your interest. Use this information to guide your follow-up questions as you meet with current students, admissions representatives, and maybe even coaches or professors.

Collect Information:

• Visit the Registrar’s Office

• Take part in a group info session

• Interview with an admissions officer

• Meet with a professor in your desired field of study

• Sit in on a class that interests you

• If possible, shadow a student in your major for a day

• Talk to students about what they think of their classes, workloads, and professors

• Get the contact info (email addresses and business cards) of admissions officers, orientation specialists, and first-year advisors so you can follow up with them after your visit

• Meet with a representative from the career center

• Meet with freshman resident advisors about dorm life, intramurals, clubs, volunteering opportunities, extracurriculars, etc. 

On the Campus:

• Sign up for an official campus tour

• Visit the dining hall, gym, library, bookstore, and other campus facilities

• Talk to current students about “typical” life on campus—in and out of classes

• Check out freshman dorms

• Walk or drive around the community surrounding the campus

• Read student publications: department newsletters, literary reviews, and student newspapers

• Scan bulletin boards to see what daily student life is like

Questions to Ask During Your Visit:

On Tours and in Student Interactions:

• What are the best reasons to go to this college?

• What can I expect from classes—expectations, workload, study groups, time management, etc?

• What do you do in your free time? On the weekends? 

• What does the college do to promote student involvement in campus groups, extracurricular activities, or volunteerism?

• Why did you chose this college?

• What is it like to live here—on campus, in this city?

• What do you wish you could change about this college?

• How are you involved in campus life?

In Meetings with Advisors, Admissions Representatives, and Professors:

• What are the best reasons to go to this college?

• Can a student be mentored by professors, graduate students, or upperclassmen? 

• How are professors rated by the college? 

• Does the college think mentoring and meetings for project guidance are important?

• How does the college help students have access to professors outside class?

• Do professors join students for lunch, help with community service groups, or guide student organizations?

• How many students do research or other kinds of projects for a semester or more?

• What about life and career after college?