Site Visit Tips

In preparation for a college visit and during the visit, the following items should be considered and your thoughts recorded.

1. Campus Surroundings - Is the campus an environment where you will be comfortable spending the next four to five years? If the college is in an urban environment, are there places to "get away" for some quiet time? Or if in a rural area, are there enough cultural/other venues nearby for entertainment?
2. What is the atmosphere like - are there parties every night or is the campus quiet and peaceful? Are the students friendly?
3. What do you know about the Faculty at the University - are they nationally recognized; accessible to students? What is the student to faculty ratio for classes and counseling?
4. Student Class - Who are your fellow students? Is it a diverse student population from across the country/international students?
5. What kind of classrooms and laboratory facilities are there? Are the science laboratories relatively new, with adequate safety features? Will it be easy to get to class from the dorms?
6. Is the library adequate for your course of study and is it someplace you can use to study? Does it have WiFi, printers, and computers on site? Does the library staff seem approachable?
7. Most important - what are the dorms like? Remember this is your home away from home - will you be comfortable in the dorms? Are they suites or traditional dorm rooms? Are the doors secured, are admission passes required, ample fire alarms?
8. Eating - the "Freshman 15" - will the dining halls contribute to those extra pounds; will you have to go off campus for a decent meal? How far are local restaurants?
9. Gym facilities where you can keep off/work off the extra pounds; are they relatively modern, ample equipment or a dungeon that smells from ages of previous workouts?
10. State of the art campus - WiFi in every dorm and around campus or barely cable ready in the common room?
11. Handicap access or hard to get around campus? Break an ankle during Rush week and how do you get to class?
12. Parking on campus allowed for Freshman or only Upper Classmen? If no parking is available, how is public transportation? If the campus is spread out, is there a campus bus system?
13. Parents - check out Security of campus - how secure are the dorms and overall how reactive are campus police? Emergency phones around campus in visible spots; one or two near classrooms?

These are some items to be considered during your visits and you can rate these items and more in MCAP's convenient Evaluation tool. A quick comparison on these items allows you to see which colleges you rate the highest.