Campus visit checklist
A short list for the week before tour day.
The short answer
Register for the tour, save the confirmation with its meeting place, pick a hotel you can walk from or a visitor lot to park in, and leave half an hour of slack: campuses are bigger than they look on a phone.
A week ahead
- Register on the admissions site; popular dates fill up.
- Note the meeting place and the check-in time, which is usually earlier than the tour.
- Ask whether the school offers class visits, department tours or a meal in a dining hall.
Choosing where to stay
- Walking distance to the welcome center spares you a parking hunt at 8 a.m.
- Seeing two schools? Stay between them, or by the one with the earlier tour.
- Hotels that include breakfast save a stop on tour morning.
On the day
- Wear shoes for a mile or two of walking, in any weather.
- Let your student ask the questions. Eat where students eat.
- Walk a block or two off campus afterwards: that's the neighborhood they'd live in.
Afterwards
- Jot down three impressions before the next campus blurs them.
- Keep the hotels you liked on your shortlist here; you may be back for move-in.