Are College Tours Worth It?

College tours are awesome. For both parents and soon-to-be collegians. I enjoyed them so much, my twins had to remind me that I wasn’t going to be a student again. In my defense, who wouldn’t want to attend University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), located on its own peninsula set high above the Pacific Ocean? For a brief moment, I considered getting my PhD and then remembered I was already going to be paying tuition to two other schools. At the exact same time.

What role do college tours play in helping your child choose the right college for them? A pretty valuable one, as long as you approach them strategically. And note, that I specifically said to help your child, not the parents, choose the right college. Do you have to spend thousands of dollars traversing the country to see every single university your child is considering before he/she applies? Absolutely not. But you do need to have a plan about which campuses to visit and when.

What Makes College Tours Valuable?

Today’s universities take marketing their schools to a whole new level. First, every college has a Visitor Center, which can range from an old cabin next to the campus organic farm to an elaborate new structure, built to match the surrounding architecture, but equipped with a state-of-the-art screening room. Some even give out great swag – our daughter received sunglasses at one, while our son got a free T-shirt at another.

The tour day starts with a detailed presentation about the school, complete with an emotive video designed to make your student want to be a Duck, Ram or Terrier. The presentation portion is usually 20 to 30 minutes and includes everything from admission rates, average GPA and ACT/SAT scores for admitted students, majors and tuition/room and board costs. It is usually followed by a short Q&A session.

Then comes the tour itself. Not only does this give both you and your student a chance to see the campus, up close and personal, but it also allows your child to feel out the vibe of that particular institution. Even better, the tour guides are current students themselves. So you can get an idea of the type of kids who attend that school. For parents who have fond memories of their own college days, setting foot on campus evokes the familiar tingle of being part of something bigger. From walking past ivy-covered buildings to feeling the crunch of leaves underfoot or the familiar sight of gaggles of students rushing to class, you instantly feel transported back in time.

How to Pick Which Schools to Visit

Before you start the process of college tours, sit down with your student and narrow the field. First and most importantly, if out-of-state tuition is not in your family’s budget or if you have excellent in-state options and would rather not spend the incremental cost of out-of-state tuition, please don’t torture your student by taking him/her to college tours in other states. This only results in unnecessary travel expenses and quite frankly, sets your child up for disappointment if he/she falls in love with an out-of-state option, gets admitted and you have to tell them that they can’t attend that school.

To come up with a list of potential schools, I suggest using a website called Big Future which is created and managed by the College Board, the same organization that develops and provides testing for the ACT and SAT. You can filter schools according to campus size, geographic location, urban versus rural campus and even Greek life. Realistically, determining the filters is something that most high school kids struggle with, even in their junior year.

My best advice – don’t start trying to select colleges or going on college visits too soon. During our kids’ sophomore year of high school, we took them on a couple college tours while we were on vacation. At that age they simply weren’t ready to even contemplate college choices. Not to say it was a piece of cake to narrow down choices in their junior year. Both of our kids had a pretty long list of things they wanted in a school, some of which were not able to be filtered on a website. Our daughter wanted a college campus that she could “see across” and our son wanted an urban campus that “didn’t cross over a highway.” How did they come up with these rather unusual requirements? By going on college tours and determining what they did and did not like.

When to Visit

Timing is crucial for college tours. To get the most out of the experience, you really do need to visit campus while classes are in session. Otherwise, even the most robust college can feel calm, quiet and almost serene. When, in actuality, the number of students crisscrossing campus on bikes and skateboards can make any potential student jump out of the line of fire when school is in session.

From a cost standpoint, it makes sense to coordinate college tours, whenever possible, during other vacations. Think about visiting during your high school’s fall or spring break (as long as those times don’t coincide with similar breaks at the college you want to visit.) If you happen to be traveling to a city for your child’s high school sport/activity where one of the campuses is located, by all means schedule a tour while you’re there. But here’s the thing; you must sign up for a college tour in advance to get the full experience. Don’t expect to just show up on campus and be offered the chance to join an existing tour. Most colleges cap the number of people per tour so plan ahead.

Why You Don’t Need to Attend a Dozen Tours

As mentioned before, universities these days are very savvy at marketing to potential students. Which is exactly why you don’t have to attend college tours at every school to which your student applies. Instead, pick a handful that represent different facets of your student’s requirements in a college. That said, not visiting the college your child decides to attend is also a huge mistake. They need to see and experience the campus to make an informed decision about the best college for them.

And that’s where Admitted Student Days come in. Most universities offer admitted students (those who have applied and been accepted) the chance to come to campus for a day. Think of Admitted Student Days as a regular college tour on steroids. Yes, there is still the obligatory video and campus tour. But these days also include a lot of other useful experiences, like having lunch in a dining hall, seeing a model dorm room (up close and personal) or listening to a presentation by the department your child may be considering for a major. Our daughter was accepted to her top two schools early in her senior year of high school and couldn’t decide. It was during her Admitted Student Day that she made the decision, unequivocally, to attend one of those schools. And rang the cow bell to symbolize her commitment!

All that to say, college tours are simply one piece of the puzzle in helping your child determine which college is where they belong. You’ll also need to factor in tuition, student aid, distance from home and major programs offered, but college visits are a great place to start.