College Tour Guide: Key Questions to Ask When Visiting Potential Schools

 

“Do you ask enough questions or do you settle for what you know?” ~themindsjounral

Overview

It’s the summer before your senior year and as one can expect your parents as well as teachers are encouraging you to explore potential schools. What’s the best way to do this? To go on college tours but you have no idea what to even ask so that you can actually decide whether you want to apply to that college. Here is a College Tour Guide that gives you a list of key questions to ask when visiting potential schools. 

Question #1: What are the most popular majors at your school?

If you hadn’t done any previous research before you scheduled your visit it is important to find out what majors the school is offering. This is especially important for those with specific majors already in mind but even more important for students who are undecided. For undecided students you’ll want to make sure the school has enough majors to offer so that once you have decided you don’t have to transfer to another school. You should also ask this question because it will let you know what programs have the most funds and which programs will have the most students applying to it. Additionally it will give you an idea of what the class ratio might be for those specific majors. 

Question #2: Are there professors of practice?

Not that many students think to ask this question but it is very important. Just think about it, would you want a teacher who only ever read about the career you wish to pursue teach you about it? You want a professor who can speak from experience and who can give real-life examples of the things you’ll learn from your textbooks. Another perk of having a professor of practice is that most of the time they have connections so when an internship comes around they may have just the place for you to go, making life much easier.

Question #3: What is the average student to teacher ratio? 

Every student thrives best in different environments. I personally thrive in environments where I can work one on one with the teacher and can form close connections with my classmates, that’s why for me I always ask the average student to teacher ratio. Schools with small student to teacher ratios are typically private colleges. Universities and state schools tend to have large student to teach ratios and can have up to 1,000 students in one lecture hall. 

Question #4: Does your institution offer full-ride scholarships?

Everyone thinks that you can apply to any college and have the chance of getting a full-ride scholarship but the truth is full-ride scholarships are actually not as common as people make them out to be. An average school tends to grant scholarships that go up to $20,000 but this won’t cover all your college fees. It is actually more common for students to build a package of scholarships, grants, and federal aid than it is for a student to receive a full-ride scholarship. So if you are counting on receiving one make sure to ask and find out the requirements if the college or university is one you plan on applying to. 

Question #5: What traditions does your college have?

Asides from the education you’ll receive at college, the experiences you have are just as important. That’s why I recommend asking what traditions the college has. It‘ll tell you more about the student life and whether the school is heavy on sports or not. The traditions the school has will probably be the thing that sets each school the most apart because in reality every school seems the same on paper. If the energy just seems right then it’s a good sign you’ve found your home.

Conclusion

These are a few of many good questions to ask on a college tour. Make sure to come up with your own based on what you find most important about a college. And of course don’t forget to take notes while you’re there so that you can review them when deciding where you want to apply.