Admissions Blog

Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

  • admissions.blog

Plan campus visits but avoid spring break

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Nancy Griesemer

No matter how much you think you know about a college, there’s always more to learn. And the best way to add to your knowledge of campus culture, the kinds of students who attend and how they relate to one another, who serves on faculty, how programs and majors are structured, the quality and availability of student services, and the general “feel” of a college is by taking the time to visit.

Colleges know they are more likely to attract students who schedule information sessions and take tours. And they put a great deal of time and thought into considering how they present themselves to the outside world. It’s up to the visitor to look deeper—go off the beaten path and do a little independent investigative work by talking to students and observing campus life.

While colleges may consider the visit as “demonstrating interest,” you need to think of it as doing your due diligence—an opportunity to truly understand why a college deserves to be on your list. In so doing, you’ll be rewarded with a solid foundation for articulating in an essay or during an interview why it is you want to attend a particular college or university.

But it’s hard to get a clear picture beyond basic bricks and mortar if you schedule time on campus during student holidays. For that reason, you might want to take into consideration “spring break” weeks when putting together plans for a college road trip during the coming months. And luckily, there are two really good resources for you to use:

Springbreak.com: Mostly targeted to college students anxious to book flights and hotels, this site provides start dates for an impressive number of colleges listed alphabetically—from Adelphi (March 11) to Yale (March 4).

STS Travel:  Again, this list is designed to help undergrads plan their vacations, and sorts colleges by dates—from Augustana (February 18) to Elmira (April 15). Note that the links STS provides don’t take you to college websites!

Hopefully your spring break won’t coincide with their spring break. But if it does, remember that a campus visit under less-than-perfect circumstances is better than no visit at all. It’s just that important!

Nancy Griesemer is an independent educational consultant and founder of College Explorations LLC. She has written extensively and authoritatively about the college admissions process and related topics since 2009. Never miss one of Nancy’s articles – subscribe to her mailing list below.

About Nancy Griesemer

Nancy Griesemer is an independent educational consultant and founder of College Explorations LLC. Nancy has written extensively and authoritatively about the college admissions process and related topics since 2009. 

Filed Under: Advice & Analysis, College List, College Visit, Demonstrated Interest, Yale Tagged With: Campus Visit

Related posts:

Three Times You’ll Be Glad You Didn’t Blow Off College Visits How to Make the Most of Your College Visits Claremont McKenna ‘Preview’ gives some free and full access to campus Johns Hopkins University at Night: Campus Tours in the Dark

Subscribe to our mailing list

UNC and a tale of one – make that four – acceptance rates

Third Biggest Lie College Admissions Officers Tell

Oh, Canada! The Definitive List of Canadian University Application Deadlines

How to Get Accepted to Your Dream College of Choice

You CAN apply Restrictive Early Action and Early Action under the right conditions

Making the most of the summer before senior year

Second Biggest Lie College Admissions Officers Tell

Rolling Admission vs. Regular Decision

Trending Posts

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Releases Admissions Decisions

NYU First Year Applications Spike 13%

Avoid Tuition Anxiety: Put Strong Merit Aid Colleges on Your List

Common Application Essay Prompts for 2023-2024 Confirmed

Brown’s Regular Decision Acceptance Rate Now 3.8%

Boston University shares some 2022-2023 admissions statistics

Ten Unique and Memorable College Acceptance Gifts for All Personality Types

The 3 Dos and Dont’s to get Accepted into America’s Most Selective Colleges

News Tips | Write for Us | Sponsored Posts
All content © 2023 | Admissions.Blog
Terms of Service | +1 410-526-2558

Search Posts By Topic

  • 3 Year Degree (3)
  • Accommodations (2)
  • Admissions Policies (84)
  • Admissions Statistics (73)
  • Advice & Analysis (326)
  • Alabama (2)
  • Amherst (2)
  • AP (4)
  • Applications (62)
  • Applying from India (1)
  • Arizona (4)
  • ASU (1)
  • Austin College (1)
  • Baylor (1)
  • Berry College (1)
  • Boston University (3)
  • Brown (5)
  • Bryn Mawr (1)
  • BYU (1)
  • Caltech (2)
  • Canada (2)
  • Career and Technical Education (13)
  • Case Western (4)
  • China (1)
  • CMC (1)
  • Coalition (13)
  • Colby (2)
  • College Counselor (18)
  • College Fairs (5)
  • College Life (31)
  • College List (33)
  • College List Deathmatch (4)
  • College Visit (24)
  • Columbia (6)
  • Common Application (35)
  • Community Colleges (4)
  • Cornell (3)
  • COVID-19 (8)
  • CSU (1)
  • CU Boulder (1)
  • Dartmouth (3)
  • Davidson (1)
  • Demonstrated Interest (17)
  • DePaul (1)
  • Dickinson (1)
  • Direct Admissions (1)
  • Duke (2)
  • Early Action (34)
  • Early Decision (39)
  • Emory (1)
  • Enrichment (13)
  • Environmental Science (1)
  • Essays (27)
  • Europe (6)
  • Exercise Science (1)
  • Exeter (1)
  • Extracurricular Activities (25)
  • Feature (2)
  • Financial Aid (23)
  • First Person (9)
  • Fly-In (1)
  • France (1)
  • FSU (1)
  • Gap Programs (2)
  • GED (1)
  • Georgetown (4)
  • Germany (2)
  • Gifts (3)
  • GPA (4)
  • Hamilton (1)
  • Harvard (6)
  • High School (21)
  • Higher National Diplomas (1)
  • HiSET (1)
  • IB (4)
  • IEC (1)
  • IELTS (1)
  • Indiana (3)
  • International (8)
  • Internships (7)
  • Interviews (10)
  • Iowa (2)
  • Italy (2)
  • Ivy League (19)
  • JHU (2)
  • LD (1)
  • Majors (12)
  • MIT (5)
  • Naviance (2)
  • NCAA (3)
  • New Mexico State University (1)
  • News (68)
  • Northwestern (4)
  • Notification News (3)
  • Notre Dame (3)
  • Nursing (2)
  • NYU (2)
  • Of Note (5)
  • Ohio State (2)
  • Open Admission (2)
  • Parents (7)
  • Penn (6)
  • Pitt (2)
  • Popular Posts (16)
  • Princeton (4)
  • Priority (2)
  • Professor of the Month (1)
  • PSU (3)
  • Public Universities (8)
  • Purdue (1)
  • Rankings (8)
  • Reader Questions (10)
  • Recommendations (8)
  • Regular (23)
  • Research (4)
  • Resume (16)
  • Rice (3)
  • Rochester (1)
  • ROI (2)
  • Rolling (5)
  • Santa Clara University (1)
  • Sewanee (1)
  • SMU (1)
  • Social Work (2)
  • South America (2)
  • Southwestern (TX) (1)
  • Spotlight Series (1)
  • St. Edward's University (1)
  • St. John's College (1)
  • Standardized Tests (30)
  • Stanford (3)
  • Summer (17)
  • Swarthmore (1)
  • TASC (1)
  • Teacher Recommendations (8)
  • Temple (1)
  • Texas (3)
  • Texas A&M (1)
  • Ticker (21)
  • Trending Posts (30)
  • Trinity University (TX) (1)
  • Tufts (3)
  • Tuition (3)
  • Tulane (5)
  • UC Berkeley (6)
  • UC Davis (1)
  • UC Santa Barbara (1)
  • UCAS (4)
  • UCLA (7)
  • UDub (1)
  • UF (3)
  • UGA (3)
  • UIUC (3)
  • UMass (1)
  • UMD (5)
  • UNC (1)
  • United Kingdom (6)
  • Universal College Application (1)
  • University of Chicago (2)
  • University of Dallas (1)
  • University of New Mexico (1)
  • University of Rochester (1)
  • USC (3)
  • UT Austin (1)
  • UVA (6)
  • Vanderbilt (2)
  • Video Game Design (1)
  • Villanova (2)
  • Virtual Visit (1)
  • Wash U (6)
  • Williams (2)
  • Wisconsin (2)
  • Yale (11)
  • ZeeMee (1)

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in