The Best Questions to Ask on College Visits

Asking questions is vital to getting information in so many areas of life – including the most suitable colleges.  The key to truly finding out what your college experience would be like at any given school is to carefully research the answers that are readily available, and then seek out the answers that may not be so obvious.

A good place to start is the website bigfuture.collegeboard.org, which allows students to indicate the criteria that are important to them -- such as a particular major, availability of a specific sport or activity, environment (urban, suburban, or rural), geographic location – and the site provides a list of colleges that fit the bill.  

Students can then go the website of each of these schools and find details regarding the size and diversity of the student body, the percent of students that live on campus, the most popular majors, the sticker price to attend, the average SAT scores of accepted students, and much more.

Once this information is gathered, students should create a list of colleges that seem ideal –- on paper.  The next step is to find answers to the more elusive questions.  A college tour is typically the easiest and most productive way for potential students to get answers to the questions that will greatly impact the happiness and success of their college experience.

While walking around a college campus, high school students should ask their tour guide, and other students whom they meet, about both the academic and social environment.  Enlightening academic questions might include: What departments have the best reputation? How accessible are your professors?  Are most classes lecture-based or discussion-based? How competitive is the academic environment? How up-to-date are the facilities (science and computer labs, libraries, etc.)? How satisfied are you with academic advising?  How helpful is Career Services?  Do potential employers recruit on campus?

Effective questions to identify the social environment might include: What is the social scene like? How’s the food? How comfortable are the dorms? Are fraternities and sororities very popular? Is there a lot of school spirit? What clubs and activities are most popular? Do most students stay on campus on the weekend? Where do students head off-campus?

Students should also meet with an admission counselor at each school to ask questions such as: What’s the retention rate (percent of freshmen who return for sophomore year)? What’s the four-year graduation rate? What companies recruit students in my intended major and what salary are they earning? 

Asking the right questions can be crucial to making an educated decision on the next step of one’s academic life.

Susan Alaimo is the founder and director of Collegebound Review that, for the past 25 years, has offered PSAT/SAT® preparation and private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362