Campus Visits
If I could choose one piece of advice I could be sure students would follow, it would be to make sure to visit colleges you are interested in applying to. Now this can be tricky, because I also advise students (especially in California) to look into out-of-state schools while building their college list, so I know the logistics can be difficult and the expenses not insignificant. Even if you can't visit all the colleges on your list, though, try to make an effort at least to visit your top choices.
Of course, students these days are very savvy with the internet, and every college has information on their website; many even have virtual tours. What you can't get from the internet, however, is the feel of the campus, the opportunity to see yourself in that setting and really imagine the experience of being there. Campus tours also give tidbits of information which, while probably available on the website, might not necessarily be something you would find while browsing online. For example, UC San Diego has the largest study abroad program in the UC system. The University of Montana dining services runs a garden on campus and tries to source all or most of the food it uses locally. The beautiful parklike campus of UC Irvine does not really come across in the pictures on their website. Whitworth University (in Spokane) has a program where students can take their professor to coffee (paid for by Associated Students) to help get to know them better. Seniors at Whitman College (in Walla Walla, WA) get their own studio space to work on their senior project. All of this information is probably available on the school websites, but I doubt I would have found it if I weren't specifically looking for it. Many of these factors might be important for a student in choosing where they want to spend their undergraduate years.
Visiting campus usually gives you the opportunity to speak with an admissions officer as well. For larger universities, this will generally be a large group presentation followed by Q&A; at smaller colleges it may be a more personal gathering, or even a 1-on-1 meeting. In any case, this is an opportunity to find out what they are looking for in their applicants. Knowing this can help you decide if the school is indeed a good fit for you, and if it is, it can help you make your application more competitive.
Finally, only an in-person campus tour gives you the opportunity to get a feel for the campus community. A campus may look great on the internet, but when you get there, you just don't feel comfortable, or the students don't seem all that happy. Alternatively, you might have a negative impression of a college for whatever reason, but once you get to campus and start talking to the students, your opinion changes. Another great reason to do a campus visit is the opportunity to talk to current students. Even if you can't arrange your visit at a time when school is open, most of the tour guides are students and you can ask them about the experience of going to school there. Be sure to also ask why they chose that school. I recently completed a tour of 10 colleges, and the students I spoke to who were the happiest almost all said their campus visit was a deciding factor in their choice of school: "Once I stepped on campus, I knew this was it." So before you make your final decision on where you will spend the next 4 (or 5, or 6) years of your education, go visit - be sure it's a place you want to be.
