PLANNING A COLLEGE VISIT Before deciding to apply to a school, students are strongly advised to visit them if possible. The optimum times to do this are during winter and spring vacations, and the summer before your senior year. Remember that the pictures and information in a college view book constitute advertising - you are seeing what you are meant to see. The reality may be somewhat different, and only way to know if a school could be right for you is to go there in person.  A good way to approach setting up this fact-finding mission is to call the admissions office and schedule a tour. These generally last an hour, and are given 3-4 times daily. If the school requires (or recommends) an interview, try to arrange that for the same day, preferably after the tour. If you want to tour several schools in the same general area, and can plan to stay over one or more nights, you can accomplish a lot in a short time. Some schools will arrange accommodations for you at local hotels, or even better, in an actual dorm room. Once there, take note of the size, location and surroundings. Consider the academic, cultural and sociopolitical environment. Ask students about the campus lifestyle, athletics, activities, student services and any special issues or concerns that you have. If you are going to be living on campus, and the school is not near home, ask about what life is like on the weekends. If you have a special talent or interest, ask the admissions office to help arrange a meeting with the appropriate coach or program director. Test the waters: attend a class, eat in the cafeteria, read the school newspaper and browse the bulletin boards. Try to visualize yourself living there for four years. Does it fit you? Depending on distance, you should be able to comfortably investigate three schools a day. It is important to take notes; bring a camera and a microcassette recorder if you can. This will prevent all the information from different schools from running together in a blur. When planning your trip, stop by the Guidance Office to look at the Road Trip Reports that we write each time we visit a college. They will help give you ideas on what kind of information is important, what you can find out by reading their literature, and the things you actually have to ask. You can also read our reviews of different schools, and what we (honestly) thought about them on our visit.