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Copyright Newsday Inc., 2003)
Quotes: Students preparing for a campus visit 'need
to know about the school so the questions they ask supplement that
information rather than just (be) something they could've read.' -
Barbara Hall, New York University's associate provost for admissions
and financial aid.
It was a picture-perfect, crisp October afternoon:
The sun shone brightly, a brisk breeze swayed the branches on a
myriad of trees, some 8,000 altogether, that abound on the academic
campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead that also has
accreditation as an arboretum, a point noted in an information
session for visitors.
It was perfect walking weather for these nearly two
dozen newcomers to campus, several sets of parents with their high
school seniors in tow, who were getting a first-hand look at the
university.
They came from as near as North Bellmore and Staten
Island, and as far as Stratford, Conn., and Warwick, R.I., as well
as the upstate cities of Buffalo and Rochester.
And all, save for the lone Long Island teenager
there with her dad, were setting foot on the campus for the first
time.
Such visits to colleges by high school juniors and
seniors - and increasingly sophomores - experts say, are essential
in a world where the cost of a college education is skyrocketing, as
well as becoming increasingly necessary in the 21st century.
"It's just like the old adage, they say you
wouldn't buy a car without giving it a test drive. You wouldn't want
to go to a college you haven't visited," said Bill Rubin, director
of Costa Mesa, Calif.-based The College Authority, which takes
students from all over the country on college tours concentrated on
the East Coast. "You can't turn or walk three steps in the Northeast
without bumping into a college campus," he joked.
Bonnie Eissner, a spokeswoman for Adelphi
University in Garden City, turned to a car analogy as well, likening
prospective students and their parents to "consumers" who "want to
kick the tires. And that's what we want to enable them to do."
Christine Murphy, Adelphi's director of university
admissions, added that college is a place a student is "going to
live, play, study, learn, meet friends and have all sorts of
collegiate experiences" over four years. In light of that
investment, she said, "It's really about finding the right match,
the right fit."
On a recent afternoon, Jaclyn Whalen, 21, of Deer
Park, got her first glimpse of Adelphi's campus. Because rain
threatened but never materialized, other guests canceled on that
day, leaving her the sole visitor on that tour. This underscored the
personal touch that Murphy said Adelphi likes to provide by keeping
tour groups small, with Whalen's getting all the attention from her
guide, junior Suzanne Winkler, 21, and from student greeters Jillian
Wolfson, 17, and Chantal Hamlin, 18.
"I think it's a very nice campus," said Whalen, who
should graduate from Suffolk County Community College in December
with an associate's degree and plans to continue college for a
bachelor's degree. "Everyone seems very nice. I like the fact that
you can dorm here and feel the whole college life but still not be
too far from home if you wanted to go home." Whalen said she already
had heard positive things about the university from a relative and a
few friends. "Adelphi is my first choice because I heard a lot of
good things about it."
Part of finding the right college fit, experts say,
involves in large measure the campus visit. Student visitors are
encouraged to ask college students questions about the campus to get
a feel for the environment. Have a meal in the cafeteria and strike
up a conversation with some of the students, counselors advise.
Typically, colleges offer twice-daily tours, with
morning and afternoon sessions. Visitors often can hear a
presentation from admissions officials about the college, then go on
a student-led tour of campus. Many conduct tours on Saturday as
well. Arrangements can be made at many institutions, if students
call in advance, to visit a classroom and stay overnight with
"student ambassadors" to get a more in-depth experience. Also,
students may request individual interview sessions with admissions
officers at many institutions.
Students are advised to go prepared.
"They need to know as much as possible" about the
colleges they visit, said Barbara Hall, New York University's
associate provost for admissions and financial aid. She and others
said that is easy to do, since "information is now virtually on
everyone's Web site. They need to know about the school so the
questions they ask supplement that information rather than just [be]
something they could've read," Hall said.
Gigi Lamens, Hofstra's vice president for
enrollment management, said, "Come prepared to one of those
one-on-one [interview] sessions with questions and with a little
background about the college [you're] visiting. That shows an
interest and level of motivation."
Chris Carson, founder and "tour director" of
CampusTours, which helps colleges design "virtual tours" of their
campuses for their Web sites, called such tours a starting point for
students to learn about an institution. Through its Web site,
www.Campus Tours.com, the company provides links to about 750
college Web sites. He said CampusTours' offerings demonstrate that
the first place many students will go to find out about a college is
online. He added, though, "there is really no substitute to actually
getting there. You'll find out at some institutions, it just doesn't
rub you the right way. At others, you'll find it's exactly what
you're looking for."
Ben Jones, dean of admissions and financial aid at
Bennington College in Vermont, suggested students should also
research themselves as they shop around. He said they should have a
sense of how they learn. "Do they respond to having close attention
with a teacher? Or do they want more of a lecture environment? ...
They should know that."
Bob Musiker, owner and director of Summer Discovery
Pre-College Program, based in Roslyn, said, "The campus visit is
taking on greater importance" as the admissions process has become
"much more competitive."
Musiker said his program, which he said has been
around for about 30 years, seeks to address that by providing high
school students with opportunities to take college courses during
the summer at various campuses across the country. Recently, he has
joined forces with The Princeton Review to provide a two-week
program for high school students that involves not only college
visits, but also SAT and college essay preparation. Choosing a
college, Musiker said, "has become one of the most important
decisions you will make in your lifetime."
To Bev Taylor, an independent college counselor
from Roslyn Heights, the college visit is a must - "a no-brainer" in
fact.
Taylor said some highly selective colleges are even
rating students' interest in their campuses. "It's called an IQ, for
interest quotient," she said. But beyond showing one's interest,
Taylor said a campus visit can help a student prepare for the essay
many colleges require. "You cannot write that essay unless you go on
a tour or overnight," Taylor said. If a student has visited a class,
which admissions officers and counselors encourage, Taylor said,
"you can put the professor's name in that essay. You can write about
discussions that happened in that class ... It means so much to the
college admissions person reading that application. Besides their
interest, it shows they're not only doing what's necessary but going
beyond."
For Leslie Ziegler of Rochester, "It's a little
overwhelming because there's so much out there." She and her
husband, Carl, were accompanying their son Rob, 18, on the Hofstra
tour.
"It's so very different from when I went through
this," Ziegler said as the group wandered up California Avenue,
passing Hofstra's Law School. "I never visited ... The first time I
saw the campus [at the University of Connecticut] was the day I
moved into the dorm room. Things are very different now."
How Studetns Decide
Last year, The Art and Science Group, a consulting
firm specialzing in higher education and the nonprofit sector, asked
500 students bound for 4-year colleges which factors were most
influential in their choice of school:
Visit to schools 65% |
Parents or other family members 39% |
Current students or graduates of school 33% |
College Web sties 26% |
School catalog or other printed matter 25% |
High school guidance counselors 24% |
Admissions staff 24% |
ollege research sites on Internet 20% |
Friends 17% |
High school teachers 17% |
Published rankings 12% |
Guidebooks (Peterson's, Barrons, etc._ 7% |
Independent college counselors 7% |
CD-ROMS sent by the colleges 4% |
| [Illustration] |
| Caption: 1) Newsday Photo / Julia Gaines -
Jeff Bates of New York University's Wolfe Center briefs
prospective students, and some parents, in early October. 2)
Newsday Photo / Daniel Goodrich - Tour guide Abraham Haygood,
right, leads parents and students on a walk - backward, in his
case - through Hofstra University in Hempstead. 3) Newsday
Cover Photo / Daniel Goodrich - Parents and possible students
take a tour of the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead.;
Campus Test Drive. Getting the Most Out of Visiting The
Colleges You're Considering. Newsday Cover Photo / Daniel
Goodrich - Parents and possible students take a tour of the
campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead. |
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