The clock is ticking on college applications. Students must decide where to go, where to apply. This can feel extremely overwhelming because it not only impacts the next four years, but the rest of your life can be impacted by where you decide to go to college. There are so many factors that influence your decision, like the type of person you are, your goals in life, and how you want your college experience to be. Some people dream of going to a prestigious university and planning their life based on that monumental goal. For some, college is a chance to make new connections and experience athletics and social events. Still for others, college is just a stepping stone for bigger plans. Whatever your reasoning is, college is a huge decision, and visits are a great way to alleviate the stress of choosing.
A college visit involves visiting a prospective university and taking a tour with a current student. Seeing the campus in-person and talking to a current student can make your decision easier. Students can give insights that pictures and statistics can’t show and truly represent the university and what it stands for.
Jaxson Pigg ’26 has visited both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He visited Georgia Tech during the school year. “The personal side of the visit was probably my favorite. My favorite part of visiting Georgia Tech was probably hearing about the tour guide’s experience because it added a personal element to the tour.”
Pigg’s visit to MIT was a campus tour in the summer. “Both [visits] went pretty well,” he said. Pigg agrees that college visits are a great source of information. Statistics only show so much, but visiting the schools let you experience the culture and atmosphere.
While college visits can be beneficial, senior Nathan Mullin did not find that they impacted his college decision. Mullin visited Georgetown University with his older brother Michael Mullin ’23 and said, “The visit was good, and I enjoyed myself there and found the campus was nice, but it wasn’t anything different than what I learned online.” Mullin also said that most college visits feel very cut and dried.
A college visit may not answer all your questions, but it does give you a connection to your school. Whether you visit or not, college shapes the rest of your life, so you don’t want to regret your decision.
