Plan ahead for next weekend

I want you to plan ahead for next weekend so that you can take advantage of the fact that we have a long weekend coming up.  For many students this is the perfect opportunity to make a college visit.  Many colleges will host special visit days on Monday because they know that high school students are off and so they often plan days that will allow students to learn more about the different programs and opportunities that are available on campus.  No matter if you are trying to decide what colleges you might want to apply to in the future or if you are a senior trying to decide which of the many schools you applied to will be your future home, I hope you will try to take advantage of the long weekend and make visits.

If you are going to make a visit on a college campus, please make sure to take a picture somewhere on campus for me! For the record, the picture can be anywhere on campus, but I would like you in the picture!  So, pick out a pretty place on campus, find a cool sign announcing the college's name, or snap a picture in front of the building that houses your major where you anticipate spending most of your time in the future.

If you have no idea what colleges you might be interested in for the future, you can still make use of the long weekend to start exploring colleges.  You can, of course, begin your search online and try to find colleges that fit your interests, but more often than not, students tell me that they don't know what they want in a college.  If that is you, then perhaps starting your college search by exploring some nearby campuses would be a valuable use of your time.  As you walk around the campus, people watch and listen to the presentations by the college admissions representatives, you will begin to gain insight into various aspects of college life.  From these impressions you will be able to start forming an impression of what you like and what you don't like.  These views will be extremely valuable to you as you start narrowing your college search.

And finally, a reminder that students should be the one to call the admissions offices to set up the college visits rather than having your parents do this for you.  Remember, you are trying to show the colleges that YOU are interested in their college and that you are mature and responsible enough to take this level of initiative.