The fall is a great time to visit colleges.  Classes are back in session.  The culture of the campus is very evident.  There’s a lot of activity, energy, and you really get a chance to see what the college is like.  Now is the time to pack up the car or get your tickets and head to the colleges.

There are a few things you always want to make sure you get done on a campus visit:

Take a campus tour.  Although campus tours are typically heavily orchestrated by the admissions department, there is no better way to get a quick overview and feel for the college.

Sit in on a class.  Or two would be even better.  See if you might be able to get in on a lecture in a field that you might be studying while you’re there.  Pay attention to the lecture size and attendance by the students.  Then try to get in on a discussion class to see what the other side of the class structure is like.  If you’re visiting a relatively smaller campus, they probably won’t have the classes segmented into lecture and discussion; so you can go spend more time elsewhere.

Check out the dorms.  You’ll be living there, so you better know what you’re in for.

Take a drive around town.  Get a feel for the surrounding area.  Are there things to do while you’re not studying?

Imagine what the campus will be like year round.  Will there be lots of snow to deal with?  Are the summers scorchers?

Below is a college visit checklist.  Click on the picture to download a copy of it.  Use the “to-do” list to cover your bases.  Find a student, not on the tour, to ask questions of.  Rate your experience so you have solid information to compare this campus against the other colleges you will visit.  This information will be invaluable when it comes time to decide where you will attend or apply to.

You may not be able to get to all of the schools you want to visit.  That’s ok.  In fact, you may want to visit some close by colleges you might not be seriously considering just so you can get a better feel for college in general.  The more colleges you visit, the better decisions you are likely to make.

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High school seniors should already be deep into the college search process.  If you’re not, it’s time to get on the ball!  Some of you are already moving on to the college admissions applications.  Congratulations!  Way to stay ahead of the game.  But for the majority of us, here are 4 steps for the fall.

Step 1: Don’t get hung up on knowing exactly what you want to study.  It’s great if you know your chosen field, but it is not critical to the admissions application process.  Many schools will allow you to apply as “undecided” or under the general “liberal arts” banner.  Even if you do apply under one major and decide a year or two later to change your major, you are not alone.  Half of college students change their major at least once.

Step 2:  Identify at least six colleges that you feel comfortable applying to for admission.  I cannot stress enough the importance of avoiding the idea that there is only one or two schools that are worthy to apply to.  That is a recipe for disaster.  Try to get in as many campus visits as you can.  The more college campuses you visit, the easier it is to identify what you want in a college.  Applying to multiple colleges will give you real options when it comes time to decide where you will ultimately go for your first year.  Applying to multiple schools is also an important aspect of securing the best opportunities for the monies available from different colleges.  Here again, don’t think that your choice will be set in stone.  One third of all college students transfer to another college at least once.

Step 3:  Complete your admission applications.  I recommend you have your admissions applications done by the end of October.  If the schools require letters of recommendation, make sure you get your letter requests to your teachers, guidance counselors, pastors, etc. as soon as possible.  The later you wait, the more requests they will have to sort through.  And here’s a tip that will be a huge help… Write up a recommendation cheat sheet for those who you make requests.  On this cheat sheet (no more than one page) include your high schools activities, interests, achievements, etc.  This will be a big help to those who are trying to sort through 30 or 40 or more different letter requests.

Step 4:  Do not make a decision of where you will be going to college anytime this fall.  You still don’t know what college is going to cost you.  There is no other purchase that you would make without knowing what the cost is, so don’t start now.  You still have the financial applications to go through.  Most of the financial application won’t be available to you until next January (the FAFSA form).  Some colleges will want a CSS Profile, but even that isn’t available until October or November.  99% of the time, you need to wait until the financial forms are filed and you have the financial award offers back from the schools before you should make any decision of what school to choose.  And that won’t be until next March or April.

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Quite often I hear from parents and students who just don’t feel like they know how to start the college search process.  Let me provide you with six steps to starting a college search.

Step 1 – Be Flexible — One of the biggest stumbling blocks to beginning the college search is starting with preconceived notions about finding the right college.  Eliminate now from your thinking that only public or only private colleges are right.  Eliminate the idea that some college beauty pageant list like US News is going to tell what the right college is.  And eliminate the idea that if the “sticker price” appears too high, the school is off the list.  Start with a blank slate.

Step 2 – Start Now — Yes, now.  The more time that you put into the college search, the better decisions will be made.  Starting early allows you to take time… have fun with the process.  If you get a head start on the process, then the student won’t feel like the search is running (or ruining) their life.  Starting early allows you to pace yourself, ask more questions, and get the right input.

Step 3 – Visit Colleges — Any colleges.  It doesn’t matter if they are schools the student is interested in, just visit them.  Go on their campus tours.  Students will gather valuable information about what they like and what they don’t like by visiting any college campus.  If there are colleges nearby where you live, then go for a campus visit.  If there is a college near where you will be travelling on a vacation, then stop by for a college tour.  And try to visit different types of colleges and universities.  Let the student see what a small town, liberal arts college like Grinnell is like.  Let them see what a 40,000 student urban campus like ASU is like.  Show them what a small college in a big city is like.  My alma matre, Jacksonville University, is 3,000 students in a city of a million.  I loved it compared to the typical Big Ten, city-wide campus of the University of Iowa where I started.

Step 4 – Ask Yourself Questions — Start asking the right questions.  Close to home, or across the country?  Big campus, or small campus?  City or country?  What major or majors might I want to study?  The college search engines on the Internet, like the one at Collegeboard.com, can help you come up with great questions to ask.  Personally, I think “where?” is one of the first questions to tackle.  You can find great schools anywhere in the country.  College is one of the few times when a person can have complete freedom in choosing where they want to live.  So you might as well pick someplace you’ll enjoy?  On the beach?  In the mountains?  Where it’s cold?  Where it’s warm?  The field is wide open.  You’ll always find great colleges no matter where you pick.

Step 5 – Make a List — Your questions will lead you to answers that are likes, dislikes, and must haves.  Start listing those answers.  As you build your list, you will be building the profile of your desired colleges.

Step 6 – Be Flexible – I started with flexibility, and I’ll finish with it as well.  Always make sure that your list is broad enough to include 6 to 10 different colleges, because that’s how many you will need to apply.  And don’t feel like the decision you make as to where you commit for your freshman year in college is set in stone.  Over one-third of college students transfer to another college at least once.  If you find out you don’t like it at a college, you can always change.

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