Tips for College Tours from a St. Agnes Senior

Sidney Phillips and her cousin, Aaron Pirtle, also a high school senior, making the Longhorn hand signal in front of the Tower at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas.

This summer, my family and I travelled around the country, from LA, Chicago to right here in Texas to tour different colleges and universities. For those high school students about to start visiting schools, here are a few tips I picked up to help you get the most out your college tours. 

1. Keep an open mind 

You may not like every college that you visit, and I especially did not. Some colleges I went to even had me ready to sneak out of the tour the first chance I got, and while not admitting if I did or didn’t do this, I still got something out of every visit. If you find out that you don’t completely love a particular school anymore when you get there, still keep an open mind because you can take things that you learned or liked about one school and compare it to another. 

2. Use your imagination 

Senior Aaron Pirtle from Manvel High School says that while going on a college tour, it’s good to “pretend to be a student there.” Try imagining walking around the campus as a student, along with what taking classes and participating in different activities would be like. Stepping into the shoes of a college student will help you find out if a college or university if the best fit for you and if you could spend the next few years of your life there. 

Sidney Phillips at Pepperdine University in sunny Malibu, California.

3. Mind your guide

If more than one guide is leading a tour, don’t follow the crowd and go straight for the most attractive one. In most cases, college tour guides are the students, so as high school senior, Mia Simon, from St. Agnes Academy advises, “Try to join a tour guide that has the same interests/major as you.” This will give you a more personalized experience and insights into the life of people with similar interests/majors as you. 

4. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with people 

Senior from St. Agnes Academy, Elizabeth Humber, would say to “ask to meet with an admissions representative of whatever department you’re interested in.” At Southern Methodist University, I was able to meet with the Director of Recruiting of Dedman College, in a small group of other high schoolers, and had a great time learning more about the college and its majors/programs. I highly recommend this to students if available because it will give you a more inside look into a school and the major/area of study you want to pursue.

5. Trust your gut  

This, in my opinion, is possibly the best college tour advice of all time. At each school I visited, almost every college student I met had the same thing in common. They all described getting a certain warm fuzzy feeling when they first visited their college or university. While you may not get an epiphany moment when stepping onto a campus, notice how the atmosphere a college or university makes you feel and most importantly if you can see yourself there.