AS YOU BEGIN TO WHITTLE DOWN YOUR LIST of schools and start planning campus visits, you’ll find that getting an idea for what a college is really like requires more than navigating its website. There are limited photos, carefully crafted descriptions and only the most glowing testimonials from students. So how are prospective students supposed to get a realistic feel for a college? Here are some things that might help.
1. CHECK OUT FLICKR.
This photo management and sharing site can give you a visual feel for the college’s activities, weather, diversity and school spirit, among other things. Candid photos can usually tell you much more than carefully chosen marketing images.
2. READ THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER.
Many schools have online archives of their college newspaper and just a few editions can tell you a lot about a college. The professors continue to win awards. Several fraternities are in trouble for hazing. The event calendar is maxed with lots of music and artsy stuff. There’s a campus-wide cheating scandal. Are you seeing more positive or negative news?
3. REVIEW THE CRIME REPORT.
Evaluating a college isn’t just about academics and fun. Student safety and security should be a priority. The U.S. Department of Education hosts the Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool. It’s a long name for a website (www.ope.ed.gov/security) that lets you quickly look up a school’s safety data.
4. WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEOS.
Look beyond the videos that the college administration posts and you’ll likely get some behind-the-scenes footage from students.
5. LOOK INTO PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAMS.
If you’re looking for a fun way to spend your summer, earn college credit and get a day-in-the-life experience of a college you’re considering, see if the school has a pre-college program. Most will have you eating, sleeping and learning on campus just as if you were a college freshman.
6. SKIM THE SCHOOL’S SOCIAL MEDIA.
Almost every college now uses some form of social media, be it Facebook, Twitter or blogs. Although these are controlled by the administration, some allow students to post photos, videos and calendar events. Either way, you’ll usually get a much more diverse and updated snapshot of the college than you would from a PR department’s pamphlet.
Once you finally head to those schools worthy of your time, money and frequent flyer miles, be sure to talk to professors and students. This is probably the best way to get a feel for a college. (Read more about this in our article on campus visits on page 36.) As Genna Mongillo, admission counselor at Loyola University Maryland, points out: “Recruitment materials, guidebooks and the Web can help you become familiar with a university, but to truly have a sense of community, you need to experience campus life firsthand.”
