Love at First Sight on Campus Tours?

We'd recently gone on a tour of our state university, and it was fine. From a parent's perspective, I saw it as an overview, a first step, with future visits more focused on academics (classroom visits, etc.) It seemed to feel like the beginning of a friendship, but not love.

Some schools are trying to grab hearts and minds from the start. UNC at Chapel Hill is now offering more personalized tours. The primary tour will place more emphasis on academic buildings. And a second tour, for certain prospects, will allow longer visits to professional schools and departments.

Chapel Hill admissions people see this approach as a way to differentiate it from other schools. It hopes to attract more top state students for visits and encourage greater numbers of academically attractive out-of-state students to apply.

We're new to the campus tour thing. I suspect tour quality is all over the lot. Or maybe, tours are great if teen and parent really want to like the school. One thing is certain: a whole lot of psychology is going on.

First Campus Visit -- A Way to Get Into the Head Game of College

My daughter, a friend of hers and I embarked on that critical first step, the one that brings college just a bit closer. We took a group tour of Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey.

It was my first tour, so there's no way I can compare -- yet. But it seemed to be a good overview: an hour with an admissions officer talking about the school and answering questions, and an hour on a bus touring the campuses that make up Rutgers -- and seeing a model dorm room. Certainly the tour left the girls interested and me better educated about Rutgers and its strong points.

Thank you, Rutgers, for giving two teens their first whiff of higher academics, and encouraging them to start focusing more on their pathway to college.

Thinking about Campus Visits?

Now when I see holidays coming up on the school calendar, I start thinking about visiting campuses. Maybe not formal ones, but visits that allow the sophomore to get a taste of a campus. I have heard about the big-deal junior year trips, usually taken by mom and teen, in which as many schools as possible are squeezed into the several days. It gives me a headache to consider the logistics.

But now there is a site that can help. It's the College Trip Planner on the Go See Campus site. According to a press release, it's a first, offering one-stop access to tours, information sessions and related admissions information at hundreds of schools.

It's probably worth testing -- we all need something to keep us organized.

Summer's Good for Scouting Out Options

Private College Week is a great concept. A number of private schools in a state (Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Virgina and Wisconsin are ones I spotted in a search) group together to offer special tours and presentations all in the same summer week.

This means a family can visit a number of schools during a vacation. The Virgina event, running this week, also offers an incentive; if three or more schools are visited by a student during the week, application fees will be waived on three private colleges among the 25 involved in the program. It's a nice little perk for participating. And it makes the process a lot easier for families if there are a number of target schools in the same state.

Summer's a good time to take campus tours -- they will bring websites and directory descriptions to life and can help in the process of determining the final list. And where to have an interview later.

Our teen has no idea about where she'll want to apply. But that doesn't keep this mom from urging her to start some preliminary thinking. That's why there is a college directory in the car. On that long, long drive to Maine later this summer, just imagine how many colleges we'll pass.