3. College Visits
Personally visiting colleges is a particularly effective form of research. When you’re physically at a campus, you can use all five senses to check it out. You can see what the campus environment, surrounding community, students, and faculty look like, and judge whether you resonate with what you observe. You can hear the clamor of university life — or sometimes the lack of it — and decide if that’s what you want. You can taste the food in the dorms or cafes and judge whether it pleases you. You can “smell” the energy of the student body and note if it matches your own. Finally, you can touch the books at the bookstore and library, the staircases and bulletin boards of different buildings, the benches and grass on the quads, the overstuffed chairs and room decorations in the student center, and determine your comfort with them. In other words, use your “sixth sense,” or gut feelings to assess whether a particular college is one that feels like home.

For more information on Visiting Colleges, go to Guide 6.

adMISSION POSSIBLE® TIP! Many happy college students say that it was their first gut reaction that led them to know whether a particular college was a top candidate for them. Within minutes of arriving on a campus, they report thinking, “I love this place, the people, the town… just everything!” They liken the experience to falling in love. Pay attention to your immediate first reaction to a college; it usually lasts.

4. College Websites and Other Internet Resources
College Websites
College websites offer prospective students lots of information: maps to the campus, course offerings, professor bios and email addresses, various activities, athletic team information and schedules, information about support services such as disability and health services - you name it.

Every college website has a special section devoted just to admissions. Through this, prospective applicants can see what the school’s admissions requirements are, request an application, find application and financial aid deadlines, and download an application.

Other Internet Resources
Almost every day new college admissions blogs, websites, and webinars seem to pop up. Social networking sites around admissions issues are out there too. If you want information about admissions, Google a term or a question and many resources usually show up.

For suggestions of websites, go to Cool Web Links in the Other Resources section of this website.

5. Informational Materials Sent To You By Colleges
Have you ever wondered why you’re suddenly getting mail from colleges from all over the US? The answer is that if you have taken the PSAT, made a phone or website inquiry, or attended a college fair, college marketing departments are following up with letters, brochures, view books, and even videos.

Informational materials describe what individual colleges have to offer; this is useful both for research purposes and also for filling out applications.

6. High School Guidance And Career Centers
Both public and private high schools have counseling offices in which materials from colleges are collected and put on display. These offices are often a good place to do some research.