Visit college campuses often. And visit early. If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it 1000 times. Freshmen and sophomores? Do you think it’s too early to visit college campuses? Surprise! It’s not! But don’t take our word for it.
Minnesota sophomore Claire Ficek can tell you all about the benefit of visiting college campuses early. Even before Claire decided to spend her sophomore spring break touring college campuses with her family, we knew she was smart. Claire lives in a suburb of the Twin Cities where she loves riding horses, attending and watching sports events and serving others through mission trips and local service efforts.
Student stories are so important! Claire said it best, “When you hear it from another student, you can really trust what they’re saying.” Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Claire. Here’s our Q&A with Claire about her college campus visit experience over sophomore spring break this year.
How did college campus visits change your definition of your ideal college experience?
Stuff gets real when you see your name on the Visitor Tag!
Claire: Before I visited, I thought maybe I wanted a huge, public university. I thought I wanted a really big school with challenging classes, down in the South. I thought I needed a lot of sports and a lot of things happening around campus.
Now my definition of an ideal college experience is more focused, and it’s different than what I thought.
I visited all these big universities, and I don’t think I could call those places home. I learned how important it is to me to choose a Christian school, because that’s really important to me. So now my ideal college experience is that I want a small-medium-sized, private Christian college with hard classes, down in the South. Having a lot of sports still matters, but it’s on my want (not need) list. I love high school activities and sports, but I don’t know if I could do something like a Tennessee. Definitely I saw an example of what I want at Liberty. They’re building a brand new business school, and I think I want to major in something business or marketing-related. And because I’m considering a minor in Spanish and want to study abroad, that’s a big consideration, too.
How did you decide which schools to include in your college campus visits?
Claire: For some, it was word of mouth or watching college sports and getting curious about those schools. A couple were recommended to us once friends heard we were visiting over spring break. Some we added because they were close to schools we’d already chosen. And I have a couple of friends going to a couple of the colleges we visited.
Were you anxious about visiting colleges?
Claire: At first I was kind of nervous, especially as a sophomore. When I was on the college tours, they’d ask, “How many seniors are here? How many juniors are here?” They usually didn’t even ask about freshmen or sophomores. I also got nervous when I started to feel like the college that we were touring wasn’t the right fit. Like, “What am I doing here?” When I got nervous, I just turned to my dad and said, “I’m not sure this is the right fit.” My Dad said, “We’re just here to get information and learn. Just take notes. It’s fine.” It’s not like we were there to make a final decision or commit to anything. When I remembered that, I was fine.
One of the best parts was talking to students. That was great. Adults all pretty much say the same thing, “We’re an awesome school.” But I really believed what the students told me when I talked to them.
What types of questions did you ask the students?
Claire: I asked what they were majoring in. Things they liked about the college. Where they were from. How they chose the college. Where else they applied. I learned that these are just college kids that are figuring it out along the way. And just a few years ago, they were right where I am now. That was a relief. They were really nice, and seemed eager to answer my questions. It’s not until you get to talk to the students that you really have a good idea of what it’s like to go to school there. What you learn from the students helps you differentiate one school from another.
Another day, another campus. Duke was beautiful!
When we were visiting Kentucky, we were at a restaurant close to campus. We asked a college sophomore sitting next to us where she was from and what it was like here. Turns out she was from Wisconsin. She admitted that on a big campus, she had trouble finding her way at first, but it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was going to be. It was good to get her input.
At Liberty, students talked about how much they’ve grown in their faith. That’s what I needed to hear, because that’s really important to me. The Liberty students said that their professors are there for them. Liberty is now my first choice, after visiting all the colleges we did.
What about the schools you didn’t like? Were those visits still valuable?
Claire: Yes! Even though I didn’t love every school we saw, it was good to visit both schools I liked and schools I didn’t like. I got to see a mix of large university and small, faith-based colleges.
What type of planning did you do before you started your college campus tours?
Claire: I’m a planner, so yeah, we had it all planned out. My dad made a spreadsheet of all the colleges on the southeast coast. A couple of them I was dying to look at just for fun. We did online research about things like majors, cost, size and other facts about the schools. I then picked my top eight that I wanted to see on this trip. Then we mapped it out using Google maps and Google docs to plan the trip. Then we called the schools in advance or went online to register for campus tours there. It was actually fun and pretty easy.
What advantage is there to seeing a lot of colleges in a short amount of time?
Claire: The good thing was, my focus was on college at that time. We had nothing else going on. No distractions. We could just focus on each school. And then right after that touring the college, we’d write notes and compare it to the last one while we were on the drive. With it all happening in the same week, we could compare them and remember. It’s easy to forget if you don’t take notes.
I used a notebook and made pro/con list of every college while touring. My parents and I would debrief during the drive to the next place. I was able to pick up on things my parents noticed that I didn’t notice. Comparing notes was really important.
So now that you’ve done some college campus visits, are your next college planning steps clear?
Claire: Definitely. I’m going to contact my friends who’ve already gone to college and interview them. I’m also doing a lot of online research for private Christian colleges in the South.
What’s your advice to freshmen and sophomores about college campus visits?
My brother Charlie and me. He and my sister Kate are great sports!
Claire: Start small. Just jump online and look at some colleges you might want to visit. Brainstorming is actually really fun. You could even just go visit a random college that’s close by. (That’s what we did back in December.) See what you like, what you don’t like. I have heard friends who are seniors this year say they didn’t know where they’re going yet two months before graduation. I don’t want to be in that position. I’m a planner, so not knowing in the middle of my senior year would add way too much stress for me.
Also, if you start early, you’re a freshman or sophomore and you can still change the classes you’re taking based on what you learn on your visits. For instance, I learned some things about college foreign language requirements that I didn’t know before we visited.
And remember that the schools definitely want you there. They want you to come visit. The college wants anyone and everyone there to visit because they want you, they want new people in the door. Don’t be nervous. Take your time. If you start early, then you have time. If you start late, then you’re in a time crunch. If you do the behind the scenes work first, then you’ve got three years to do it all on your timeline.
Great advice, Claire. Thanks for sharing your college campus visit experience!
For spring break, our high-school junior son, Joe, and I visited five campuses in three cities. It was planes, trains & automobiles, with a dash of Uber.
What was the best part of your college campus visits?
Joe: Definitely talking to students. It takes some guts to approach a college student when you’re a high school student. But once you do it a couple of times, you realize they’re eager to talk with you and super helpful. I got to talk to the students at Kean University for like an hour while sitting in on a design class! That was awesome. Students are the most honest you can get because they’re not trying to sell you anything. They’re just telling you what it’s really like. A professor may tell you, “This class isn’t that hard.” While the students would say otherwise. What you really need is a student’s perspective on what it’s like to be a student there. That’s the perspective you need arguably more than any other.
What do you feel college campus visits offer that you can ONLY get in person?
Joe: You can read a brochure. You can go online. But you can never truly know what the place is like or how it feels until you get on campus. A campus visit gives you a sense of what it would be like to be a student there. It’s way easier to put yourself in the shoes of a student going there when you’re actually there.
What were your biggest surprises from your college campus visits?
Joe: Well for one, I was surprised that I didn’t like art schools. There’s nothing wrong with art schools. For some students, they’re perfect. For me, they’re not. I didn’t learn that from brochures and websites. I had to visit to experience how an art school differs from an Industrial Design program within a larger university.
I was also pleasantly surprised that my favorite schools weren’t the most expensive ones! Big relief! I admit that sometimes I do sort of equate big price tag with “good school”. But my dad always says, “It’s not about whether or not it’s a ‘good school’. It’s about whether or not it’s a good school FOR YOU.”
I didn’t expect to like Boston so much, but I really did. I didn’t expect Auburn to have as much connection to industry as they do. For my chosen field, that’s a big deal. I was biased going in, thinking that schools in big cities would be the only schools with solid connections to companies in Industrial Design. Now I know that industry connections don’t necessarily rely on proximity to a big city as much as on the program and their commitment to making connections happen for students.
What were your biggest a-ha moments from your college campus visits?
Joe: It put my mind at ease. I kept thinking I had to have all the skills going in. But at every school, they said that their job is to equip you to become an Industrial Designer. They don’t expect you to come in with all the answers. So, I was like, “Okay, yeah. I can do this.”
They kept reinforcing that they’ll teach you what you need to know. At Auburn, they kept saying, “You’ll be surprised how far you’ll come.” The seniors were saying, “Yeah, when I came into this program, I could barely draw.” Now they’re doing this big exciting work that’s really impressive. But when they started, they were just like me.
It was amazing and a relief to think, “I don’t need to know it all on Day One.” And that’s not just for ID. That’s for every program.
Now, I feel more confident. No, I don’t have the skills. Yet. But I have the potential to get them. I’m still the slab of marble that needs to be sculpted, but the sculpture’s in there. It just needs to be brought out.
What are some of your favorite go-to questions to ask when you’re visiting a college campus?
Joe: Okay, here are my biggies:
“What kind of student would you say this program is best suited for?”
“What do you do to prepare students for their line of work in this program?”
“How are you different or better than the other schools students most often consider when looking at this program?”
What’s the benefit of spending time within the actual program you’re considering, versus just taking the general campus tour?
Joe: Well, where will you spend most of your time and energy while at school, and why are you there? It’s not to go to a football game or hang out in a dorm. It’s to learn how to be a professional in your chosen field. So you have to spend time learning what that’s all about. For me, it’s all about the design program they have. You can have the prettiest campus in the world or the nicest people or the best dorms, and that won’t make or break your design program. Maybe they have an awesome rec center. Okay, great. But who cares, compared to whether the program you’re interested in is good? All this stuff? It’s all luxuries. A pretty campus doesn’t matter if the program sucks.
At Wentworth, the school seemed fine and all. But I wasn’t really wowed until we spent time in the Industrial Design program. When I saw what they were doing and how they were doing it and talked to students and professors and saw student work on the walls. Then I thought, “Yeah, this is a great option.”
The more you stay on the general campus tour route, the less you can tell the true differences between the different schools you’re considering. Spending time within the program you want to pursue gives you a much better idea of what your life would be like as a student there, day in, day out.
When do you think students should start visiting schools, and why?
Joe: I think students should start visiting schools as early as possible. Even if you’re uncertain about what you want to study, that’s why you should start early. Freshmen, sophomores. Or even earlier. You don’t want to be short on experience and knowledge of what your options are. If you start early, you can see firsthand, you can better solidify your decision about whether you want to do it or not. If you explore and you find out that’s NOT what you want to do, awesome! You found that out early.
Even if you don’t know what you want to do, get out there, get your mind on your future and what the possibilities are. It’s good to start thinking, start figuring out what you like and what you don’t like. College tours can help you better make that decision. If you get your mind on College, you’re going to be thinking the right way.
You’ll feel welcomed on the campus. Let’s face it, they will see you as a prospective customer, so they want you to visit their school! We’re all in the same boat here. They’ve been in the same shoes as you. The students will want to share the info with you. The faculty will want to share info with you. But I was glad that no one really puts any pressure on you. They do want you to make the right decision for you. Plus it’s really fun to visit schools and think about all the possibilities.
During my son Jack’s junior year of high school, the two of us took a trip to visit colleges. While we were in Boston, we walked the Freedom Trail, which is really great. I highly recommend it. What I don’t recommend is coming to the end of the trail at night, in the dark, miles from your hotel. And then both our phones died. And then it started raining. And then it started pouring. I suggested a cab. Jack insisted we walk, because how far could it be really? We’ll find our way. It must be just around this corner. Nope, we should have turned left back there. Any moment now. Any moment, the rain will ease up. Or something will look familiar. Or we’ll find someone who knows the way. Any moment now.
We were cold. We were drenched. We were hungry. I was crabby. Like red-faced F-bomb crabby. Still, Jack dismissed the idea of taking a cab. (Anyone else have a child who chooses the harder path, always?) We argued. But still we trudged on. What seemed like hours later, things started to look familiar once again, and we eventually arrived safely at our hotel.
Adversity Looks Like Victory, But Only In The Rearview Mirror
Now, when we look back on this memory, Jack doesn’t seem to remember the cold or the rain or the dark or the hunger or my crabbiness or the swearing. He says, “Remember that time when we were lost in Boston and I got us back to the hotel without a map or a cab?” What felt like adversity, defeat and misery at the time now looks like victory. Hindsight works like that.
But to be able to look back, you have to get through it. And the job of getting through it sucks sometimes. It really sucks.
One of my favorite podcasts is “How I Built This”. I’ve suggested to more than one friend that they tune in and have their rocky road child tune in, too. How I Built This features Guy Raz interviewing entrepreneurs who’ve made it. REALLY made it. Like Bobbi Brown of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics or Bob of Bob’s Red Mill or John Mackey of Whole Foods Market or Jake Carpenter of Burton Snowboards or Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran or Chicken Salad Chick’s Stacy Brown. If all you see is their photo in Forbes magazine, you see the easy life. It’s tempting to think they just knew all the right steps to take, or they figured out something I didn’t. Maybe they were smarter, luckier or more privileged. But almost without fail, these folks took a long, winding road. They trudged rocky, painful paths. Dropping out of high school. Dropping out of college. Not going to college in the first place. Being told you’ll never amount to anything. Being told you’re stupid, crazy or complete inept. Being the weird kid. Dealing with dyslexia. Overcoming addiction and depression. Having a marriage or an entire family fall apart. Losing a loved one. Having your factory burn to the ground. Going bankrupt and starting over again. Being asked to leave the company you started.
Real glamourous stuff. But they kept on going. They stuck to their rocky path. They shrugged suggestions that they should choose a more “practical”, “easier” path. They ignored the haters. They tried and failed, tried and failed and tried again.
To Students on a Rocky Road
Is your way forward really unclear, painful, bleak or completely hidden from view? Does it feel like everyone else got a how-to manual for life that you didn’t? Does it seem like every turn takes you further and further from what you think you want? Have hope.
When you look around, if all you see are bright, shiny people who seem to have everything figured out, there is one of three things happening: 1) You’re surrounded by the wrong people, 2) You don’t know those people as well as you think, or 3) You’re not seeing things clearly or completely. A fourth problem is perhaps that you’re spending too much time looking around at others, instead of focusing on what’s right for you and figuring out how to pursue it with all that you are.
In his college planning work with students at OnCampus College Planning, Tom has learned something really important. Everyone is going through something. EVERYONE. You may not always see it. And those bright and shiny kids who seem to have the world by the tail, 1500 Instagram followers and a date to the prom? Yup, they’re going through something, too.
Stay focused on your path, however rocky it may be. Keep moving forward, one baby step at a time. Be yourself. Fully yourself. Because that’s who you are wired to be. I love the line, “Be yourself, ‘cuz everyone else is already taken.”
Surround yourself with one or two truly authentic friends to whom you can speak your truth, and then hear and embrace their truth. If authentic friends are in short supply (‘cuz sometimes they are), talk to an adult who’s grown up enough to admit they don’t have it all figured out. Ask a counselor, family friend, Mom, Dad, youth group leader or coach this key question, “Hey, when you were my age, did you ever feel like things were just never, ever gonna work out?” I PROMISE YOU. They’ll be able to tell you a war story that will give you hope, make you laugh, shock you, or at least make you realize that you’re just like everybody else. You’re not alone. You’re just as confused, messed up and broken, AND you’re just as full of potential, beautiful and awesome as the rest of us. We’re all in the soup together.
To Parents On A Rocky Road
Moms and Dads, some of you (statistically speaking, most of you) have kids who are on a rocky road. I feel your pain. I have been there. We want smooth, pain-free journeys for our kids, with certain outcomes and bright futures. Sometimes we even short-circuit critical life lessons for our kids, in an effort to “put them back on the straight and narrow”, to “save them”. Once in a while that works. Usually it doesn’t. I have no quick tips or “3 easy steps” to deal with rocky road kids. There’s way more gray than black and white in that area.
I can only say there is hope. I’ve seen it. Some of my very favorite grown-ups had winding, rocky roads on their way to adulthood. Some of those paths were so rocky, those folks almost didn’t survive. But they did make it. The real gems in my life are the very people who were charred, broken bits of coal at one time who withstood the pressure, let adversity change them and emerged brilliantly from the wreckage. On their own timeline. In their own way. Once the lessons sunk in and their way forward was clear. And there was nothing anybody could have done to rush them along or change their course. They had to navigate the rocky road on their own, because that was the only path that led where they were ultimately supposed to end up.
The Road’s Still Rocky Sometimes, But I’m Stronger Now
I have wandered a rocky, meandering, sometimes really painful path. Now, looking back, I can see that I wouldn’t be the person I am today, nor would I have the precious, genuine friendships I have today had my path been all rainbows and kittens. Today, I wouldn’t trade my scars and bruises for anything, because I know they were the price I had to pay for the treasure I have now.
Today, I’m grateful. But at that time, I was miserable. I didn’t think I’d make it. And I would have given anything for smoother, more scenic travels.
Now when someone I love is on a rocky path that seems to be headed straight for disaster, or when I fall down and bang my head on another rock, I know that this, too, shall pass. It’s not easy. It hurts like hell. But maybe this path is the one they had to take, or I have to take, in order to get where I’m supposed to be. Maybe the smoother path doesn’t actually lead where I’m supposed to go, as alluring as it may be.
In the tough moments, I phone a friend who knows my mess and loves me anyway. I pray. I have a cup of tea, and I go to bed early. I listen to a podcast or read a story about someone who narrowly avoided disaster and lived to tell about it.
And I remember that rocky roads will get you there, too.
Photo Credits: Thank you to these talented photographers for their awesome images.
Adding a campus visit to your spring break travel plans can be fun and productive, even if you have never visited a college and college application time is a long way off. For those resisting already, let me address your objections, one by one:
There aren’t any colleges we’re interested in where we’re going (Even better! No pressure to make any big decisions then.)
My child is only in 7th (8th, 9th, 10th grade) (Perfect! It’s never too early to start exposing your child to the college environment to get their wheels turning and get them excited about their future.)
I’ll bet there aren’t any colleges where we’re going (“False.” Dwight Schrute)
We won’t have a car (Uber. Ever heard of it?)
My child won’t want to. (Yeah, I didn’t want to go to balmy rural Nebraska for spring break either. But no one asked me. They just said, “Get in the car, or I’ll really give you something to cry about.” Or something like that.)
We’re staying home (Great! Then you can check out colleges near your home. Perfect day trip.)
I don’t know what we’re doing for spring break yet (A college you’ve always been curious about could help you nail down a destination.)
Look, I can’t make you go on a campus visit. But I can tell you you’ll be glad if you do. It doesn’t have to take up your entire vacation. No matter where you’re going, you can add a campus visit that lasts a day, a morning or an hour.
Why You Should Start College Campus Visits Way Before Junior Year
As a college planner, I’m a huge advocate for visiting college campuses early and often, beginning in middle school and certainly well before junior year. Things are less overwhelming, more familiar and more comfortable the more you do them.
Wouldn’t you rather get your first college campus visits under your belt before you’re in the throes of college planning?
My sons have been taking campus visits since they were in elementary school. (Granted, I’m in the biz, and I’ve visited more than 130 campuses around the country.) Once Jack and Joe were juniors in high school and we were in the thick of college planning, the brilliance of early campus visits came to life for me. During campus visits for schools they were seriously considering, they already had a general understanding of what “College” was. They’d been on big campuses and small campuses. They’d seen private colleges and public colleges. They’d seen colleges in cities and colleges in small towns. The job of evaluating a particular school was much easier because they had something to compare it to.
Options for College Campus Visits That Fit Every Age and Interest Level
Schedule an official Campus Visit Tour.
Go to any college website, and you’ll find “Admissions”. There you’ll find info about visiting the campus. Colleges WANT you to visit, because they WANT to attract prospective students. They don’t care if you’re not applying soon. They love the exposure. Therefore, they make campus visit information easy to find. You can call or email the college to find out when they do tours, and then register for one that works for you. Campus tours typically take 2-3 hours and will give you a good idea of the highlights about that particular campus. Note: To get the most out of your visit, make sure they don’t have spring break at that time. The college website or admissions personnel can provide this information.
Take a Self-Guided Campus Visit.
While not as thorough as a guided tour, you can guide your own campus visit with a map of the campus that you grab from the visitor’s center or admissions office. College campuses are wide open, welcoming places, and you can walk freely all over campus on your own self-guided tour. You’ll get a good idea of what the campus feels like, what type of people are strolling around, what the facilities and amenities look like and more. A self-guided campus visit is a solid option for younger students who can’t be cajoled into an official tour. It also lets you control how long you spend visiting, so you can get back to other spring break activities on your own schedule.
Opt for a drive-by campus visit.
This is exactly what it sounds like. While you’re out and about exploring your spring break destination, drive through the college campus nearby. It’s obviously less thorough than a walking tour, but it accomplishes the goal of getting a feel for the campus. It doesn’t take long, and any campus visit is better than no campus visit.
Piggy-back a college campus visit on other site-seeing.
Just as State Street in Madison is right next to the University of Wisconsin, the best parts of many cities are right near college campuses. College campuses typically have fantastic art museums, wonderful theater productions, great athletic events, beautiful gardens and grounds and fun, quirky bookstores and coffee shops. Check them out!
For more on how to make the most of campus visits including what to ask, where to go, what NOT to do and who to talk to, download our free campus visit guide. It makes for great reading on the drive. We also have a Campus Visit Bullet Journal you can download. This handy one-pager is a helpful note-taking tool while you’re on a campus visit.
To get results most people don’t, you need to do what most people won’t.
We’re closing in on a couple of key ACT exam dates in February. There are some really hard-working students out there who are tired. It’s shaky leg time. It’s mile 20 of a 26.2-mile marathon. It’s that moment when you’ve climbed down into the canyon, and now it’s time to climb back up the other side.
It’s time to dig deep. It’s time to do what most people won’t, so that you can earn the results most people don’t. Here are thoughts for finishing strong, when you feel like giving up.
Remember Your Why
In our work with students prepping for the ACT, planning for college and tackling college applications, we’re sticklers for setting goals and reviewing them often. Keep your why in front of you. I don’t mean the numeric goal you’re trying to achieve. I mean remembering WHY you want to hit that goal.
Why did you set out on this journey in the first place? What’s the goal you’re aiming for? Is it admittance to the college of your dreams? Is it earning merit aid to reduce the cost of college? Is it proving to yourself what you’re truly capable of if you give it your all? Is it silencing that small voice inside your head that whispers you can’t do it? When you’re in the valley and have a steep climb ahead, get clear about your why, recommit yourself to it and take the next step forward.
Focus on the Next Step
Planning the work and working the plan is a key part of our work with students prepping for the ACT, and it’s a key part of reaching any goal worth achieving. A rock climber knows that in order to reach the top of the cliff, they need to focus on the next step of the journey. No matter what your goal is, avoid the tendency to focus on the finish line. Instead, keep your eyes on the next step you need to take.
When we’re prepping for the ACT with students, we keep our eyes on the next task. Students will often hear us remind them to, “Don’t focus on the number. Focus on the question right in front of you.” The end goal can be daunting. And when you’re in the valley and feeling tired and discouraged, it can feel unattainable. Put your head down, review your plan, get clear about what your next step is and take that step.
Celebrate Progress Along the Way
No matter how far you walk, the horizon will always lie the same distance ahead of you. It doesn’t mean you haven’t come a long distance already. When we’re focused on a big, hairy, audacious goal, we can experience a similar effect. When you’re weary and have a steep journey ahead of you before you reach your destination, you may forget that you’ve already come so far!
In our work with students prepping for the ACT, we establish baseline scores and progress along the way and encourage students and parents to note progress made along the way. This is critical for maintaining momentum toward the end goal.
Look back. Review your progress to date. A rock climber will soon become discouraged if they only look ahead and never look back to remind themselves how far they’ve already climbed.
Take stock of specific skills you have that you didn’t have a few weeks ago. Review where you were when you first started and celebrate the fact that your hard work is paying off! Be encouraged by the fact that if you’ve made that kind of progress, you have it in you to climb the rest of the way, if you just keep doing what you’ve been doing and trust the process.
Visualize The Glorious View from the Summit
I love the mantra, “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.”
Close your eyes. Imagine being done with the ACT, or reaching the top of whatever mountain you’re climbing. How’s the view from up there? How do you feel, knowing you dug deep, kept going when you felt like quitting and gave it your all in order to reach your goal? Let that image motivate you to keep going.
At the same time, if you really feel like quitting, imagine how you’ll feel the day after the ACT exam if you DID NOT put everything you’ve got into working the plan you outlined, doing the work, applying what you’ve learned. Imagine how you’ll feel if you phoned it in for the last part of the climb and came up short.
Numbers are great. But what really makes me smile is seeing the look on a student’s face when they’ve pushed through challenges and doubled down on the work. That’s the best mountaintop view of them all. More important than hitting a specific number is fulfilling the promise you make to yourself to give it everything you’ve got and prove to yourself what you’re truly capable of.
Ask yourself now, while the journey’s still hard, “is this the best I can do”? Not in terms of results, but in terms of effort. Am I giving this my best effort? If you give it your best effort, if you follow the plan, if you do the work, then the results will come in time.
The Right Sherpa for the Climb
If you plan to take the ACT in the next six months and have questions about how our ACT Test Prep Coaches can be your Sherpa for reaching your goals, give us a call. We’ve helped countless students reach new heights when prepping for the ACT, finding the right colleges and earning acceptance and merit aid to their college of choice. We’d love to help you. Schedule your free consult today to learn more.
Claire: At first I was kind of nervous, especially as a sophomore. When I was on the college tours, they’d ask, “How many seniors are here? How many juniors are here?” They usually didn’t even ask about freshmen or sophomores. I also got nervous when I started to feel like the college that we were touring wasn’t the right fit. Like, “What am I doing here?” When I got nervous, I just turned to my dad and said, “I’m not sure this is the right fit.” My Dad said, “We’re just here to get information and learn. Just take notes. It’s fine.” It’s not like we were there to make a final decision or commit to anything. When I remembered that, I was fine.
Claire: I’m a planner, so yeah, we had it all planned out. My dad made a spreadsheet of all the colleges on the southeast coast. A couple of them I was dying to look at just for fun. We did online research about things like majors, cost, size and other facts about the schools. I then picked my top eight that I wanted to see on this trip. Then we mapped it out using Google maps and Google docs to plan the trip. Then we called the schools in advance or went online to register for campus tours there. It was actually fun and pretty easy.
Claire: The good thing was, my focus was on college at that time. We had nothing else going on. No distractions. We could just focus on each school. And then right after that touring the college, we’d write notes and compare it to the last one while we were on the drive. With it all happening in the same week, we could compare them and remember. It’s easy to forget if you don’t take notes.
Joe: Definitely talking to students. It takes some guts to approach a college student when you’re a high school student. But once you do it a couple of times, you realize they’re eager to talk with you and super helpful. I got to talk to the students at Kean University for like an hour while sitting in on a design class! That was awesome. Students are the most honest you can get because they’re not trying to sell you anything. They’re just telling you what it’s really like. A professor may tell you, “This class isn’t that hard.” While the students would say otherwise. What you really need is a student’s perspective on what it’s like to be a student there. That’s the perspective you need arguably more than any other.
Joe: Well for one, I was surprised that I didn’t like art schools. There’s nothing wrong with art schools. For some students, they’re perfect. For me, they’re not. I didn’t learn that from brochures and websites. I had to visit to experience how an art school differs from an Industrial Design program within a larger university.
I didn’t expect to like Boston so much, but I really did. I didn’t expect Auburn to have as much connection to industry as they do. For my chosen field, that’s a big deal. I was biased going in, thinking that schools in big cities would be the only schools with solid connections to companies in Industrial Design. Now I know that industry connections don’t necessarily rely on proximity to a big city as much as on the program and their commitment to making connections happen for students.
They kept reinforcing that they’ll teach you what you need to know. At Auburn, they kept saying, “You’ll be surprised how far you’ll come.” The seniors were saying, “Yeah, when I came into this program, I could barely draw.” Now they’re doing this big exciting work that’s really impressive. But when they started, they were just like me.
What’s the benefit of spending time within the actual program you’re considering, versus just taking the general campus tour?
At Wentworth, the school seemed fine and all. But I wasn’t really wowed until we spent time in the Industrial Design program. When I saw what they were doing and how they were doing it and talked to students and professors and saw student work on the walls. Then I thought, “Yeah, this is a great option.”
You’ll feel welcomed on the campus. Let’s face it, they will see you as a prospective customer, so they want you to visit their school! We’re all in the same boat here. They’ve been in the same shoes as you. The students will want to share the info with you. The faculty will want to share info with you. But I was glad that no one really puts any pressure on you. They do want you to make the right decision for you. Plus it’s really fun to visit schools and think about all the possibilities.
Now, when we look back on this memory, Jack doesn’t seem to remember the cold or the rain or the dark or the hunger or my crabbiness or the swearing. He says, “Remember that time when we were lost in Boston and I got us back to the hotel without a map or a cab?” What felt like adversity, defeat and misery at the time now looks like victory. Hindsight works like that.
Is your way forward really unclear, painful, bleak or completely hidden from view? Does it feel like everyone else got a how-to manual for life that you didn’t? Does it seem like every turn takes you further and further from what you think you want? Have hope.
Surround yourself with one or two truly authentic friends to whom you can speak your truth, and then hear and embrace their truth. If authentic friends are in short supply (‘cuz sometimes they are), talk to an adult who’s grown up enough to admit they don’t have it all figured out. Ask a counselor, family friend, Mom, Dad, youth group leader or coach this key question, “Hey, when you were my age, did you ever feel like things were just never, ever gonna work out?” I PROMISE YOU. They’ll be able to tell you a war story that will give you hope, make you laugh, shock you, or at least make you realize that you’re just like everybody else. You’re not alone. You’re just as confused, messed up and broken, AND you’re just as full of potential, beautiful and awesome as the rest of us. We’re all in the soup together.
I can only say there is hope. I’ve seen it. Some of my very favorite grown-ups had winding, rocky roads on their way to adulthood. Some of those paths were so rocky, those folks almost didn’t survive. But they did make it. The real gems in my life are the very people who were charred, broken bits of coal at one time who withstood the pressure, let adversity change them and emerged brilliantly from the wreckage. On their own timeline. In their own way. Once the lessons sunk in and their way forward was clear. And there was nothing anybody could have done to rush them along or change their course. They had to navigate the rocky road on their own, because that was the only path that led where they were ultimately supposed to end up.
Now when someone I love is on a rocky path that seems to be headed straight for disaster, or when I fall down and bang my head on another rock, I know that this, too, shall pass. It’s not easy. It hurts like hell. But maybe this path is the one they had to take, or I have to take, in order to get where I’m supposed to be. Maybe the smoother path doesn’t actually lead where I’m supposed to go, as alluring as it may be.
Look, I can’t make you go on a campus visit. But I can tell you you’ll be glad if you do. It doesn’t have to take up your entire vacation. No matter where you’re going, you can add a campus visit that lasts a day, a morning or an hour.
Schedule an official Campus Visit Tour.
Planning the work and working the plan is a key part of our work with students prepping for the ACT, and it’s a key part of reaching any goal worth achieving. A rock climber knows that in order to reach the top of the cliff, they need to focus on the next step of the journey. No matter what your goal is, avoid the tendency to focus on the finish line. Instead, keep your eyes on the next step you need to take.
In our work with students prepping for the ACT, we establish baseline scores and progress along the way and encourage students and parents to note progress made along the way. This is critical for maintaining momentum toward the end goal.
I love the mantra, “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.”
If you plan to take the ACT in the next six months and have questions about how our
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