Getting the most out of your campus visit

Visiting campuses is the most important part of your college decision process, and you should visit as many campuses as possible with a variety of characteristics: large, small, state, and private. A big part of my new position at Lake Erie College is to assist prospective students and coordinate their on campus visit experience.

Visiting colleges can be overwhelming, and sometimes that is very evident when I meet with students during their campus visit. They are flustered, and don't know enough about the school or what they are looking for in a College to ask thoughtful questions.

Here are 5 tips I put together to help you get the most out of your campus visit.

Tip #1: Come Prepared
Before your first campus visit, put together a list of questions to take with you. This will force to you think about what you really want out of your college experience. Make sure to cover everything that is important to you, and be sure that all questions are answered before you leave. When asking questions during your visit, be sure to take notes on the answers.

Tip #2: Spend All Day on Campus
Just meeting with an Admissions Counselor and taking a tour of campus doesn't really give you the full picture of what it is like to be a student at that College. Ask to meet with a professor, or sit in on a class. Eat at least one meal in the dining hall. When you're done on campus, drive around the surrounding area and check out the coffee shop or pizza parlor your tour guide talked about. If you can't devote the whole day to your campus visit, then you should reschedule for a day that you can and never try and visit more than one college in a day.

Tip #3: Visit When Class is in Session
I know it's difficult to miss school, and it may be more convenient to visit colleges during your summer vacation, but you really miss out on seeing the big picture: faculty/student interaction, full classrooms, students hanging out after class, a bustling dining hall. Would you purchase a car without taking it for a test drive first? Visiting a college while class is in session is your college test drive.

Tip #4: Look at Unofficial Publications
Yes, you should read all those fancy publications and letters the Office of Admissions send you - it tells you important information like how to apply for admission, important deadlines, and financial aid opportunities. But when you're on campus, pick up a school newspaper, take a look at the previous year's yearbook, and pay attention to every bulletin board and flier that you see around campus. This will give you an idea of what students at the school are interested in and do outside of the classroom.

Tip #5: Take Time to Gather Your Thoughts
As soon as you get in the car to leave, write down the five things you liked the best about the college and the five things you didn't like in your notes. If you visited with a family member or friend whose opinion matters to you, have them do the same.

Once you've compared your notes from all off the colleges you visited, it doesn't hurt to go back and check out your top 2 or 3 choices again. This is the biggest decision you will have made up to this point in your life. Take it seriously, but have fun!

3 States in 3 Days

Although I'm no longer an Admissions Counselor for a specific geographic territory, I still help out the other counselors by covering college fairs in their area that they're unable to make. I have a busy next few days - as I'll be in in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan in the next 3 days!

Today I covered for Allison and traveled to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now, I am a die-hard Browns fan and wouldn't root for the Steelers if they were playing Iraq, but I do enjoy the city of Pittsburgh. People don't realize that Pittsburgh is less than 2.5 hours from Painesville --- that is closer to Painesville than Columbus, Ohio is!

Being at Duquesne University was great, too. President Victor received his Juris Doctorate degree from Duquesne, so when he started at Lake Erie College an agreement formed where students can spend three years at Lake Erie College then three years at Duquesne University School of Law and receive both a bachelor's degree from LEC and J.D. degree from Duquesne. Students do have to achieve a minimum grade pint average of 3.5 from Lake Erie College and score in the 60th percentile on the LSATs, among other criteria, but overall it is an extremely unique opportunity that isn't available through many other institutions.

Although I have a lot of preparation for the upcoming Campus Visit Day Program and Storm Hits Road Show, I'm excited to be on the road the next couple of days!

Here Comes the Storm!

After a heartbreaking 35-34 loss to Gannon University in the first game of the 2009 season, I was so stoked to be a part of the Tailgate Crew for the football home opener against Fairmont State this afternoon. Last year we lost to Fairmont State 21 - 34, and they were very vocal about their preparations for this year... but the Storm was brewing!

You can't have a football game without a proper tailgate! Lake Erie College hosts a free tailgate to students, faculty, staff, parents and fans before the first home game of every season (and before the Homecoming game). There's food, games, beer (if you are of age, of course) and a ton of LEC spirit! Annex, one of the LEC student organizations, had face painting, Gamma Phi Beta was covering everyone with Stormy tatoos, Kappa Sigma had wristbands and cornhole, and Tau Kappa Epsilon took care of the music. It was a blast!

This game had me on the edge of my seat the entire time (who am I kidding, I was standing and screaming for most of the game, but you know what I mean!) The score was 0 - 0 at the end of the first quarter, and when the Storm scored first, everyone went crazy. There was a lot of back and forth throughout the rest of the game, (including a Fairmont State player getting kicked out of the game for unsportman-like conduct) but the Storm tied up the game with less than 1 minute to go in the 4th quarter.

The Storm was able to hold Fairmont State to a field goal in overtime. After a scary injury to star running back Tony Howard (he didn't come back into the game, however was able to walk off the field... I hope he's back next week!) Quarterback Sean Bedevelsky connected with running back Dave Romeo for the touchdown! Storm wins 27 - 24!!

My favorite moment of the game had to be after the victory, when the entire team came over to the home stands and sang the Lake Erie College fight song. This is a tradition that started in 2007 - the first year for Storm football. They sing it after every game - win or lose - but there's always more spirit after a victory!

The Storm advances to 1 - 1. I can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out!!