Touring Around: Seniors share the benefits of college tours

As spring comes into focus, seniors face more pressure about what they plan to do for their next step in their lives.

For those attending a college or university there can be multiple steps that students can take to help prepare them for college including college visits.

“College visits are one of the major factors in my decision,” senior Griffin Loehr said. 

According to an online survey of 39 senior respondents, 74% of students have been on a college tour. 

“You can only see so much online through pictures of the school’s atmosphere,” senior Justin Walls said. “It can be very different from real life than what you see online.”

According to senior Oscar Ludwikowski, college visits allowed him to gain a better understanding of general information, student life and study abroad programs of that college. 

“I learned that certain colleges are more prestigious than I thought they were,” Ludwikowski said. 

For athletes, a main part of preparing for college is getting to gain a feel for the team’s community, according to senior Isaiah Coppage after visiting the University of Kansas for football.

“The moment that really narrowed it down and when I was like ‘I have to go here’ was when I was with the wide receiver coach, Coach Samuel, and he sat me down and told me what they wanted out of me,” Coppage said. “He really broke down how KU football was run and I got to pick his brain to see what he was thinking.” 

Kansas Wesleyan University soccer commit, senior Xander Christian, said his college decision was based on the facilities for sports teams. 

“If I didn’t get a good feel for the facilities, it narrowed my decision down quicker,” Christian said. 

According to senior Mimi Gurrola, visiting over five colleges shifted where she planned to attend in the fall.

“Avila was one that I had really high hopes for, and then I went on a visit and decided it wasn’t for me,” Gurrola said. 

After visiting both small and large schools, senior Maria Nguyen said being able to spend a day on campus and put herself in the shoes of a student was needed to see where she fit in.

“My older sister toured K-State before she chose to go to Benedictine and she didn’t like [K-State] so I had a preconception that I wouldn’t like it,” Nguyen said. “But when I got there, it was just a great environment and I could totally see myself going there.”

Similar to Nguyen, Gurrola believes that college tours provide students insights into their future and gives them a glimpse into the community.

“I chose to go on college visits because I was able to see how the college is maintained and how everything there works,” Gurrola said.