In the midst of college applications, Paly on-campus college visits are not only the perfect way to learn more about a school, but also a good way to meet with a representative from that college. With up to five college visits a day and more than 150 visits per year, from liberal arts colleges to pre-professional universities, the College and Career Center (CCC) offers a variety of opportunities for students to learn more about the colleges they are applying to.

In the beginning of the school year, the College and Career Center posts the college visits for the upcoming months both on Naviance and on a calendar bulletin  located in the Tower building in front of the CCC. It can also be accessed on the daily bulletin via the Paly school website.

In order to attend these meetings, it is required to have a slip signed 24 hour in advance by the student’s teacher of the class when the college will be visiting. This form can be picked up at the College Career Center or downloaded from the CCC website (which is linked on the Paly website) under the “College Visits to Paly” tab.

Five days a week, almost every hour, representatives from all around the world come to talk about their colleges and answer any questions students may have. These sessions usually run for 45 minutes; just enough time to talk about the academic life, college social scene, and application process.

“The college visits have definitely helped,” senior Alexia Garcia said. “You can get informations from the website and the alumni’s of the school but it is nice to get a professional inside scoop from the representatives. They not only know the life on campus but also the admission statistics.”

Visiting the college campus can sometimes be a time-consuming and expensive trip so college visits are a great alternative for students to ask questions about the school and get more information about the programs.

“It saves you the time from attending a college information center during a college visit because it is pretty much the same thing, senior Josh Oh said. “ They say the same information and you can ask question like you would at a normal information session.”

In addition to learning more about the college and campus, students get to meet the school’s representative, who may also sometimes be the school’s regional admission director. If this is the case, he or she will be the first one to read a Paly student application, rate it and pass it on either to other admission readers, a committee, or straight to the dean of admissions.

“It varies from campus to campus how influential the representative is,” Paly College and Career Advisor Sandra Cernobori said. “At some of schools, by meeting with a representative, you demonstrate interest in the school and some schools factor it in more than others. Even if its a public school that comes to visit, often schools read by regions and they are familiar with Paly because they come in year after year.”

In addition these visits are usually held before the application is due which allows students to ask logistical questions about the application or get more information about what the school is looking for in the essays and supplements. Representatives mostly come in the fall season and occasionally in the spring.

Furthermore, if a student is unable to come to the college representative visit, he or she can go to the CCC and ask to look through the interview notes that were taken by a parent-volunteer during the talk or look on the “counselor notes” in the “college profile” section of the Naviance website.

“There is a parent volunteer who takes the most salient, interesting things the representatives says and then enters them in,” Cernobori said. “Extra materials are also kept on file if students want to look at them.”

Attending college representative visits are a great opportunity for students to get more information about the school in general, meet with the school’s representative, and for some colleges, it is noted on the application that a student shows interest in the school. Taking the time to attend could be very worth wile for your college application experience

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, go to paly.net/college or log on to your Naviance account under the “colleges” tab.