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Forget the Campus Tours
05/09/2008
So now that you've received all the acceptance letters from the colleges, you may be tempted to spend thousands of dollars doing a nationwide tour of many college campuses. Smart idea?
A recent issue of one of the nation's preeminent consumer magazines (hint: the one that never lets its name be used by advertisers) notes that campus visits are among the biggest wastes of money for parents considering different colleges for their sons and daughters.
What do I think? I agree.
As a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard, and Berkeley, I can tell you that there are only marginal differences in how these campuses look. The residence halls all pretty much look the same.The food is going to be bad everywhere -- okay, maybe not everywhere, but almost everywhere. Even the professors all seem to have graduated from the same schools (read: Ivy League). Think of it like applying for a new job: do you really think you can figure out how your new workplace will be like simply by paying a visit for a half day?
There is a better solution, and that is exactly what the consumer magazine noted -- simply read some of the wonderful books on the market regarding insiders' viewpoints on colleges. I have found them to be remarkably accurate, and most importantly, they will save you lots of money. Money that you'll need to pay those high tuition bills.