Perhaps one of the most taxing parts of the college process is visiting and touring schools. The best way to look at colleges is to go and visit them, but what is the best way to visit colleges?

If you haven’t started touring schools yet, let me lay it out for you. There are pretty much three ways to visit a college:

1. You can take a tour.
2. You can walk around the campus on your own.
3. You can visit and stay with friends who already attend the college.

I’m going to tell you right now to rule out option two. If you go by yourself or with family and friends who don’t know the campus at all, you’re going to get lost, and you won’t be able to see great things that the school has to offer. It’s best to look at the school with people who actually go there, be that friends or tour guides.

If you’re deciding between taking a tour or visiting with friends at a college, both options have great aspects.

College tours, in my experience, usually last about an hour. In that hour, you get to see most of the campus, a dorm room, the library, the dining hall etc. The tour is great because you get to hit all of the highlights of the campus in under 60 minutes, and the tour guides can answer any of your questions.

Visiting friends on campus also has its perks. I personally enjoy visiting my friends more than going on tours because not only do you get to see your friends, but you get to learn information you won’t hear on a tour, like the cons of the school as well as the pros.

For example, I went on a tour where the school boasted about their meal plans and dining hall. It all seemed great until I went back with my friend. Apparently the dining hall was great, but the food was awful.

Visiting friends gives you the opportunity to stay overnight, sit in on classes and meet the kind of people that go there. You get a much clearer picture of the school than you would by just seeing the library and the gym.

If you’re still really torn about how you want to experience the campus, why not have the best of both worlds? Go on a tour first and see all of the buildings, then go hang out with your friends and stay overnight. You can see the best that the school has to offer and then see what the experience at that school is really like.

At the end of the day, my best advice is to really focus on what you think of the school. Try to picture yourself attending the classes and hanging out with the students there. If the school is right for you, I promise you’ll know after about 10 minutes on campus.