College Tours Provide Invaluable Experience for "At Risk" Students
"The A Bridge for Kids Campus Tour made the stressful selection process much easier and helped me find my home for the next four years." – Sam Martin, The Preuss School- Pitzer College Class of 2019
Choosing a college is paramount to choosing one’s home, city, community, social environment, and education for the next 4 years. What factors most align to the student’s lifestyle? Should the college be a large or small campus, be located within a city or a rural area, emphasize college spirit oriented around sports, offer religious affiliation, provide a variety of social clubs, and offer the right courses supporting their career path? A Bridge For Kids wants to invest in how our teens make an informed decision as to what is the best place for them to start developing the beginning of their adult life. An important and potential life changing experience that we are proud to provide ABFK students, free of charge, is the opportunity to tour college campuses.
It is important to go on a college tour; as tour guides provide you with additional information about their college that you won’t be able to research. You'd be able to interact with college students and ask about their experiences or anything else you want to know about the university they attend. Not only that but attending college visits can boost your admission chances because it shows that you have demonstrated interest.
Some students are social butterflies and are probably looking for an environment that offers plenty of room for interaction with other students. Some students learn better in smaller environments, so they are probably interested in attending a university with small class sizes, maybe even a small university in general. Religious students might be interested in applying to a school that supports their religious beliefs or students that like theology might choose a school where those types of courses are required. Colleges also specialize in different majors and offer different types of clubs, sports, etc., that other schools may not have.
College tours - offered by the admission office, that are led by professionals and current students - will go over information such as what I stated above. They can speak about the history of the university, statistics such as; student to faculty ratio, acceptance rates, SAT/ACT test score ranges, academic and campus life, and give insight of what admission officers are looking for in college applications and the review process. These sessions are usually accompanied with a tour of the campus by a current student.
In addition to providing a deeper understanding, college tours also give students a more personal experience. Being able to listen to a current university student's experience from the student themself is different from reading it from a brochure because it sounds more authentic. Tours also allow future university students and their families to orient themselves around the campus, which is hard to do from a university website. A Bridge for Kids understands that high school students may not have the resources to attend a campus tour, and while familiarizing themselves with a particular college they are interested in online is a great idea, ABFK want’s students to have the opportunity to really get a sense of a college campus.
A Bridge For Kids appreciates the generous donations and grants we have received to underwrite the costs of our college campus tours. This opportunity to visit a variety of California and East Coast Ivy League schools has opened many students’ eyes to the possibility of and opportunity to attend the college of their dreams. For more information about our College Campus Tours and how you can support this initiative please contact Grace Jo at Gjo@abridgeforkids.org.