Is March Break the best time to visit prospective universities?
It’s March Break for high schools in Ontario and all the Ontario universities know it!
There are several tours and activities planned for secondary students taking advantage of the time off to visit their university choices. During March Break you can be sure there will be plenty of representation from academic departments, the student union, clubs and services to answer your questions and sell their school.
But the March Break experience isn’t always the most accurate representation of daily life at university.
The circus of March Break activities may give you the impression that the campus is busier and more crowded than it really is. This misrepresentation is just as much a problem if you want to chill out on a mellow campus as it is if you’re hoping to find party central.
Professors, staff and students who might normally be available for a private chat find themselves swamped with hundreds of students being shuttled around from building to building for prepared presentations.
Some of the current university students may enjoy the distraction and be friendly to the throngs of high school students, but remember that the university year is shorter than the high school year. That means these students are that much closer to their final exams than you are. You may be invading their personal space just when they are trying to buckle down, catch up after their reading week vacation, and finish off their coursework.
When you visit a university campus during your March Break, you’ll know that the university is ready for you. There should be lots of information to take home and most buildings and facilities will be open for touring. It’s a great time to see as much of the university as you can.
But if you really want to get a feel for what your experience there will be like, consider booking a campus tour when you can really see the university as it is most of the year.
October is often a great time to see the campus after frosh have settled down and most students are well into their classes but not scrambling to finish a semester. If you’re considering a school in a city that can be cold and snowy in the winter, early February will often allow you to see the campus in its harshest conditions. That’s the time when you want to evaluate the distance between your residence building and your classes!
It’s not too late to get a campus tour at many Ontario universities this week, so if you don’t have any plans, consider getting in on the excitement! But remember that it is just that – excitement. For a calmer view of the university, consider also trying to get a tour later this month. Then you can follow up on your interests from the March Break tour and get a little more quality time at the university.