There’s an endless and oftentimes overwhelming supply of resources out there to help you through your college search. You could camp out in the College Guide aisle at Barnes and Noble for two years and never make it through half the books. You could pull all-nighters clicking through Naviance and scouring every ranking posted by US News & World Report and The Princeton Review until your eyes bug out of your head. You could spend so much time on each college’s website that you know exactly where to find obscure information like how many people the dining hall seats.
And don’t get me wrong, statistics are certainly important. You should figure out what the academic profile of an admitted student looks like in order to predict whether a college is in your “range.” You should calculate a college’s distance from your home and decide how far away you’d be okay moving. You should research the size of the student body and the average classroom size and figure out whether those numbers seem comfortable or intimidating to you.
But ultimately, your college choice is not formulaic. You can’t plug a set of numbers into a magical College Calculator and expect it to spit out your Perfect College. The facts and figures can provide you with a great starting point and help guide your search in the right direction, but they won’t be what convinces you that you can call a college “home” for the next four years of your life.
That’s where the intangibles come in. Nothing beats visiting a campus and getting a feel for it by exploring it and soaking it all in. I’m not saying that you need to get “that special feeling” that a college is “the one and only” for you as soon as you step foot onto the campus; this is not a fairy tale, after all, and you do need to keep some options open. But as a human being, you will naturally have reactions to being in a new environment, and you should pay attention to those. After all, you know yourself better than anyone else.
Go on guided campus tours and attend information sessions, but also find more informal ways to discover the energy, vibe, and identity of a school. Walk through a quad and sense whether students seem excited to go to class. Sit in the campus coffee shop and eavesdrop on students’ conversations with one another (without being too creepy, of course). Take a moment to peek at bulletin boards in the student center to investigate the weekly and weekend goings-on. Take some pictures of the campus to jog your memory later on and maybe even jot down some notes for yourself before all of your many campus visits start to blur together. Finally, consider sharing these thoughts and observations with friends and family who are supporting you through this process. Chances are they’ll be able to either see the sparkle in your eyes or read the lack of enthusiasm in your voice.
Kate Gimourginas
Assistant Director of Admissions
Open House for admitted students may just be my favorite day of the year. Why? The excitement, energy and enthusiasm of all who participate create an atmosphere that is well, electric. On Sunday, April 18th, 550 students arrived on our campus, along with parents and assorted other family members. They were greeted by an army of Holy Cross student volunteers. 
When it comes to the college application process, it’s never too early to start. At this point as a junior or younger in high school, you may not know exactly what you want in a college, and that’s perfectly OK. You should treat this period as your window shopping stage where you’re simply going out and checking out a whole bunch of different things to see what you absolutely do NOT like and what you kind of like or really like. The college tour is the best way to window shop for colleges. It’s quick and gives you a great overview of what the college is all about. From there you can hopefully get a sense of whether you prefer a big school or a smaller school; a school right in the city or one in a more remote area. You should check out all the schools you can so that you can get a better sense of what type of school best matches who you are.
