Choosing a college is a major decision. There are so many factors to consider, from academic programs to extracurriculars, size and location, access to services, and affordability. With campus visits, students can add real-life context to their college research. Recently, the senior class from SEED Miami flew to Maryland and toured eight right fit colleges and universities in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They also made time to explore DC sights such as the Smithsonian and the National Mall—and even met fellow SEED students from SEED MD and SEED DC! College Success Advisor Ms. Kiaira Muhammad and College Counselor Ms. Retravia Ingraham sat down with us to talk about the importance of college visits and how the experience impacted their students.
Finding a Right-Fit College
SEED’s college advising centers around finding the right-fit college for each student. Our college matching tier system identifies major factors like affordability, high graduation rates, and good campus supports. To personalize the college matching process for students at SEED Miami, students engage in an activity called “Build a College”. Students identify all the traits they’re looking for in a college and base their individual searches on what they uncover. With their lists in mind, students begin visiting college campuses across the country. This is an invaluable step in the college selection process because it gives students context for their criteria and provides them with a direct experience of campus life.
For example, a lot of students thought they wanted to enroll at a college with thousands of students, but when they toured a larger campus, it seemed much bigger than they had envisioned. “I had a student tell me that they loved Howard University, but after visiting, began to rethink that opinion. This gave us a good starting point. They knew that they wanted to go to an HBCU (historically Black college/university), so we began to look for smaller HBCUs with two thousand to three thousand students. This was an opportunity for this student to own their process, instead of us telling them which school we think will work for them,” shared Ms. Ingraham.
When visiting different colleges and universities, Ms. Muhammad encourages students to keep track of all the characteristics that they liked. If a student is studying business, they may want a school that has a large business center. They may also want certain class sizes or facilities, like a large gym or a 24-hour library. “That’s one of the biggest factors that I want them to take away,” she said. “While they are applying to colleges, I want them to make sure each school has nearly everything that they would like for them to offer.” During their recent tour, Ms. Muhammad and Ms. Ingraham encouraged students to explore the campuses beyond the tour. And they did! They checked out the library, looked into classrooms, asked enrolled students questions, and even explored a student art exhibit.
Some students wanted to give more consideration to the colleges and universities Ms. Ingraham and Ms. Muhammad recommended once they saw the campus. When they were on the campus of Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, Ms. Ingraham said she had five students who had initially been skeptical of the school change their minds once they had a chance to see the campus first-hand.
Lazaryah (SEED Miami ’23), who plans to major in psychology or criminology, said “I really liked Hood College. It’s not too big of a campus, and everything is within walking distance. I look forward to coming back to visit the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) with my family. I can really see myself living in this environment.”
Forging SEED Connections
While SEED Miami students were visiting colleges in the Mid-Atlantic, they had a chance to meet students from SEED MD and SEED DC. During a campus tour and activities at SEED MD, students from the three schools had a great time meeting each other, learning about the different schools, and hanging out.
“They did not want to leave!” said Ms. Muhammad. She was happy to see the students building relationships and forging connections. “They had a really good time getting to know each other. On the ride back to the hotel, they had already gotten into a group chat.”
The students (and chaperones!) returned to Miami exhausted after their jam-packed week of activities. But it was well worth it: Our SEED Miami seniors have a better understanding of what they want out of a college and university, and many have added schools they visited to the lists of colleges to which they’re applying. They’ve also been busy trying to convince their counselors to get their new friends from SEED MD and SEED DC to come visit!
