College Tour Face-off in Minnesota

This last weekend, the students of USD 259 were blessed with a four day weekend, but to me and my best friend it didn’t seem like much of a weekend!
Saturday after her auditions for district band/orchestra, we loaded up with her mom and grandma and headed to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota. After a nine hour drive (that felt more like a 20 hour drive!) we arrived at our hotel and called it an early night; and found it amazing how tired you can be after a day of merely driving. That next morning we woke up a little later and had brunch, then headed to the Mall of America! I had been once a few years ago, but the last of my group had never been so the three of them were extremely excited to see and shop. After shopping from opening to close, we grabbed dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, The Cheesecake Factory, and then headed back to the hotel because we had a very important day coming up!
Monday we made our way to the small, quaint town of Northfield, Minn. to visit Carleton and St. Olaf. Despite the chilly weather, we had a blast at Carleton and really enjoyed everything it seemed to offer. After a tour and interview, we met up with a friend who is currently attending Carleton for lunch and a quick tour of Northfield. After a few free hours, we mad our way to St. Olaf. Unfortunately after a tour and interview with St. Olaf, my friend and myself decided that St. Olaf wasn’t a school we were still interested in. This wasn’t because St. Olaf is a bad school, we just decided that it didn’t have what we wanted.
After a tiring day of two college visits, we woke up early Monday and headed to Macalester, which is located in St. Paul. After a visit and interview (like the other schools), I decided I wanted to apply to this school. I had looked at it online before, but I couldn’t remember why they weren’t on my list in the first place! This goes to show just how important campus visits are!
Campus visits can show you how a school really is and whether it’s for you. So if you are on the edge and have the chance to visit the school, I strongly suggest it because it’s better to visit and know than not visit and always wonder what that school could have been like!