Greetings! It’s the eve of tenth week, which is the last full week of the term, and it’s hard to believe that it’s almost spring break! It’s actually really starting to feel like spring; this weekend was very warm, the snow is melting, and it’s so nice to be able to go outside without a heavy coat and all that winter gear! With the weather getting nicer, more and more prospective students are visiting campus, and on many days, the campus is abuzz with prospective students and their families exploring Lawrence! Seeing so many visitors always reminds me of the two times that I visited Lawrence, and what amazing days they both were. The first time I visited Lawrence was during the summer before my junior year of high school (almost four years ago!). My dad and I had planned a late summer trip to Chicago, and as we were finalizing the trip, it occurred to me that Lawrence (already my dream school) was not too far away! We jumped onto the Lawrence admissions visit page and saw that the second summer visit day was happening right after we were going to be in Chicago! We extended our trip, and after having a few nice days in bustling Chicago, we drove up to beautiful Wisconsin to visit Lawrence—and my life was forever changed! I was able to do so much more than I could have done by simply reading the website and brochures; I got to actually meet students, get a feel of the campus, see what living in a residence hall would be like, and, most importantly, taste the food. I knew that I loved Lawrence on paper, but now I also knew that I really loved being at Lawrence and could see myself living a very happy life here.
The second time I visited was two years ago, during February of my senior year of high school. Lawrence was my second stop on a long string of college visits and auditions, but once I got to Lawrence, I really didn’t want to leave! In the morning, I had an audition with the clarinet professor, David Bell, and it was the most wonderful audition experience I had out of all my audition visits! Professor Bell took time to talk to me and treated the audition like a lesson—which is commonly how auditions operate at Lawrence—and my entire meeting with him was almost an hour and a half! After that audition/lesson/meeting, I really felt like I understood Professor Bell’s teaching style and gained a really thorough understanding of what my life as a clarinet student would be like at Lawrence. Later, I attended a psychology class, sat in on the symphonic band and orchestra rehearsals, and throughout the day, I mingled with the members of the clarinet studio, who invited me to join them for their clarinet studio dinner! That day was really a full immersion experience, and although I was really sad to have to leave Appleton for the next stop on the college audition tour, I knew that I could make a very accurate and well-informed decision about attending Lawrence if I were accepted, because my two visits had given me the real experience of life at Lawrence—and it is a life that I am still so happy I chose!
My visits to Lawrence and lots of other schools really helped me figure out what I was looking for in a college and what kind of environment I wanted, and even though positive reactions to colleges campuses and environments are fantastic, it’s also incredibly valuable to have negative reactions too! Visiting a college and being disappointed can be sad at first, but it’s actually such an exciting and helpful part of your college search process–because you can narrow and update your search and focus on other schools that might be a better fit for you! The more schools you visit, the more you’ll understand what you’re really looking for in a college, and it’s truly an amazing feeling to figure that out.
Here’s a picture of me on my second Lawrence visit–February 2013. Looking back, visiting Lawrence during winter was pretty important for me because, as a Californian, I had never experienced falling snow!